Avast free edition 2015.10.2.2218, Manual Update

I have 3 Windows 8.1 64-bit PCs running Avast free edition 2015.10.2.2218. All 3 PCs were configured for manual update and NOT automatic update.

Today, all 3 PCs updated to 2015.3.2219 automatically. Please can someone explain why the manual update option is being changed/overridden without my knowledge?

Sometimes it is needed to perform a “push update”.
avast has the right to do so if they believe it is really needed.

Where does it state that Avast has the right to do this?

Push updates don’t happen to beta program versions, at some point the user would have to have installed a beta version. Even then there shouldn’t be an auto program update, program updates are notify only unless the user has changed the update to Auto.

It is a very rare case where a program update would be automatically updated - in over 11 years I have never had the program update automatically. Mind you that is usually if the user is using an old version of avast which the user wasn’t.

So how this auto update has happened is unknown to me.

Where does it state that Avast has the right to do this?
It is stated in the license/eula. People from avast have also explained it several times on this webboard.

Where does it state that Avast has the right to update my stable, working version of the software i.e. Avast antivirus 2015 R2SP2 (2015.10.2.2218), to the unreliable, problematic beta version, AVAST 2015 R3 Beta 1 (2015.10.3.2219)?

If there is a flag/registry setting that tells Avast I am running a beta version, where is it and how do I turn it off?

I’m afraid your previous installations must have been on the beta stream, i.e. they were actually not the release installers downloaded from the main distribution sites.

Yes, I guessed this may be the problem.

How do I tell the software that I no longer wish to be part of the beta program and so stop these problematic/automatic updates?

Hmm… I believe such an option is planned for some future version (being able to switch between beta/update streams in UI), but it’s not there right now. I’m afraid I don’t know about an easier way than to reinstall, because the installed files, installation packages and the particular “stream” are all connected together.