I never thought I would switch from Avira but I became an Avast convert the other day. The Ask toolbar and Uniblue affiliation were steps too far for me, both of which Avira used to detect as malware. Clearly I’m not alone in this view, just look at any tech forum or review site. For instance, the highly regarded Gizmo Freeware site recently demoted Avira AntiVir from its long held number one spot to third (Avast is the new number one!) for these very reasons.
The Avira forum is also now heavily censored regarding the Ask and Uniblue affiliation and has become a complete joke.
The only reason I stuck with Avira for so long was because of its superior detection rates, but Avast has now closed the gap, plus you can only get Avira’s WebGuard in the free version if you install the Ask toolbar. Disgraceful.
As a Paid user of Avira and being close to their team, I never have had problem.
Uniblue ads had a short-life.
You are NOT forced to use Ask-Toolbar, you can just ignore it and keep using your Avira without that too, even if you install it, you can keep using Google Chrome as a browser that is fast and safe and without Ask-Toolbar inside.
Even if you give 1000 reason for switch from Avira to avast, I can give you 1001 reason to get back to Avira!
Censorship here is very very small (if any). Of course, there are forum rules.
As you can see, even Omid has his place in our hearts :-*
The general atmosphere is about cooperation and friendship.
I can’t believe they do that with the WebGuard… Welcome to avast forums
You’ve found the paradise 8)
So, Omid, you see nothing wrong in an affiliation with two companies whose products Avira previously reported as malware, and whose reputations are anything but glowing?
Having said that user reviews of the current version of Avira Free at CNET are not very good.
They give the current version of Avira Free only a three star rating with about 25% of the reviews giving it a one star. I didn’t bother reading why they don’t like the current version as I have no intention of switching from AIS. For anyone interested here is the link
AIS in currently ranked #2 among Internet Security Suites at CNET and avast! Free #3. avast! Pro is currently ranked only 20th though it has very good reviews. ISTM since the rankings at CNET are based upon the number of downloads the reason that avast! Pro is ranked so low is because users find AIS to be a superior purchase to avast! Pro in terms of bang for the buck.
I used the Avira Personal, but then try Avast Free.
Avira has a much higher detector (particularly on new types of viruses) and convenient wizard setup, but otherwise it is worse and poorer.
I’ve been first one who tested Avira (Beta) with Toolbar and so I’ve been first person who said “Don’t do it!” to the management team. same goes about Uniblue, But I don’t know what’s the secret money or any other kind of support which they did not mind and did not get rid of Ask Toolbar, but what’s the problem? you are still perfectly safe and by using a browser which does not support Ask Toolbar (Google Chrome) you will get benefits of WebGuard without having Toolbar in your browser…
Avira never detected Ask-Toolbar as malware in the past, neither as Adware nor SPR (Security Privacy Risk).
For someone who claims to be close to the Avira team and the first person to test with toolbar you seem to know surprisingly little about the product. If you go to AntiVir Personal for Windows in the Avira Support forum, under ‘Announcements and important threads’ you will see ‘FAQ Avira SearchFree Toolbar’, of which the first paragraph reads:
[i]"FAQ Avira SearchFree Toolbar
Did Avira flag Ask.com Toolbar in the past as ad- and spyware?
“Yes, in at least one instance in the past, Avira AntiVir has flagged the Ask.com toolbar as possible adware/spyware (‘ADSPY’ detection). At the time, the Ask.com toolbar was part of programs which have been known for adware. This situation led to the flagging of Ask.com toolbar.”
Sascha Beyer,
COO Products & Services"[/i]
As for the problem, it’s blatantly obvious to most people. The Ask toolbar and Uniblue are sleazeware and scareware of the sleaziest and scariest kind. Go to any reputable tech forum with a problem, upload your logs, and the first thing they will say is get rid of this garbage (from personal experience this is exactly what Bleeping Computer instructed me to do).
An antivirus should not be promoting the very things it’s supposed to prevent getting onto your computer. Very simple for most people to understand.
Yes, that previous thread you linked shows how disgusted people are with Avira. I think it could prove to be disastrous for them.
Going back to the Ask toolbar, even if you choose not to install it, you are still left with three of its files in the AntiVir program folder, ApnIC.dll, ApnToolbarInstaller and ApnStub, and the last of these ‘phones home’ with every reboot. I wonder how many Avira users are aware of this. Not many, I suspect. And, unless you have a firewall with good functionality such as, say, Comodo, it’s not particularly easy to disable these rogues.
So, choosing not to install the Ask toolbar is anything but the benign alternative our resident Avira expert (no giggling) Omid would like people to believe.
Personally, I used to like Avira, until it missed something and I had to fdisk/format (luckily I had an almost complete backup on a USB HD. Then I started to look at anti-virus methodology and decided I liked how Avast did things better… as in more shields and less let’s catch it when it trys to run on your HD.
@n01clueless: Well, Those detection has been removed for a long time, maybe old version of Ask Toolbar… (Anyway, I’m not affiliated with malware analyze team).
I’m with you that Ask-Toolbar integration has been a big mistake but we have to wait until their agreement reach last day of it (I think it was for 1 year), it gave Avira so much stress, lots of problem, stability of Avira Personal after first update, angry users (like you) and many more.
Wait until end of sepetember and version 12 will be released which would be all new in compare to history of Avira. ;D
Toolbars like ASK toolbar often install as a separate program. Skype does this with the Skype toolbar. When Skype updates it will install the Skype toolbar on your system. You don’t have a choice not to install it. So when I used Skype I just went in an uninstalled the Skype toolbar after each Skype update. A real pain for sure.
Toolbar Install. When you install the Toolbar, we assign a unique identification code to your copy of the Toolbar, and such code is written to your computer's registry.
When you access the Web Site through the Toolbar, the Web Site sets a “cookie” that collects information about your use of the Toolbar including the unique identification code of your Toolbar, the queries you submit through the Toolbar, your IP address, and whether you clicked on search results or advertising links. When you start your browser, the Toolbar also sends a configuration request which also includes your computer’s IP address, browser type, and information about the specific release date and distribution source of your Toolbar. This information allows Ask.com to distinguish your Toolbar for purposes of compensating third parties who distribute its products and to analyze retention and usage on an aggregated basis. Such “cookies” and configuration settings are reset every 24 hours, but the information collected is stored in a query log for up to six months. For more information on the use of cookies and on how to block or remove them, please see the Ask Privacy Policy at
How long we keep data about you
* We anonymize your search queries after 18 months, unless government authorities request otherwise.
* Cookies and configuration settings in connection with our toolbars are reset every 24 hours, but the information collected is stored in a query log for up to six months.