So i’ve been along time user of Avast, spreading the word and explaining how Avast was always better then 99.9% of any other Virus protection software and it has and still is true;
But now the UI keeps getting More and More Overly Complicated, Finding things like Web-Shields are Buried under multiple menu’s making it harder requiring several more clicks then is needed to get to them.
Instead of having Shields Accesible through Protection> Core Shields which Only Allows you to either turn on or off
You have to click the Following to even get it it
Menu
Settings
Protection
Core Shields
SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THAT PAGE
Then Finally you get to Web Shield
Only to be greeted with yet another button that says “Show Blocked Websites”
Which is the Only Way To block junk websites with Avast
And even then there is Still Another Button “+ADD WEBSITE”
This UI without a doubt is a pain in the backside, it isn’t in the least intuitive, but currently there is a sort of short cut to get there. AvastUI > Menu > Settings > General - Troubleshooting - scroll down to the bottom and select Open old settings. From that screen select Components > Web Shield > Customise > Exclusions.
I hope this helps, but this may not be there indefinitely as this UI, settles on what the hell will be in it.
A real pain, not to mention some of the settings (in the mainUI not the old settings mentioned above) are actually hidden in what is called the geek:area but there is nowhere in the UI that even mentions this.
So how the hell do you get into the geek:area, having got into the Menu > Settings click the search button and type geek:area (Avast Geek > Secret tech cave of advanced settings for skilled Avast users). Totally easy if you know about it, but who the hell does.
The OP has a point and is not the first (or last) to state “how complicated” the UI is, with Hidden settings behind hard to find categories. And then there’s the geek section. I can understand
It takes some time to know the UI
Maybe if there was the option to switch: a ‘simple’ UI with all the commonly used categories and settings, and then an option to switch to an Advanced UI (like the UI is now, more complicated). I don’t know. :-\
Advanced or not it really has some work to be done to be more intuitive. I have been using avast for over 15 years and a big reason for the switch was its configurability probably a 9 out of 10 with some really good UIs along the way.
But it has gone downhill from several UIs back probably about the time of the Tiled style interface. Version 18 was the start of this rot, but at least UI > Menu > Settings allowed a somewhat easier route into actual shield settings. Avast 19 UI got even worse.
I would have thought, hoped that over the years the UI should be getting progressively better to access areas most commonly used.
Regular posters on the forum have learned to put up with the substandard UI through the last two major versions. I have no idea how new users cope and find their way round it. Maybe that is not true, they come on here and ask.
The UI should be intuative but also allow users choice of actions in event of detection.
I find myself going to the old settings by default when the need arises. I dont know what I will do if that facility finally dissapears.
