Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Secure Browser => Avast Secure Browser for Windows => Topic started by: REDACTED on March 22, 2016, 06:06:01 PM
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Hi, i just turned on my PC and noticed that Avasts SafeZone browser installed itself, is this normal for Avast AV?. I've uninstalled it using the advice on the forum but just wanted to double check just in case.
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I had the same issue today. I clearly remember that I didn't install it on purpose. The second annoying thing is that it doesn't appear in the "Installed programs" list, so I have to go through antivirus modification menu.
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Some users of the free version of avast are getting it for free.
Why or who is something I do not know.
I would say, enjoy the free gift from avast :D
Ofcourse it isn't in the list of installed programs because it is part of avast, not a separate application.
Information about the SafeZone Browser > https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB209
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Its a headache since I don't want it, nor do I need it. Hardly a free gift, its more like malicious activity.
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Same here. Installed without asking or notifying me. >:(
Not the first time Avast silently installed some "tools" or "gifts". But I'll make sure now it was the last.
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One of the program updates introduced this during an update from the UI, this really shouldn't have happened.
Because previously I hadn't selected it; so my guess when this was introduced to the free version (and not for paid versions) avast added it to the program update. I know it did appear some time ago in a previous beta build, but I removed it after the beta.
Had I not been notified by WinPatrol of a new scheduled task I would have been none the wiser as the SafeZone Browser hadn't appeared when visiting banking sites.
Those that don't want it can use the Control Panel > Programs and Features > Avast Uninstall > Change - from the next screen, Modify and remove it from the options.
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I use custom install to make the choice not to install the un-needed bells and whistles, if Avast is circumventing my selections then how can I be sure that it won't just try to re-install itself tomorrow?
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Do as I suggested remove it from the program options and check the images.
It was added because previously this was only a premium product, but has been introduced to the free version.
Personally I feel this should not have been delivered in this way but in the next avast program update, when people could have been informed.
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Personally I feel this should not have been delivered in this way but in the next avast program update, when people could have been informed.
Agreed.
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Basically I feel it should have followed the regular program updates 'Notify' of a program update (not Auto Update) so people are aware of it before the fact not after the fact.
Considering there is a beta testing session ongoing, it can't be too far off before there is a program update (avast 2016 11.2.xxxx).
This certainly can't be considered an emergency for it to be included behind the scenes in the same way as an emergency program update.
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Personally I feel this should not have been delivered in this way but in the next avast program update, when people could have been informed.
Exactly.
In a parallel thread, Eddy said I/we did accepted this behaviour by accepting the EULA.
But this is not how I read it, I understood this means that EXISTING components are silently adapted to detect new threats, not that new components can be added at will. If I was wrong, it means that Avast is the wrong product for me.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the safe zone browser is bad or anything. It's just the "shut up and eat" attitude that makes me walk away.
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The SZ Browser appeared on my desktop today and I don't recall allowing it to be installed.
So, I solved the problem of how to get rid of Avast's SZ Browser by uninstalling all Avast programs on my 7 computers/tablets/Android cell phones.
Then I installed AVG free.
Problem solved.
Goodbye Avast, its been good to know ya these past many years. Too bad you took advantage of your customers. This customer is gone.
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Avast conceptors, you got very clumsy with that one.
Ok.
We all that complain are running the FREE edition of Avast. This basically means we could be considered as parasites if Avast did not get any return value for this provided service (and of course we are not : Avast claims overall protection offers more protection (https://www.avast.com/index) to paying customers, so we all free users are part of AVAST commercial argumentation, which is a rather fair deal).
Ok.
There are EULA that I agreed on at some point (thanks Eddy for so clumsily reminding it in another thread : you often can point the faulty side by checking which hides behind the bigger lawyer team)
However.
There are things you are allowed to do, you definitely should avoid, just like assuming your wife is always happy with your hand on her skin, because she said once yes "for the better and the worse".
It's not a question of violating any rule, rather fading trust and lacking panache and gallantry.
Moreover, this attitude is counter productive :
How far can I trust a security suite that changes the usual behavior of my computer without notifying ?
The first thing unusual behavior means to me is possible viral infection. Then it immediatly launches a vast action plan to measure the exact level of compromission (if any) and ensure nothing can go worse, making me loosing in the process a lot of time I could better use. Discovering that this is the very software I relied on for my safety, that causes all this extra concern about it, is just so disappointing...
So, ok, I certainly gave you the authorization to do so once in the past through an obscure alinea lost somewhere in the deeper sections of EULA, but with common sense and less clumsiness, you wouldn't have tarnished your own corporate image, rather improved it.
A single notification would have avoided all this ! Too bad for you you did not think it that way.
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I was using Avast antivirus free, but also paid to use their VPN service for PC and Android. Those are separate services, so I paid twice to use them. They have not only lost a free-loading customer, but also a paying customer; me.
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I hope this explains (some) things :
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=184577.msg1301482#msg1301482
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I'm glad it is a freebie, but in my opinion has been delivered in a bad way as some people might panic and think that Avast has been hijacked or has corrupted etc. A pop up when Avast has auto updated offering SafeZone with the option to accept the offer or turn it down would have been a better way.
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Its simple: for the first time in over ten years I don't trust avast.
I have always recommended it without reservation, and said it was worth buying after a free trial. No more.
I didn't ask for that browser, just updated the (free) avast installation on a family member's computer, and there it was.
It offers to send me to facebook, amazon, ebay, and yahoo, all of which which I avoid like Ebola.
Spare me the snotty replies Eddy. I don't care a bit about the EULA.
Avast gets to choose what junk they install, I get to choose what antivirus I use.
Avast's current marketing strategy is costing money, not making it.
You're losing some old supporters.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=185331.135 (https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=185331.135)
Its a pity, I go all the way back to the blue ball and the siren.
But oddly enough I really think the avast team can reverse the trend.
Sure hope so. It was and is a good antivirus.
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If you did a little research, you would have know that avast already did "reverse" some things.
e.g. The SafeZone Browser is not pussed anymore and people are asked if they want to install it or not.
You might not care about the EULA, but fact remains that you do accept it when installing software.
If you don't agree with something(s) in it, don't install the software and use something else.
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If you did a little research, you would have know that avast already did "reverse" some things.
e.g. The SafeZone Browser is not pussed anymore and people are asked if they want to install it or not.
You might not care about the EULA, but fact remains that you do accept it when installing software.
If you don't agree with something(s) in it, don't install the software and use something else.
The problem being it is now an integral part of avast free, so it is going to be installed on program installs or updates. So people still don't know this, so when they get SZ Browser they get pissed and it doesn't matter what is on the EULA. I would be surprised if 1% of people read any EULA before installing a program.
What a god awful mess this has turned out to be.
For something that could/should have been welcomed in the free version after only being available in the paid versions of avast.