My dad calls me about every few months complaining that his computer is slow. Every time I go to help him, I end up clearing temp files and uninstalling AVG, which takes a while to do properly. Unfortunately, either he or my uncle, who has an outdated mindset about tech, will reinstall AVG, and this frustrating cycle just keeps happening! I've done this about five times now. Is there a way I can block AVG from downloading or being installed, maybe through a firewall or something similar?
4 Answers
Have a heart-to-heart chat with your dad. Sometimes you just have to lay it out plain: if he wants AVG on his system and is causing issues again, you won't come over to fix it. Make it clear that you really want him to follow your advice about antivirus software.
Yep, if they think they know better, maybe it's time to let them handle the consequences!
One technical fix could be editing the hosts file on his computer to redirect AVG's website to localhost. This would stop any attempts to download it through the official site. Just a heads-up: he might still download it from shady sites if he’s set on it.
That’s clever! But just be ready for all the potential dodgy downloads if his uncle gets involved.
You could set up a block in his router or install DNS-level filtering to stop AVG domains. That way, if he tries to access the AVG site, it’ll just fail. You can even have it show a funny page instead.
Haha, if it redirected him to a funny video or something, that might make this whole AVG saga less frustrating!
Consider removing your dad's admin rights on the computer and creating a separate admin account for yourself. This way, he won't be able to reinstall AVG without your permission, and it's also a good security practice.
Agreed! This should definitely help prevent AVG from being reinstalled without your say-so.
Yeah, just take away those permissions and let him use a standard account for his everyday tasks.
True, setting those boundaries could make him think twice about what he’s doing.