Why was even the old icon animated at all? Thankfully it could be turned off but as far as I’m concerned anything animated on the desktop I do not want, whether it be flashing, whirling or doing anything else distracting. Tray icons should just sit there confirming the program is running and for quick access and that is all.

The attractiveness of the GUI is important. No doubt they spend huge amounts of time discussing and creating the changes for these things each new version features anyway. So the argument that it is somehow taking time away from providing the core features is spurious. If that was an issue why change the look at all?

Of course you want functionality and reliability of the program put first but if the thing looks hideous and hasn’t been well thought out from a design viewpoint then it is a flaw. I’ve always thought having some of Avast settings options only available via the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs very odd.

A good skinning option can let a user choose a more suitable layout for the way menus are presented from a range of options, some of which may relegate stuff they don’t use most of the time to the background. Skinning can be more than just about changing colours schemes and fonts it can make a program more user friendly. Surely that is a good thing.

Personally I’d be happy if I could retro skin Avast back to the black and orange themed look and layout rather than the pointless and ugly Win8 alike tiles of the current version.