computer: Pentium 4 3Ghz HT
operating system: XP Pro SP2
screen reader: Jaws 6.2
rating: 4
comments: After hearing about all the problems that Jaws users have encountered when upgrading to AVG version 8.0, I decided to try and avoid those problems and installed Avast Home version 4.8 on my XP computer running Jaws 6.2. This version of Avast is free for non-commercial use. My experience so far with the program has been very positive.Installation was straight forward and learning to use the program has been very easy.
A tip gleaned from one of the blind tech mailing lists instructed users to open the program settings from the Avast icon on the system tray. From there, tab into the common settings and be sure that the “use skins” item is not checked. I would also recommend to tab into the “update basic” section and set the program update option to automatic. Other than that, I left all other options at the default settings.
The things I like about Avast:
1. The whole computer scan ran in 20 minutes instead of 1 hour for AVG.
2. Besides viruses, it is always scanning for rootkits and spyware which AVG only did with the full paid product.
3. It monitors all web pages for malicious activity, which AVG did not do.
4. It monitors all network traffic for network attacks and works in conjunction with your firewall software.
5. If you use IM clients or Peer-to-peer networks, it will protect you on both of these fronts. If you don’t use this, you can disable those services to save resources.
6. I noticed that after installing Avast, my computer boot up time is about 1 minute faster.
7. I have noticed that overall computer performance is better, which is a nice unexpected benefit.
And a few negatives:
1. Avast does not allow you to schedule a daily or weekly computer scan with the free Home version. This really isn’t a problem for me, since I had disabled this in AVG and ran the scan when I wanted it run. You will need to manually run the scan with Avast, which is very simple to do from the desktop icon.
2. You are required to register the Avast Home product or it will stop working 60 days after installation. This is a very simple process but does require sighted assistance if done through their web site. You can alternatively send an email to the support team stating that you are a blind user who needs to register and they will send you your registration code, which you will need to paste into the registration screen. The registration is good for 14 months, at which time you will need to re-register. Not a big sacrifice for free access to such a great program.
3. I did notice that downloading a large number of email messages in a single batch was about 20% slower than with AVG. If you only use web mail and not an email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird, then this will not affect you.
I have now installed Avast Home on all three of our home computers. I ran full scans of the computers after the installation and Avast found malware on one of the laptops that had gone undetected by AVG, Adaware and Spybot. That experience gave me the opportunity to see how easy it was to remove this problem from the computer.
I had been a happy user of AVG for the past seven years and it served me well. Their decision to design a new program interface that does not play well with screen readers is disappointing but not surprising. This has given me the opportunity to discover Avast Home, which I believe is a superior product to the AVG Free offering. I just hope that Avast continues to maintain a product interface that is screen reader friendly.
accesswatch review system custom -designed by Tyson Treasure
Tags: AccessWatch, Anti-Virus, Avast 4.8, AVG 8.0, JAWS, Review, XP Pro Sp2
