Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: REDACTED on February 16, 2018, 08:40:47 PM
-
I am about to uninstall Avast because today, I was looking up on Google the phone number of someone that called me and immediately I received a popup ad from Avast (on my windows 10 computer) saying "Tired of receiving spam calls bla bla bla product placement". Which means Avast is monitoring my online activity!! I checked my privacy settings and "data sharing" is off. This is unacceptable, anyone knows if I can turn if off??
-
It's not. This is just a local activity detection which is triggered by few basic rules which then show relevant ads. It's harmless, but we've warned them before that it freaks people out...
-
"Relevant ads": most of us do not want ads at all relevant or not.
Is there actually a way of opting out of such "harmless" intrusions? If so I think a lot of people here would be pleased to know. AVAST then might get the message.
-
"Relevant ads": most of us do not want ads at all relevant or not.
Is there actually a way of opting out of such "harmless" intrusions? If so I think a lot of people here would be pleased to know. AVAST then might get the message.
Couldn't agree more with you. I will never understand modern technology companies, what type of person likes to feel intruded on?? Back when antivirus software first came about, virus were the main threat on the internet. Nowadays the main threat is being spied on and having all your data sold to marketers...
-
"Relevant ads": most of us do not want ads at all relevant or not.
Is there actually a way of opting out of such "harmless" intrusions? If so I think a lot of people here would be pleased to know. AVAST then might get the message.
Yeah, well, if you don't like ads, there is always Internet Security or Premier edition where you can entirely turn them off. Getting upsell ads is a regular part of free programs. You may not like it, I don't like it either, but avast! is a company and their programmers are paid for the work. And money doesn't just fall from nowhere. Someone has to make it. It's really that simple.
If you dislike avast! this much, then you may want to look at some other products. They'll still show you ads and limit functionality in FREE version, but they won't show you such relevant ads. They might still track you in the background, but you just won't be aware of it. If ignorance is bliss kinda situation makes you feel better.
I mean, lets be realistic here, avast! has 400+ million users, do you really think they care that you've visited I don't know, something sensitive like P*rnHub and avast! displayed a VPN ad for their service on it? It's all fully automated. When avast! comes across a certain type of domain, it shows the ad. There is no one "behind the scenes" looking at your exact browsing data and saying, Oh, this chap is browsing the adult site, here you go, I'll show you an add for VPN product we have. They made these predefined rules at some point and then it's just a simple local URL matching. It feels weird if you don't know the inner works of it, but if you do, it kinda makes sense. It's just that initial negative perception you get when you encounter it as a casual user...
-
No I agree, ads are fair for a free service, no problem there. But my browsing and my data is mine, it's not Avast's or anyone else's to profit off of. Unfortunately I am well aware that is not a reality anywhere on the internet anymore (although it's usually done much more discretely than what I experienced), I'm just genuinely chocked and appalled that Avast would participate to that mass monitoring. I didn't think it was that type of company where Money > Principles.
It's not because it's how the internet is nowadays that anyone has to like it or stand for it
-
Although I just noticed your quote "We are supersheep, resistance is futile!" so I doubt you would agree :P
-
No I agree, ads are fair for a free service, no problem there. But my browsing and my data is mine, it's not Avast's or anyone else's to profit off of. Unfortunately I am well aware that is not a reality anywhere on the internet anymore (although it's usually done much more discretely than what I experienced), I'm just genuinely chocked and appalled that Avast would participate to that mass monitoring. I didn't think it was that type of company where Money > Principles.
It's not because it's how the internet is nowadays that anyone has to like it or stand for it
-> https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=215311.0
-
No I agree, ads are fair for a free service, no problem there. But my browsing and my data is mine, it's not Avast's or anyone else's to profit off of. Unfortunately I am well aware that is not a reality anywhere on the internet anymore (although it's usually done much more discretely than what I experienced), I'm just genuinely chocked and appalled that Avast would participate to that mass monitoring. I didn't think it was that type of company where Money > Principles.
It's not because it's how the internet is nowadays that anyone has to like it or stand for it
-> https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=215311.0
Thanks for that, although this transparency report is regarding government request, kind of irrelevant in this thread where we are concerned about the data collection performed by Avast itself
-
-> https://www.avast.com/vendor