I understand there are a lot of good reasons to have a download link in download.com, as well as tucows, majorgeeks, etc but I do not think download.com or any similar site should be the “official” download location for such great software. There is nothing more gut-wrenching for me than to get a brand-spanking new fresh install of windows and the first place I go is Avast.com to get and install the absolutely latest version of Avast on that machine before I do anything else (haven’t even gotten to Firefox and No-script, ad-block plus yet) and the first thing I get when I go to download the program is a page that has 4000 (hyperbole) links to try to get you to download some piece of garbage software, many links of which appear to be the one that gets you to start the download that failed to start so you can get the offical Avast software now only to find-out 20 minutes later (more hyperbole for effect) that you downloaded some other software you’ve never heard of and now all of a sudden the Avast download is available if you still have the browser open to get the save file notification.
Personally I feel safer downloading from an illegal peer-to-peer bittorrent site than to get a file from pages like those… I’ve broken cat5 cables yanking the cord from the wall when garbage like that start showing up in my browser. The “tested malware free” gif on the page means NOTHING to me.
PLEASE consider using your own hosting for the downloads… Amazon, Dropbox or ANYTHING but one of these.
I absolutely LOVE Avast the product and am about to buy the whole enchilada for several computers, but the whole website, downloads, upgrade options have already migrated slowly to the feel of a professional bait-and-switch operation, which is to a point expected from a freemium model, but the truely full-tilt bait-and-switch-plus-get operation of sites like download.com do not inspire confidence at all in someone trying to install protection software on their computers.
I also propose more “check the signature against a database” features built-in to Avast, including multiple sites that change to a degree with each release that would “catch” a redirector… no more details because I bet Avast could do better than I plus no need to give malware writers any ideas.
Well I just went to the Avast Home page and click on the blue box which says “Go to downloads”. That lead me to a page which showed 3 versions of Avast. Free,Pro and Internet Security. Then I clicked on “download” under the free version. I got a pop up which was offering me a deal on Avast Internet Security and I click on “No thanks”. That lead me to Download.com. So whats the problem with that? Thst was a total of 4 clicks from the time I was at the Avast home page. Dont know what your problem is or where you came up with a 4000 page of hyperlinks.
I’m looking at this from the point of view of someone who was just told to “go get avast” by someone they met at the hair salon. There is a reason IPhones and IPads are so popular, and it’s NOT because of users like you and me that would think to check support->downloads when the download now link is on the front page.
The 4000 links is for Cnet… I just went there and it has 2 ads, Cyberdefender and ARO2011. When I posted the original, it had an ARO2011 ad that would fool even you, yes you.
When I said “PLEASE consider using your own hosting for the downloads” I meant for the official download location an average user gets from the main page.
Compare: Avast, Ad-Aware, Malwarebytes - all by default take you to download.com which gives you a version number and a filesize.
Then look at Spybot S&D… takes you to a download page with 8 mirrors and 3 direct downloads AND gives you an MD5 you can compare with after you finish your download if you choose the direct version.
Show us these 4000 links you speak of. Come one. Please show us. I can go into Download.com and look at the top downloads and guess what…Avast is #2. And the problem is?
I’m sure he is exaggerating. He just doesn’t like how Cnet is an ad-zone with links to things like Cyberdefender, Iniblue registry cleaner and Stopzilla, programs you would only recommend to your worst enemy.
Look at Spybot?, no thank you I try to avoid that, it is a sad thing. If the price Avast! would pay for hosting their own downloads would be to become like Spybot, then I am glad they are on Cnet. Avast! gives you a lot for free and they have to make/save money in savvy ways to deliver such a great free product to users.
it’s been awile