Author Topic: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security  (Read 20321 times)

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Offline Alikhan

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2013, 01:06:31 AM »
Try going to settings -> appearance -> scroll down to "community features" and disable them both.

I'm not seeing any ads (or recommendations as Avast calls them) on my home screen since I did this.
Strange IS users should disable ads... a paid product, unless you partake in the recommendation program.

Aren't these disabled by default in the paid versions? I thought they were enabled by default only in the free versions...
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Offline Eddy

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #16 on: December 15, 2013, 01:09:57 AM »
propheticus, in my opinion it should be disabled by default for paying customers.

edit:
I disabled those options, rebooted and I still see the Christmass offer in the main screen :-\
« Last Edit: December 15, 2013, 01:18:34 AM by Eddy »

propheticus

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #17 on: December 15, 2013, 01:22:53 AM »
I agree. But I had to disable them in the IS version, they were enabled by default. Ads in a paid product...kinda strange.

flimawpi2014

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2013, 01:24:19 AM »
Try going to settings -> appearance -> scroll down to "community features" and disable them both.

I'm not seeing any ads (or recommendations as Avast calls them) on my home screen since I did this.
Strange IS users should disable ads... a paid product, unless you partake in the recommendation program.


Hi,

I´ve done that. It didnt work.

Actually I had already unchecked the following:

Appearance -> Popup security reports
                        welcome message
                        community features

General ->  avast account status: disconnected
                   participate in the avast community


Nothing works.

thanks.


« Last Edit: December 15, 2013, 01:26:11 AM by flimawpi2014 »

Offline Alikhan

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #19 on: December 15, 2013, 01:25:47 AM »
Tried rebooting?
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Offline Eddy

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #20 on: December 15, 2013, 01:29:27 AM »
Alikhan, as I said. I disabled the options, rebooted and the add is still there. :-(
This looks like what companies do when they are almost bankrupt.

Offline Alikhan

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #21 on: December 15, 2013, 01:33:14 AM »
Alikhan, as I said. I disabled the options, rebooted and the add is still there. :-(
This looks like what companies do when they are almost bankrupt.

Ah, my post was directed at "flimawpi2014". Perhaps it only works for AIS and Avast Premier and not the pro? I completely agree that ads on the paid versions are unacceptable. The free version is okay but not paid...
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flimawpi2014

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #22 on: December 15, 2013, 01:34:58 AM »
Tried rebooting?


Yep.

Rebooted. Nothing changes.


thanks

Online DavidR

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #23 on: December 15, 2013, 01:38:04 AM »
The little toaster popup is the continuing (and intermittent) screwed up virus definitions auto update notification (about which there are lots of topics) and the community settings have no effect in that regard.

If you browse the forums you will see several topics relating to a known bug about updates.
1. no auto update notification popup (commonly displays an avast! tip - Ad, instead).
2. no audio voice over for the auto update.
3. the popup delay timings don't appear to work either.
These tips popups have in the past been piggybacked with the auto update update notification, so the only way to get rid of them would be to disable the auto update notification, which if you want the update notification (when it works correctly) would remove everything.

- Unchecking the "show social networking features" as suggested won't work as they are piggybacked to the auto update notifications. The only way to get rid of them would be to uncheck the auto update notifications, reducing the duration of the popups won't work either as it doesn't appear to work as it used to (so another bug).

I can't comment on the one in the main avastUI, as I don 't know why that would be there in the paid version. I also haven't seen it in either toaster popup (auto update notification) or in the avastUI and I can't read German in the attachments. So I can't say if it is an add or a renewal offer or what.
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flimawpi2014

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2013, 01:40:24 AM »


what I have here is Avast Internet Security

Program
Current Version: 2014.9.0.2008

propheticus

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2013, 01:45:33 AM »
The German Christmas ad looks like it's offering an upgrade to "our ultimate protection plan" (Avast Premier?) at reduced price. This is called upselling:  Got small, medium, large. Customer asks for medium -> offer large with discount (still more expensive than medium).

flieg

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2013, 03:02:09 AM »
To the Original Poster (and anyone else)

I had a similar (but even bigger) popup advertising Google Chrome that was caused by my not paying attention during installation and missing a pre-checked box. 

I suspect that somewhere sometime you checked (or didn't un-check) a box that said you wanted to see advertisements of upgrades and special features.

You can see the thread that I started, the offending file (Offers.ini) and my solution and commentary at: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140849.msg1027907#msg1027907


flimawpi2014

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2013, 04:48:52 AM »
To the Original Poster (and anyone else)

I had a similar (but even bigger) popup advertising Google Chrome that was caused by my not paying attention during installation and missing a pre-checked box. 

I suspect that somewhere sometime you checked (or didn't un-check) a box that said you wanted to see advertisements of upgrades and special features.

You can see the thread that I started, the offending file (Offers.ini) and my solution and commentary at: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140849.msg1027907#msg1027907

Hi,

I took a look at the Offers.ini file, but i dont think it can help me.

I believe that if you dont accept whatever they offer you during setup, avast  writes "-1"  to the IntallReturn variable in the Offers.ini file.
The lines below were copied from my Offer.ini.

[GoogleChrome]
InstallReturn=-1

[GoogleToolbar]
InstallReturn=-1


[GoogleDrive]
InstallReturn=-1

[RemoteOffer]
InstallReturn=-1



However, your post encouraged me to browse through avast folders and I found some of the image (png) files used on the ads.

I also found a folder named "black_friday_campaign".

They are inside a Zip file in C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Avast\RemoteCache\


And I´m positive that I didnt miss any boxes i should´ve unchecked in the setup.



Thanks, anyway.

flimawpi2014

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #28 on: December 16, 2013, 11:08:41 PM »
The little toaster popup is the continuing (and intermittent) screwed up virus definitions auto update notification (about which there are lots of topics) and the community settings have no effect in that regard.

If you browse the forums you will see several topics relating to a known bug about updates.
1. no auto update notification popup (commonly displays an avast! tip - Ad, instead).
2. no audio voice over for the auto update.
3. the popup delay timings don't appear to work either.
These tips popups have in the past been piggybacked with the auto update update notification, so the only way to get rid of them would be to disable the auto update notification, which if you want the update notification (when it works correctly) would remove everything.

- Unchecking the "show social networking features" as suggested won't work as they are piggybacked to the auto update notifications. The only way to get rid of them would be to uncheck the auto update notifications, reducing the duration of the popups won't work either as it doesn't appear to work as it used to (so another bug).

I can't comment on the one in the main avastUI, as I don 't know why that would be there in the paid version. I also haven't seen it in either toaster popup (auto update notification) or in the avastUI and I can't read German in the attachments. So I can't say if it is an add or a renewal offer or what.



The ad on the home screen and the popup say almost the exact same thing.

the home screen says:
Christmas offer.
Get our maximum security package for a ridiculously low price!
valid until December 18th, 2013.
know more.

the popup says:
Christmas offer.
Get our maximum security package for a ridiculously low price!
know more.


It´s obvious that whatever makes the popup, makes the big ad as well.

This is just frustrating and disrespectable

I dont think i will renew my license.


Thank you all for the help.


PS: I´ve attached the popup to this post. The other ad is on the original post.

Offline essexboy

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Re: Annoying Christmas Ad and popups on Avast Internet Security
« Reply #29 on: December 16, 2013, 11:14:26 PM »
Intriguing as since the last beta I have had a normal update, voice and popup..  No advert type stuff

I do have the community features disabled ...