For those that use Avira

[d4mo]

Do you use the advanced Heuristics or do you have them turned off.

I don't know if I had a false detection or a real one today. It was a trojan in my driver.cab. I have no idea how I would have gotten it.

 

[WobbleWobble]

You can compare it against other anti-virus products by uploading the file or file hash to http://www.virustotal.com.

 

[lxskllr]

I use the advanced heuristics. You'll get some false positives, but it isn't hard to figure out. As said above, you can run through other scanners online. You can also compare the dates with the rest of Windows. If it looks like it shipped with Windows, it's most likely ok. That's assuming it isn't some kind of warez copy of Windows of course :^D

 

[Lemon law]

And while I agree with Lxskllr who points out all AV's have some potential for false positives, you can also get better Avira results by checking expert mode.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I have that option on now and I haven't run into anything questionable yet...

 

[lxskllr]

I have that option on now and I haven't run into anything questionable yet...

I get about 12 hits every time I scan from different system tools I have, many from my UBCD4Win folder. As long as you know the pedigree of the programs you have, you should be ok. It might not be the best for noobs, as they may not know the difference between a real hit, and a fp.

 

[thescreensavers]

I have no FP's on my computer I got everything on. and to be honest I rather have an FP then none at all.

Like your guarded by an oversensitive guard who doesn't like brush movement and has to check it out.

 

[takt]

Yup, got it enabled at medium detection level.

I don't actually care that it reports false positives since it's telling me something may potentially be wrong. It's my job to figure out more information about it (like using VirusTotal as per above post) and decide whether to risk a possible infection on my PC.

On the flip side, it is a bit sensitive, but it's saved me a few times now.

 

[BW86]

I use medium and I rarely get FPs

 

[Muse]

In the last 24 hours I've gotten what I think are my first positives using Avira Free, IIRC on two different laptops when starting Firefox. I have the default Avira settings, which I suppose are "medium." From the above, I gather that there's more than one setting.

What do you do when you have a positive? Quarantine?

Here's what I see in the positive I just encountered on this machine:

--------------------------------------------------

A virus or unwanted program was found!

What should happen with the file?

C\Users\<my name>\...

Contains recognition pattern of the HTML/Infected.WebPage.Gen HTML script virus

O Repair (grayed out)

O Delete

O Rename

o Deny access (the default)

O Ignore

[ OK ]

-----------------------------------------------------


On the other machine, the first time I got the message, I chose "Deny access." Next time I got it I chose Delete. That was yesterday. Today, with this other machine, I chose to "Delete." Is it better to Quarantine? What do you do?

 

[lxskllr]

It depends on if I think I may want the file, or if I suspect a FP. If I know I don't want it I delete. If there's some doubt I quarantine.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I use Norton Internet Security 2010. It doesn't slow my system down and I haven't had a fp from Norton in years. It's also always near the top in avcomparitives tests. It's not free but worth every penny.