Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: oldpro on March 20, 2010, 08:38:54 PM
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I cannot call this forum amusing because there are a lot of people with genuine problems coming away without answers. It is somewhat entertaining, however to watch the sparring that inevitably takes place between those having the problems and those used to supplying answers, when the problems are outside of the normal response loop. I believe there are people here who are genuinely interested in helping to the best of their ability, no matter what their status, and that those people are counter-balanced by some of those with "star power" which has introduced a degree of arrogance into some of their responses. My years of hands-on experience and education in computer technology would certainly pale next to those few who should consider a little more humility and a less-defensive posture, I am sure, but all this really shows is yet another example of the human condition in action. I see problems with Avast 5.0 which may never be refined to the point of satisfying every user or potential user's difficulties. I also see a very loyal fan base of successfully implemented examples of this program. So, I would suggest that there are other alternatives, and why would one spend hours here either attacking or defending Avast?? I wish all of you good fortune, and forgive me if this topic has been addressed in other posts. As a more-or-less neutral observer, I wanted to interject my feelings for whatever they might be worth. Good luck, again, to all involved...
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Not amusing to those of us that just can't get the right grip on the problem. I agree that there are some hints of arrogance or smugness, or star superiority in the replies, but mostly it just seems like nobody really knows what to do with a problem they are not familiar with, so they go back to install/reinstall, doo-dah, doo-dah. A couple of fellows seemed really earnest, but I couldn't add anything to help them out. I can always switch horses, and may have to for good, but I do like 5.0 and it just hacks me that I can't figure it out--with or without help. :P
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I looked at your original post again, which indicated you had completely reprogrammed, from XP on up, with SP3 but no other exceptional programs reinstalled. That is a little vague to work with, but I should best go back to that post and see if anything at all jumps out.
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...so they go back to install/reinstall, doo-dah, doo-dah.
i admit, i dislike that, too!
cause it's always like giving up and should always b the last possibility, imo.
but sometimes it just seems 2 b easier (don't have 2 think about 2 long/much)
anyways, sometimes there's no better way - so it's quite hard 2 tell.
asyn
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Oldpro......why don`t you get up with Avast and see if you could be one of their moderators. I think this place would work much better with you moderating things. Unless I have read you wrong that is.......
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Oldpro......why don`t you get up with Avast and see if you could be one of their moderators. I think this place would work much better with you moderating things. Unless I have read you wrong that is.......
moderator after 4 postings?
doesn't mean he/she couldn't do it, but maybe it would b better 2 announce moderators more familiar with the forum, don't u think?!!?
asyn
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I don't think this forum is really an official support forum populated by Alwil techs. Occasionally they stop by and answer questions but mostly it's fellow users, all with different levels of knowledge and experience.
I agree with you on one thing oldpro, the forum has some loyal avast! fans (some might say groupies). :)
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Well, there are certainly more obscure problems being looked at now. There have been a lot of problems with installs that didn't work, often by having other interfering security software either present or as a residual-like Norton or McAfee. And there have been some unexplained broken installs, And some stuff that is in the ??? category. But I did an audit of the threads I have been involved in over the past week, just to see what the trends might be.
a) There were 9 individuals who simply vanished, usually after being asked to supply more data about their system. Success, abandonment, or ??? Some might have eventually resulted in bug reports.
b) There were 8 who had their problem traced down to instructions or methods
c) There was 1 which was cured by a simple uninstall/ reinstall.
Over time I get the impression that category a) is up significantly and category c) is down, category b) is up also since there are more known items that are confusing in the setup instructions-secure email is a particularly good example that really needs a big sticky. Alwil has posted some special threads to try to look for commonality in some of the problems, but the commonality has not been extensive in most cases.
So in the transition of 1 million beta testers to tens of millions of users for Avast! 5, is any of this surprising in the commercial software world? I built and monitored big systems for the Government for a living, so don't really have much more than about 5-7 years as a beta tester, support, moderator etc. for security software. But I don't find this surprising compared to the other nameless software products I have dealt with. Or think the people on either side ruder than elsewhere. I guess mutual lack of respect is just not unusual for the business. This is just a user to user support forum, like most, with actually pretty reasonable support by Alwil for fixing problems but not so much being a part of the day to day activity.
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I was asked to look at this forum by a student of mine who is encountering difficulties, but is a little reluctant in general to get involved in the back-and-forth necessary to make these things work. My observations were not prompted by anyone or anything in particular, however I did get interested in one person's plight and will stick around a while longer to see if things take a better turn. I did find it interesting that after a first round of rather cursory examination, one of the Uber (sorry, no umlaut) fellows came back with what I thought was an insightful re-look at the problem. My whole career has been based on looking and listening, then digesting and suggesting. Outside of general observations, I have no partcular qualifications to take part in an Avast forum, it is true, but I do believe there are those hereabouts who could take a little more of my approach to heart. I find the "Star system" a little strange, in that it is based on activity, not necessarily on accurate productivity. Granted, one has to be familiar with the beast, and repeated exposure will either lead to greater knowledge of it, or an untimely end (fatal error), and all such exposure should be tempered with common sense and even a little compassion for those on the short end of success. All of the times one falls off the bicycle count for experience, of sorts, but skill only starts to develop after one stays on successfully the first time. Peace...
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Stick around oldpro
I get the avast! Überevangelist by using copy-n-paste from DavidR's post and the "Star system" is part of the forum software and has nothing to do with the quality of the posts.
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Unfortunately most such forums have a forum status/ranking (poor wording I know), a title/stars, etc. that is based on post count alone.
Unfortunately it doesn't relate in any way shape of form as to that members experience and quality of response, that can only be gauged by the actual content of the post. There have been very many extremely experienced forum members (both in terms of computer and avast knowledge), so called newbies and some that have a high post count but a very low experience level and most of those may have been clocked up in seeking help. So this forum in a way is no different to many I have been on
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One forum that will remain nameless that I do find obscene where some members are called Heroes and have medals in place of stars. As an ex member of the forces I find that offensive to the forces.
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No argument at all about the relevance of the "rating" system inherent in the forum software, here and elsewhere. At least Alwil's put some good thinking (imho) into the titles they've given each ranking here.
I agree that the one David referred to is downright insulting, even to someone like me who's never served (physical deferment because of my psoriasis), but there's also some funny ones around too. A lot us here are probably also more or less active over at the Wilders Security forums ... the two highest non-admin rankings there are titled "very massive poster" and "incredibly massive poster". Maybe it's just me, but that conjures up images of guests at a so-called "fat farm". ;) ;D
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Still better than "xxx loves me" as a rating. ::)
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I'm starting to see a lot of the same complaints regarding the forums, users, and expectations of such regarding customer issues.
While the forums themselves have been in operation for some time I do not feel itself is a problem. Maybe the users being directed to the forums are unfamiliar with their structure or operations. It's becoming more common place for community style support. Places like Dell or Get Satisfaction don't have stars by number of posts which I agree can be misleading to an unfamiliar user. Seeing as the volume of issues, most duplicates either with licenses or rare issues that happen after updates etc, I believe maybe something more support service driven is in order.
If Avast can move or change the forum to also include a Problem/Solution style threading it may help these complaints. As well as before a new issue is filed give a suggested list of verified solved issues before creating a new duplicate thread. I would still like to see forums for discussion but a dedicated method for solutions and feedback that is easily managed. I hope this could even provide avast details about what problems are happening the most.
Users themselves.... you'll have that.
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One other process which didn't get mentioned (maybe hardly anyone remembers it by now?) ... at one time, way the heck back when, the forums here used to have a feature where you could award "points" to other members based on how helpful you felt they'd been.
It was definitely a seemed-like-a-good-idea thing, particularly since it could (theoretically) be a better indicator to newcomers as to who they could rely on here than the ridiculous number of posts "rating". Unfortunately, it got badly abused and was therefore discarded ages ago.
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I think forums like this are great but they shouldn't be a substitute for a real support system with help from actual technicians. A few of the angriest complaints I've seen here were generated by people who (supposedly) couldn't get any help after filing a support ticket. I use avast! Free so I don't really expect much support, but if I was a paying customer and couldn't get help I probably wouldn't hang around long.