GrimeFighter

[Eddy]

Installing Avast 2014 "R2" Beta (2014.9.0.2009) over the 2014.9.0.2008 version went fine, without any problem.
GrimeFighter started and showed 10 things.
2 apps/services that where not needed to load at boot time.
8 registry entries.

Disappointing is that it doesn't allow me to see what it has found.
Disappointing is that it doesn't let me choose what to "fix" and what not.

I went ahead and choose to optimize.
Scanning went quickly go up to 99% and there it seemed to hang.
No indication at all that it was still doing something.
After about 5(!) minutes it finally finished.
It would not surprise me if people are trying to abort GrimeFighter at this point or even do a hard reboot of their system.

Next step it was downloading a image.
A image?
Huh, a image of what?
Why does it need to download anything if it is just trying to update my system?

Ah well, lets wait and see what will happen.
Ah, a reboot is needed.
That sounds logical to me.
After the reboot a boot menu.
Windows and Jumpshot to choose from.
Hmm, Jumpshot?
What the heck is that?
Guess it has something to do with GrimeFighter, so let's choose that.
Ah, yes. It is Grimefighter.
I believe Jumpshot in the menu should be called GrimeFighter to make it more clear to users.

Ok, GrimeFighter is running now.
Let's see what it does/what happens.
Waited over 1 hour(!) and it still was busy.
More than a hour to remove 2 services from loading at boot time and fixing 8 registry entries?
I guess it Grimefighter went to a bar before it was finished.
At least I did.

Ok came back from the bar a couple of hours later and I had to reboot the system.
What?!! I'm missing icons on my desktop.
It never told me that it was gonna remove them

Let's look for any other changes.
Where is my sound volume icon near the clock?
It has removed it 

Let's start GrimeFighter again to see if it says anything about the changes made or not.
Nope, no log or anything that shows what it has been doing all that time.

Huh? Let me look again. Do I see this correctly?
Yes, I do. 8 registry entries found that need adjustment.
I guess they are the same 8 it found the first time.
Why hasn't it changed them?
What has it been doing all that time when I was drinking beer in the bar?

In my opinion GrimeFighter in its current form is totally useless.

[miguelgrado]

Installing Avast 2014 "R2" Beta (2014.9.0.2009) over the 2014.9.0.2008 version went fine, without any problem.
GrimeFighter started and showed 10 things.
2 apps/services that where not needed to load at boot time.
8 registry entries.

Disappointing is that it doesn't allow me to see what it has found.
Disappointing is that it doesn't let me choose what to "fix" and what not.

I went ahead and choose to optimize.
Scanning went quickly go up to 99% and there it seemed to hang.
No indication at all that it was still doing something.
After about 5(!) minutes it finally finished.
It would not surprise me if people are trying to abort GrimeFighter at this point or even do a hard reboot of their system.

Next step it was downloading a image.
A image?
Huh, a image of what?
Why does it need to download anything if it is just trying to update my system?

Ah well, lets wait and see what will happen.
Ah, a reboot is needed.
That sounds logical to me.
After the reboot a boot menu.
Windows and Jumpshot to choose from.
Hmm, Jumpshot?
What the heck is that?
Guess it has something to do with GrimeFighter, so let's choose that.
Ah, yes. It is Grimefighter.
I believe Jumpshot in the menu should be called GrimeFighter to make it more clear to users.

Ok, GrimeFighter is running now.
Let's see what it does/what happens.
Waited over 1 hour(!) and it still was busy.
More than a hour to remove 2 services from loading at boot time and fixing 8 registry entries?
I guess it Grimefighter went to a bar before it was finished.
At least I did.

Ok came back from the bar a couple of hours later and I had to reboot the system.
What?!! I'm missing icons on my desktop.
It never told me that it was gonna remove them

Let's look for any other changes.
Where is my sound volume icon near the clock?
It has removed it 

Let's start GrimeFighter again to see if it says anything about the changes made or not.
Nope, no log or anything that shows what it has been doing all that time.

Huh? Let me look again. Do I see this correctly?
Yes, I do. 8 registry entries found that need adjustment.
I guess they are the same 8 it found the first time.
Why hasn't it changed them?
What has it been doing all that time when I was drinking beer in the bar?

In my opinion GrimeFighter in its current form is totally useless.

+1..I only i am sure of one thing,i don't want to install GrimeFighter product..i want it to be optional

[CraigB]

I only i am sure of one thing,i don't want to install GrimeFighter product..i want it to be optional

This new version wont be coming anywhere near my systems unfortunately until this GrimeFighter is made an optional install which it doesn't appear to be at the moment

[SpeedyPC]

This new version wont be coming anywhere near my systems unfortunately until this GrimeFighter is made an optional install which it doesn't appear to be at the moment

Thanks for the heads up Craig as I was about to give this R2 beta a bloody spin, lucky me I didn't installed it when I got your last reply above the quote

[GreggH]

This new version wont be coming anywhere near my systems unfortunately until this GrimeFighter is made an optional install which it doesn't appear to be at the moment

Craig.... in a way, it is optional. What one sees in the original install appears to be just some form of system analysis, not GrimeFighter itself. If you choose"Optomize my PC", Avast downloads an image of the actual GrimeFighter (aka JumpStart?) programme, asks for a reboot of the system, and from that menu, installs and runs GrimeFighter. Or so I believe from what I have seen.

So in a way it is optional, but IMHO, this "analysis" that is not optional is going to scare the bejeebers out of those who don't truly understand their systems (my bread and butter <G>) and who will make the mistake (again, IMHO as I have never seen one of these things lead to good) of running GrimeFighter, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

To further complicate matters, it appears that it will be a "premium" feature, in which case, if the "analysis" is left in the Free version, will look just like the countless similar items advertised on various web pages... we found x problems slowing your system down. Buy our programme and we will fix these for you.

Gregg

[CraigB]

This new version wont be coming anywhere near my systems unfortunately until this GrimeFighter is made an optional install which it doesn't appear to be at the moment

Craig.... in a way, it is optional. What one sees in the original install appears to be just some form of system analysis, not GrimeFighter itself. If you choose"Optomize my PC", Avast downloads an image of the actual GrimeFighter (aka JumpStart?) programme, asks for a reboot of the system, and from that menu, installs and runs GrimeFighter. Or so I believe from what I have seen.

So in a way it is optional, but IMHO, this "analysis" that is not optional is going to scare the bejeebers out of those who don't truly understand their systems (my bread and butter <G>) and who will make the mistake (again, IMHO as I have never seen one of these things lead to good) of running GrimeFighter, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

To further complicate matters, it appears that it will be a "premium" feature, in which case, if the "analysis" is left in the Free version, will look just like the countless similar items advertised on various web pages... we found x problems slowing your system down. Buy our programme and we will fix these for you.

Gregg

Ahh! that seems to make more sense about it's behaviour, for me I still want the option to not even have that system analysis run as it's an unwanted process and feature imo and from what Eddy mentioned in his post this feature is really going to mess up some systems for the unknowing users that just run things and I'm waiting for the flood of upset customers.

[DavidR]

I only i am sure of one thing,i don't want to install GrimeFighter product..i want it to be optional

This new version wont be coming anywhere near my systems unfortunately until this GrimeFighter is made an optional install which it doesn't appear to be at the moment

Even though it isn't meant to be active (as I pointed out in an aborted R2 beta 1 topic, links below), it runs automatically after install and reboot. I want nothing to do with so called PC optimisers (a.k.a. snake oil), yet it ran without my implicit request. Plus the information on the first run is screwed up and even the new advert in the UI for Grime is worse than useless when it provides zero details.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141705.msg1029646#msg1029646

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141705.msg1029712#msg1029712

To say that I'm less than impressed with GrimeFighter, is a major understatement.

For me it is run to gain some information so it can through up the advert for grime in the avast UI. That to me is underhand and devious, strong words, but that is the strength of my feeling about grime and some of it could well rub off on avast.

[Tetsuo]

Does the embedded GrimeFighter (unwanted) thing currently run at every boot?

I posted the same question also in the main thread, however, I just decided to not try this beta. Main reason:  GrimeFighter, including any unwanted system scanning not related to security.

Hope someone will answer my question, though.

[Eddy]

Another thing that needs to be improved.
Where is the undo option?
Is there one?
Yes, there is.
But you have to select "optimize my pc", go through the scanning, downloading image, contacting headquarters etc....
And yes, there it finally is...
But it is a small button and really easy to overlook.
Why do I have to go through the entire process if I only want to undo the last changes?
Would be more logical if there is the option to undo near the "optimize my pc" button.

And as far for the 8 registry entries that needed to optimize...
Ah well ran GrimeFighter 3 times in a row and it still say 8 registry entries need optimization.

You would expect to find GrimeFighter under settings > tools.
At least the option to "run when windows start? yes/no"
But no, it is not there.
Really weird that it runs on every boot while at the same time it is supposed to prevent things from loading at boot time to speed up a system.
Without GrimeFighter my system boots significantly faster.

Have you people looked at the minions on the website?
Kobayashi > Kills viruses, trojans, scamware, spyware, and other evils.
Isn't that exactly what avast itself is supposed to do?

Maximus > Keeps you informed of critical events related to your PC.
Isn't that what the avast software updater already is doing?

And those prices...
$19 for just one scan?
That sounds like paying for a trial version.
Give me $10 and I optimize your system manually and do a much better job than GrimeFighter.

$59 per year for unlimited scans on 5 systems?
That means $11,80 per system and unlimited scans for a year.
And what if someone has only one system?

[DavidR]

Running on every boot is the kiss of death for GrimeFighter, it should only run on the instructions of the user.

Given the extensive testing that Eddy has done, I would say that GrimeFighter has to be a tool/option in its own right in the avast install which can be deselected on a custom install or subsequently uninstalled in the same way as other objects, SecureLine or avast! Remote Assistance for example.

If it isn't installed or enabled, then it should NOT run scans.

[Vlk]

And that's exactly how it (the GF connector) is going to be starting with the next beta refresh...

[DavidR]

And that's exactly how it (the GF connector) is going to be starting with the next beta refresh...

Unfortunately how it runs now has clouded the introduction of this product, many will think very much as we have and has been seen in the two main R2 beta topics and this topic. Whilst changing the GF connector in the next beta refresh is welcomed, first impressions are very strong.

[Vlk]

That's pity. It is such a nice product. We wouldn't acquire the company if we thought it was crap would we... 

[DavidR]

That's pity. It is such a nice product. We wouldn't acquire the company if we thought it was crap would we... 

No, I don't believe that you would. But there are many that don't feel PC optimiser/tweaking programs are up to much. So you are always going to have to over come that, and unfortunately this early introduction without controls on when it runs hasn't helped the cause.

Had people known that as part of the beta testing this new product would be part of the beta testing, when it would run, etc. etc. could well have stopped all of the negative feedback. People don't like surprises.

It is hard to un-ring the bell.

[bikemanAMD]

I let it run on my Test Laptop since nothing critical on it in terms of files, must've taken 30 minutes or more to download the image, then finally it went into it's thing, over about 45 minutes, While this isn't really security related to me, plus family members PC's I have to work on in the house here.   What happens if they'd click it, and it ends up taking a long time to do it's business...

Main thing I want is Antivirus protection, Spyware protection, Unwanted Pup protection, web shield and such.   I don't mind the Optimzing tools if there optional, or don't start automatically. 

Been with your Antivirus product since Version 4.5

On Various of Computers

Even put Avast Free onto New PC when I got it in June 2012

(i'd upgrade to Internet Security or Pro if I could afford it, but right now can't afford it) So Hopefully in next beta refresh Grimefighter is optional in Free version, don't wanna have to search for another antivirus for Family PC's that are in the house that I control and manage with updates and such)

Thanks, that is my opinion on new Grimefighter portion