I'm new to MSS/WHS, but a long-time user of Avast! Anti virus software. I was surprised to see McAfee as the primary anti-virus option for MSS so I installed it -what the heck (maybe they don't suck anymore) and checked it out. I was underwhelmed, to say the least and still getting e-mails from them reminding me of it! Yep, its gone now.

Did a little research and found my familiar Avast! product supports one WHS license and up to 10 Clients in their family pack (1 Home Server license and x10 Avast pro Client Licenses - can't be beat!) Well, I upgraded within 2 days of receiving my MSS and absolutely love it! Just the fact that I can monitor my wife/kids computer from the MSS Console is almost worth the price of admission. I also like how I can remotely validate that each machine on my home-office network has the latest updates and have been recently scanned. For the SOHO network administrators, Avast! is definitely something you'll want to consider using.

I hope some of this is helpful to others,

Jon

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EX475 x1 1TB WD (2TB "pool"), 512 GB RAM (2GB on order from NewEgg-waiting patiently)
PC1: HP Dv8380us Laptop, XP Media Center, 2x140 Drives, 2GB RAM
Router: Linksys WRT350N

My websites:
http://www.wagware.com
http://www.caslsoft.com

+1
An excellent product that I had used on my PC's for several years - now that WHS family pack deal is an even better solution (for my 7 PCs and 1 WHS).

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DiskStation: DS1512+ 2x 3TB, 3x 1TB, 3GB RAM, Dual-Core Atom D2700 (2.13 GHz), DSM 4.2; DX510 5x 1TB

Great news. I had downloaded Avast trial edition on my HTPC which just expired. I was thinking about getting the family pack for my MSS and HTPCs/Desktops. Will definitelty be doing it now.

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Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Can I ask what you guys use for firewall on the PC's and the server with Avast?

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This Space For Rent

I still haven't taken the jump to Avast! on my WHS, however, I've been using it for a long time on my PCs. Besides the hardware firewall from my network/router, I just use the Windows Firewall.

So far... so good...

I used TrendMicro Internet Security for a while when I got my new laptop because it came with a 2-year membership, but after a while I started getting BSOD errors referring to a TrendMicro file, they were no helpful so I went back to my Avast!/Windows Firewall combo.

Is avast lightweight compared to McAfee? Does it get updated a lot?

It is in my opinion. The virus definitions usually get updated once a day. The engine has been updated a couple of times since I've been running it (6 months or so).

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HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

It's pretty good. Does not crawl along like McAfee. It updates regularly. Protect email. Does not have bloatware.

From the add-in you can see what versions of Avast the other computers are using and/or start a remote scan.

F-Secure is another option that has an add-in. but Avast is my favorite.

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HP MediaSmart EX495 E8600 3.2Ghz CPU, 4GB ram, 8TB storage including 3TB drives in pool. WHS with Active Directory, WDS, Media Center Master, Logitech server. Office 2010 server with client add-ins.
Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server.

Sounds good. I'm going to look into it.

I know McAfee was supposed to have some sort of QoS design (it supposed to drop to a low priority if your doing stuff like streaming, etc) ... but it sounds like that it doesn't work quite as well as advertised.

I actually use AVG Free on my current PC's, and like it a lot. I wouldn't mind seeing them make an add-on

I first read about Avast here. When my Norton expired a month ago I installed the Avast trial on 3 laptops, a desktop and my MSS. No issues so far. It irritates me to no end that we even need anti-virus software and that we have to pay thru the nose to get it. I am really pleased with the Avast pricing and expect to purchase the WHS family pack.

Greetings! New at thsi so my apologies if this is covered elsewhere. Just installed Avast! for WHS. Won't update. Keeps telling me my firewall is in the way when it tells me anything at all. Most of the time it just sits there when I hit the update button. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I've been using Avast for 6 months on my whs and love it. I use the free editions on my PC's

So far its caught 4 malicious codes in separate web sites, searching through Google.



I don't use any extra software... only the one in my router. (D-Link DIR-655)

Another vote for Avast!

I have removed NAV2008 off of 15 machines this week alone to install Avast.

It's not been without its teething problems but IMHO it can't be beat especially with the dedicated WHS Add-In for a degree of central management.

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

Avast is superb. No problems recognises all the clients and it dosnt grab all the process. Highly recommend it.

Diehard, incase you are still thinking about the CPU upgrade, I put a e7500 in my 490 and it runs fantastic!

I don't understand the purpose of this thread, just a week or two ago, there were supposed to have happened a big problem with Avast, like false negatives and flaws.

NOw comes this thread to praise The Lord... I mean Avast, and no word about the past crisis. So I'm questionning the purpose of this thread, is it because the reported problem was no big deal and a new user is glad to have found this piece of software and want to share; or is it to minimize the bad publicity?

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HP-ProLiant N40L 8GB WHS2011
HP-EX470 4GB Athlon-X2-BE-2350-(Stepping G1) Windows 8 (server build)