What is the significance of the blue spot on the Avast Free system tray icon? Can I safely ignore it?
What do the other coloured spots tell me?
- Well, check your notifications and provide further info.
- I’m not aware of other colors, any example(s)…?
Someone else asked this just yesterday, this was my response:
No idea about other colours, haven’t seen any.
The nag notification that I have an insecure camera is always indicated by a blue spot overlapping the bottom edge of the Avast icon in the system tray.
If I know that the blue spot is an indicator for ‘information’ only then I can safely ignore it. In the time when Behaviour Shield was an uncertain starter, the Avast system tray icon would have a yellow spot overlapping the bottom edge of the icon. I guess that an idle Behaviour Shield is important for the user to be aware of and a cautionary yellow spot would therefore be of significance and to be taken notice of.
Well some time ago it was only the ! exclamation point over the tray icon, the different coloured dots might be useful to some. Not so for me, but in any case whatever the colour you need to visit the notifications area to clear whatever the notification is about or it would remain over the tray icon.
I have received yet another blue spot notification with the daily warning about my allegedly unprotected webcam. This time I let Avast go ahead and check the security of my webcam. It failed and I attach the screenshot of the failure message. Of course it failed. My webcam is protected by the Windows 10 built-in Defender Privacy feature.
How much does Avast pay people to make it look ridiculous? Avast plainly isn’t collectively bright enough to make its software able to figure out that a well-known basic feature of Windows 10 is already doing the protecting. Why would I want to pay for such a feature when it is built into Windows 10 as standard?
You have been banging on about this and other avast ads for ages.
The short answer is you either live with the ‘cost’ of Avast Free or move on to something that suits your needs/requirements, if that means no ads, find a free AV program that doesn’t have ads or get a paid version with no ads.
How impressive is it to push a paid-for feature which is pretty well irrelevant? Doesn’t Avast get it that Windows 10, its major target OS, has no need of the webcam protection? The best free AV used to push nondisruptive popup adverts once a day. I find that I am slowly being desensitised by becoming accustomed to though not yet reconciled to its increasingly insistent behaviour. Perhaps it’s my advanced age. I am after all 328 on the 13th of next February. Aye, that was a sad day in Glencoe.
Panda’s behaviour towards users of its very decent Free Dome product is positively reasonable but Avast Free is still so all-round flipping good. Decent ready alternatives help one to put up with imperfect situations almost indefinitely.
Well, that’s off my chest (again). 'er indoors has just arrived with a steaming hot cup of strong tea. “Thank you my dear.”
Ads, aren’t concerned about its relevance or what your needs might be (generally ads are pretty dumb and don’t even check), if they annoy you so much, I really can’t understand why you haven’t decided to move to another antivirus choice.
If as you say “Decent ready alternatives help one to put up with imperfect situations almost indefinitely.” then put up with it ???
This is absolutely my last word on this topic of ‘adverts’. I have written here this morning what I should have taken the extra thought to write previously.
It is a pity that Avast is unable to detect that a Windows 10 webcam is already legitimately Privacy protected.
I have been using Avast for more than 15 years and thus am motivated to use it by trust, habit and sentiment. I was accustomed to informative popup notices which were not disruptive when doing security sensitive critical tasks like online banking. That is one particular context where the present Avast style of ‘advertising’ is now especially objectionable. By all means advertise but try not do it in such a way as to even possibly masquerade as attempted communications from fraudsters. I guess that helps to camouflage the efforts of criminals. If that is Avast’s considered choice then I shall just grit my teeth and grin and bear it.
IMO Avast’s basic product is the best available and is all that I need. I want the Avast Corporation to thrive so that it continues to be able to satisfy my needs. I used to believe that its Free version was for the purpose of general awareness of its prowess in its mission to promote its business products. Free users also fulfill the valuable function of beta users who are a free resource for Avast to report back product defects and misbehaviours, or so I thought. I still expect the occasional glitch as with the introduction of Avast 19.8.2393. I had grown complacent and was using the automatic product update feature. I have now reverted to manual product updates and have also applied this to my circle of Avast using friends. Avast helps to keep phone calls of PC users crying for my help to a minimum. The blue spot does not bother them but then my security sensitivity is at paranoid level.
Avast might do well to at least take note of intended-to-be constructive feedback from its friends.
I highly doubt that Avast is not listening. What you actually want to see is action on the part of Avast on your suggestion. 
Hi Bob. I guess you’re right. Avast is a great software. I want its authors to prosper (that’s called enlightened self-interest).
I have just realised an inconsistency in the webcam privacy monitoring. I have a seperate Logitech webcam on a Windows 7 desktop and I never see or hear a peep from Avast Free about its privacy implications and Windows 7 does not include Privacy protection, unlike Windows 10. The affected Windows 10 laptop has a built in webcam and I see a daily blue spot on the Avast tray icon. I have already written the rest which you already know.
I would rather use Avast than any functional equivalent. I feel comfortable with it and its effectiveness and with my modest knowledge of it which is sufficient to look after and configure it on my own Windows systems and also those of relations and friends without causing me loss of sleep. I trust it implicitly.
Avast Free is inconsistent in identifying webcams. For example it does not offer privacy warnings where the webcam is not integral with the PC/laptop. It also indentifies some but not all integral webcams. I guess that this shows that Avast webcam privacy protection leaves something to be desired. I am not impressed.
I have to qualify this comment on the basis of the six Windows desktop PC/laptops used by me and my family plus five Windows desktop PC/laptops in use by friends and relatives. Avast Free is installed on all of these devices.
Webcam Shield is included in the latest versions of Avast Premium Security
It’s definitely worth having with Windows versions prior to Windows 10. Personally, I put an old sock over my Windows 7 Logitech webcam when not using Skype. I haven’t found any bugs in that sock yet but I do wash it now and again, just in case.
Just make sure there aren’t any holes in the sock and, don’t use one made of sheer nylon.
ROFL ;D 8)
Happy to start you day of right.
I’m a heavyweight wool sock man. ;D
A thick sock is essential for guaranteed privacy. I notice that the Blue spot disappears after a while. Knowing that considerably reduces the irritation factor.
I am getting used to the ‘adverts’ but I am still puzzled by the apparent inability of Avast to distinguish between integral and non-integral webcams. Does it really help Avast to advertise this anomaly?