I do NOT appreciate the avast nag about “upgrading” to payed services. I’ve been loyal to avast for years, but since Windows 8 (and 7) has the same protection as (the also free) Windows Security Essentials built in the system I’m considering to simply uninstall avast to get rid of the spam.
Why would I want spamware telling me to “upgrade” every day, when I can get a Windows 8-compatible (avast isn’t yet), non-nagging, software that doesn’t even require me to give my e-mail address? The question is not rhetorical, I honestly want one good reason. I’m not using any services other then file system and behavior shield, might I not aswell chose Windows Defender?
Has avast! antivirus finally taken the step from being the best security software out there to being simple, unnecessary, spamware?
exitexit didn’t we have this same rant over a year ago : Ad’s in the free version are to be expected as it’s the only way avast can advertise there paid solutions so if you don’t want any ad’s whatsoever then the paid version is your best bet.
As the link Pondus has supplied you explains Defender is way behind on protection levels, your choice what you want to use but I cant see avast doing away with the odd advertisement popup for their paid versions, they have to make money you know otherwise there wont even be an option to use a free version.
And avast works perfectly fine here on Win8 by the way
Justified critique isn’t ranting. But yeah, I’d forgotten about that. Maybe the popups stopped or I uninstalled it, cant remember now. I had a good point though.
There is a fine line between having lots of upsell ads in the software UI, and taking the right to act like an intrusive adware with popups. I have no problem with ads in general, in fact marketing is a part of my education (5 yr business at uni), but where do you draw the line between being okay and being too intrusive? Marketers would project ads on the moons surface if they were allowed (Coke) and in your dreams if they could, so apparently they cannot draw the line themselves. I have trouble accepting (non-webpage) popups in my computer environment, they catch the eye - especially considering the only popups in that corner is either virus warnings or IM-messages - and they are repetative. I have already taken the decision not to upgrade. Several times. Nagging is a dealbreaker. If not enough people buy their softwares/services to support the free software, maybe they need to change their product model. But it’s unlikely that the spam is motivated by that, rather then an unmitigated hunger for more profit on our expense. That is their right, and it’s our right to chose another competitor if they do. And that is what I’m suggesting, even taking the time (due to many years of loyalty) to tell them why I’m about to chose another software.
I read it, even if it doesn’t say WD is “way” behind other anti virus softwares it does say protection might be better on a 3:rd party software. I interpret it as WD to be a good, sufficient, defense but without the edge. So maybe AVG or some other 3:rd party AV-software is a better substitute for avast AV then WD if you want that edge, since avast apparently intends to keep the popups.
Yeah, I saw a post about that after I’d posted my post. Win 8.1 warned me that avast wasn’t compatible when I installed it though (maybe a week ago, latest version) but it, and therefore I, might be wrong.
Pop-up ads bothering you? I would think an infection would bother you more!
You get great protection for free…and ads are the issue?
If you decide on AVG, guess what? They have ads too. Not to mention inferior protection.
Win XP Pro SP3 here, Avast 8.0.1497, and I have pretty much no nags or popups bothering me daily–Just every now and then, particularily during updates…
OTOH… Keeping up to date with the sheer number of viruses and other malware out there, among all the unsavory people who want nothing more than to access my files, data, et cetera, and/or use my computer as a drone to spam the hell out of the rest of the people on the internet or other nefarious activities… Isn’t exactly cheap and easy. It’s time consuming and costs a lot of money and other resources. Yet the people at Avast release their hard work with the option to obtain it all for free, except maybe some annoying popup ads…
I’d pay for Avast if I could afford it (unemployed right now :-(), but since I cannot, I’ll accept and deal with a few minor annoying popup ads. Seems to me that complaining about the ads is much like a starving and thirsty man in a desert complaining because the first oasis he finds doesn’t offer fine wine and caviar…
(OTOH, I would agree that popups every two minutes is too much, too… But I’ve never seen it get to that point…)
There is nothing to stop you from setting the value to 0, but as has been mentioned this isn’t zero seconds display, but indefinite display until closed by the user.
But the option is not between getting an infection and putting up with spamware. If nothing else, I went for years (not overexaggerating) without any anti virus program at all (not even windows defender) and never got any viruses. And I’m a heavy downloader of software and media. How do I know I didn’t have viruses unnoticed? Well, obviously there is no way to be absolutely sure but I installed avast and scan came up with no threats, and I never had any problems. I take precautions like actually reading the comments of things I download, and not downloading anything from sites I don’t trust. It goes a long way. If you also have a secure browser with little userbase (like opera), that helps too. Obviously I have firewalls, both hard- and software.
Does AVG have popup ads? Somewhat inferior protection doesn’t bother me. The risk of an infection is so low if you know what you are doing, the difference must be microscopic. It is well worth taking imo.
Many infections spam you with popup windows, so in some sense, avast IS an infection even though a very small one. Atleast, it displays the behavior of adware. Having a slightly less good defence and a lot less spammy behavior is black numbers in my books.
I have no problems with the ads. The spammy popup ads, however.
In july 2012 you complained about the same. Why still using avast if you don’t like it? Learn to live with it or change to something else but stop complaining. Noone has forced you to install avast. You did it yourself. And as they say “You get what you pay for”
Let me put it this way…do you drive a car?
If you do, have you noticed all of the advertising? ???
Each time I drive my car I’m bombarded with advertising. Including convenience stores, store signs not to mention billboards.
I could also include cinema signs, electronic stores, restaurants I could go on and on but you get the picture.
There is always a “stop whining”-guy on every forum. Why don’t you stop whining and move on to another thread? None is forcing you to read, and certainly not reply, to this one. Thank you.
And sitting by my computer surfing the internet I am also bombarded with commercial messages. None of them pops up in the corner of my screen, acting like it is something of importance or interest, and therefore catching my eye. You cannot deny that a pop-up is more intrusive then a play sign on the wall or a banner.
You are whining about this thread. Nobody forces you to read it, etc etc, you know how it goes. Maybe you should review your bad attitude? I think it would help you create more constructive and relevant posts. Think of it.
For your specific needs, MSE may be exactly what you need. Just be aware, unlike avast!, its’ antivirus engine can be disabled/corrupted when malware enters and attacks your system, and then, when that happens, one has no real-time protection whatsoever following this sort of incident.
It now is a risk one has to take when one runs MSE as their a/v of choice.
Actually, we’re all in the same boat here: All free versions of antivirus programs except MSE have adverts and pop-up windows of one sort or another; some are more intrusive than others, so it is then a case of pick your lesser evil here.
None of us as users create or maintain these a/v softwares, so essentially, what you desire, is in a category of a wish list, as one really cannot change any settings to what they want if that setting is not there. If we had control of design and implementation, that would be another story…
Ad’s in the free version are to be expected as it’s the only way avast can advertise there paid solutions so if you don’t want any ad’s whatsoever then the paid version is your best bet.