Avast advice, notification, pop up windows

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello,

I’m back on the track concerning the Avast advice, notification, pop up windows.

Coming back home after a long period, booting my home PC, and pointing on the Avast icon, the pop up windows provides the following information : “Avast Free Antivirus – You are protected” (within a green background pop up windows) !
How can I be protected with an old engine version (2015_10_0_2208_712) and a database being several weeks old ? I’m NOT for sure !!!

Why don’t we get the engine version as well as the database version installed, to be displayed (as it use to be the case with an earlier release of Avast); then the user is advised he needs to upgrade/update prior doing anything else !
Not every machine is hooked up to the Web 24/7 ! And in that case, any external device connected to that PC could badly contaminate the system !

Another feed back from a lot of different type of users (and different nationalities), is about the database updates pop up windows and sounds notification/advice missing !
Since certain users found the process annoying, it sounds it was decided unilaterally to get rid of that function …
Gee, if some guys don’t like it, they can always disabled the sounds and play with pop up display time using the settings options. And everybody will be happy, since these functions seemed to be useful to a lot of persons.

So if we could foresee something like :

  • When pointing to the Avast icon (task bar) :

Engine version : (last version)
Database version : (last version)
On a GREEN background pop up windows. >>> Everything is OK

Engine version : (OUTDATED version)
Database version : (last version )
On a ORANGE background pop up windows. >>> Engine item obsolete

Engine version : (last version version)
Database version : (OUTDATED version)
On a YELLOW background pop up windows. >>> Database item obsolete

Engine version : (OUTDATED version )
Database version : (OUTDATED version)
On a RED background pop up windows. >>> Both items obsolete.

  • When the database update is completed, get the “old fashion” pop up windows and sound back in business.

Thanks for the great job, you guys are doing, and I/we hope you take theses remarks into consideration.

Cheers.
Pat

2

Agree ;D

+1

3

I like your logic and partially agree, but I don’t want to get some yellow warning popup every time I boot the computer. I assume when I boot the computer that the virus definitions will be out of date and will need to be updated. I also know if I don’t connect to the internet, they will not get updated, and will still be out of date.

In regards to a different color if your ENGINE is out of date, I really like that idea. The engine is updated infrequently, and some sort of visual cue that it is out of date is good.

Do keep in mind that many people are color blind, so colors would need to be selected accordingly.

Also note that in order for Avast to know that it’s engine or definitions are out of date, it needs to be able to connect to the internet. At that point, no need to notify the user that the definitions are out of date, simply update them.

4

Hi Techknow,

Yeah, I’m back in business …
The proposal is not to get a pop up when booting or to be disturbed at any other time, but to get a true advice when pointing ( this is a human action ) to the Avast icon in the task bar.

To get a real status ( Engine version, database release ) of your protection, and not “you are protected” when/if it’s not the case. And believe me, for a user lambda it might be really confusing.
And like I said earlier, not everybody is permanently connected to Web, so based on the retrieved information, it’s the user responsibility to do whatever he wants to execute.

Regarding the colors, Avast is already using the GREEN background ( OK ) as well as the RED backgroung ( NOK ); keeping in mind that the first and quickest way to inform a user is the color usage ( ie: a car dashboard ).

Cheers.
Pat

NOTE : By the way, I’m not really a “newbie” as stated but more an “Avast blue icon generation” dude who lost “everything” after the Avast forum crash way back in 2014 …

We’re talking about security, don’t we …