Questions About avast! Free / Internet Security

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello avast! team members and users,

avast! has made it onto my short-list of potential AVs I’m considering using on my new rig. It’s a clean install and I’d like to choose the right AV. Whichever AV I choose, I’ll stick with for a very long time so I want to make the right choice. The products I’m currently looking at are avast! Free and avast! Internet Security. I’m more than willing to spend the extra few bucks for the premium product so no worries about that. I have a few questions in that regard however. I’d love it if you all refrain from answering with rumors or “I think”, “maybe”, “I heard”, etc. I’m really looking for solid factual evidence. Thanks in advance!

  1. Does avast! Free / Internet Security still install the infamous avast! addon? If so, is that addon needed for avast! to fully secure its users? The avast! addon has been the subject of a lot of controversy including spying on users, harvesting information illegitimately, etc. Here are a few links:

http://www.howtogeek.com/199829/avast-antivirus-was-spying-on-you-with-adware-until-this-week/
http://neurogadget.net/2015/10/07/was-avast-antivirus-spying-on-users/17040
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/613776-avast-spying-on-users-ok-or-lost-trust

While I realize these topics/articles are (in some cases) years old, the issue at hand remains the same. I’d rather not get into the politics of this matter. What happened, happened and there’s nothing we can do about that. Going forward, I’d just like to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

  1. If the addon IS being installed currently, is it needed for protection? In other words, if the avast! Online Security addon is removed from Edge or Chrome browsers, will a user still be protected from malicious sites, downloads, etc? Will avast!'s AV still function optimally? I’m willing to lose the security ratings next to sites in my Google Searches, I don’t need that functionality from the addon. What I do need though is for avast! to block malicious IPs, sites, etc and if that is still possible without the addon.

  2. I realize that avast!'s engine is the same for both its free and paid solutions. However, the paid solution includes a firewall (among other things). Does this firewall still piggyback off of the Windows firewall? Back in the day, avast! would recommend keeping the Windows firewall turned on as the avast! Internet Security would make use of it. Can the firewall function on its own does it need the Windows one currently?

I love the custom installation option so I know I can un-check unnecessary junk such as the SafeZone browser, Software Updater, and even the addon. I just want to make sure that removing the addon won’t hinder avast!'s protection capabilities.

Thanks to all who answer these questions. You’re helping another person join the avast! bandwagon. (hopefully)

  • A (prospective) avast! user
2

1]

2]
It is a extra layer of security and as I said in 1], it is up to you what you install or not.

3]
The avast firewall never needed the Windows one.
Although not recommended, if you want, you can run both at the same time.

3

Thanks for your response! I appreciate your time.

  1. When avast! collects information, it’s considering spying. If they inform the user before doing it, it’s just informed spying. It did harvest every URL that a user visited. While the argument can be made that this was done to add further protection capabilities into the avast! cloud foundation, I personally still see an issue with it.

However, as stated before, I’m not here to raise a fuss. That was all in the past.

What I’m asking for is if the browser addon is NEEDED for avast! to provide protection. Without it, will a user still be protected from visiting malicious sites, downloading malicious content, etc.

In other words, does the AV function just as well without the addon?

  1. I understand that, it’s why I’m asking about it.

  2. This is not true. You can reference:

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=104390.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=55436.0 (check avast! Admin “Vlk”'s response including “… So we keep it on”)

Thanks!

4
When avast! collects information, it's considering spying
In that case you are also spying.
What I'm asking for is if the browser addon is NEEDED for avast! to provide protection.
Already answered in reply #1

For more information check the avast FAQ and Blogs.

5
  1. This is not true. You can reference:

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=104390.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=55436.0 (check avast! Admin “Vlk”'s response including “… So we keep it on”)

The avast! FAQ mentions nothing of the sort when it comes to the browser extenstion. See for yourself: https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB89#idt_01

6
  1. Nope.
  2. Sure, you’re protected by the web-shield.
  3. Yes.
7

That information is outdated and it is now recommended to disable Windows Firewall.

The Avast firewall never piggybacked off Windows Firewall. it would recommend keeping Windows Firewall enabled in the past and would also import rules from Windows Firewall into Avast Firewall. To make things clear, Avast has always had its own Firewall.