I realize that many old timers are still here along with many people that have never seen a post by me. I’m still around and still testing out other AV programs. Avast! has always been my favorite “Free” program and hats off to the staff and users. Along with beta testing I also use other AV programs to see how they “fit”. Currently, Comodo is a few actual releases away from being relied upon. But the purpose of this post is to show that Avast has some competition to be looked upon without bias. For example, AVG is now just as good as Avast for what AVG is designed to do. There support forum for the free version is a no fooling around affair. It is not a social community but one that is there to only address problems. This cuts down on nonsense and gets the developers to only see posts related to the issue of AVG. Also, PC Tools AV has reached ICSA and VB100 status. It is no longer something to be scoured upon. This thread is not intended to find criticism with Avast but to take a look upon the direction Avast is going compared to other programs we used to, and for some still do, laugh at. This is no longer a laughing matter. Avast has a few competitors in their market niche nipping at its heels. We need to take a serious look at the competition within this niche, which is the market niche of developers that offer a free use as well as a pay for license to use.
I disagree. Their forum is very very stripped and even this way, the help is not as good, deep, quick as in avast forums. I won’t call avast forums as a social community, but an active community. I don’t find that many nonsense posts here 
And trying to define: NONSENSE I simply couldn’t agree… In here we can find some serious stuff, we can find some good and some bad jokes, we can also find some sad s**t, we can find some posts where we announced our babies were born, we can find some posts where our good friends, long time avast forum members passed away… true there was a lot of fights in the past, but in the same time take a look at it from this angle:
All this stuff we can find in our everyday life, every single day. So defining this word “NONSENSE” we can also say life is nonsense… well, maybe it is, but sure it is fun. Remember, we are not robots nor we want to be.
AVG is good product, hats down, and while their forum may be better and more technical help, it simply doesn’t have soul we can find in here. Just my humble opinion.
Agree.
Agree. But not better than avast.
Fully agree.
Culpeper,
The main differences in the AVG forum and the Avast forum is quite simple.
If you need help relating to AVG, simply go to their forum.
If you need help on virtually any software including AVG, go to the avast! forum. 
The producers of Avast!, in the end, aren’t creating a social atmosphere as a going concern for the product. Especially, since most people use the free version. What do they [Avast! staff] get out of that? Please, stay on topic, don’t get your feelings twisted and look at the different products that are out there without being so damn biased whenever someone comes on here with this topic. Cool, Avast! has a social forum for those that never get out of the house. What does the product have compared to its competition? How is that better than the competition? Do advantages of Avast! also have some disadvantages like additional resource use? And so forth. Please read the first post carefully. I’m not going to get into a pissing contest with the old timers about their crib. And keep in mind many people that are going to be reading this thread are going to be looking for a free AV and not a party.
The whole idea of bringing up the "forum’ to begin with was to give the old timers the hint that perhaps they are not best suited to address this thread since they can’t help but be biased. Avast! is a business. You want to help them out or take advantage of free room and board?
Aye, prepare to be boarded.
Other users that will be looking for a free antivirus will certainly not judge about this antivirus by reading this forum. They come here for help, and there is always someone who will unselfishly try to help them.
Social forum for those that never leave their house ? That’s not true. We all can access this forum at work too. Of course we don’t have to, it’s not like a must, but we feel responsible to provide an answer if someone expect it from us. I don’t know, but maybe we know how to manage our free time. I’m assuring you my life is a lot more than just sitting and answering in this forum, and I am sure there are other too who can say the same.
Biased or not, I am sure I am not biased… I am the one who tried every single antivirus and firewall out there. It’s not my fault if there is nothing better than this so I always come back.
The whole idea of bringing up the "forum' to begin with was to give the old timers the hint that perhaps they are not best suited to address this thread since they can't help but be biased. Avast! is a business. You want to help them out or take advantage of free room and board?Sounds like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed ???
You just proved my point. You are unable to look at anything related outside this forum or this product without getting hurt. If you think people are not reading these threads while deciding what they want to use then you have become institutionalized and I asked you old timers to avoid this phenomenon so as not to pollute this thread. And the more you guys defend your front porch and the less you discuss the competition the less likely someone is going to choose Avast! because the old timers are burnt out and are unable to stay on topic. Stop avoiding the subject of this thread with all this subterfuge. It isn’t going to help Avast!
You just proved my point. You are unable to look at anything related outside this forum or this product without getting hurt. If you think people are not reading these threads while deciding what they want to use then you have become institutionalized and I asked you old timers to avoid this phenomenon so as not to pollute this thread.What are you talking about ??? Maybe your Trolling ???
I don’t think so… lots of Professional users start with Home and forums…
I don’t think we’re biased. We tested a lot of other antivirus and products. We’re not stupid biased people.
I’ve used and tested McAfee, Norton, BitDefender, Avira, AVG, ClamWin, NOD32 and (on-line) Kasperky.
Are you sure I never get out of home?
There are a lot of threads that already discussed this… look, we can start a new one, but please don’t think it’s a biased, it just another one…
We are helping them and the others and you can’t imagine how…
Okay, you guys made your bed. See ya in another year or so. Lets just not talk about such things as Comodo a year from now, or PC Tools, or AVG, and so forth. We wouldn’t want to do that. Lets just talk about how long we have been living under one roof while sitting on the couch. I guarantee that the staff are discussing this subject and you guys have been a great help for them. rolleyes.
BTW, you haven’t been trolled. You’ve been owned.
No you missed my point. I am getting hurt when someone is trying to say that we don’t have life other than this virtual life in this forum… I have my family, my beautiful wife and daughter and they are not missing anything. I am not one of those that keeps staring into the screen whole day, while this whole life is passing by. Sometimes I think how I manage to find some time for everything, but it looks I do manage.
What do you want to talk about?
Advantages and disadvantages? Features?
Lets just not talk about such things as Comodo a year from now, or PC Tools, or AVG, and so forth.If you would look at the forum, you would notice that there are many threads about these subjects. I think sometimes to many but, to come out and say that they aren't being discussed is absurd.
I don’t feel owned Culpeper…that’s a peculiar word, “owned” - what DOES it really mean?? It sounds sort of insulting…but I’m sure you didn’t mean that. I’m not sure what you’re irritated by either…
I come here because over the years, this forum has quickly answered my questions and dealt with my fears. No other fora have been so understanding, so patient or so free with their good advice. While I understand the points you are making, personally, and IMHO only, this forum is just fine the way it is. I had a question last week - it was answered within half an hour and most of the world sleeps while I’m awake.
It is an avast! forum after all. It’s natural we’ll be more interested here in avast! specific info, yet it’s here I’ve learned about other good software from people I now trust. It is certainly discussed. While it’s true there will always be competitors, that’s not really the users’ concern; that’s a management/business decision for Alwil who may or may not be influenced by what is discussed here.
What specifically did you wish to discuss? (Because discussion is usually a good thing.) Thank you for testing other software. Did the results disturb you? Do you have information we should be aware of?
Thank you to all the “old timers” (I know you’re not old) for the amazing amount of work you all do voluntarily. I’d be lost without y’all and appreciate the help and huge learning curves you’ve helped me through.
Except because some users want statistics, others (the most) want the Off Topic board back.
Good questions. Hope Culpeper doesn’t lose it’s humor and come back…
I don't feel owned Culpeper....that's a peculiar word, "owned" - what DOES it really mean?? It sounds sort of insulting...
It is:
avast!webforum is truly international. People from all over the world post here. Different customs, languages & personalities.
This forum is an English language forum, even though it’s provided by people of the Czech Republic, many whose native tongue isn’t English have to post in broken English, plus there’s a difference between American English & British English adding up to miss understandings.
Now add in the different customs & personalities and you have contentions.
It’s not fair to get offended, feel insulted or call someone trolling. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Some look at things from a different angle. Grow some “thick skin”. If this was done we may not have lost the off-topic forum.
[b]
What I wanted to discuss and what I wanted to avoid is all in my first post. [/b]
Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way because certain people want to defend the forum, which is totally irrelevant, and shows that the community suffers from group think. With the exception of Techie most of those that have posted have done little in the way of supporting Avast! outside of defending turf. Even Techie has fallen into the trap door on this particular thread. I wanted to see a compare and contrast of Avast! competition for the particular market niche they compete within. You guys got an “F” for failure on this topic. End of story.