By default, Avast 2015 has “Reputation Services” enabled. There is a little “i” next to the option which provides a one-sentence description. Curiously, a more complete description of the setting is completely missing from the Avast help system (pressing the “?” in the upper-right corner).
If a user has this setting enabled, exactly what data is sent from the user’s system and to where specifically?
(2) Avast FileRep: Avast FileRep is a database of executable files sourced from users who agree to participate in the service. The files (or their hashes — i.e., deidentified versions of the files) are stored and evaluated for the purpose of determining which are infectious and updating virus databases. Participation in Avast FileRep is voluntary, and data is not stored in a way that permits it to be associated with particular users. No user is required to agree to participate in the Avast FileRep service.
Thank-you Charyb for investigating this and posting what you found. I recently came back to AVAST, and looking around the interface and settings to see if the company has shed a lot of the excess baggage that made me leave in 2014. Thankfully, it’s looking like AVAST Anti-virus is lean and mean once again.
Thanks to your info, I’ve decided to leave “Reputation Services” turned on. It helps Avast be a better Anti-Virus provider, which in turn helps all of us.
Yes, avast has changed a lot since the 2014 version and more changes are coming.
If everything goes as planned in Q2 this year.
It is and always will be ofcourse “work in progress”.
Suggestion for changes/improvements are ofcourse welcome.