Computer very slow?

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 04/05/2017 15:27:07:

I got the paid version of AVC so no ads and only £23 so OK there and will wait a bit on AVast and see what I think of it.before paying up!

If AVC means AVG, it's been taken over now by Avast anyway.

[Alan JacksonParticipant @alanjackson47790]

I have an older xp computer and have found that Auslogics disk defrag is super for it . Free download and run the optimise program , it speeds it up nicely.

Alan

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 04/05/2017 13:27:37:

Have installed Advanced system care, and avast anti virus both of which seem very good and found a load of rubbish.

I made the mistake of installing avast having read that it was free. Unfortunately it is not. Once installed it informs one of a number of possible errors on the computer, as do many such programes. It then says that the user can have 30 day free trial provided one hands over credit card details. if one does not like it one can cancel on 30 days as it will send a reminder before it cashes the card value.

For me that is a no no as I will be on my boat then & not have access to the internet so would be lumbered. hence I have not taken up the offer. trouble is that now I am bombarded with reminders to pay.

I now have to work out how to get rid of it. Hopefully there is an uninstaller but like many things it will probably leave bits of rubbish behind. So beware of this con "free offer"

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 07:09:21:

I made the mistake of installing avast having read that it was free. Unfortunately it is not. …

I now have to work out how to get rid of it. Hopefully there is an uninstaller but like many things it will probably leave bits of rubbish behind. So beware of this con "free offer"

.

Sam,

I have not tried it on Avast, but Revo Uninstaller seems to work very well indeed: **LINK**

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

… and the free version really is free.

MichaelG.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Phil W.

Hi, I have run the AVC Scan and Avast boot scan and optimised my disc and turned off the indexing for the C drive. After a restart the machine is MUCH MUCH quicker and responsive, so thank you very much for the advice.

If I am going to get rid of N360 can you reccommend a suitable program for managing my backups? ih a couple of external 2 & 4 Tb disks on my network.

Thanks again,

Martin

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 05/05/2017 07:21:15:

Posted by Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 07:09:21:

I made the mistake of installing avast having read that it was free. Unfortunately it is not. …

I now have to work out how to get rid of it. Hopefully there is an uninstaller but like many things it will probably leave bits of rubbish behind. So beware of this con "free offer"

.

Sam,

I have not tried it on Avast, but Revo Uninstaller seems to work very well indeed: **LINK**

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

… and the free version really is free.

MichaelG.

Thanks

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 07:50:37:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 05/05/2017 07:21:15:

Posted by Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 07:09:21:

I made the mistake of installing avast having read that it was free. Unfortunately it is not. …

I now have to work out how to get rid of it. Hopefully there is an uninstaller but like many things it will probably leave bits of rubbish behind. So beware of this con "free offer"

.

Sam,

I have not tried it on Avast, but Revo Uninstaller seems to work very well indeed: **LINK**

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

… and the free version really is free.

MichaelG.

Thanks

I mentioned in an earlier post that a downside of the free Anti-virus products is that they bombard you with adverts in the hope of getting you to upgrade to the paid version. I wish I'd highlighted that the adverts may also be a booby trap. The Avast advert is, I think, rather naughty in that it looks like an essential update to the free product when actually it's a purchase option for the full version. You don't have to accept the offer and if you ignore it the free version carries on working.

I don't think it's obvious what's being offered – every time it pops up on my computer I have to read it twice. It behaves like a product free for a limited time that you have to pay to keep when the trial period is over. Avast looks like one of them but isn't.

I'm not too annoyed by moderate sales tactics of this sort – the people behind it have to make a living somehow!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 05/05/2017 10:10:35

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I've used AVG Free for several years now on XP and W7 installations with no problems.

Antivirus shouldn't be necessary on W10 and is a bad idea on Linux.

None of this helps the Martin though.

If I were in his position I would back up all my data onto an external HD just by copying the files not using any special backup software. Then format the hard disk and re-install the Windows operating system, a free antivirus, and required software.

Russell

(Deliberately not suggesting Linux to avoid flak)

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Posted by Russell Eberhardt on 05/05/2017 10:46:32:

If I were in his position I would back up all my data onto an external HD just by copying the files not using any special backup software. Then format the hard disk and re-install the Windows operating system, a free antivirus, and required software.

I've found, to my cost, that rather a lot of files refuse to be copied to other drives by using the built-in copy process. A multi copy then stops leaving you to find the recalcitrant files and restarting the copy.

I started using a free backup system called EaseUS ToDo Backup, when I emigrated to a new computer. I've tried restoring and it works fine.

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Do not understand Sam Longleys post, Avast anti virus is free (provided you download the right (free) version, and remains so, and does not bombard you with ads for itself or anything else, although if you download from a third party site, you can get a virus bundled with your download, and the virus downloads the adds!, if you wait, as I did, the price for the bought version comes down with their regular "special offers" I think I initially paid about £14.95 for my pro version, which gives extra tools bells and whistles, but for basic protection, free is adequate, and I survived virus free for several YEARS before I bought it. Neither Avast, or ASC bombard you with anything, and if they did, I would neither use or recomend them! I have had repeatedly bad experiences with Norton and Macaffee, and when you add that to that what they cost, in my estimation, good though they now may be, they are only as good as Avast, and friighteningly more expensive! Neither are there any problems uninstalling and reinstallng Avast or ASC, the same cannot be said for Norton and Macaffee.They may be better than they used to be, but they are simply not worth the money. ASC is by Iobit software and Avast isAvast.com, Always download form the softwares own site, or a site they link you to.

Martin King2 Glad to hear your machine is running faster! Cannot recommend any backup software, sorry, but it is something I have never had need of.

Phil

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 05/05/2017 18:17:50:

Do not understand Sam Longleys post, Avast anti virus is free (provided you download the right (free) version, and remains so, and does not bombard you with ads for itself or anything else, although if you download from a third party site, you can get a virus bundled with your download, and the virus downloads the adds!, if you wait, as I did, the price for the bought version comes down with their regular "special offers" I think I initially paid about £14.95 for my pro version, which gives extra tools bells and whistles, but for basic protection, free is adequate, and I survived virus free for several YEARS before I bought it. Neither Avast, or ASC bombard you with anything,

With the greatest of respect i get the impression the programme will not actually start de activating anything until one commits to paying at the end of the 30 day period. True one can opt out at 30 days but as I will be somewhere between Bradwell& the Bay of Biscay in 30 days on my boat i will not be able to cancel the 30 day option. Waiting for the price to " come down" further suggests that you must have had some contact or approach trying to get you to contribute, so I do not buy into your comment that you have not had adverts. ( I do accept that you may not have been "bombarded "(. As for downloading from the wrong site- Well I can only down load from a site that looks correct & how would i know that it was not the correct one? True I may have been conned but such is life.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 18:52:47

Update- It appears today to be scanning the system & now working which it certainly was not doing yesterday. Is there some delay built in? Furthermore, I have had only one further payment request since this morning, Although I have only re booted once & run the scan once today– All very odd.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 05/05/2017 19:16:55

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 05/05/2017 18:17:50:

… Avast anti virus is free (provided you download the right (free) version, and remains so, and does not bombard you with ads for itself or anything else,

…

I think I initially paid about £14.95 for my pro version, which gives extra tools bells and whistles, but for basic protection, free is adequate, and I survived virus free for several YEARS before I bought it. Neither Avast, or ASC bombard you with anything, and if they did, I would neither use or recomend them!

…

Phil

You are mistaken on this one Phil! See photo below of the settings page from the Free Version. Note the tick box that can't be disabled until you buy the premium version.

I get ads and persistent offers to 'upgrade' because I haven't coughed up. You're ad free because you paid for the Premium version. Apart from the pop-ups I'm happy with Free Avast : I haven't had a virus yet!

I've just tried reducing the Duration of the unwanted pop-ups to zero seconds. If that works I owe you a pint!

Cheers,

Dave

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Don't understand this at all, as I have only just installed the free version on my two daughters computers, I I have never had to (or ever would) give them my credit card details, I will investigate…………..

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Right, just galloped up two flights of stairs and forced my 12 year old off her computer for five minutes! the pop ups are other avast products only, if you are getting any ads for non avast products, you have been comprimised, and should reinstall avast. My girls report no pop ups or ads occuring, apart from the upgrade requests, which is the price you pay for a free product. You should not have to enter credit card details for the free version, and I certainly did not do this when I did these two installs just after Christmas. I also have just checked settings on my bought install on my computer, and find I have not actually unticked the "show popups for other avast products" box anyway, and I don't get any ads at all. Sounds to me like the ads you are getting are adware, which is a fairly benign, but annoying form of virus, usually caused by downloading browser toolbars and the like. Check your browser for toolbars, and delete them, they are of no use. Also set your browser to block popups, and to empty your cookies when you exit. It also doesnt hurt to delete history on exit either, what browser are you using? You can use Avast to "scan for browser add ons" and delete them

Phil

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 05/05/2017 19:42:15:

Don't understand this at all, as I have only just installed the free version on my two daughters computers, I I have never had to (or ever would) give them my credit card details, I will investigate…………..

Don't be surprised if the answer is more confusion. There are several threads on the web with people arguing about whether excessive Avast ads are a problem or not. It would be quite clever to have a product that generated more-or-less ads randomly, perhaps depending on the time installed. Then forum complainers get told there isn't a problem by the lucky ones.

Whatever the reason for the different ad frequencies, no-one is complaining that Avast is bad at anti-virus, and that's the important thing.

Dave

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Just had a thought, I seem to remember that there is a "free trial version" as well as a free version, you need to make sure you download the free version!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 05/05/2017 20:13:32:

Right, just galloped up two flights of stairs and forced my 12 year old off her computer for five minutes! the pop ups are other avast products only, if you are getting any ads for non avast products, you have been comprimised, and should reinstall avast. My girls report no pop ups or ads occuring, apart from the upgrade requests, which is the price you pay for a free product. You should not have to enter credit card details for the free version, and I certainly did not do this when I did these two installs just after Christmas. I also have just checked settings on my bought install on my computer, and find I have not actually unticked the "show popups for other avast products" box anyway, and I don't get any ads at all. Sounds to me like the ads you are getting are adware, which is a fairly benign, but annoying form of virus, usually caused by downloading browser toolbars and the like. Check your browser for toolbars, and delete them, they are of no use. Also set your browser to block popups, and to empty your cookies when you exit. It also doesnt hurt to delete history on exit either, what browser are you using? You can use Avast to "scan for browser add ons" and delete them

Phil

Yes, what I get are all pushing Avast products. I'm confident that it's not adware. It's how often the pesky things pop-up that's annoying. One or two a session wouldn't be objectionable but today I had one every half-hour or so until I set the Duration to zero, since when none. (Hurrah)

I wouldn't dare take a computer away from my kids!

Dave

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

I wouldn't dare take a computer away from my kids!

Mine likewise, but luckily, she was sittng at her desk drawing rather than using her computer, so with the usual scowl she let me use it!

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Interesting!

https://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2017/04/10/detection-rates-revealed/?ad_id=505010&share-ad-id=1

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