Re: AVG 8.0: A Tale of Woe and Warning

Freedom Scientific is working on a fix for the AVG 8 lockup 
problems.  It is coming soon.  Hint look at the bottom of this message.

Dave

At 06:28 AM 5/17/2008, Flor Lynch wrote:
>Avast!     www.avast.com/     is free, provided you register as a personal
>user, for one year at a time.  Since
>the registration is an inaccessible CAPTCHA link, folk have used the email
>contact us instead and got their keys emailed to them.
>(I don't know much more about it, except that it's good.)  [I myself use
>Nod32, which has a thirty-day free demo, available at     www.nod32.com/ or
>www.eset.com/
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Ted Chittenden" <[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 2:08 AM
>Subject: [VICUG-L] AVG 8.0: A Tale of Woe and Warning
>
>
>Hi to all.
>
>The story I am about to relate concerns my attempts to download, use, and
>then uninstall AVG 8.0 and reinstall AVG 7.5.  Before I do that, some notes
>about the equipment I am using:  a Compaq computer with 256 k accessible
>(but with a 2G hardrive); a 56k modem; both JFW  5.1 and 9.0 (I use the
>former still because of my computer's memory failings); Windows XP; Internet
>Explorer 6 with SVC Pack 2; and AVG 7.5.
>
>It all started yesterday when I returned home from work at 3:pm (I only work
>half-days on Thursdays) and decided to update my copy of AVG 7.5 (the
>antivirus databases, etc.).  I had just finished updating the software when
>I noticed a second window that had opened up on my computer, saying that
>Grisoft (AVG's maker) was upgrading to AVG 8.0, 7.5 would no longer be
>supported after a certain date, and would I like to update my antivirus
>software.  I thought why not and began the downloading process.  Since I am
>using a modem, I figured it would take some time to load so I chose to run
>the new software from Grisoft's website instead of saving it onto my
>computer for loading later.
>
>Around 6:30 or so, the download was finished, and I began the process of
>installation, after first making sure to turn off AVG 7.5.  During the
>installation, a screen came up that said that AVG 8 had found AVG 7.5; that
>AVG 8.0 would overwrite AVG 7.5; and that in overwriting AVG 7.5, AVG 7.5,
>AVG 8.0 would make changes in the Windows kernel, and that I could not
>reinstall AVG 7.5 without completely uninstalling AVG 8.0 and reinstalling
>AVG 7.5 from scratch.  I thought "What the hell," and pressed OK.  Then
>there were items to be filled out, and the new system wanted to update
>itself.  I went ahead with the process and at the end rebooted.
>
>After the reboot, I began finding problems.  All of the 7.5 links (including
>the shortcut on the desktop were still there.  I tried accessing AVG 8
>through the systray with limited success--AVG was on the Systray, but when
>you pressed "ENTER" on any of the Mouse-click items, you would go right back
>to the Desktop.  I then pressed "ENTER" on the AVG shortcut link on the
>Desktop, and I entered the program.
>
>To say that I was disappointed is an understatement.  Gone were the
>well-marked buttons for Control Center and Test center.  If there were any
>buttons on that screen that could be pushed when you tabbed to them, they
>were not discernible by JAWS--even with the JAWS cursor.  Hitting the alt.
>key, I did find some traditional functions--Scan MY Computer, Update--in the
>Microsoft tool bar menus, but I had had enough.  I figured that AVG 8.0 was
>much less accessible and a memory hog to boot, and I prepared to return to
>AVG 7.5.  I figured if I could restore the system to a date prior to the AVG
>8.0 download, I would be OK.  So I picked a date two priors and waited for
>the restoration.
>
>The restoration came, but AVG 7.5 didn't.  The computer sent me a warning
>saying it could not find the AVG files.
>
>I then undid the restoration, and went about the process of uninstalling AVG
>8.0 and installing a version of AVG 7.5--an executable file I had downloaded
>in late 2006.  Unfortunately, the computer and AVG were not going to play
>along.  The older version of AVG would not download the Virus updates since
>2006 (it said I had to find a newer version of the file on the Grisoft
>website, and that I had to run a repair operation once I found this updated
>file), and the old shortcuts to AVG were not working.
>
>Once again, I went to System Restore, went back two days, and got the same
>AVG 7.5 response.
>
>Without any antivirus on the computer, I went back onto the Internet and
>typed 'AVG 7.5' into Google.  The response at the top was a list of updates
>on the Grisoft site, so I went there and found some updates and began the
>download.
>
>When the download completed, an odd screen appeared asking for a name and
>password and showing two names a '<guest<' and 'administrator' with the
>guest being on top.  With no thought, I tabbed down to 'Add New User' and
>created a third password with my name.  I then saved the information, and
>after doing so, realized that I had entered this information into JFW 5.0's
>administrative options!  That's right!  The files that said they were
>updates to AVG 7.5 were actually going to JAWS 5.1.  It was nearing 10:00 PM
>so I decided to close down the computer for the night--I was tired.
>
>This morning, I got up, turned on the computer, and discovered that when
>JAWS 5.1 came on, a warning would come on, notifying me that I was signed on
>as a '<guest<'.  Some investigation revealed what had happened in the JFW
>Administrative area, and I commenced to calling Freedom Scientific--only to
>have my phone die on me, while waiting for Technical Support.
>
>In the mean time, I had been doing some thinking.  It occurred to me that
>the only way to get rid of the shortcuts to the AVG program would be to
>reload the older version I had and then uninstall it through the Add/Remove
>commands in the Control panel.  This I did, and this time, AVG 7.5
>uninstalled everything properly, except the shortcut on the Desktop which I
>promptly sent to the Recycle Bin.
>
>I then went back online with no anti-virus software and typed '"AVG
>7.5"download' (without the apostrophees) into Google and found the latest
>version of AVG 7.5 (released on April 6, 2008) on hipo.com (it was a ways
>down the list on that site).  I clicked on the file and saved it.  It took
>about 2 and a half hours to download, but it worked and was updatable when I
>opened the saved execution.
>
>So now I have AVG 7.5 back.  I still have the administrative problem with
>JFW 5.1 (even though I completely uninstalled and reinstalled it).  I tried
>removing the'<guest<' sign-in, but JFW 5.1 says this cannot be removed.  I
>presume there is some corruption in the file from last night's and this
>morning's work, but I am hoping to get a replacement computer soon with
>enough memory for JFW 9.0 to work properly (though I am looking for
>something with XP Home--something that is hard to find nowadays).
>
>I have written this story as a tale of woe and warning.  And I hope someone
>on this list knows a good replacement for AVG 7.5 that is about as
>accessible and as close to free as possible.
>
>Ted Chittenden
>
>     VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
>Archived on the World Wide Web at
>     http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
>     Signoff: [email protected]
>     Subscribe: [email protected]
>
>
>     VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
>Archived on the World Wide Web at
>     http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
>     Signoff: [email protected]
>     Subscribe: [email protected]
>
>
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG.
>Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 269.23.16/1448 - Release Date: 
>5/16/2008 7:42 PM


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