Google Chrome installed without my permission, very annoyed!

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
21

Aventador, this IS an issue. A big one. It’s not that Chrome is a problem. It’s that it’s being installed without our permission and without any option to tell it “no”. It took my laptop AN HOUR AND A HALF to do the installation before it finally completed, with no way to back out of it and tell Avast to install without Chrome. Were that my only computer and had I relied on it for work, I’d have lost an hour and a half worth of income. Others here have also stated that the installation tied up their computers for a ridiculously long time.

You have at least a dozen people in this thread telling you the same thing: Chrome installed with no option to say “no” and without user permission. I also have installed Avast quite a few times; I’ve been using it for many, many years, since it first hit the market. It is just the latest version of Avast which is doing this.

The problem is not that it is “Chrome”. As stated, I use Chrome as my default browser on all computers in my house – BUT I do it by choice, not forced upon me in an installation I did not want and had no option to cancel.

You have people here with Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista all telling you the same thing. It sounds like most of them, like myself, are not newbies to computers, install processes or Avast.

Yes, changing default browsers takes five seconds. Installing software without permission and without giving the user the option to say no, however, should be a crime. Tying up what should have been a ten minute installation for an hour and a half, taking time away from peoples’ work day, when those people had no clue this was going to happen nor were they given a choice is wrong.

I believe the reason you are not seeing the problem is that you already have Chrome installed. When I installed Avast on the new laptop, I had installed Chrome first. It did not tie up my computer for a long time on that machine. On the re-installation on the old laptop, however, it did install Chrome (it was not on that system yet and, since I was just installing Avast because I wanted to run the machine through tests before putting any other software on it, I had no intention of installing Chrome till later). Try installing Avast on a system which does NOT have Chrome already installed. You may just find yourself eating crow.

We are not making a mountain out of a mole-hill. You are making a mole-hill out of a mountain.

22

Aventidor - I think you are a bit of a forum buffoon.

Stop commenting.

We already know how to do EVERYTHING you have suggested - we don’t need your help, we are computer professionals. All that is happening is that your comments have been mixed up with ours and yours are diluting the issue.

The issue has been raised, whether you understand it or not is probably the only new issue you have managed to raise.

Simply go away. Stop commenting on this topic. You are adding nothing. You are detracting from the point being made.

I am unregistering with this forum so that I no longer need to listen to your posts.
The next post that you raise will go unlistened to, so don’t do it.

23

No one has to resort to name calling. FYI…I am a certified systems engineer.

24

A “dozen” people. Lol. There are about 10 Million Avast users in the world. If it was such as issue there would be more then merely 12 people posting this issue.

25

That’s just in this thread. I’ve seen several other threads complaining about the same issue.

As I said, wipe a system clean, get totally rid of Chrome and Avast on it, and try installing the latest Avast on that system

See what happens.

26

Aventador, this is a legitimate concern and if you read the forum you will find that there are instances of an undemanded install. Now it has not happened to me but, it does not mean it is not occurring. Chrome could be the safest thing since sliced bread but it does not detract from the valid complaints. Avast are aware of this and are trying to track down the cause. You irritating all and sundry with your comments does not help. So please zip it

27

There are about 20 complaints of this with over 10 million Avast users so it doesn’t add up. I have installed Avast on tons of pc’s that never had Avast or Chrome. And guess what…NEVER ONE CHROME INSTALLATION WITHOUT INTERACTION.

28

I never said or denied it wasn’t an issue. Please read my replies before answering. Thanks.

29

Essexboy, thanks so much for relaying that the Avast programmers are aware that there is a problem with this. I hope they’re able to track it down and fix it before too many more users are inconvenienced.

30

At the moment it appears to be a random occurrence with no real rhyme nor reason. I have uninstalled/reinstalled a fair few times recently to try and replicate this on my system, but so far have failed
I wonder if there is a clue in the setup log

31

Was Chrome already installed on the systems you were installing Avast on? Or had it been (so that it may have been detected in the registry)?

32

No, never had Chrome as I do not like it :slight_smile:

33

Thinking about it the usual avast install failed so I did a full install and had the crapware installed along with avast with no opt out
this is not acceptable no matter how wonderful the crapware is
BTW I already had chrome- I have my wife’s Outlook, her facebook, her google voice all her stuff on her own browser

34

Very interesting. Because I, too, had a failed instalation (first ever!) on awsregsvc, and then standard installation gave me this unwanted chrome and declared its updates as rootkit. Details here:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=127697.0

Here’s another observation: I did clean uninstalling first. Then after avast installationg failed on aswregsvr, I tried to understand why. I found that the clean uninstall did not remove emergency update from scheduled tasks. Perhaps it’s related to why some of us never got to an option to not install chrome.

35

Thanks for being here :slight_smile:
I have saved every log I thought relevant including the first failed installation (post above this). If anyone wants it, its huge, but I broke it up into pieces trying to see if I can see anything matching the timing with few notes and few screenshots I did.

36

any commitment from avast about the discontinue of this unethical practice
essentially a drive by download

37

just wanted to notify that this is a persistent problem. Just updated a clients machine and upon reboot chrome was installed without notice or option to opt out, and the default browser setting was changed. No hint in the update dialog.

This is very unfortunate, as this disqualifies avast as credible software.

38

I confirm it too.

(I did not read all the replies in the thread. I’m posting because I think this chrome installation thing is fixed in a new version of the avast and that is what I say below.)

Yesterday on fresh windows install of my friend, I installed Avast from the main website (as i forgot my link for recommendation :slight_smile: ) Started installation, chose a custom installation option, but I did not remove any check marks. During the installation process, I saw that the installation is now installing chrome, and I was wondering if I allowed it ??
However after a few minutes ( As I did not wait 30 or 45 as the posts above ) Then I opened task manager and killed the avast installation, and I saw there was process called chrome setup.exe or something, killed it too and then restarted the PC.

The avast installation was completed so everything worked fine.

I ask - Is the installation of the avast setup install chrome in the background, and then after restart shows the prompt window - do you want to install chrome as shown in the first posts of the thread.

EDIT: The computer used Win7, but cant remember if it was x86 or x64.
I installed avast free.

Cheers, From Bulgaria!

39

I just installed the latest beta and the google options were upfront, removed the ticks and it did not install

40

Just had this problem a couple days ago after upgrading avast to the newest version.

No worries but I was suprised enough to google it and find this thread. Just thought y’all should know, if you wanted to know, that it’s not fixed.

Regards

Sprucey