Or you can update Avast to latest version
If you'd read back through the thread you would have seen that updating the AVAST version is an option I want to avoid if at all possible for the very good reason stated.
Just tried the my.avast.com plugin - installed fine but sorry, I don't like it.
I assume the WebRep feature is meant to work in a similar colour code way to the previous icon but if so there is a problem. It works to bring up the obnoxiously large side bar etc but the icon itself, initially green/blue, now only appears grey on my toolbar whatever web site I go to including my home page which I know for sure the previous icon rated as 3-green bars.
I tried restarting Firefox twice and the colour remained stubbornly grey.
Also I really don't care to know how many things AOS is blocking so the ever changing number attached to the icon is just an unwanted visual annoyance for me.
Good thing I checked the default settings for this new AOS too because some of those I was not happy about having enabled either.
When I checked my cookies (CCleaner) after installing it I found there were several new ones in there I didn't recognise at all. I'm fairly regular with my browsing habits and as I use CCleaner on a daily basis I can often recognise when new stuff turns up. It is usually a tracking cookie of one sort or another which, I thought, the new AOS is supposed to help deal with.
But then it occurred to me they might even be connected with the AOS default option already deciding to "share" my browsing data with unspecified third parties.
Whatever the case - that was it for me. Uninstalled the new thing and reinstalled the unobtrusive unsigned one.
I'm resigned to the likelihood that AVAST and/or Mozzila are going to force me to mess up my clean, customised browser GUI at some point down the line but I'm going to scream against the wind and put that off for as long as possible.