Why did avast install without asking me

system · 2007-01-10T03:07:26.000Z

Can someone help me please. i do not know what avast is completely yet but i wish to uninstall which i cannot for some reason. ??? i have no clue how it was installed onto my computer. ??? My power went off and when i turned it back on, avast had installed itself and told me a little bit about it. If someone could tell me why it did this and if there is another way to uninstall it, like through this web site, id greatly appreciate it. thank you

cheater87 · 2007-01-10T06:44:06.000Z

It means it loves you and does not want to leave you no matter what. Or someone installed it when you weren’t there and it needed to reboot.

igor0 · 2007-01-10T09:11:08.000Z

You can uninstall avast! in the usual way - through Control Panel / Add/Remove programs.

I’m sure, however, that avast! didn’t install itself into your computer
Either it was preinstalled there from the manufacturer/vendor, or somebody else (=some other user of your computer) did that.

system · 2007-01-11T04:07:40.000Z

no one else uses this computer but me. im the only one who has access to it and it is a very old pc so i am sure that the manufacture did not install it. When i go to Control Panel / Add/Remove programs it stops then refreshes the page and does nothing else i am going to do more research on avast and if i find that it works good i may keep it. thank you for the response. i have one last question, do u think it is a good software (i will still do research no matter what the answer) just trying to get other peoples thoughts on it. thank you

oldman960 · 2007-01-11T06:56:59.000Z

ConfusedUser post:4:

i have one last question, do u think it is a good software (

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be using it!!

alanrf · 2007-01-11T08:45:23.000Z

ConfusedUser,

it matters little whether you believe me or not but, as one who has been in this industry since I was a student back in the 1960’s … yes, I am a living dinosaur, I find it absolutely impossible to believe - think it through as I may - of any way that avast can have been installed by accident on your system. avast and its installation program simply do not work that way.

By whatever happy circumstance … you have happened on an antivirus product that is used by millions of users around the world, has a very high reputation in all the well-thought testing sites and also has an unbeatable price point for home users.

It also has, in my humble view, the very best support forum I have ever encountered. In return for this excellent free product I attempt in my very small way to participate here in helping others. My efforts count as nothing against the superb contribution made by other avast users in this forum and the added benefit of direct participation by the avast development team - almost unheard of in other similar products.

I will be the first to admit that avast is probably not the very best antivirus product available but for the price, for its performance and for this forum … it gives the others a d*mn good run for their money.

DavidR · 2007-01-11T14:09:22.000Z

@ ConfusedUser

Hi and welcome to the forums.

How you managed to get avast without installing it personally is a mystery (but someone has), it is a 11MB download and the downloaded setup file has to be run and depending on your Operating System would require some user interaction, so it isn’t something that can be installed by accident.

You are however fortunate to have it as it is a very good Anti-Virus as many reviews and comparative sites attest. I have had it installed for nearly three years without serious issues and I find it the most configurable and flexible AV I have used and I have tried a few ;D

Probably more important do (or did) you have another AV installed on this system (as two might conflict) ?

Tarq57 · 2007-01-11T22:00:11.000Z

Is it remotely possible that the OP has something installed calling itself avast, but this is not the Avast! that we all know and love?
Just a thought.
Some of these malware installations have all sorts of dirty tricks. Including similar names to known trusted applications.

BJ_GeOrgE · 2007-01-11T22:04:14.000Z

ConfusedUser post:4:

i have one last question, do u think it is a good software

well…if u’re looking for a free effective and with many features AV,then AVAST is the most suitable for u…if u want a commercial one(paid AV) i have only one advise to give u:DON’T GET NORTON OR MCAFEE!!!there are many others AV u can buy and are rly good(i have tried NOD32,Bitdefender,norton,mcafee,pc-cillin internet security 2007,AVG free,antivir personal and many others that i don’t remember)…nod32 is the best commercial(PAID) AV product u can have(in my opinion)…i recommend AVAST though coz its free ,effective,with many features and with great support(the forum and the ALWIL team rocks!!! ;))

BJ_GeOrgE · 2007-01-11T22:09:51.000Z

Tarq57 post:8:

Is it remotely possible that the OP has something installed calling itself avast, but this is not the Avast! that we all know and love?
Just a thought.
Some of these malware installations have all sorts of dirty tricks. Including similar names to known trusted applications.

yep…that’s a possibility…i had a problem(adware) like that which was installing me a fake program without my permission…u better do a scan with an anti-spyware program(like avg antispyware,spybot search & destroy,super antispyware,ad-aware personal)

DavidR · 2007-01-11T23:20:37.000Z

The easiest way to confirm this is from the presence of the avast icon, right click and check about avast and see if it matches this image or check windows task manager and confirm what is running.

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