AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

________

December 16, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| As I previously noted, I was re-testing AVAST for a comparison

| between AVG and its functions.

|

| I'll start with a simple query:

|

| 1.

| Is there some web site which has a comprehensive setup description

| covering all aspects of a basic AVAST configuration setup?

What do you find lacking in the avast! Help screens at...?...

"R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Start avast! Anti-virus, Menu button, Help"

| Yes, I did the normal searches both on AVAST home site, and via the

| web, but what I found seems to be segments, or incomplete

| information. Of course one can contact various forums, but then one

| is relegated to reading potentially conflicting, or un-related

| information.

|

| 2.

| For a preliminary review of one differential between the two

| programs, I think I can make a somewhat stark contrast. The issue

| relates to the update process used in the respective programs. Note

| that this does not address the automatic update features, but the

| update process itself.

|

| AVG's update process downloads the entire update PRIOR to beginning

| the update.

| AVAST's update process begins the update process after a minimal

| amount of those files are downloaded.

What makes you say that? Look at this Summary.txt...

......Quote "C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\summary.txt".....

Information about current update:

Total time: 1:52

- Vps: Already up to date

(current version 071215-0)

Server: download25.avast.com (70.86.121.210)

Downloaded files: 3 (0.03 KB)

Download time: 8 s

.......EOQ my last Summary.txt.............

This was done manually at...

"R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, iAVS Update"

But Avast! had already done a manual update of definitions which I was

unsure had happened, (because, instead of the normal completion pop-up,

these days I'm getting a green pop-up stating there is an update to the

avast! program itself, which I think overlays the other). Otherwise, the

Total Time would have been at least 5 times larger! HOWEVER, the

Download Time is always about 8 seconds, because only incremental

updates to the virus definitions are downloaded.

Therefore, I believe it ISN'T actually downloading & updating at the

same time! It does one after the other!

| The issue between the two is that, should one be using a phone line

| connection and should that connection fail [phone and/or electric

| failures], then the partially finished AVAST update fails, leaving an

| improperly installed program. Setting AVAST's *I connect via phone*

| aspect makes no difference in THAT particular issue.

It's in the avast! Help screens that occasionally the auto-update of

definitions will fail. Then, you get a red pop-up alert stating as much.

The cure is to do it manually as specified above, which always has

worked for me. After that, the auto-update will begin to work again.

HOWEVER, if you are asking about the update to the program avast! itself

(not to the definitions)... hmm, you may be right, then. I did it once,

& dimly recall it may have seemed be as you say. I'll have to take the

new one offered & watch it closely to be sure. What is you version now?

Mine is...

avast! version 4.7 Home Edition, Build: Sep2007 (4.7.1043).

| I have found this upon four occasions, once by accident: someone

| took out a telephone pole in an accident which killed both power and

| phone, the second when just the phone was disrupted, but did not

| return soon enough to continue the update; and twice by intentional

| test.

|

| The obvious:

|

| Is there some setting or INI modification that I missed to ensure

| this does not occur?

I don't know of an .ini setting for that. However, there seems to be a

lot in...

"Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Install/Uninstall tab, avast!

Antivirus, Add/Remove button"

I see a Change, Uninstall, Update & Repair option there, as well as a

Proxy Settings button to the right. Maybe something in there would get

it started again. (I don't know.)

Otherwise, instead of auto-updating avast! or even using the manual

"R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, Program Update"... maybe try

uninstalling it & taking a new download altogether. The latest

definitions will come in with the new program download.

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 16, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:OcEf3H4PIHA.3388@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

| MEB wrote:

| | As I previously noted, I was re-testing AVAST for a comparison

| | between AVG and its functions.

| |

| | I'll start with a simple query:

| |

| | 1.

| | Is there some web site which has a comprehensive setup description

| | covering all aspects of a basic AVAST configuration setup?

|

| What do you find lacking in the avast! Help screens at...?...

|

| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Start avast! Anti-virus, Menu button, Help"

Frankly quite a bit. But to sooth the issue, yes I ran through those.

More depth into setting up mail, and web proxy could be of considerable

use. But I'm not here to critique the HELP supplied, but to query whether

anyone knew of a web page or pages that were written to aid installation by

common users. Heck, I even downloaded the PDFs to see if they were anything

of use,, no, not really... you have to remember that most users aren't used

to doing manual modifications of files to get programs to work.

|

| | Yes, I did the normal searches both on AVAST home site, and via the

| | web, but what I found seems to be segments, or incomplete

| | information. Of course one can contact various forums, but then one

| | is relegated to reading potentially conflicting, or un-related

| | information.

| |

| | 2.

| | For a preliminary review of one differential between the two

| | programs, I think I can make a somewhat stark contrast. The issue

| | relates to the update process used in the respective programs. Note

| | that this does not address the automatic update features, but the

| | update process itself.

| |

| | AVG's update process downloads the entire update PRIOR to beginning

| | the update.

| | AVAST's update process begins the update process after a minimal

| | amount of those files are downloaded.

|

| What makes you say that? Look at this Summary.txt...

|

| .....Quote "C:\Program Files\Alwil

| Software\Avast4\Setup\summary.txt".....

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 1:52

|

| - Vps: Already up to date

| (current version 071215-0)

|

| Server: download25.avast.com (70.86.121.210)

| Downloaded files: 3 (0.03 KB)

| Download time: 8 s

| ......EOQ my last Summary.txt.............

|

| This was done manually at...

|

| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, iAVS Update"

|

| But Avast! had already done a manual update of definitions which I was

| unsure had happened, (because, instead of the normal completion pop-up,

| these days I'm getting a green pop-up stating there is an update to the

| avast! program itself, which I think overlays the other). Otherwise, the

| Total Time would have been at least 5 times larger! HOWEVER, the

| Download Time is always about 8 seconds, because only incremental

| updates to the virus definitions are downloaded.

Ah yeah, but when one downloads the original install file, the first thing

one is going to need to do [after shutting off the simple user interface and

not installing skins] is do the program update. Clicking the update [either

one] will start a (approx.10 meg) download [or it did with the install

download.I recently pulled from the net]. At any time during this download,

a failure appears to corrupt the installation.

Mind you, I have already done one large download and update in this present

installation.

|

| Therefore, I believe it ISN'T actually downloading & updating at the

| same time! It does one after the other!

|

| | The issue between the two is that, should one be using a phone line

| | connection and should that connection fail [phone and/or electric

| | failures], then the partially finished AVAST update fails, leaving an

| | improperly installed program. Setting AVAST's *I connect via phone*

| | aspect makes no difference in THAT particular issue.

|

| It's in the avast! Help screens that occasionally the auto-update of

| definitions will fail. Then, you get a red pop-up alert stating as much.

| The cure is to do it manually as specified above, which always has

| worked for me. After that, the auto-update will begin to work again.

You did notice the issues on various sites related to leaving AVAST

configured for autodownload? You're waving a rather large flag there.

And yes, I noted the red pop-up once [the present install].

|

| HOWEVER, if you are asking about the update to the program avast! itself

| (not to the definitions)... hmm, you may be right, then. I did it once,

| & dimly recall it may have seemed be as you say. I'll have to take the

| new one offered & watch it closely to be sure. What is you version now?

| Mine is...

|

| avast! version 4.7 Home Edition, Build: Sep2007 (4.7.1043).

Dec2007 (4.7.1098)

It appears you're a bit outdated in your program as well.

My virus definitions are out of date as well [waiting for an answer on how,

if possible to ensure a failed download doesn't corrupt the system]:

Comp Date > 12/06/07

File Ver > 071206-0

The next update is another LARGE group of files.

|

| | I have found this upon four occasions, once by accident: someone

| | took out a telephone pole in an accident which killed both power and

| | phone, the second when just the phone was disrupted, but did not

| | return soon enough to continue the update; and twice by intentional

| | test.

| |

| | The obvious:

| |

| | Is there some setting or INI modification that I missed to ensure

| | this does not occur?

|

| I don't know of an .ini setting for that. However, there seems to be a

| lot in...

|

| "Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Install/Uninstall tab, avast!

| Antivirus, Add/Remove button"

|

| I see a Change, Uninstall, Update & Repair option there, as well as a

| Proxy Settings button to the right. Maybe something in there would get

| it started again. (I don't know.)

Yep, been there, done that, told'em to keep the t-shirt. Repair will not

correct a partial update failure.

|

| Otherwise, instead of auto-updating avast! or even using the manual

| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, Program Update"... maybe try

| uninstalling it & taking a new download altogether. The latest

| definitions will come in with the new program download.

Yeah, I know that, mine is set for manual update, particularly after

monitoring the autoupdate feature and firewall needs.

And no, the new install apparently does not include the most recent defs

[or it didn't in the one I downloaded].

Of course some of your own installation issues were shown when you

installed Kerio PF, such as RPCSS, DCOM, and other interesting little issues

which

I will likely discuss in the future when testing is done.

|

| | --

| | MEB

| | ________

|

| --

| Thanks or Good Luck,

| There may be humor in this post, and,

| Naturally, you will not sue,

| Should things get worse after this,

| PCR

| pcrrcp@netzero.net

|

--

MEB

________

December 16, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

Here's what that waiting update was:

Information about current update:

Total time: 7:33

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

Server: download50.avast.com (207.44.246.86)

Downloaded files: 12 (10,092.03 KB)

Download time: 5:54

Setup.log confirms the files,,

Awil's folder is growing - 67.1MB 174 folders, 15 folders

Hmm, I notice there's a Updates expiration Date, mine is Sept 01, 2008 1:00

AM. wasn't that date (or close) mentioned in a discussion concerning AVG and

its proposed 9X support ending date.

--

MEB

________

December 17, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| Here's what that waiting update was:

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 7:33

|

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

|

| Server: download50.avast.com (207.44.246.86)

| Downloaded files: 12 (10,092.03 KB)

| Download time: 5:54

Here's what I just got...

Information about current update:

Total time: 15:00

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071215-0, updated version: 071216-0)

Server: download945.avast.com (74.54.130.82)

Downloaded files: 6 (2.36 KB)

Download time: 7 s

....I'm becoming a tad suspicious that the version number is always

today's date these days. It wasn't always like that...!...

Information about current update:

Total time: 7:58

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 000775-1, updated version: 000775-3)

Server: download937.avast.com (74.54.25.18)

Downloaded files: 5 (17.61 KB)

Download time: 9 s

....THAT one is from my full system backup partition, & the file

(Summary.txt) is dated 9/19/07. I had to get it from there, because

these files always overlay the previous one.

What do you think it means that my latest ones always seem to have

today's date as the definitions file version? Can it be I'm not really

getting definition updates at all, & that avast! wants me to take its

new version before it will give them? Although today's summary.txt does

say 6 files were downloaded, USUALLY I don't have to go searching for

that file. It used to be a summary would pop up for me to see after the

update was done. Now all I get is a green pop-up saying there is a new

avast! version for me to download! (All of my confirmations are checked

at "R-Clk avast!, Program Settings, Confirmations")

| Setup.log confirms the files,,

Well... yea, I think I see that too...

20:15:24 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121500.vpu

20:18:50 min/pkg vps: needs to be updated [7121600]

20:18:51 vrb/pkg FilterOutExistingFiles: 125 & 125 = 0

20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred files: 6

20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred bytes: 2418

20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transfer time: 6668 ms

I guess I'm OK, then. Still, I'll take the program update soon! Last

time it didn't go perfectly smoothly-- is why I hesitate!

| Awil's folder is growing - 67.1MB 174 folders, 15 folders

I've got...

76.4 MB, 208 files, 15 folders (All of Alwil Software)

25.7 MB, 40 files, 0 folders (Just the Skins folder, after

downloads)

| Hmm, I notice there's a Updates expiration Date, mine is Sept 01,

| 2008 1:00 AM. wasn't that date (or close) mentioned in a discussion

| concerning AVG and its proposed 9X support ending date.

Where do you see it? After a year, one must re-register to continue to

get the free updates-- can that be it?

I'll answer your first post shortly.

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 17, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

| MEB wrote:

| | Here's what that waiting update was:

| |

| | Information about current update:

| | Total time: 7:33

| |

| | - Vps: Updated

| | (previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

| |

| | Server: download50.avast.com (207.44.246.86)

| | Downloaded files: 12 (10,092.03 KB)

| | Download time: 5:54

|

| Here's what I just got...

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 15:00

|

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071215-0, updated version: 071216-0)

|

| Server: download945.avast.com (74.54.130.82)

| Downloaded files: 6 (2.36 KB)

| Download time: 7 s

|

| ...I'm becoming a tad suspicious that the version number is always

| today's date these days. It wasn't always like that...!...

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 7:58

|

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 000775-1, updated version: 000775-3)

|

| Server: download937.avast.com (74.54.25.18)

| Downloaded files: 5 (17.61 KB)

| Download time: 9 s

|

| ...THAT one is from my full system backup partition, & the file

| (Summary.txt) is dated 9/19/07. I had to get it from there, because

| these files always overlay the previous one.

|

| What do you think it means that my latest ones always seem to have

| today's date as the definitions file version? Can it be I'm not really

| getting definition updates at all, & that avast! wants me to take its

| new version before it will give them? Although today's summary.txt does

| say 6 files were downloaded, USUALLY I don't have to go searching for

| that file. It used to be a summary would pop up for me to see after the

| update was done. Now all I get is a green pop-up saying there is a new

| avast! version for me to download! (All of my confirmations are checked

| at "R-Clk avast!, Program Settings, Confirmations")

I'd say you're correct, the date is the date of download,, then again,

maybe they actually do write these files EVERYDAY,,,

As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they just may be

{or some of them} updates to non-important files,,, check in the directory

for all files from whatever date it was you supposedly *updated* your defs

with incrementals,, maybe you got the updated html help, a count down file,

and some other that might not be what you think they were, OR maybe it WAS

*re-compiled*... but this is a new program to me and I'm still going through

the motions of learning what files do what, what is actually used, etc...

so at present I can't really say for sure, and there's nothing worse than

posting mis-information. Still cross checking the debug outputs, the

montoring files, etc.. so I'm about to leave the discussion until I've

finished the tests, its drifted away from from what was asked, and the

preliminary updating comparison.

|

| | Setup.log confirms the files,,

|

| Well... yea, I think I see that too...

|

| 20:15:24 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121500.vpu

| 20:18:50 min/pkg vps: needs to be updated [7121600]

| 20:18:51 vrb/pkg FilterOutExistingFiles: 125 & 125 = 0

| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred files: 6

| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred bytes: 2418

| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transfer time: 6668 ms

|

| I guess I'm OK, then. Still, I'll take the program update soon! Last

| time it didn't go perfectly smoothly-- is why I hesitate!

Not necessarily, do a date search in the master folder and see what's

what... what six files did it update.

Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,, all I can say is if its a program

update, try this, run TUN first and check what's been done, and hope the

phone doesn't go dead or your NetZero connection doesn't decide you've been

on long enough [fresh connect and direct to download]...

I should warn that that first update I did [contained a program update] was

several groups of files which installed first AND a 10 meg file {and that

was what funks the install if it fails or is interrupted}... might want to

download the cleanup tool from Awil just in case ...

|

| | Awil's folder is growing - 67.1MB 174 folders, 15 folders

|

| I've got...

| 76.4 MB, 208 files, 15 folders (All of Alwil Software)

| 25.7 MB, 40 files, 0 folders (Just the Skins folder, after

| downloads)

|

| | Hmm, I notice there's a Updates expiration Date, mine is Sept 01,

| | 2008 1:00 AM. wasn't that date (or close) mentioned in a discussion

| | concerning AVG and its proposed 9X support ending date.

|

| Where do you see it? After a year, one must re-register to continue to

| get the free updates-- can that be it?

Oh yeah, I think I remember someone posted before that when you changed

from McAfee to AVAST, or maybe that was some other discussion... [i really

am getting to old to do this testing thing anymore] ...

About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a dead

giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key, and I don't think

that was the date I registered [when did I test it last time {scratches

head} still using that key only with a fresh downloaded install file

11-27-07 {when I started THIS group of tests}].

|

| I'll answer your first post shortly.

|

| | --

| | MEB

| | ________

|

| --

| Thanks or Good Luck,

| There may be humor in this post, and,

| Naturally, you will not sue,

| Should things get worse after this,

| PCR

| pcrrcp@netzero.net

|

--

MEB

________

December 18, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | Here's what that waiting update was:

|| |

|| | Information about current update:

|| | Total time: 7:33

|| |

|| | - Vps: Updated

|| | (previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

|| |

|| | Server: download50.avast.com (207.44.246.86)

|| | Downloaded files: 12 (10,092.03 KB)

|| | Download time: 5:54

||

|| Here's what I just got...

||

|| Information about current update:

|| Total time: 15:00

||

|| - Vps: Updated

|| (previous version: 071215-0, updated version: 071216-0)

||

|| Server: download945.avast.com (74.54.130.82)

|| Downloaded files: 6 (2.36 KB)

|| Download time: 7 s

||

|| ...I'm becoming a tad suspicious that the version number is always

|| today's date these days. It wasn't always like that...!...

||

|| Information about current update:

|| Total time: 7:58

||

|| - Vps: Updated

|| (previous version: 000775-1, updated version: 000775-3)

||

|| Server: download937.avast.com (74.54.25.18)

|| Downloaded files: 5 (17.61 KB)

|| Download time: 9 s

||

|| ...THAT one is from my full system backup partition, & the file

|| (Summary.txt) is dated 9/19/07. I had to get it from there, because

|| these files always overlay the previous one.

||

|| What do you think it means that my latest ones always seem to have

|| today's date as the definitions file version? Can it be I'm not

|| really getting definition updates at all, & that avast! wants me to

|| take its new version before it will give them? Although today's

|| summary.txt does say 6 files were downloaded, USUALLY I don't have

|| to go searching for that file. It used to be a summary would pop up

|| for me to see after the update was done. Now all I get is a green

|| pop-up saying there is a new avast! version for me to download! (All

|| of my confirmations are checked at "R-Clk avast!, Program Settings,

|| Confirmations")

|

| I'd say you're correct, the date is the date of download,, then

| again, maybe they actually do write these files EVERYDAY,,,

Now, looking at... "R-Clk avast! icon, avast! Log Viewer, Notice"..., I

see it seems to have changed on 10/25/07. That was the date that the

version definitions became the same number as the date.

ALSO, I see, on 12/8/07, I began to get the notice: "There is a new

version of the program available on the Internet." That is also the gist

of the green pop-up at the end of avast!'s auto-definitions update. From

that date onward (as I've said), there no longer has been a pop-up (or

even a notice in the Log Viewer) of the definitions update! However,

Summary.txt DOES get updated/replaced (as I've said)-- but you have to

go hunting for it!

| As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they just

| may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,, check in

| the directory for all files from whatever date it was you supposedly

| *updated* your defs with incrementals,, maybe you got the updated

| html help, a count down file, and some other that might not be what

| you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

AVAST4 DB 51,200 12-17-07 6:24p Avast4.db

400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

CLNR0 DLL 391,216 12-17-07 6:35p clnr0.dll

DLLCC0 DAT 219,192 12-17-07 6:35p dllcc0.dat

EXTS0 DLL 9,080 12-17-07 6:35p exts0.dll

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log

ASWMAISV LOG 0 12-17-07 6:23p aswMaiSv.log

AVCOMMEX TXT 20,916 12-17-07 6:24p AvCommEx.txt

SETUP LOG 1,783,192 12-17-07 6:35p Setup.log

NOTICE LOG 9,121 12-17-07 6:35p Notice.log

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup

SERVERS DEF 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def

SERVER~1 LKG 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.lkg

SERVER~1 VPU 2,124 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.vpu

PROD-A~1 VPU 631 12-17-07 8:56a prod-av_pro.vpu

PART-V~2 VPU 665 12-17-07 6:28p part-vps-7121700.vpu

VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

VPSM-7~1 VPU 133 12-17-07 6:31p vpsm-7121700.vpu

SETUP INI 1,286 12-17-07 6:35p setup.ini

SUMMARY TXT 230 12-17-07 6:35p summary.txt

SETUP LOG 1,288,383 12-17-07 6:35p setup.log

...., & here is today's Summary.txt...

Information about current update:

Total time: 7:29

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071216-0, updated version: 071217-0)

Server: download69.avast.com (70.86.65.194)

Downloaded files: 6 (29.16 KB)

Download time: 36 s

....It says 6 of the above were downloaded in (hmm) 36 seconds. It says

those 6 add up to 29.16 KB. So, it seems to be impossible one of those 6

was either of these...

400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

....Yet, those are the ones that most suspiciously sound like they are

the virus definitions! I'm thinking... some of the smaller files in the

above list were downloaded, & vps-7121700.vpu was an intermediate work

file (not downloaded) that led to the final update of 400.vps. But why

would 400.vps be smaller?

Looking in Setup.log, I see these lines (maybe thrice) early in today's

additions...

18:27:19 vrb/pkg Part prg_av_pro-413 is installed

18:27:19 vrb/pkg Part vps-7121600 is installed

18:27:19 vrb/pkg Part news-4b is installed

18:27:19 vrb/pkg Part setup_av_pro-413 is installed

18:27:19 vrb/pkg Part jrog-16 is installed

...., probably stating what already was there. And, later in the .log, I

see...

18:28:34 vrb/pkg Part vps-7121700 was set to be installed

18:28:34 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file part-vps-7121600.vpu

....snip...

18:29:09 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121700-7121600.vpu, returned 0x00000000

18:31:18 vrb/pkg Diff ok, created: vps-7121700.vpu

....snip...

18:31:19 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vpsm-7121700.vpu, returned 0x00000000

18:31:19 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121600.vpu

18:33:18 min/pkg vps: needs to be updated [7121700]

....snip...

18:33:24 vrb/pkg Part prg_av_pro-413 is installed

18:33:24 vrb/pkg Part vps-7121700 is installed

18:33:24 vrb/pkg Part news-4b is installed

18:33:24 vrb/pkg Part setup_av_pro-413 is installed

18:33:24 vrb/pkg Part jrog-16 is installed

...., & those last five lines are repeated again later in the .log.

SO... I guess I DID get updated, all right! STILL, I swear soon I will

update the program! (Also, soon I will answer that other post of yours I

left hanging.)

|... but this is a

| new program to me and I'm still going through the motions of learning

| what files do what, what is actually used, etc... so at present I

| can't really say for sure, and there's nothing worse than posting

| mis-information.

Absolutely! That is why I also hesitate to draw too many conclusions!

| Still cross checking the debug outputs, the

| montoring files, etc.. so I'm about to leave the discussion until

| I've finished the tests, its drifted away from from what was asked,

| and the preliminary updating comparison.

All right. I'll continue to think on it, myself. Also, I have yet to

take the new program version.

||

|| | Setup.log confirms the files,,

||

|| Well... yea, I think I see that too...

||

|| 20:15:24 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121500.vpu

|| 20:18:50 min/pkg vps: needs to be updated [7121600]

|| 20:18:51 vrb/pkg FilterOutExistingFiles: 125 & 125 = 0

|| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred files: 6

|| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred bytes: 2418

|| 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transfer time: 6668 ms

||

|| I guess I'm OK, then. Still, I'll take the program update soon! Last

|| time it didn't go perfectly smoothly-- is why I hesitate!

|

| Not necessarily, do a date search in the master folder and see what's

| what... what six files did it update.

A lot of files (19) got today's date-- more than the number (6)

mentioned in Summary.txt. Also, Setup.log seems to indicate only 2

actual downloads were done. But-- it does look like an update to

definitions did take place, yea.

| Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,, all I can say is if its a

| program update, try this, run TUN first and check what's been done,

| and hope the phone doesn't go dead or your NetZero connection doesn't

| decide you've been on long enough [fresh connect and direct to

| download]... I should warn that that first update I did [contained a

| program update] was several groups of files which installed first AND

| a 10 meg file {and that was what funks the install if it fails or is

| interrupted}... might want to download the cleanup tool from Awil

| just in case ...

I intend to do a full system backup-- before updating avast! this time!

Last time, I had serious E-Mail problems afterwards! But I'm not

positive it was entirely avast!'s fault, really. Yet, I think the

solution had to do with an avast! setting. I THINK the solution was to

restore avast!'s number sign (#) in the Account Name(s) in the following

OE settings (as modified automatically by avast!, after selecting to

enable the Internet Mail Provider, I think)...

"OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, msnews.microsoft.com, Properties

button"

General tab...

1. News Account: msnews.microsoft.com

2. Name: PCR

3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Checked

Server tab...

1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

2. This server requires me to log on: Checked

3. Account name: #msnews.microsoft.com

4. Password: Blank.

5. Remember password: Checked.

6. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

Connection tab...

1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

Advanced tab...

1. News (NNTP): 119.

2. Use newsgroup descriptions: Checked.

4. All other boxes: Unchecked.

"OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, terabyteunlimited.com, Properties

button"

General tab...

1. News Account: terabyteunlimited.com

2. Name: PCR

3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Checked

Server tab...

1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

2. Account name: #terabyteunlimited.com:1198

3. No password.

4. Remember password: Checked.

5. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

Connection tab...

1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

Advanced tab...

1. News (NNTP): 119.

2. All boxes are unchecked.

WARNING: When playing with those OE settings, it is very important to

close & re-open OE afterwards. That's the other thing that could have

further mussed me!

Another thing I remember about that last program update was that I

didn't immediately reboot afterwards. Instead, I continued my OE

activity, which continued to work. It was only the next day after a

fresh reboot that I suffered severe E-Mail & Newsgroup problems--

nothing would post! I just got error messages! (IE did continue to work,

though.)

||

|| | Awil's folder is growing - 67.1MB 174 folders, 15 folders

||

|| I've got...

|| 76.4 MB, 208 files, 15 folders (All of Alwil Software)

|| 25.7 MB, 40 files, 0 folders (Just the Skins folder, after

|| downloads)

||

|| | Hmm, I notice there's a Updates expiration Date, mine is Sept 01,

|| | 2008 1:00 AM. wasn't that date (or close) mentioned in a discussion

|| | concerning AVG and its proposed 9X support ending date.

||

|| Where do you see it? After a year, one must re-register to continue

|| to get the free updates-- can that be it?

|

| Oh yeah, I think I remember someone posted before that when you

| changed from McAfee to AVAST, or maybe that was some other

| discussion... [i really am getting to old to do this testing thing

| anymore] ...

I've gone past the halfway point, myself.

| About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a dead

| giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key, and I don't

| think that was the date I registered [when did I test it last time

| {scratches head} still using that key only with a fresh downloaded

| install file 11-27-07 {when I started THIS group of tests}].

I'm showing...

Type: Home

Expiration: Never

Updates expiration: Monday, September 01, 2008 01:00:00 AM

Right, someone said, &/or I read somewhere, the program will continue to

work with the old defs-- but you don't get new ones until you

re-register after that expiration date.

Avast4.7.1001_Setupeng.exe (my raw download) is dated 6/19/07. All of my

Alwil folders have a date of 6/23/07. I guess that could be the date of

my initial install. The overwhelming majority of avast!'s 71 .dlls &

..exes are dated 9/6/07. Sounds like that could be the date of my first

program update, I guess.

But, I believe one of the things I tried to cure that E-Mail problem was

a complete un/re-install of avast! I'm not sure how that figures into

it. And I'm not sure, but possibly I re-registered then.

Hmm, the first line in Setup.log is...

12:51:36 min/gen Started: 23.06.2007, 12:51:36

And the date of my "Avast! in! McAfee out!" thread is 6/29/07. That's

definitely near the date of my initial install!

||

|| I'll answer your first post shortly.

Yep-- I will!

|| | --

|| | MEB

|| | ________

||

|| --

|| Thanks or Good Luck,

|| There may be humor in this post, and,

|| Naturally, you will not sue,

|| Should things get worse after this,

|| PCR

|| pcrrcp@netzero.net

||

|

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 18, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

| MEB wrote:

| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

| || MEB wrote:

| || | Here's what that waiting update was:

| || |

| || | Information about current update:

| || | Total time: 7:33

| || |

| || | - Vps: Updated

| || | (previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

| || |

[cut]

| || What do you think it means that my latest ones always seem to have

| || today's date as the definitions file version? Can it be I'm not

| || really getting definition updates at all, & that avast! wants me to

| || take its new version before it will give them? Although today's

| || summary.txt does say 6 files were downloaded, USUALLY I don't have

| || to go searching for that file. It used to be a summary would pop up

| || for me to see after the update was done. Now all I get is a green

| || pop-up saying there is a new avast! version for me to download! (All

| || of my confirmations are checked at "R-Clk avast!, Program Settings,

| || Confirmations")

| |

| | I'd say you're correct, the date is the date of download,, then

| | again, maybe they actually do write these files EVERYDAY,,,

|

| Now, looking at... "R-Clk avast! icon, avast! Log Viewer, Notice"..., I

| see it seems to have changed on 10/25/07. That was the date that the

| version definitions became the same number as the date.

|

| ALSO, I see, on 12/8/07, I began to get the notice: "There is a new

| version of the program available on the Internet." That is also the gist

| of the green pop-up at the end of avast!'s auto-definitions update. From

| that date onward (as I've said), there no longer has been a pop-up (or

| even a notice in the Log Viewer) of the definitions update! However,

| Summary.txt DOES get updated/replaced (as I've said)-- but you have to

| go hunting for it!

Well, I also took an update on the 17th,, and it WASN't a 10 meg so maybe

it now has all the supposed updates.

|

| | As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they just

| | may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,,

| that might not be what

| | you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

|

| Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

[cut]|

Here's my 17th updates, you know the location:

400.vps 10030KB

clnr0.dll 283KB

dllcc0.dat 216KB

exts0.dll 9KB

resident protection.txt 12KB

aswMaiSV.log 0KB [its now turned off]

aswMaiSV.ori 1KB

Info.log 140KB

Debug.log 3322KB

summary.txt 1KB

vpsm-7121600.vpu 1KB

part-vps-7121600.vpu 1KB

setup.ini 2KB

setup.log 257KB

vps-7121600.vpu 10030KB

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 7:29

|

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071216-0, updated version: 071217-0)

|

| Server: download69.avast.com (70.86.65.194)

| Downloaded files: 6 (29.16 KB)

| Download time: 36 s

|

| ...It says 6 of the above were downloaded in (hmm) 36 seconds. It says

| those 6 add up to 29.16 KB. So, it seems to be impossible one of those 6

| was either of these...

|

| 400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

Mine is 10,270,639

| VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

Mine is 10,270,322

Here's my summary:

Information about current update:

Total time: 1:05

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071215-0, updated version: 071216-0)

Server: download207.avast.com (75.126.130.174)

Downloaded files: 6 (2.97 KB)

Download time: 14 s

Note even though the files were updated the 17th, the download STARTED on

the 16th [midnight].

Here's the early morning [3:32] 18th:

Information about current update:

Total time: 1:21

- Program: Already up to date

(current version 4.7.1098)

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071216-0, updated version: 071217-0)

Server: download60.avast.com (207.44.242.60)

Downloaded files: 7 (31.84 KB)

Download time: 28 s

And a second check:

Information about current update:

Total time: 38 s

- Program: Already up to date

(current version 4.7.1098)

- Vps: Already up to date

(current version 071217-0)

Server: download70.avast.com (70.84.48.178)

Downloaded files: 2 (0.02 KB)

Download time: 8 s

The same files are now changed to the 18th with:

400.vps 10278543KB

vps-7121700.vpu 10278117KB

So those files now match but my file NAME date is yesterday, downloaded

today but before they updated their files on the server.

|

| ...Yet, those are the ones that most suspiciously sound like they are

| the virus definitions! I'm thinking... some of the smaller files in the

| above list were downloaded, & vps-7121700.vpu was an intermediate work

| file (not downloaded) that led to the final update of 400.vps. But why

| would 400.vps be smaller?

Why smaller perhaps an AVAST guru will answer, likely not .... something

removed perhaps

|

| Looking in Setup.log, I see these lines (maybe thrice) early in today's

| additions...

|

| SO... I guess I DID get updated, all right! STILL, I swear soon I will

| update the program! (Also, soon I will answer that other post of yours I

| left hanging.)

|

| |... but this is a

| | new program to me and I'm still going through the motions of learning

| | what files do what, what is actually used, etc... so at present I

| | can't really say for sure, and there's nothing worse than posting

| | mis-information.

|

| Absolutely! That is why I also hesitate to draw too many conclusions!

|

| ||

| || | Setup.log confirms the files,,

| ||

| || Well... yea, I think I see that too...

| ||

| || 20:15:24 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121500.vpu

| || 20:18:50 min/pkg vps: needs to be updated [7121600]

| || 20:18:51 vrb/pkg FilterOutExistingFiles: 125 & 125 = 0

| || 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred files: 6

| || 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transferred bytes: 2418

| || 20:18:52 nrm/pkg Transfer time: 6668 ms

| ||

| || I guess I'm OK, then. Still, I'll take the program update soon! Last

| || time it didn't go perfectly smoothly-- is why I hesitate!

| |

| | Not necessarily, do a date search in the master folder and see what's

| | what... what six files did it update.

|

| A lot of files (19) got today's date-- more than the number (6)

| mentioned in Summary.txt. Also, Setup.log seems to indicate only 2

| actual downloads were done. But-- it does look like an update to

| definitions did take place, yea.

Maybe, mine are newer, from a newer install and program, other files have

likely changed [or one would hope so]....

|

| | Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,,

[cut]

|

| I intend to do a full system backup-- before updating avast! this time!

| Last time, I had serious E-Mail problems afterwards! But I'm not

| positive it was entirely avast!'s fault, really. Yet, I think the

| solution had to do with an avast! setting. I THINK the solution was to

| restore avast!'s number sign (#) in the Account Name(s) in the following

| OE settings (as modified automatically by avast!, after selecting to

| enable the Internet Mail Provider, I think)...

|

| "OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, msnews.microsoft.com, Properties

| button"

|

| General tab...

| 1. News Account: msnews.microsoft.com

| 2. Name: PCR

| 3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

| 4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Checked

|

| Server tab...

| 1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

| 2. This server requires me to log on: Checked

| 3. Account name: #msnews.microsoft.com

| 4. Password: Blank.

| 5. Remember password: Checked.

| 6. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

|

| Connection tab...

| 1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

|

| Advanced tab...

| 1. News (NNTP): 119.

| 2. Use newsgroup descriptions: Checked.

| 4. All other boxes: Unchecked.

|

| "OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, terabyteunlimited.com, Properties

| button"

|

| General tab...

| 1. News Account: terabyteunlimited.com

| 2. Name: PCR

| 3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

| 4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Checked

|

| Server tab...

| 1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

| 2. Account name: #terabyteunlimited.com:1198

| 3. No password.

| 4. Remember password: Checked.

| 5. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

|

| Connection tab...

| 1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

|

| Advanced tab...

| 1. News (NNTP): 119.

| 2. All boxes are unchecked.

|

| WARNING: When playing with those OE settings, it is very important to

| close & re-open OE afterwards. That's the other thing that could have

| further mussed me!

|

| Another thing I remember about that last program update was that I

| didn't immediately reboot afterwards. Instead, I continued my OE

| activity, which continued to work. It was only the next day after a

| fresh reboot that I suffered severe E-Mail & Newsgroup problems--

| nothing would post! I just got error messages! (IE did continue to work,

| though.)

Good information, I left it.

|

| ||

| || | Awil's folder is growing - 67.1MB 174 folders, 15 folders

| ||

| || I've got...

| || 76.4 MB, 208 files, 15 folders (All of Alwil Software)

| || 25.7 MB, 40 files, 0 folders (Just the Skins folder, after

| || downloads)

| ||

| || | Hmm, I notice there's a Updates expiration Date, mine is Sept 01,

| || | 2008 1:00 AM. wasn't that date (or close) mentioned in a discussion

| || | concerning AVG and its proposed 9X support ending date.

| ||

| || Where do you see it? After a year, one must re-register to continue

| || to get the free updates-- can that be it?

| |

| | Oh yeah, I think I remember someone posted before that when you

| | changed from McAfee to AVAST, or maybe that was some other

| | discussion... [i really am getting to old to do this testing thing

| | anymore] ...

|

| I've gone past the halfway point, myself.

|

| | About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a dead

| | giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key, and I don't

| | think that was the date I registered [when did I test it last time

| | {scratches head} still using that key only with a fresh downloaded

| | install file 11-27-07 {when I started THIS group of tests}].

|

| I'm showing...

|

| Type: Home

| Expiration: Never

| Updates expiration: Monday, September 01, 2008 01:00:00 AM

So both yours AND mine expire on the same date, or at least the Updates do

.... even though we did NOT register anywhere near each others date ...

|

| Right, someone said, &/or I read somewhere, the program will continue to

| work with the old defs-- but you don't get new ones until you

| re-register after that expiration date.

|

| Avast4.7.1001_Setupeng.exe (my raw download) is dated 6/19/07. All of my

| Alwil folders have a date of 6/23/07. I guess that could be the date of

| my initial install. The overwhelming majority of avast!'s 71 .dlls &

| .exes are dated 9/6/07. Sounds like that could be the date of my first

| program update, I guess.

Most of mine are 12/04/07 and the installer was from 11-27-07, seems your

program update is going to change dang near everything [don't say I didn't

warn you].

I have two folders [main and setup] from the original test 11-28-07, but

the other folders are this test 12-03-07.

So the folders are 12-03-07 and most files are 12-04-07, looking at

Setup.log, - Started: 03.12.2007, 11:52:46.

The most changed files [differing dates] appear in the Setup folder [helps

explains the corruption issues and inability to repair] and data. Let me

know what date your files change to [if you do the program update soon,

before another program change]

Best make sure you have that backup ready .... think I'll steal part of

your tagline, seems appropriate: Good Luck

|

| But, I believe one of the things I tried to cure that E-Mail problem was

| a complete un/re-install of avast! I'm not sure how that figures into

| it. And I'm not sure, but possibly I re-registered then.

|

| Hmm, the first line in Setup.log is...

|

| 12:51:36 min/gen Started: 23.06.2007, 12:51:36

|

| And the date of my "Avast! in! McAfee out!" thread is 6/29/07. That's

| definitely near the date of my initial install!

|

| ||

| || I'll answer your first post shortly.

|

| Yep-- I will!

|

| || | --

| || | MEB

| || --

| || PCR

| | --

| | MEB

| | ________

| --

| PCR

|

--

MEB

________

December 19, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

Uhuh. We tend to get wordy. Hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of

something, though. I'm going to split this post, because it has at least

two separate sub-plots.

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| || MEB wrote:

|| || | Here's what that waiting update was:

|| || |

|| || | Information about current update:

|| || | Total time: 7:33

|| || |

|| || | - Vps: Updated

|| || | (previous version: 071206-0, updated version: 071215-0)

Now I see you skipped 8 days before updating defs that time. But I think

avast! must have got it right & gave you all of the incrementals. It

would be too big a flaw otherwise! Well...

Do you see mention of, for instance, 7121300 in your Setup.log?

What about 7121400? (I'm actually missing this one!)

I never went online on 10/26. Setup.log on 10/27 nevertheless shows it

took 10/26's incremental & then took one for 10/27...

17:00:40 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7102600-7102500.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:04:37 vrb/pkg Diff ok, created: vps-7102600.vpu

17:04:38 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7102700-7102600.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:08:41 vrb/pkg Diff ok, created: vps-7102700.vpu

17:08:41 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7102501.vpu

....I also never went online on 12/14-- but Setup.log of 12/15 seems NOT

to mention 7121400 at all! Can it be there was no incremental for 12/14?

My .log for that date doesn't even seem to generate a "Diff"...!...

17:58:01 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121500.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:58:02 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vpsm-7121500.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:58:02 vrb/pkg Removed obsolete file vpsm-7121000.vpu

....That seems odd also that the obsolete file deleted is of 12/10!

However...

(a) I never went online on 12/11.

(b) On 12/13, it looks like NetZero may have disconnected

mid-update. Some "Difs" were generated...

17:54:07 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121100-7121000.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:56:40 vrb/pkg Diff ok, created: vps-7121100.vpu

17:56:41 nrm/pkg DldPackage: C:\Program Files\Alwil

Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121200-7121100.vpu, returned 0x00000000

17:58:06 vrb/pkg Diff ok, created: vps-7121200.vpu

....But avast! quit trying after 159 tries for the 3rd...!...

18:03:49 min/int tried 159 servers to get file

'vps-7121300-7121200.vpu', but failed (0x20000004)

18:03:49 min/pkg ERROR: Diff vps-7121300-7121200 failed

SO... the 12/10 file would be the last one created. (I'm really not sure

of anything from 12/11 to 12/14, actually!)

....snip

|| ALSO, I see, on 12/8/07, I began to get the notice: "There is a new

|| version of the program available on the Internet." That is also the

|| gist of the green pop-up at the end of avast!'s auto-definitions

|| update. From that date onward (as I've said), there no longer has

|| been a pop-up (or even a notice in the Log Viewer) of the

|| definitions update! However, Summary.txt DOES get updated/replaced

|| (as I've said)-- but you have to go hunting for it!

|

| Well, I also took an update on the 17th,, and it WASN't a 10 meg so

| maybe it now has all the supposed updates.

Yea. Looks like avast! does as advertised & takes incrementals only.

HOWEVER, I believe I am missing the one for 12/14 (at least)-- & once

missed it NEVER will be checked for again, looks like! To get it, I

guess I would have to cause avast! to believe my last update was earlier

than that date! For some reason, it didn't seem to come in on 12/15 with

12/15's incremental!

....snip

| Here's the early morning [3:32] 18th:

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 1:21

|

| - Program: Already up to date

| (current version 4.7.1098)

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071216-0, updated version: 071217-0)

|

| Server: download60.avast.com (207.44.242.60)

| Downloaded files: 7 (31.84 KB)

| Download time: 28 s

|

....snip

| The same files are now changed to the 18th with:

|

| 400.vps 10278543KB

| vps-7121700.vpu 10278117KB

Ah! These are your 12/17 files (although got on the 18th.) What were

mine again...?...

400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

We were the same size updated to 12/17! What do you think of that? Can

it be we both actually are getting all the definition updates-- despite

the tribulations in my Setup.log?

| So those files now match but my file NAME date is yesterday,

| downloaded today but before they updated their files on the server.

That sounds like a plausible explanation for why you seem to get

yesterday's files today. I will log on soon & try for the 12/19 update

at about 2:00 AM. Currently, I am...

400 VPS 10,285,760 12-18-07 7:36p 400.vps

VPS-71~3 VPU 10,285,422 12-18-07 7:01p vps-7121800.vpu

....snip... rest will be answered in a second post.

|

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 19, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

PCR wrote:

| MEB wrote:

....snip

|| So those files now match but my file NAME date is yesterday,

|| downloaded today but before they updated their files on the server.

|

| That sounds like a plausible explanation for why you seem to get

| yesterday's files today. I will log on soon & try for the 12/19 update

| at about 2:00 AM. Currently, I am...

|

| 400 VPS 10,285,760 12-18-07 7:36p 400.vps

| VPS-71~3 VPU 10,285,422 12-18-07 7:01p vps-7121800.vpu

Right. At 1:58 AM 12/19, the 12/19 incremental is unavailable...

Information about current update:

Total time: 6:08

- Vps: Already up to date

(current version 071218-0)

Server: download925.avast.com (74.86.125.37)

Downloaded files: 3 (0.03 KB)

Download time: 4 s

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 19, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

|

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| || MEB wrote:

....snip

|| | As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they

|| | just may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,,

|| that might not be what

|| | you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

||

|| Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

|

| [cut]|

|

| Here's my 17th updates, you know the location:

|

| 400.vps 10030KB

| clnr0.dll 283KB

| dllcc0.dat 216KB

| exts0.dll 9KB

| resident protection.txt 12KB

| aswMaiSV.log 0KB [its now turned off]

| aswMaiSV.ori 1KB

| Info.log 140KB

| Debug.log 3322KB

| summary.txt 1KB

| vpsm-7121600.vpu 1KB

| part-vps-7121600.vpu 1KB

| setup.ini 2KB

| setup.log 257KB

| vps-7121600.vpu 10030KB

I had more files...

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

AVAST4 DB 51,200 12-17-07 6:24p Avast4.db

400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

CLNR0 DLL 391,216 12-17-07 6:35p clnr0.dll

DLLCC0 DAT 219,192 12-17-07 6:35p dllcc0.dat

EXTS0 DLL 9,080 12-17-07 6:35p exts0.dll

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log

ASWMAISV LOG 0 12-17-07 6:23p aswMaiSv.log

AVCOMMEX TXT 20,916 12-17-07 6:24p AvCommEx.txt

SETUP LOG 1,783,192 12-17-07 6:35p Setup.log

NOTICE LOG 9,121 12-17-07 6:35p Notice.log

Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup

SERVERS DEF 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def

SERVER~1 LKG 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.lkg

SERVER~1 VPU 2,124 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.vpu

PROD-A~1 VPU 631 12-17-07 8:56a prod-av_pro.vpu

PART-V~2 VPU 665 12-17-07 6:28p part-vps-7121700.vpu

VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

VPSM-7~1 VPU 133 12-17-07 6:31p vpsm-7121700.vpu

SETUP INI 1,286 12-17-07 6:35p setup.ini

SUMMARY TXT 230 12-17-07 6:35p summary.txt

SETUP LOG 1,288,383 12-17-07 6:35p setup.log

You seem to lack Avast4.db, AvCommEx.txt, Notice.log, servers.def,

servers.def.lkg, servers.def.vpu, & prod-av_pro.vpu.

I seem to lack resident protection.txt, aswMaiSV.ori, Info.log, &

Debug.log.

But many files are already changed at boot after the memory check. I'll

have to track my next update of defs with InCtrl5 to see which files

really are different after just that. Settings differences might account

for why we differ otherwise.

....snip

|| ...Yet, those are the ones that most suspiciously sound like they are

|| the virus definitions! I'm thinking... some of the smaller files in

|| the above list were downloaded, & vps-7121700.vpu was an

|| intermediate work file (not downloaded) that led to the final update

|| of 400.vps. But why would 400.vps be smaller?

|

| Why smaller perhaps an AVAST guru will answer, likely not ....

| something removed perhaps

I'm thinking... it's possible vps-7121700.vpu is actually the updated

definitions file, & the smaller 400.vps might be the previous/backup

file. Maybe that's it. An InCtrl5 report might give a better picture.

....snip

|| A lot of files (19) got today's date-- more than the number (6)

|| mentioned in Summary.txt. Also, Setup.log seems to indicate only 2

|| actual downloads were done. But-- it does look like an update to

|| definitions did take place, yea.

|

| Maybe, mine are newer, from a newer install and program, other files

| have likely changed [or one would hope so]....

That's a possibility. Also, perhaps we have settings differences.

||

|| | Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,,

|

| [cut]

|

||

|| I intend to do a full system backup-- before updating avast! this

|| time! Last time, I had serious E-Mail problems afterwards! But I'm

|| not positive it was entirely avast!'s fault, really. Yet, I think the

|| solution had to do with an avast! setting. I THINK the solution was

|| to restore avast!'s number sign (#) in the Account Name(s) in the

|| following OE settings (as modified automatically by avast!, after

|| selecting to enable the Internet Mail Provider, I think)...

||

|| "OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, msnews.microsoft.com, Properties

|| button"

||

|| General tab...

|| 1. News Account: msnews.microsoft.com

|| 2. Name: PCR

|| 3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

|| 4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Checked

||

|| Server tab...

|| 1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

|| 2. This server requires me to log on: Checked

|| 3. Account name: #msnews.microsoft.com

|| 4. Password: Blank.

|| 5. Remember password: Checked.

|| 6. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

||

|| Connection tab...

|| 1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

||

|| Advanced tab...

|| 1. News (NNTP): 119.

|| 2. Use newsgroup descriptions: Checked.

|| 4. All other boxes: Unchecked.

||

|| "OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, terabyteunlimited.com,

|| Properties button"

||

|| General tab...

|| 1. News Account: terabyteunlimited.com

|| 2. Name: PCR

|| 3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

|| 4. Include this account when checking for new messages:

|| Checked

||

|| Server tab...

|| 1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

|| 2. Account name: #terabyteunlimited.com:1198

|| 3. No password.

|| 4. Remember password: Checked.

|| 5. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

||

|| Connection tab...

|| 1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

||

|| Advanced tab...

|| 1. News (NNTP): 119.

|| 2. All boxes are unchecked.

||

|| WARNING: When playing with those OE settings, it is very important

|| to close & re-open OE afterwards. That's the other thing that could

|| have further mussed me!

||

|| Another thing I remember about that last program update was that I

|| didn't immediately reboot afterwards. Instead, I continued my OE

|| activity, which continued to work. It was only the next day after a

|| fresh reboot that I suffered severe E-Mail & Newsgroup problems--

|| nothing would post! I just got error messages! (IE did continue to

|| work, though.)

|

| Good information, I left it.

Soon, I will take the program update & see whether any of that happens

again!

....snip... will post a 3rd for the rest...

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 19, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

|

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| || MEB wrote:

....snip

|| | About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a dead

|| | giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key, and I

|| | don't think that was the date I registered [when did I test it

|| | last time {scratches head} still using that key only with a fresh

|| | downloaded install file 11-27-07 {when I started THIS group of

|| | tests}].

||

|| I'm showing...

||

|| Type: Home

|| Expiration: Never

|| Updates expiration: Monday, September 01, 2008 01:00:00 AM

|

| So both yours AND mine expire on the same date, or at least the

| Updates do ... even though we did NOT register anywhere near each

| others date ...

That's interesting. But I can't recall whether mine was always that same

date or whether I re-registered after taking the 1st program update--

which, for me, involved an un/re-install of avast! (as I think I recall

I did).

||

|| Right, someone said, &/or I read somewhere, the program will

|| continue to work with the old defs-- but you don't get new ones

|| until you re-register after that expiration date.

||

|| Avast4.7.1001_Setupeng.exe (my raw download) is dated 6/19/07. All

|| of my Alwil folders have a date of 6/23/07. I guess that could be

|| the date of my initial install. The overwhelming majority of

|| avast!'s 71 .dlls & .exes are dated 9/6/07. Sounds like that could

|| be the date of my first program update, I guess.

|

| Most of mine are 12/04/07 and the installer was from 11-27-07,

| seems your program update is going to change dang near everything

| [don't say I didn't warn you].

I won't mind those dates changing. It's the least of my fears! Yea, that

makes sense that the .dll's & .exe's would get new dates.

| I have two folders [main and setup] from the original test

| 11-28-07, but the other folders are this test 12-03-07.

| So the folders are 12-03-07 and most files are 12-04-07,

That's interesting that your folders aren't all the same date. For a

folder's date to change, it has to be deleted & re-created or moved from

one location to another. I guess this new program update might do that.

I'll report my result as soon as I do it.

| looking at

| Setup.log, - Started: 03.12.2007, 11:52:46.

That's the day you first installed avast! & it would be the original

date of all avast!'s folders-- like mine is. Yours had to be moved or

deleted/replaced to change. All of mine currently are unchanged.

| The most changed files [differing dates] appear in the Setup folder

| [helps explains the corruption issues and inability to repair] and

| data. Let me know what date your files change to [if you do the

| program update soon, before another program change]

Yes, I will soon-- almost did it today! I see what you're saying. The

chances are slim anything could repair a failed program update, if only

some of the files have been downloaded. It would have to be begun again

from the start.

| Best make sure you have that backup ready .... think I'll steal part

| of your tagline, seems appropriate: Good Luck

Yep.

December 20, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:uHOmpohQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

| MEB wrote:

| | Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

| |

| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| | news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

| || MEB wrote:

| || | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| || | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

| || || MEB wrote:

|

| ...snip

| || | As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they

| || | just may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,,

| || that might not be what

| || | you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

| ||

| || Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

| |

| | [cut]|

| |

| | Here's my 17th updates, you know the location:

| |

| | 400.vps 10030KB

| | clnr0.dll 283KB

| | dllcc0.dat 216KB

| | exts0.dll 9KB

| | resident protection.txt 12KB

| | aswMaiSV.log 0KB [its now turned off]

| | aswMaiSV.ori 1KB

| | Info.log 140KB

| | Debug.log 3322KB

| | summary.txt 1KB

| | vpsm-7121600.vpu 1KB

| | part-vps-7121600.vpu 1KB

| | setup.ini 2KB

| | setup.log 257KB

| | vps-7121600.vpu 10030KB

|

| I had more files...

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

| AVAST4 DB 51,200 12-17-07 6:24p Avast4.db

| 400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

| CLNR0 DLL 391,216 12-17-07 6:35p clnr0.dll

| DLLCC0 DAT 219,192 12-17-07 6:35p dllcc0.dat

| EXTS0 DLL 9,080 12-17-07 6:35p exts0.dll

What you may find is some of those files will be deleted. Mention is made

in the Help or somewhere, that certain files have been replaced in the *new*

version.

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log

| ASWMAISV LOG 0 12-17-07 6:23p aswMaiSv.log

| AVCOMMEX TXT 20,916 12-17-07 6:24p AvCommEx.txt

| SETUP LOG 1,783,192 12-17-07 6:35p Setup.log

| NOTICE LOG 9,121 12-17-07 6:35p Notice.log

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup

| SERVERS DEF 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def

| SERVER~1 LKG 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.lkg

| SERVER~1 VPU 2,124 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.vpu

| PROD-A~1 VPU 631 12-17-07 8:56a prod-av_pro.vpu

| PART-V~2 VPU 665 12-17-07 6:28p part-vps-7121700.vpu

| VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

| VPSM-7~1 VPU 133 12-17-07 6:31p vpsm-7121700.vpu

| SETUP INI 1,286 12-17-07 6:35p setup.ini

| SUMMARY TXT 230 12-17-07 6:35p summary.txt

| SETUP LOG 1,288,383 12-17-07 6:35p setup.log

|

| You seem to lack Avast4.db, AvCommEx.txt, Notice.log, servers.def,

| servers.def.lkg, servers.def.vpu, & prod-av_pro.vpu.

|

| I seem to lack resident protection.txt, aswMaiSV.ori, Info.log, &

| Debug.log.

|

| But many files are already changed at boot after the memory check. I'll

| have to track my next update of defs with InCtrl5 to see which files

| really are different after just that. Settings differences might account

| for why we differ otherwise.

I'm sure you noted in the setup.log that some files are updated after boot

EVEN THOUGH the command line contains /noreboot.

|

| ...snip

| | Why smaller perhaps an AVAST guru will answer, likely not ....

| | something removed perhaps

|

| I'm thinking... it's possible vps-7121700.vpu is actually the updated

| definitions file, & the smaller 400.vps might be the previous/backup

| file. Maybe that's it. An InCtrl5 report might give a better picture.

Actually, monitoring file and registry activity would give better results,

but then as I said before, this discussion is WAY beyond the original intent

of the discussion.

Be happy your defs are the same [though how they're used may be somewhat

different].

|

| ...snip

| || A lot of files (19) got today's date-- more than the number (6)

| || mentioned in Summary.txt. Also, Setup.log seems to indicate only 2

| || actual downloads were done. But-- it does look like an update to

| || definitions did take place, yea.

| |

| | Maybe, mine are newer, from a newer install and program, other files

| | have likely changed [or one would hope so]....

|

| That's a possibility. Also, perhaps we have settings differences.

I'm sure we do, the debug file is BECAUSE I am doing debug monitoring, and

other files are created for other activity you are likely NOT configured

for.

But, until your program update, there will be no way to check the standard

files in the base directory. There has to be SOMETHING beyond just setup

files changed during the program udate [and there is, wait til you look at

the log....].

ANYWAY, here's a small comparison:

12-18-07

Information about current update:

Total time: 1:12

- Program: Already up to date

(current version 4.7.1098)

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071217-0, updated version: 071218-0)

Server: download901.avast.com (209.62.112.130)

Downloaded files: 6 (18.09 KB)

Download time: 19 s

Files Updated by date and time [actual downloaded update]

12/18/07 10:15 PM

400.vps 10285760 bytes

(prior 17th 10278543 bytes

(prior 16th) 10270639 bytes

clnr0.dll 391216 bytes

dllcc0.dat 219192 bytes

exts0.dll 9080 bytes

Setup.log 498671 bytes

summary.txt 1kb

part-vps-7121800.vpu 1kb

setup.ini 2kb

vpsm-7121800.vpu 1kb

setup.log 369909 bytes

vps-7121800 10285422 bytes

(prior 17th) 10278117 bytes

(prior 16th) 10270322 bytes

I may stop this part of the test, as video anomalies, user.exe, and other

errors and lockups are becoming overwhelming in this non-standard [several

un-official updates] 98SE setup [even had to repair install IE]. AVG had

relatively few, but this isn't going very well with AVAST. Heck, I can't

play a game or even run a full scan without a lockup. I'm ready to say this

configuration is a failure running AVAST.

I think maybe I'll start with an official version, install AVAST, and work

through the un-official updates and see where it breaks. Then again, maybe I

will just stop testing and go back to a system I can ENJOY without having

all the difficulties and wasting so much time on records and monitoring.

So when this fresh install starts I may be gone for awhile [everybody say

YEA] because these really are FRESH installs from the MS CD not a clone, as

I also re-check what Microsoft is still offering on the updates site.

|

| ||

| || | Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,,

| |

| | [cut]

| |

|

| Soon, I will take the program update & see whether any of that happens

| again!

|

| ...snip... will post a 3rd for the rest...

| | --

| | MEB

| | ________

|

| --

| PCR

--

MEB

________

December 20, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

PCR wrote:

| MEB wrote:

|| Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

||

|| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

||| MEB wrote:

||| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

||| | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

||| || MEB wrote:

|

| ...snip

||| | As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they

||| | just may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,,

||| that might not be what

||| | you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

|||

||| Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

||

|| [cut]|

||

|| Here's my 17th updates, you know the location:

||

|| 400.vps 10030KB

|| clnr0.dll 283KB

|| dllcc0.dat 216KB

|| exts0.dll 9KB

|| resident protection.txt 12KB

|| aswMaiSV.log 0KB [its now turned off]

|| aswMaiSV.ori 1KB

|| Info.log 140KB

|| Debug.log 3322KB

|| summary.txt 1KB

|| vpsm-7121600.vpu 1KB

|| part-vps-7121600.vpu 1KB

|| setup.ini 2KB

|| setup.log 257KB

|| vps-7121600.vpu 10030KB

|

| I had more files...

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

| AVAST4 DB 51,200 12-17-07 6:24p Avast4.db

| 400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

| CLNR0 DLL 391,216 12-17-07 6:35p clnr0.dll

| DLLCC0 DAT 219,192 12-17-07 6:35p dllcc0.dat

| EXTS0 DLL 9,080 12-17-07 6:35p exts0.dll

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log

| ASWMAISV LOG 0 12-17-07 6:23p aswMaiSv.log

| AVCOMMEX TXT 20,916 12-17-07 6:24p AvCommEx.txt

| SETUP LOG 1,783,192 12-17-07 6:35p Setup.log

| NOTICE LOG 9,121 12-17-07 6:35p Notice.log

|

| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup

| SERVERS DEF 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def

| SERVER~1 LKG 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.lkg

| SERVER~1 VPU 2,124 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.vpu

| PROD-A~1 VPU 631 12-17-07 8:56a prod-av_pro.vpu

| PART-V~2 VPU 665 12-17-07 6:28p part-vps-7121700.vpu

| VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

| VPSM-7~1 VPU 133 12-17-07 6:31p vpsm-7121700.vpu

| SETUP INI 1,286 12-17-07 6:35p setup.ini

| SUMMARY TXT 230 12-17-07 6:35p summary.txt

| SETUP LOG 1,288,383 12-17-07 6:35p setup.log

|

| You seem to lack Avast4.db, AvCommEx.txt, Notice.log, servers.def,

| servers.def.lkg, servers.def.vpu, & prod-av_pro.vpu.

|

| I seem to lack resident protection.txt, aswMaiSV.ori, Info.log, &

| Debug.log.

|

| But many files are already changed at boot after the memory check.

| I'll have to track my next update of defs with InCtrl5 to see which

| files really are different after just that. Settings differences

| might account for why we differ otherwise.

|

| ...snip

||| ...Yet, those are the ones that most suspiciously sound like they

||| are the virus definitions! I'm thinking... some of the smaller

||| files in the above list were downloaded, & vps-7121700.vpu was an

||| intermediate work file (not downloaded) that led to the final update

||| of 400.vps. But why would 400.vps be smaller?

||

|| Why smaller perhaps an AVAST guru will answer, likely not ....

|| something removed perhaps

|

| I'm thinking... it's possible vps-7121700.vpu is actually the updated

| definitions file, & the smaller 400.vps might be the previous/backup

| file. Maybe that's it. An InCtrl5 report might give a better picture.

Now, I've done an InCtrl5 on the iAVS button (avast! definitions

update). This updated me to today's 12/19 virus definitions. Looking at

sizes...

400.vps new size 10,358,516 bytes

old size 10,285,760 bytes

vps-7121900.vpu 10,358,221 bytes (new file)

vps-7121800.vpu 10,285,422 bytes (deleted file)

....I can't positively say I know what is going on as far as which is the

actual definitions file & which is a backup of it. Because it is bigger,

I'd say 400.vps is the active virus definitions file. (I said the

reverse yesterday in error.) But the size of vps-7121900.vpu doesn't

match 400.vps's old size. So, I hesitate to call it a backup. Here is

the full InCtrl5 result that seems to do with the avast! iAVS update...

Registry Values Changed... No avast! keys were changed.

Files Added: 3 relating to avast!...

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\part-vps-7121900.vpu

Date: 12/19/2007 7:22 PM

Size: 664 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121900.vpu

Date: 12/19/2007 7:24 PM

Size: 10,358,221 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vpsm-7121900.vpu

Date: 12/19/2007 7:24 PM

Size: 133 bytes

Files deleted: 3

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\part-vps-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 6:57 PM

Size: 668 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 7:01 PM

Size: 10,285,422 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vpsm-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 7:26 PM

Size: 133 bytes

Files changed: 9 relating to avast!...

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\400.vps

Old date: 12/18/2007 7:36 PM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:26 PM

Old size: 10,285,760 bytes

New size: 10,358,516 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\clnr0.dll

Old date: 12/19/2007 6:59 PM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 391,216 bytes

New size: 391,216 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\dllcc0.dat

Old date: 12/19/2007 6:59 PM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 219,192 bytes

New size: 219,192 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\exts0.dll

Old date: 12/19/2007 6:59 PM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 9,080 bytes

New size: 9,080 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log\Setup.log

Old date: 12/19/2007 1:55 AM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 1,915,048 bytes

New size: 1,926,446 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\prod-av_pro.vpu

Old date: 12/18/2007 4:08 PM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:22 PM

Old size: 630 bytes

New size: 632 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\setup.ini

Old date: 12/19/2007 1:55 AM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 1,286 bytes

New size: 1,289 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\setup.log

Old date: 12/19/2007 1:55 AM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 1,406,967 bytes

New size: 1,414,968 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\summary.txt

Old date: 12/19/2007 1:55 AM

New date: 12/19/2007 7:27 PM

Old size: 211 bytes

New size: 231 bytes

....And this is Summary.txt after that update...

Information about current update:

Total time: 5:13

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071218-0, updated version: 071219-0)

Server: download941.avast.com (74.54.60.242)

Downloaded files: 6 (82.18 KB)

Download time: 21 s

As usual, it says 6 small files were downloaded.

....snip

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 20, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:u3vQ8phQIHA.5136@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

| MEB wrote:

| | Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

| |

| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| | news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

| || MEB wrote:

| || | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| || | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

| || || MEB wrote:

| ...snip

| || | About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a dead

| || | giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key, and I

| || | don't think that was the date I registered [when did I test it

| || | last time {scratches head} still using that key only with a fresh

| || | downloaded install file 11-27-07 {when I started THIS group of

| || | tests}].

| ||

| || I'm showing...

| ||

| || Type: Home

| || Expiration: Never

| || Updates expiration: Monday, September 01, 2008 01:00:00 AM

| |

| | So both yours AND mine expire on the same date, or at least the

| | Updates do ... even though we did NOT register anywhere near each

| | others date ...

|

| That's interesting. But I can't recall whether mine was always that same

| date or whether I re-registered after taking the 1st program update--

| which, for me, involved an un/re-install of avast! (as I think I recall

| I did).

Couldn't tell you, you never mentioned whether you re-registered or not. I

do have some of those old discussions saved of your struggles with

configuring AVAST.

|

| ||

| || Right, someone said, &/or I read somewhere, the program will

| || continue to work with the old defs-- but you don't get new ones

| || until you re-register after that expiration date.

| ||

| || Avast4.7.1001_Setupeng.exe (my raw download) is dated 6/19/07. All

| || of my Alwil folders have a date of 6/23/07. I guess that could be

| || the date of my initial install. The overwhelming majority of

| || avast!'s 71 .dlls & .exes are dated 9/6/07. Sounds like that could

| || be the date of my first program update, I guess.

| |

| | Most of mine are 12/04/07 and the installer was from 11-27-07,

| | seems your program update is going to change dang near everything

| | [don't say I didn't warn you].

|

| I won't mind those dates changing. It's the least of my fears! Yea, that

| makes sense that the .dll's & .exe's would get new dates.

|

| | I have two folders [main and setup] from the original test

| | 11-28-07, but the other folders are this test 12-03-07.

| | So the folders are 12-03-07 and most files are 12-04-07,

|

| That's interesting that your folders aren't all the same date. For a

| folder's date to change, it has to be deleted & re-created or moved from

| one location to another. I guess this new program update might do that.

| I'll report my result as soon as I do it.

|

| | looking at

| | Setup.log, - Started: 03.12.2007, 11:52:46.

|

| That's the day you first installed avast! & it would be the original

| date of all avast!'s folders-- like mine is. Yours had to be moved or

| deleted/replaced to change. All of mine currently are unchanged.

Ah, no, the fourth re-install [this install] is the shown log date NOT the

actual first test install. I had saved monitoring files into the original

directories [11-28], uninstall/cleanup could not remove the directories. So

the two 11-28-07 directories remained, but the others were deleted/re-newed

with each un-install/re-install.

BTW: I first tried the older install file from the original test [when we

had that discussion on differences after I had tried the prog only to

immediately revert back to AVG] PRIOR to downloading the supposedly newest

version. That was completely wiped... and I didn't count that as a failure.

It did serve a purpose though, that gave me the necessary information that I

should monitor AVAST carefully, and shut off autoupdates completely. All

AVAST installations after that, were either immediately shutoff or montored

via the firewall and other tools [as this installation is].

|

| | The most changed files [differing dates] appear in the Setup folder

| | [helps explains the corruption issues and inability to repair] and

| | data. Let me know what date your files change to [if you do the

| | program update soon, before another program change]

|

| Yes, I will soon-- almost did it today! I see what you're saying. The

| chances are slim anything could repair a failed program update, if only

| some of the files have been downloaded. It would have to be begun again

| from the start.

Yeah, once the setup files are changed, any disruption means a failed

update which {apparently} requires a needed un-install and re-install.

|

| | Best make sure you have that backup ready .... think I'll steal part

| | of your tagline, seems appropriate: Good Luck

|

| Yep.

|

--

MEB

________

December 21, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:u3vQ8phQIHA.5136@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

|| |

|| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| | news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| || MEB wrote:

|| || | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| || | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| || || MEB wrote:

|| ...snip

|| || | About Avast > Registration Key [guess that should have been a

|| || | dead giveaway], then again it shows no expiration for the key,

|| || | and I don't think that was the date I registered [when did I

|| || | test it last time {scratches head} still using that key only

|| || | with a fresh downloaded install file 11-27-07 {when I started

|| || | THIS group of tests}].

|| ||

|| || I'm showing...

|| ||

|| || Type: Home

|| || Expiration: Never

|| || Updates expiration: Monday, September 01, 2008 01:00:00 AM

|| |

|| | So both yours AND mine expire on the same date, or at least the

|| | Updates do ... even though we did NOT register anywhere near each

|| | others date ...

||

|| That's interesting. But I can't recall whether mine was always that

|| same date or whether I re-registered after taking the 1st program

|| update-- which, for me, involved an un/re-install of avast! (as I

|| think I recall I did).

|

| Couldn't tell you, you never mentioned whether you re-registered or

| not. I do have some of those old discussions saved of your struggles

| with configuring AVAST.

Too much went on with that first program update for me to recall whether

I did re-register. I seem to recall I did a complete un/re-install of

avast!. But, the first date in my Setup.log (6/23/07) is real close to

the date of my post announcing that I had replaced McAfee with avast!

(6/29/07), which was my original install. Therefore, it's possible I

also went running to my full system backup, & went back to my original

install, before I was cured. ???.

ANYHOW, look...!...

Information about current update:

- Program: Updated

(current version 4.7.1098)

- Vps: Updated

(current version 071219-0)

- Setup: Updated

(current version 4.7.1098)

Server: download42.avast.com (70.87.106.130)

Downloaded files: 25 (2,119.59 KB)

Download time: 6:35

....I've taken the new version-- & all is working well! It was a 22

minute process, which probably I'll write-up in a new thread. The prior

version was 4.7.1043. I tracked it with InCtrl5. There was no mishap!

I've even got today's definitions afterwards...

Information about current update:

Total time: 15:23

- Vps: Updated

(previous version: 071219-0, updated version: 071220-0)

Server: download946.avast.com (74.54.53.2)

Downloaded files: 6 (2.59 KB)

Download time: 8 s

....By the way, my folder dates remain unchanged. They STILL are all

6/23/07, the original date of my install of avast!. I still have 71

..exe's & .dll's in avast!'s folders, but their dates have predominantly

changed to 12/4/07-- like yours! Also, my virus definitions expiration

date remains at 9/1/08. And all of my avast! & OE settings were

unchanged by the update-- including Proxy Settings!

SO... all is well with the world! I did take the precaution to close OE

shortly after beginning the program update. Also, when instructed by

avast! Setup, I closed NetZero & rebooted.

||

|| ||

|| || Right, someone said, &/or I read somewhere, the program will

|| || continue to work with the old defs-- but you don't get new ones

|| || until you re-register after that expiration date.

|| ||

|| || Avast4.7.1001_Setupeng.exe (my raw download) is dated 6/19/07. All

|| || of my Alwil folders have a date of 6/23/07. I guess that could be

|| || the date of my initial install. The overwhelming majority of

|| || avast!'s 71 .dlls & .exes are dated 9/6/07. Sounds like that could

|| || be the date of my first program update, I guess.

|| |

|| | Most of mine are 12/04/07 and the installer was from 11-27-07,

|| | seems your program update is going to change dang near everything

|| | [don't say I didn't warn you].

||

|| I won't mind those dates changing. It's the least of my fears! Yea,

|| that makes sense that the .dll's & .exe's would get new dates.

||

|| | I have two folders [main and setup] from the original test

|| | 11-28-07, but the other folders are this test 12-03-07.

|| | So the folders are 12-03-07 and most files are 12-04-07,

||

|| That's interesting that your folders aren't all the same date. For a

|| folder's date to change, it has to be deleted & re-created or moved

|| from one location to another. I guess this new program update might

|| do that. I'll report my result as soon as I do it.

||

|| | looking at

|| | Setup.log, - Started: 03.12.2007, 11:52:46.

||

|| That's the day you first installed avast! & it would be the original

|| date of all avast!'s folders-- like mine is. Yours had to be moved or

|| deleted/replaced to change. All of mine currently are unchanged.

|

| Ah, no, the fourth re-install [this install] is the shown log date

| NOT the actual first test install. I had saved monitoring files into

| the original directories [11-28], uninstall/cleanup could not remove

| the directories. So the two 11-28-07 directories remained, but the

| others were deleted/re-newed with each un-install/re-install.

OK. If the uninstall removed the folders, your next install would create

new ones all with a new date, right. The date would be the date of the

install, not the date of the setup program. But I can say definitively,

this program update (from v.4.7.1043 to v.4.7.1098) does not change

folder dates. It must not have deleted the folders.

| BTW: I first tried the older install file from the original test

| [when we had that discussion on differences after I had tried the

| prog only to immediately revert back to AVG] PRIOR to downloading the

| supposedly newest version. That was completely wiped... and I didn't

| count that as a failure. It did serve a purpose though, that gave me

| the necessary information that I should monitor AVAST carefully, and

| shut off autoupdates completely. All AVAST installations after that,

| were either immediately shutoff or montored via the firewall and

| other tools [as this installation is].

I tracked this program update with InCtrl5. Soon, I'll write it up &

post it to a new thread. I'm very pleased this time! I'm not sure what

went wrong last time, but probably I compounded the error myself in

early attempts to cure it.

I should say... several times now since the update... NetZero at log on

has been offering me a password screen with my password in it as

asterisks. I just click OK & things proceed. (I must remember to check

that requestor to see whether it has a "Remember Passwork" checkbox! It

should & should have already been checked!) "Remember Password" IS still

checked, though, in the "OE, Tools, Accounts" mail & NG account

Properties!

And -- you know! -- that may have happened after the 1st avast! program

update too! It may even have been the start of it all-- before the more

serious problems! I seem to recall even deleting my Default.pwl file

back then, which may have cured that part! (Hmm, that file has today's

date on it. Is that normal? My InCtrl5 report does not mention

Default.pwl having changed or been deleted.)

But all else is working well this time. I'll keep an eye on it & keep

you informed.

||

|| | The most changed files [differing dates] appear in the Setup folder

|| | [helps explains the corruption issues and inability to repair] and

|| | data. Let me know what date your files change to [if you do the

|| | program update soon, before another program change]

||

|| Yes, I will soon-- almost did it today! I see what you're saying. The

|| chances are slim anything could repair a failed program update, if

|| only some of the files have been downloaded. It would have to be

|| begun again from the start.

|

| Yeah, once the setup files are changed, any disruption means a failed

| update which {apparently} requires a needed un-install and re-install.

Mine wasn't disrupted this time (or last time, actually). The requestor

was titled "avast! Antivirus Setup". There were several instances of the

message "downloading package" in it, each followed with a "saving

package, this may take a while". After those were all done, it sat for a

few minutes on the 100% complete message. Then, it switched to a

"Installation Progress" message. I can think it's possible, if a crash

happened after the installation part has begun, that could possibly be

restarted without doing the downloads again. But it may be messy, I

guess. Anyhow, the whole thing took only 22 minutes. The Installation

Progress screen also seemed to sit there for five minutes, AFTER it

showed 100% complete-- and it showed THAT almost instantly!

||

|| | Best make sure you have that backup ready .... think I'll steal

|| | part of your tagline, seems appropriate: Good Luck

||

|| Yep.

||

|

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 21, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:uHOmpohQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | Okay, I'm cutting a lot of this out...

|| |

|| | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| | news:u3Yd$YTQIHA.4136@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| || MEB wrote:

|| || | "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

|| || | news:O4zpyOFQIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|| || || MEB wrote:

||

|| ...snip

|| || | As for whether those are really updates - so far it looks they

|| || | just may be {or some of them} updates to non-important files,,,

|| || that might not be what

|| || | you think they were, OR maybe it WAS *re-compiled*

|| ||

|| || Well, here is today's, showing only today's date...

|| |

|| | [cut]|

|| |

|| | Here's my 17th updates, you know the location:

|| |

|| | 400.vps 10030KB

|| | clnr0.dll 283KB

|| | dllcc0.dat 216KB

|| | exts0.dll 9KB

|| | resident protection.txt 12KB

|| | aswMaiSV.log 0KB [its now turned off]

|| | aswMaiSV.ori 1KB

|| | Info.log 140KB

|| | Debug.log 3322KB

|| | summary.txt 1KB

|| | vpsm-7121600.vpu 1KB

|| | part-vps-7121600.vpu 1KB

|| | setup.ini 2KB

|| | setup.log 257KB

|| | vps-7121600.vpu 10030KB

||

|| I had more files...

||

|| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

|| AVAST4 DB 51,200 12-17-07 6:24p Avast4.db

|| 400 VPS 10,278,543 12-17-07 6:35p 400.vps

|| CLNR0 DLL 391,216 12-17-07 6:35p clnr0.dll

|| DLLCC0 DAT 219,192 12-17-07 6:35p dllcc0.dat

|| EXTS0 DLL 9,080 12-17-07 6:35p exts0.dll

|

| What you may find is some of those files will be deleted. Mention is

| made in the Help or somewhere, that certain files have been replaced

| in the *new* version.

Well, I posted my InCtrl5 report for a definitions update nearby. Let's

see...

Files deleted: 3

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\part-vps-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 6:57 PM

Size: 668 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vps-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 7:01 PM

Size: 10,285,422 bytes

c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\vpsm-7121800.vpu

Date: 12/18/2007 7:26 PM

Size: 133 bytes

Three corresponding (7121900) files were added, & nine files were

changed. Everything else must get today's date from some other

activity-- not from a definition's update.

||

|| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log

|| ASWMAISV LOG 0 12-17-07 6:23p aswMaiSv.log

|| AVCOMMEX TXT 20,916 12-17-07 6:24p AvCommEx.txt

|| SETUP LOG 1,783,192 12-17-07 6:35p Setup.log

|| NOTICE LOG 9,121 12-17-07 6:35p Notice.log

||

|| Directory of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup

|| SERVERS DEF 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def

|| SERVER~1 LKG 23,919 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.lkg

|| SERVER~1 VPU 2,124 12-17-07 5:46a servers.def.vpu

|| PROD-A~1 VPU 631 12-17-07 8:56a prod-av_pro.vpu

|| PART-V~2 VPU 665 12-17-07 6:28p part-vps-7121700.vpu

|| VPS-71~2 VPU 10,278,117 12-17-07 6:31p vps-7121700.vpu

|| VPSM-7~1 VPU 133 12-17-07 6:31p vpsm-7121700.vpu

|| SETUP INI 1,286 12-17-07 6:35p setup.ini

|| SUMMARY TXT 230 12-17-07 6:35p summary.txt

|| SETUP LOG 1,288,383 12-17-07 6:35p setup.log

||

|| You seem to lack Avast4.db, AvCommEx.txt, Notice.log, servers.def,

|| servers.def.lkg, servers.def.vpu, & prod-av_pro.vpu.

||

|| I seem to lack resident protection.txt, aswMaiSV.ori, Info.log, &

|| Debug.log.

||

|| But many files are already changed at boot after the memory check.

|| I'll have to track my next update of defs with InCtrl5 to see which

|| files really are different after just that. Settings differences

|| might account for why we differ otherwise.

|

| I'm sure you noted in the setup.log that some files are updated

| after boot EVEN THOUGH the command line contains /noreboot.

Oops. No, my InCtrl5 report for the definitions update measured changes

between clicking iAVS (defs update) & it's completion. I did not reboot.

I did check, & there was no Wininit.ini for any work to get done,

anyhow. (However, I did reboot before completing the InCtrl5 for the

program update. And there are over 60 .exe's & .dll's showing now in

Wininit.bak!)

||

|| ...snip

|| | Why smaller perhaps an AVAST guru will answer, likely not ....

|| | something removed perhaps

||

|| I'm thinking... it's possible vps-7121700.vpu is actually the updated

|| definitions file, & the smaller 400.vps might be the previous/backup

|| file. Maybe that's it. An InCtrl5 report might give a better picture.

|

| Actually, monitoring file and registry activity would give better

| results, but then as I said before, this discussion is WAY beyond the

| original intent of the discussion.

Right. Many of these files acquire today's date from something other

than a definitions update.

| Be happy your defs are the same [though how they're used may be

| somewhat different].

Yep-- I am very pleased the sizes of our definitions files are the same!

It gives the lie to all the shenanigans I see in my Setup.txt-- whatever

may have gone wrong must have been corrected in succeeding definition

updates! What else could it be?

||

|| ...snip

|| || A lot of files (19) got today's date-- more than the number (6)

|| || mentioned in Summary.txt. Also, Setup.log seems to indicate only 2

|| || actual downloads were done. But-- it does look like an update to

|| || definitions did take place, yea.

|| |

|| | Maybe, mine are newer, from a newer install and program, other

|| | files have likely changed [or one would hope so]....

||

|| That's a possibility. Also, perhaps we have settings differences.

|

| I'm sure we do, the debug file is BECAUSE I am doing debug

| monitoring, and other files are created for other activity you are

| likely NOT configured for.

OK.

| But, until your program update, there will be no way to check the

| standard files in the base directory. There has to be SOMETHING

| beyond just setup files changed during the program udate [and there

| is, wait til you look at the log....].

Yep! Setup.log & InCtrl5 show a slew of file changes! So many, that I

hesitate to even try to compare the two reports, not to mention

Wininit.bak!

| ANYWAY, here's a small comparison:

|

| 12-18-07

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 1:12

|

| - Program: Already up to date

| (current version 4.7.1098)

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071217-0, updated version: 071218-0)

|

| Server: download901.avast.com (209.62.112.130)

| Downloaded files: 6 (18.09 KB)

| Download time: 19 s

|

| Files Updated by date and time [actual downloaded update]

| 12/18/07 10:15 PM

|

| 400.vps 10285760 bytes

| (prior 17th 10278543 bytes

| (prior 16th) 10270639 bytes

| clnr0.dll 391216 bytes

| dllcc0.dat 219192 bytes

| exts0.dll 9080 bytes

| Setup.log 498671 bytes

| summary.txt 1kb

| part-vps-7121800.vpu 1kb

| setup.ini 2kb

| vpsm-7121800.vpu 1kb

| setup.log 369909 bytes

| vps-7121800 10285422 bytes

| (prior 17th) 10278117 bytes

| (prior 16th) 10270322 bytes

|

| I may stop this part of the test, as video anomalies, user.exe, and

| other errors and lockups are becoming overwhelming in this

| non-standard [several un-official updates] 98SE setup [even had to

| repair install IE]. AVG had relatively few, but this isn't going very

| well with AVAST. Heck, I can't play a game or even run a full scan

| without a lockup. I'm ready to say this configuration is a failure

| running AVAST.

That seems to be more severe than my problem with the 1st avast! program

update. I went through all hell, but much of it likely was my own

doing-- in early attempts to cure the POP & NG servers. I deleted my

password file, repair installed avast!, un/re-installed avast!, fooled

with other settings & screens-- & who can recall what else! Probably, I

ended up restoring my full system backup! Later, I discovered the actual

cure probably would have been to manually insert 3 number signs (#'s) in

Account Name fields, as I reported elsewhere in this thread.

| I think maybe I'll start with an official version, install AVAST,

| and work through the un-official updates and see where it breaks.

I'm not convinced your unofficial Windows updates have anything to do

with it. I don't see any Windows files are involved in my InCtrl5 report

that I can tie to avast! However, I guess it's worth investigation.

| Then again, maybe I will just stop testing and go back to a system I

| can ENJOY without having all the difficulties and wasting so much

| time on records and monitoring.

I remain overall very happy with avast!

| So when this fresh install starts I may be gone for awhile

| [everybody say YEA] because these really are FRESH installs from the

| MS CD not a clone, as I also re-check what Microsoft is still

| offering on the updates site.

Come back! You were inspiration to take this new avast! program update

after 5 days of hesitation!

||

|| ||

|| || | Aha, so you also had some difficulty ,,

|| |

|| | [cut]

|| |

||

|| Soon, I will take the program update & see whether any of that

|| happens again!

Done! All the settings remained set. Oddly, I am getting a password

requestor from NetZero on first dial-up now, lik the 1st time. But I

expect to be rid of it soon!

|| ...snip... will post a 3rd for the rest...

|| | --

|| | MEB

|| | ________

||

|| --

|| PCR

|

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

December 21, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

PCR wrote:

| MEB wrote:

....snip

| Too much went on with that first program update for me to recall

| whether I did re-register. I seem to recall I did a complete

| un/re-install of avast!. But, the first date in my Setup.log

| (6/23/07) is real close to the date of my post announcing that I had

| replaced McAfee with avast! (6/29/07), which was my original install.

| Therefore, it's possible I also went running to my full system

| backup, & went back to my original install, before I was cured. ???.

|

| ANYHOW, look...!...

|

| Information about current update:

| - Program: Updated

| (current version 4.7.1098)

| - Vps: Updated

| (current version 071219-0)

| - Setup: Updated

| (current version 4.7.1098)

|

| Server: download42.avast.com (70.87.106.130)

| Downloaded files: 25 (2,119.59 KB)

| Download time: 6:35

|

| ...I've taken the new version-- & all is working well! It was a 22

| minute process, which probably I'll write-up in a new thread. The

| prior version was 4.7.1043. I tracked it with InCtrl5. There was no

| mishap! I've even got today's definitions afterwards...

|

| Information about current update:

| Total time: 15:23

|

| - Vps: Updated

| (previous version: 071219-0, updated version: 071220-0)

|

| Server: download946.avast.com (74.54.53.2)

| Downloaded files: 6 (2.59 KB)

| Download time: 8 s

|

| ...By the way, my folder dates remain unchanged. They STILL are all

| 6/23/07, the original date of my install of avast!. I still have 71

| .exe's & .dll's in avast!'s folders, but their dates have

| predominantly changed to 12/4/07-- like yours! Also, my virus

| definitions expiration date remains at 9/1/08. And all of my avast! &

| OE settings were unchanged by the update-- including Proxy Settings!

|

| SO... all is well with the world! I did take the precaution to close

| OE shortly after beginning the program update. Also, when instructed

| by avast! Setup, I closed NetZero & rebooted.

|

....snip

| I tracked this program update with InCtrl5. Soon, I'll write it up &

| post it to a new thread. I'm very pleased this time! I'm not sure what

| went wrong last time, but probably I compounded the error myself in

| early attempts to cure it.

|

| I should say... several times now since the update... NetZero at log

| on has been offering me a password screen with my password in it as

| asterisks. I just click OK & things proceed. (I must remember to check

| that requestor to see whether it has a "Remember Passwork" checkbox!

| It should & should have already been checked!) "Remember Password" IS

| still checked, though, in the "OE, Tools, Accounts" mail & NG account

| Properties!

|

| And -- you know! -- that may have happened after the 1st avast!

| program update too! It may even have been the start of it all--

| before the more serious problems! I seem to recall even deleting my

| Default.pwl file back then, which may have cured that part! (Hmm,

| that file has today's date on it. Is that normal? My InCtrl5 report

| does not mention Default.pwl having changed or been deleted.)

|

| But all else is working well this time. I'll keep an eye on it & keep

| you informed.

Update: I didn't get a requestor to enter a password today. So, that

problem seems to be gone, but I didn't get a chance to notice whether

there a box to "remember password" on it, either. I DID watch NetZero's

logon carefully, & the "save password" on it was checked (as it should

have been). And I said yesterday, all the "remember passwords" were also

checked in OE, Accounts, mail & NG settings.

SO... ???. BUT I'm glad it's gone! And I remain very pleased with this

2nd avast! program update, from v.4.7.1043 to v.4.7.1098! It was

ultimately perfect!

|||

||| | The most changed files [differing dates] appear in the Setup

||| | folder [helps explains the corruption issues and inability to

||| | repair] and data. Let me know what date your files change to [if

||| | you do the program update soon, before another program change]

|||

||| Yes, I will soon-- almost did it today! I see what you're saying.

||| The chances are slim anything could repair a failed program update,

||| if only some of the files have been downloaded. It would have to be

||| begun again from the start.

||

|| Yeah, once the setup files are changed, any disruption means a

|| failed update which {apparently} requires a needed un-install and

|| re-install.

|

| Mine wasn't disrupted this time (or last time, actually). The

| requestor was titled "avast! Antivirus Setup". There were several

| instances of the message "downloading package" in it, each followed

| with a "saving package, this may take a while". After those were all

| done, it sat for a few minutes on the 100% complete message. Then, it

| switched to a "Installation Progress" message. I can think it's

| possible, if a crash happened after the installation part has begun,

| that could possibly be restarted without doing the downloads again.

| But it may be messy, I guess. Anyhow, the whole thing took only 22

| minutes. The Installation Progress screen also seemed to sit there

| for five minutes, AFTER it showed 100% complete-- and it showed THAT

| almost instantly!

....snip

December 21, 2007

Re: AVAST - questions and queries - AVG comparison

MEB wrote:

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:OcEf3H4PIHA.3388@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

|| MEB wrote:

|| | As I previously noted, I was re-testing AVAST for a comparison

|| | between AVG and its functions.

|| |

|| | I'll start with a simple query:

|| |

|| | 1.

|| | Is there some web site which has a comprehensive setup description

|| | covering all aspects of a basic AVAST configuration setup?

||

|| What do you find lacking in the avast! Help screens at...?...

||

|| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Start avast! Anti-virus, Menu button,

|| Help"

|

| Frankly quite a bit. But to sooth the issue, yes I ran through those.

|

| More depth into setting up mail, and web proxy could be of

| considerable use. But I'm not here to critique the HELP supplied, but

| to query whether anyone knew of a web page or pages that were written

| to aid installation by common users. Heck, I even downloaded the PDFs

| to see if they were anything of use,, no, not really... you have to

| remember that most users aren't used to doing manual modifications of

| files to get programs to work.

I understand. Yea, not all of the following is in the avast! Help. After

my first avast! program update which went badly (probably was my fault

for various reasons & this new program update went smoothly), I went

scrambling & collected this file of reminders on my Desktop. Nothing in

here needed to be redone after this 2nd update, though...

.......Quote my reminder file of avast!/OE settings.............

Optimization for dial-up connections

If you use dial-up connection only, there´s another way to detect if the

computer is connected to the Internet or not. avast! can elicit the

connection status from the modem status - so it will NOT ping our

servers every 40 seconds. To set avast! this way, follow these steps:

a. In Notepad, open the file AVAST4.INI

(C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST4\DATA)

b. Find section [inetWD]. If this section doesn´t exist, create it.

c. Into this section insert this row:

UseRAS=1

d. Save the file and restart your computer.

NOTE: Your avast! build must be 4.0.172 or higher!

Optimization for permanent connections

If your computer has a permanent connection to the Internet, you can let

avast! know this fact so that it can bypass the connection checks. To do

so, follow these steps:

a. In Notepad, open the file AVAST4.INI

(C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST4\DATA)

b. Find the section [inetWD]. If this section doesn´t exist,

create it.

c. Into this section insert this row:

AssumeAlwaysConnected=1

NOTE: Your avast! build must be 4.0.172 or higher!

=========================

Proxy server settings for Internet Explorer when using dial-up modem

Internet connection...

1. "Control Panel, Internet Options, Connections tab".

2. Select your dial-up connection from the list,

& click on the Settings button.

3. Check the option Use a proxy server for this connection.

4. Write "localhost" into the Address field (alternatively, enter

IP address 127.0.0.1, which is the same as localhost).

5. Enter 12080 into the Port field.

6. Confirm with OK button.

7. Note: If you use multiple connections, it is necessary to set the

address and port of the local proxy for each connection separately.

==========================

To establish the Internet Mail Shield...

(a) "OE, Tools menu, Accounts, Mail tab, Properties button"

(b) At the General tab...

1. Mail Account box: pcrrcp@netzero.net (Mail)".

2. Name box: PCR

3. E-Mail address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

4. Include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing:

Checked

1. Incoming mail (POP3): 127.0.0.1

2. Outgoing mail (SMTP): 127.0.0.1

3. Account Name: pcrrcp#pop.netzero.net

4. Password: (asterisks show)

5. Remember password: Checked.

6. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

7. My server requires authentication: Checked.

(d) At the Connection tab...

1. Always Connect To This Account Using: Unchecked.

(e) At the Security tab...

1. Algorithm: 3DES.

2. Nothing else is entered.

(e) At the Advanced tab...

1. Outgoing Mail (SMTP): 25.

2. Incoming Mail (POP3): 110.

3. No box is checked.

CAUTION: After playing with the following, be sure to close & re-open

OE!

"OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, msnews.microsoft.com, Properties

button"

General tab...

1. News Account: msnews.microsoft.com

2. Name: PCR

3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Unchecked

Server tab...

1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

(Avast!'s Mail Protection Wizard puts that there, I think.)

2. This server requires me to log on: Checked

3. Account name: #msnews.microsoft.com

(Note: It's really just that number sign (#) that avast! adds

to the Account Name fields.)

4. Password: Blank.

5. Remember password: Checked.

6. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

Connection tab...

1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

Advanced tab...

1. News (NNTP): 119.

2. Use newsgroup descriptions: Checked.

4. All other boxes: Unchecked.

"OE, Tools menu, Accounts, News tab, terabyteunlimited.com, Properties

button"

General tab...

1. News Account: terabyteunlimited.com

2. Name: PCR

3. E-Mail Address: pcrrcp@netzero.net

4. Include this account when checking for new messages: Unchecked

Server tab...

1. Server name: 127.0.0.1

(Avast!'s Mail Protection Wizard puts that there, I think.)

2. Account name: #terabyteunlimited.com:1198

(Note: It's really just that number sign (#) that avast! adds

to the Account Name fields.)

3. No password.

4. Remember password: Checked.

5. Log on using Secure Authentication: Unchecked.

Connection tab...

1. Always connect to this account using: Unchecked

Advanced tab...

1. News (NNTP): 119.

2. All boxes are unchecked.

.......EOQ file on my Desktop...................................

Some of that gets sets automatically, for instance with...

"START button, Programs, avast! Antivirus, Mail Protection Wizard".

SO... that file is really more of a reminder what these settings should

look like when all is working well with avast!. Use one of your own to

make adjustments when the automatic way may seem to fail.

|| | Yes, I did the normal searches both on AVAST home site, and via

|| | the web, but what I found seems to be segments, or incomplete

|| | information. Of course one can contact various forums, but then one

|| | is relegated to reading potentially conflicting, or un-related

|| | information.

Yep. They should update the Help file, that's true!

|| | 2.

|| | For a preliminary review of one differential between the two

|| | programs, I think I can make a somewhat stark contrast. The issue

|| | relates to the update process used in the respective programs. Note

|| | that this does not address the automatic update features, but the

|| | update process itself.

|| |

|| | AVG's update process downloads the entire update PRIOR to

|| | beginning the update.

|| | AVAST's update process begins the update process after a minimal

|| | amount of those files are downloaded.

||

|| What makes you say that? Look at this Summary.txt...

||

|| .....Quote "C:\Program Files\Alwil

|| Software\Avast4\Setup\summary.txt".....

|| Information about current update:

|| Total time: 1:52

||

|| - Vps: Already up to date

|| (current version 071215-0)

||

|| Server: download25.avast.com (70.86.121.210)

|| Downloaded files: 3 (0.03 KB)

|| Download time: 8 s

|| ......EOQ my last Summary.txt.............

||

|| This was done manually at...

||

|| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, iAVS Update"

||

|| But Avast! had already done a manual update of definitions which I

|| was unsure had happened, (because, instead of the normal completion

|| pop-up, these days I'm getting a green pop-up stating there is an

|| update to the avast! program itself, which I think overlays the

|| other). Otherwise, the Total Time would have been at least 5 times

|| larger! HOWEVER, the Download Time is always about 8 seconds,

|| because only incremental updates to the virus definitions are

|| downloaded.

|

| Ah yeah, but when one downloads the original install file, the first

| thing one is going to need to do [after shutting off the simple user

| interface and not installing skins] is do the program update.

| Clicking the update [either one] will start a (approx.10 meg)

| download [or it did with the install download.I recently pulled from

| the net]. At any time during this download, a failure appears to

| corrupt the installation. Mind you, I have already done one large

| download and update in this present installation.

You know, finally I took the latest program update (v.4.7.1098). There

were a series of "downloading program files", each one followed by

"saving program files, this may take a while". It was only after all of

those were done (5 of them, maybe), that the requestor changed to

"Installation Process". HOWEVER, although there was a CANCEL button, it

would be a bit scary to click it & see whether things could be picked up

again from there w/o the downloads again. Anyhow, the whole thing was

just 22 minutes, including the inexplicable pauses at the 100% done

messages-- 5 minutes each at least! There was one of those at the end of

the download/save's & one at the end of the installation!

||

|| Therefore, I believe it ISN'T actually downloading & updating at the

|| same time! It does one after the other!

||

|| | The issue between the two is that, should one be using a phone

|| | line connection and should that connection fail [phone and/or

|| | electric failures], then the partially finished AVAST update

|| | fails, leaving an improperly installed program. Setting AVAST's *I

|| | connect via phone* aspect makes no difference in THAT particular

|| | issue.

||

|| It's in the avast! Help screens that occasionally the auto-update of

|| definitions will fail. Then, you get a red pop-up alert stating as

|| much. The cure is to do it manually as specified above, which always

|| has worked for me. After that, the auto-update will begin to work

|| again.

|

| You did notice the issues on various sites related to leaving AVAST

| configured for autodownload? You're waving a rather large flag there.

| And yes, I noted the red pop-up once [the present install].

I'm not sure I did see that. However, now I set the virus definitions to

update manually. I'm leaving program updates at "ask when update is

available". I just use avast!'s icon to get definitions after connecting

now.

It seems OE may download posts quicker when not competing with the

definition update. ALSO, it may have made the difference in outcome for

this program update compared to the last one-- that time I continued

activity in OE througout the process, & even delayed the reboot to

complete it!

||

|| HOWEVER, if you are asking about the update to the program avast!

|| itself (not to the definitions)... hmm, you may be right, then. I

|| did it once, & dimly recall it may have seemed be as you say. I'll

|| have to take the new one offered & watch it closely to be sure. What

|| is you version now? Mine is...

||

|| avast! version 4.7 Home Edition, Build: Sep2007 (4.7.1043).

|

| Dec2007 (4.7.1098)

|

| It appears you're a bit outdated in your program as well.

Right. But, you know, now I have updated...

Information about current update:

- Program: Updated

(current version 4.7.1098)

- Vps: Updated

(current version 071219-0)

- Setup: Updated

(current version 4.7.1098)

Server: download42.avast.com (70.87.106.130)

Downloaded files: 25 (2,119.59 KB)

Download time: 6:35

| My virus definitions are out of date as well [waiting for an answer

| on how, if possible to ensure a failed download doesn't corrupt the

| system]: Comp Date > 12/06/07

| File Ver > 071206-0

|

| The next update is another LARGE group of files.

|

||

|| | I have found this upon four occasions, once by accident: someone

|| | took out a telephone pole in an accident which killed both power

|| | and phone, the second when just the phone was disrupted, but did

|| | not return soon enough to continue the update; and twice by

|| | intentional test.

|| |

|| | The obvious:

|| |

|| | Is there some setting or INI modification that I missed to ensure

|| | this does not occur?

||

|| I don't know of an .ini setting for that. However, there seems to be

|| a lot in...

||

|| "Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Install/Uninstall tab, avast!

|| Antivirus, Add/Remove button"

||

|| I see a Change, Uninstall, Update & Repair option there, as well as a

|| Proxy Settings button to the right. Maybe something in there would

|| get it started again. (I don't know.)

|

| Yep, been there, done that, told'em to keep the t-shirt. Repair will

| not correct a partial update failure.

It didn't fix me, either, that first time, as I seem to recall it.

||

|| Otherwise, instead of auto-updating avast! or even using the manual

|| "R-Clk avast! icon in Tray, Updating, Program Update"... maybe try

|| uninstalling it & taking a new download altogether. The latest

|| definitions will come in with the new program download.

|

| Yeah, I know that, mine is set for manual update, particularly after

| monitoring the autoupdate feature and firewall needs.

I have gone to manual too now.

| And no, the new install apparently does not include the most recent

| defs [or it didn't in the one I downloaded].

I can't quite recall how that went when I tried it (I think). Probably,

in the end, I went for my full system backup, judging by my avast!

folder dates.

| Of course some of your own installation issues were shown when you

| installed Kerio PF, such as RPCSS, DCOM, and other interesting little

| issues which

| I will likely discuss in the future when testing is done.

OK. But I'm not sure which little issues you are refer to!

||

|| | --

|| | MEB

|| | ________

||

|| --

|| Thanks or Good Luck,

|| There may be humor in this post, and,

|| Naturally, you will not sue,

|| Should things get worse after this,

|| PCR

|| pcrrcp@netzero.net

||

|

| --

| MEB

| ________

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR