[Anti Virus] AVG Free

[Rat]

This applies to those of you who run the free edition of AVG anti-virus.

Note that Grisoft will stop supporting existing builds of the software (currently AVG anti-virus 6.0) from the beginning of 2005. Virus pattern updates will be available until the end of January. Your software will probably prompt you to download the replacement software 'AVG Free' but, if not, check out the Grisoft web site.

Disadvantages of the new AVG Free....
1. After installing the new software, the system must be restarted in order to activate the 'resident shield' function.
2. In the new version you can only run basic system scans and updates in the scheduler. In order to define scan parameters you must download the 'pro' version.

[me here]

Good to know Rat... will have a look at this.

[ROCK001]

BEWARE i found a nasty little suprise in the new AVG 7.0 when i downloaded it the other month. Nice to see that the installer has a trojan in it. AND THAT WAS OFF THEIR WEBSITE[/b]

[Rat]

Hmm. A trojan in an antivirus program sounds a little odd. Are you sure it was the genuine site you were downloading from? My program doesn't appear to have had any odd bits and pieces in it.

[Rock]

Well Rat, it wasnt an extra file in the actual download, it was in the installer program itself and it was off their website. I wasnt the only one to recieve this Trojan\Worm from Grisoft there was others who had the same experience aswell. So i wrote them an Email to make them aware of this problem as did alot of other people did too! its just a pity no one there actually responded to it.

[Rat]

That really sucks. I wonder how many people it got. Must've been the work of a hacker I guess.

[Freggle]

BEWARE i found a nasty little suprise in the new AVG 7.0 when i downloaded it the other month. Nice to see that the installer has a trojan in it. AND THAT WAS OFF THEIR WEBSITE

If there really was a trojan in there other people should have noticed and it would have been brought into public. I never saw anything on any news website but maybe other users of the forum did... Who knows...

I don't trust the thing you wrote that much to be honest, looks more like a flame against AVG or something. Are you a employee of Symantec or McAfee maybe?

Where is your evidence?
What trojan was found?
Why do I get the feeling these questions will never be answered?

[Rat]

I'm increasingly convinced there is no problem. I searched for evidence of this for hours yesterday with no luck. Finally I posted a question in the grisoft forums... here's how it went:

Trojan in the AVG 7 installer???
Posted by: Rat001 (IP Logged)
Date: January 17, 2005 02:21PM

Hi all,

I apologise if this has been covered but I've done quite a lot of searching (in this forum and also across the web (google and altavista) with not much luck so I'm going to go ahead and ask....

I upgraded to AVG Free (Version 7) when AVG 6 told me it would be necessary. I have had no problems whatsoever but I'm hearing reports from others that the installer program itself seems to be habouring a trojan. This seemed pretty unlikely to me and I've scanned the install program I used and the currently available version (avg70free_296a409.exe and avg70free_300a419.exe respectively) using AVG, trendmicro Housecall and Kaspersky antivirus. I found nothing suspicious. The person who first reported this to me tells me that he detected a trojan while running the installer for AVG Free 7.

Can anybody shed any light on what may be happening please? I find this a little worrying.

Re: Trojan in the AVG 7 installer???
Posted by: Elaine - Moderator (IP Logged)
Date: January 17, 2005 03:52PM

It is more likely that your friend already had the trojan on his computer and AVG done its job and found it

You have done your scans and found nothing so no there was not a trojan in the installler the computer had the trojan in the first place

Elaine

And finally from one of the Grisoft people....

Re: Trojan in the AVG 7 installer???
Posted by: kodl - Grisoft Team (IP Logged)
Date: January 17, 2005 07:20PM

This is definitely not true! There's no Trojan (or spyware or adware) in the AVG Free Edition!

[Rock]

I don't trust the thing you wrote that much to be honest, looks more like a flame against AVG or something. Are you a employee of Symantec or McAfee maybe?

Ok .... no im not in anyway against AVG at all it is one ( if not the ) best AV programs out there but it was as soon as i had installed the AVG 7 it came up with a worm and trojans ( the trojans had nothing to do with AVG they were a sun java issue ) and no i am not an employee of any of the other AV companies out there ... it was just funny that it was found in the AVG folder and no where else ( thats what caught my eye )

Believe me or not i dont really care.... but then again i couldve picked it up with the download .. I still trust AVG 100% AND I STILL USE IT !!!!

[Red XIII]

I heard that the module32.exe trojan has been floating around from site to site, altho I don't think Grisoft would have it on their downloads server when they themselves are an AV company...