View Full Version : Spybot incompatible with Avira antivirus.
qwerty12345
2011-10-05, 23:20
Hello,
For a long time (years?) Avira have been denouncing Spybot S&D as incompatible with their Antivirus and advising that, at least, the realtime components of Spybot be disabled. Is any progress being made to address this?
The latest installer for the Avira Antivir program actually states that Spybot S&D should be uninstalled.
Considering the length of time this has been going on, and the (apparent) lack of any attempt between Safer Networking and Avira to reconcile the differences, the latest action from Avira is starting to look like "corporate warfare", or something.
spybotsandra
2011-10-06, 09:54
Hello,
Thanks for reporting. :)
We have contacted Avira about this issue and are looking forward what they have to say.
From our point of view there should not be any problems with the compatibility.
If some parts would conflict, just those parts could be disabled.
There is no need to uninstall Spybot-S&D.
If you already have uninstalled it due to Avira we recommend a reinstall (http://www.spybotupdates.com/files/spybotsd162.exe).
If you are still in the setup of installing Avira Premium 2012 you can skip the step of uninstalling Spybot-S&D by clicking the "Next" button.
Similar incompatibilities have been reported by McAfee and Kaspersky which you can see here (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/articles/foursecuritycolumns.html).
Best greads
Sandra
Team Spybot
which anti-virus software would you recommend, if avira2012 really is incompatible with spybot?
should be a product that concentrates on virus checking, without bloated-up features that are only partly - or over - effective.
You could try Avast or AVG ... :gum:
I'm very astonished to hear that Avira was telling, it should be NOT compatible with Spybot SD, because I'm using both programs since years (could be 10 years perhaps) and been very satisfied!!!
Although I have to say, that I never turned on Spybot's realtime protection, because of an old computer with really poor resources ;)
I will report about the new version of Avira AND Spybot in a week or so.
OS: Windows XP
PS: PLZ forgive my lousy english, I'm not a nativ speaker ;)
Best regards, Rick
Nod32, AVG, Avast - they all work well with such antispyware as search and destroy. Besides, AVG and Avast are better and more efficient at finding viruses than Avira, their support and information base is much more advanced. AVG has a phishing filter installed which is useful for browsing unfamiliar sites. Avira might use less system resources, but it all comes down to safety, isn't it:rolleyes:?
Without using the realtime protection 'TeaTimer', there are NO problems using Avira 12 and Spybot-SD together !
Enabled TeaTimer I didn't test, because I use Microsoft IE only for MS-Updates ;)
OS: WinXP Professional, Service Pack3
spybotsandra
2011-11-04, 11:15
We know, that's actually the first post of this thread. ;)
The latest installer for the Avira Antivir program actually states that Spybot S&D should be uninstalled.
I have used Avira up till v.10 with Teatimer enabled. Never had any issues.
Since Teatimer can detect (and prevent) changes to crucial configuration parts, I like to have it running (Avira would not notice these).
Avira would, on detection of malware, take over the PC for an hour or so. In most every situations this is really disturbing.
Teatimer, however, can just block the event, leaving time to schedule a virus or malware check.
The only downside of Teatimer is a slow start-up (which can take 15min@100%CPU on my laptop), but the system is responsive also during that time.
So, would Avira2012 interfere with Teatimer?
rattlesalamander
2011-11-18, 02:07
Avira 2012 has a feature called 'protect Windows hosts file from changes'.
This prevents you from use the most typical SB function, immunization.
You can apparently uncheck it, but it does not work (I'm using Firefox).
Even disabling and enabling avira doesnt produce any result.
It's a serious incompatibility, and did not find any workaround so far.
I'm afraid I'm in front of a dramatical choice. SB or Avira.
Any suggestion is welcome, like alternative software ecc.
Hope this helps.
Dear rattlesalamander,
there is the same funktion in Spybot SD under Tools / IE tweaks / Lock Hosts file read-only as protection against hijackers.
Turning this ON in Spybot and disabling in Avira works fine on my system.
Immunization finished 100% including Hosts file!
OS: Windows XP, SP3, Teatimer disabled
Hope this helps
rattlesalamander
2011-11-20, 15:46
Dear rattlesalamander,
there is the same funktion in Spybot SD under Tools / IE tweaks / Lock Hosts file read-only as protection against hijackers.
Turning this ON in Spybot and disabling in Avira works fine on my system.
Immunization finished 100% including Hosts file!
OS: Windows XP, SP3, Teatimer disabled
Hope this helps
Zrafta, thanks for your suggestion. Telling the truth, I hadnt the chance to experiment the settings you mentioned, since I actually opted for a more practical solution: I installed a 'all in one' program, AV + firewall. Lighter, fast and flawless.
Once one planned to install either an AV and a firewall, there's no reason on earth for installing two discret software, often conflicting one each other.
Ciao :santa:
In fact, Avira does not only recommend disabling Spybot, their installer window may state that it must be uninstalled. (unconfirmed) Referenced here -- http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&postID=1129399#post1129399
This can lead to a conflict with Avira modules and it may affect your system's performance.
***quoted from an Avira KB article, recently updated.: http://www.avira.com/en/support-for-home-knowledgebase-detail/kbid/973
This isn't the worst of Avira's malware-like behavior. I have previously uncovered the included Ask.com (IAC/Ask.com) toolbar resolving geo-location info (& likely recording my IP address, as this is needed to x-reference from a database) before any Terms of Agreement, or user-input can be made.
referenced from here --> http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=136682
I have been successfully been running the latest version with Spybot 1.6.2.46 & TeaTimer since Avira_Free_AntiVirus_2012 released in early October. As noted above, i have the Hosts file locked in Spybot & unlocked in Avira.
http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&postID=1130400#post1130400
One side-effect is that TeaTimer seems to only detect malware after the malware has closed.
Personally, i consider Avira to be technically malware based on Wikipedia's defining phrase 'dishonest malware IMHO. How odd, Safer Networking currently advises using Avira, why they hate Spybot, i do not know.
Can anyone help me out to see if they have the same keys (&/or %temp% files) i uncovered at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ask.com.tmp] during install?
I will do a full exposé in an independent topic at a later date.
qwerty12345
2012-01-09, 15:52
Hello,
Thanks for reporting. :)
We have contacted Avira about this issue and are looking forward what they have to say.
From our point of view there should not be any problems with the compatibility.
Any news on this?
I always used AVG for virus protection on my PC, as well as ran Spybot S&D etc. .
Now that I run on Mac OS X with VMware Fusion port into Windows 7 64x, I run Sophos Anti-Virus. Is there any need to install Spybot in Windows if I never access the internet from there specifically? I just want to make sure I'm not being dumb by not installing it within Windows.
Thanks in advance!