1. It’s his website, his review, his experiences with the program, he didn’t do it to trash Avast. (and he included screenshots so the user can determine for himself if he is correct).

  2. the basic look and feel of applications should be the same no matter what the application is doing (most UI designers know that and follow the conventions as far as possible), the point being that the user feels at home with the application directly. I don’t use NAV or KAV so i can’t comment on it.

(this is not just something you’ll find in the Windows world, it’s the same in the GUI’s i use, a GTK app pretty much looks and feels like a GTK app and a QT app pretty much looks and feels like a QT app)

he included screenshots so the user can determine for himself if he is correct
Can a user decide simply based on screen-shots? My experience says no.
most UI designers know that and follow the conventions as far as possible
"vlk", an alwil software member which creates avast, has written some time ago here in the forum as to why alwil wanted an un-conventional look for avast. Please use the "search" function to read his post.

I’m writting proper avast! review as we speak so stay tuned :slight_smile:
This one comes from reliable Security-Ops and won’t be biased in any way :slight_smile:

I can’t find the post by vlk unfortunantly. It would be interesting to know why he would choose such an unconventional look.

Well, there are (lots) of people who have no clue what even a hard drive looks like, so they don’t know what that icon means… yes they can mouse-hover for a pop-up window, but you’d be surprised how many don’t even know about these hover features. There are lots of people like that–the AOL-type crowd as I call them. Yeah, perhaps if they’re that computer illiterate they shouldn’t even be using a computer-- but hey, not everyone is a whiz with computers. There used to be a time when computers were mainly used by techies – but now with the prices of computers dropping–computers are now almost like cheap appliances for the masses. The fact that you can buy them now at Wal-Mart tells you something.

Not that I believe software should be written for the lowest common denominator (i.e. the idiot-proof-all-in-1)… but surely there’s money being made in that market.

Anyway, these are my thoughts…

Considering you are (i assume) on the Avast team i think it would be kinda hard not to be biased. :stuck_out_tongue:

It would be like me doing a review on Slackware, of course it is the best distro of the best OS of all times. :wink:

It is common practice to let the user choose if he wants icons, text or icons and text, the default is to have icons and text.

Perhaps something to think about.

It is common practice to let the user choose if he wants icons, text or icons and text, the default is to have icons and text.
...and that's exactly why avast has a skin-less GUI too. See pic here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=8071
Considering you are (i assume) on the Avast team i think it would be kinda hard not to be biased.
He isn't on the team, he is a user. If it is biased, believe me, a lot of users will jump on him. we are not stupid or blind. We don't think avast is perfect. That's why there is a topic here called "wishlist", so thinks can get better. But what we really appreciate is that Alwil is trying hard to do their best. I haven't seen that from other AV companies and that's why I prefer avast.

This sounds ridiculous… just vanity and proud.
You’re being the fanboy of him :stuck_out_tongue:
If he’s number one, I’m God 8)

I beg your pardon, but buy avast Professional before blaming against the skins…
I installed avast for a lot of friends of mine and none complain about the appearance. If you don’t like them, use the skinless. You’re jealous, just this, admit.

Another wrong consideration…
Start talking about we really know 8)

That is, however, not the default and it still lacks the options i mentioned.

Ok, i just read avast! External Control developer under his username, that is why i assumed he was on the team.

I prefer F/OSS for the same reasons.

I think we have some language difficulties here, he is most definently the No1 expert of his own experience, just as you are on your own experience.

I still think it would be interesting to know why he chose such an unconventional look, that isn’t blame or even critizism.

I prefer command line myself but to each his own. ;D

All im really getting from this is many different opinions, (nothing new there :slight_smile: ).

It is common practice to let the user choose if he wants icons, text or icons and text, the default is to have icons and text.

Well there is a skinless option as mentioned in the post above, avast just doesn’t have this by default, simply because it is not the same as other AV’s, does this make it worse them them?

Before such programs as firefox and Netscape it was common practice to open a new window everytime you wanted to view more then one webpage at once, but then came along tabbed browsing, did this make tabbed browsing wrong?

I personally do not compleatly wrong his review, it does come from a home users perspective, but if someone tells an average home user that a product such as Norton is better then avast in every way, they will go for Norton like a shot, (just a example).

Also not all of us say Avast is the best, i personally thing Kaspersky AV is the ‘best’, but i still use Avast as i prefer the interface and customisations more.

Considering you are (i assume) on the Avast team i think it would be kinda hard not to be biased.

Nope he’s a home user like me and allot of others who help out on this forum because we can :wink:

When it comes down to it, the using of an Anti-virus is better left to the users preference though trial and error.

Have a good day :slight_smile:

–lee

Ok, i just read avast! External Control developer under his username, that is why i assumed he was on the team.
Germanium202 You should have learned by now what happens when you [b]ASS U ME[/b]. ;D
That is, however, not the default and it still lacks the options i mentioned.

My PC wasn’t plugged-in and turned to “ON” by default when I bought it, neither was my bike filled with gas for a lifetime when I bought it. Was I wrong when I bought them? (remember: I bought them, they weren’t free). Off course not, I had to do 1-2 simple things to get them working properly. And you have to just press 1 button to have skinless GUI!

As for more options, there is the Professional version of avast.

debates are a healthy thing.

but this is starting to sound like beating a dead horse to me :slight_smile:

What??? You know how beating a dead horse sounds like??? This is wierd!!!
;D ;D ;D ;D

hahaha… I’m laughing, but at the same time realizing that some of our sayings here in the US have got to sound very odd

As to keep my post “on topic” for a moment… I’ld like to say that you won’t find another anti virus software out there that has a forum that is as thorough and helpful as this one. If a user has a question, needs help… he/she can come here and find it by searching or asking other users here.

Having to do a little configuring when you add new software to your system is not unique and should be expected. Its a part of most all programs we use today.

  1. Shadenfroh noted that the UI was “odd” and in his opinion the worst of the programs tested.

  2. When it comes to Shadenfroh’s review, a few helpful hints would have helped him, trashing his review like this is, however, not in the least helpful to anyone.

I bet that some guy who reviewed videocards and prefer Nvidia over ATI is being trashed in some ATI forum right now, the problem is that opinions are like assholes few people tolerate others.

How about your pc didn’t have an “on” button but rather a series of buttons with symbols that you did not understand?

How about your bike had the brake on the left handle and a pedal as an accelerator? Would you find your new inteface odd?

The Professional version wasn’t the one that was reviewed though, so that is completely irrelevant to this discussion.