Solo Technology

Don’t you just hate it when you find something that you like and have been recommending has been quietly discontinued?

While on vacation, I noticed the computer that my folks have was a bit out of date with antivirus — to the point where it wasn’t updating signature files anymore. Unfortunately, I ran out of time while there and never got a chance to fix that before we left.

Last night I called the folks and we set up a CrossLoop session so that I could uninstall the old AV and then install my current free favorite: Active Virus Shield (previous mention).

Side Note: CrossLoop is just so damned slick for stuff like this.

Oops! Active Virus Shield is no longer an option. It has been replaced with “McAfee Virus Scan Plus-special edition.” Damn. That’s definitely not based on the Kaspersky engine like AVS was.

Conceptually, I like some of the McAfee stuff. Integrating AV with spyware/malware and all that is nifty. But last time I tried it out, it turned out to be a great way to make a computer run much much slower. I didn’t stick with it for very long.

To be fair: Keep in mind, my computers are a bit “dated”, so McAfee may be just the ticket if you’re running modern hardware. Maybe?

I ended up reloading a fresh copy of Free AVG on mom’s computer and called it a night. I should figure out if Kaspersky offers a free version.

6 Responses to “Active Virus Shield Rode Off into the Sunset”

1. Mrinal on August 22nd, 2007 11:50 pm
   

   Love your comment on us Chris! Thanks!

2. AVS Fan on September 5th, 2007 12:03 pm
   

   1. shutdown Kaspersky ActiveVirusShield. Closing the main window is not enough, please click on the systray icon and exit.
   2. locate the XML file listing the update servers. It’s usually located in directory C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL\AVP6\Data and the name of the file is aol-updcfg.xml
   3. edit that file and remove the two following lines

   <site2 url=”ftp://download.newaol.com/avs/update/mirror/” diff_url=”diffs” weight=”10000001″ region=”*” />
   <site2 url=”http://download.newaol.com/avs/update/mirror/” diff_url=”diffs” weight=”10000000″ region=”*” />

   4. save the file
   5. restart ActiveVirusShield and launch an update from the systray icon’s contextual menu.

3. Chris on September 5th, 2007 5:31 pm
   

   Hey, AVS Fan — good stuff.

   So, if you remove those two URLs, where do the updates come from?

4. Robert on September 11th, 2007 9:36 pm
   

   Actually, if you follow the instructions here, it works better, because the host file won’t get replaced whenever you update, unlike the xml file above will.

   http://www.aviransplace.com/2007/09/05/how-to-make-active-virus-shield-obtain-updates/

   Active Virus Shield is an AOL rebranded Kaspersky anti virus. Recently AOL stopped offering the anti virus and starting September people who installed AVS can not obtain signature updates since AOL do not post them on their servers.

   Since AVS is basically a Kaspersky anti virus you can make a simple hack that will make AVS to update the signature files from Kaspersky servers instead of the AOL server, thus keeping your anti virus program updated with the latest virus signatures.

   All you need to do is update your HOSTS file. Follow these steps:

   * Open your file explorer and navigate to: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
   * In the etc folder you’ll find a file named hosts. Edit this file in Notepad
   * Add the following line to the bottom of the hosts file:
   127.0.0.1 download.newaol.com
   * Save the hosts file and close Notepad
   * Right click your Active Virus Shield tray icon and select Update in the menu

   That is it. Now AVS will obtain the updates from Kaspersky server, because when the AOL servers time out the program automatically looks for the Kaspersky servers next. Hope that helps!

5. Chris on September 11th, 2007 9:52 pm
   

   Good stuff, thanks Robert!

   For those looking for AVS, this article lists some download sites at the end.

6. reinmayker on September 26th, 2007 9:15 pm
   

   Help!

   As of this past Monday (09/24/07) I can no longer even find the system tray icon for AVS to see if it’s even working or updating or anything. Windows Security Center still shows AVS as my AV program but even when I click on the desktop icon the program won’t open. Does anyone know what gives? Is it the end of days and I just need to remove it and move on with my life?

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