Is Avast Freeware Or Ad-Ware?

[BearPup]

I noticed after the most recent update that all of the emails I get have a tag line at the bottom that reads: This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. That to me smacks of advertising, downgrading avast from freeware to ad-ware. My questions about this major change:

1.  Do outgoing emails also get tagged?
2.  What is the point of advertising to the owner / user - email protection is one of the main reasons for having just about any brand of antivirus software?
3.  Can this be turned off in some way? How?
4.  Is anybody else bothered by this free advertising space we're giving avast access to?

[Alikhan]

You can turn off the email tagging.. In v9 it got changed to default ( I don't know why)

From the avastUI > Settings > Active Protection > Mail Shield > Settings (wrench iconl) > Behavior  - General section > "Uncheck" Insert note into clean message (outgoing)

Regarding #4.. it's the free version. The paid version has no ads.
 

[BearPup]

Turning on email tagging by default makes avast ad-ware not freeware. Avast got at least a month worth of advertising because I couldn't find out how to turn it off. That's sleazy business and if avast doesn't go back to it turned off by default, I will raise the alarm and seek to have avast reclassified.

As someone who provides Tech Support at microsoft.com, I have long recommended avast to someone needing new or replacement antivirus software. Our rules require that any 3rd party software we recommend must be completely freeware, and so if avast antivirus doesn't revert to making any and all tagging readily viewable and easily changed preferences, I will be forced to drop avast from my list of  recommended software

[doktornotor]

Avast got at least a month worth of advertising because I couldn't find out how to turn it off.

As someone who provides Tech Support at microsoft.com

Speaks volumes about quality of support over there at MS. Thanks for your contribution. Being unable to find a readily available GUI option for ONE MONTH, oh, just wow. Who's doing the recruitment over there at Redmond these days? <insert your favorite MS support joke here> Speechless.

P.S. Avast has had adverts for its paid variants in the GUI for a couple of years. So your "alert raising" is kinda late. *facepalm*

[Para-Noid]

I completely disagree that it's adware. That "tag" is an easy to see indicator that avast has your back.
If it didn't show-up you would be asking if the avast mail shield is working at all.

With all due respect it never hurts to "dig" around any GUI to find where everything is.