Avast Free - Programs updater starts Skype without user's knowledge.

[REDACTED]

I fail to see how starting a messager program randomly, when VPN is not running, hence revealing your actual IP address to Microsoft and potentially to all your Skype contacts, may contribute to ones security.

Updating programs without allowing selection, therefore running them without user's knowledge, appears to be a default Avast's Free behaviour.  Please consider that this may be a serious security risk for everyone running Avast without a firewall and defined firewall rules which explicitely prohibit application access to the Internet behind the VPN.
I expect a comprehensive reply to this post rather than wordless removing of my message from the forum.
Regards,
Tugi

[Asyn]

Never heard of such a problem before...

- Which Avast..? (Free/Pro/IS/Premier)
- Which version..?
- OS..? (32/64 Bit..? - which SP/Build..?)
- Other security related software installed..?
- Which AV(s) did you use before Avast..?

[REDACTED]

Never heard of such a problem before...

- Which Avast..? (Free/Pro/IS/Premier)
- Which version..?
- OS..? (32/64 Bit..? - which SP/Build..?)
- Other security related software installed..?
- Which AV(s) did you use before Avast..?

Dear Asin,
Hmmm... Last several weeks I am annoyed with frequent random starts of Skype on several of my machines... Removed Skype from all, due to security concerns, but am now getting random attempts of installing Skype on Windows 10 machines.
Just did a bit more research on the Internet and it appears that the culprit was Avast's Programs Updater which randomly starts Skype updating.
The issue was apparently submitted to Avast's bug report and acknowledged by Avast team. Here is one of the  googled pages:
https://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Skype-opens-randomly-during-day/td-p/4416565/page/6

The Skype just have popped up uninvited on my wife's laptop running Windows 10, Avast Free build 12.3.3154.23. After the research I have killed the Avast's software Updater component. I am still  surprised by disregard of the security issues mentioned above. We all know about Skype's security faults we sometimes must live with but I am quite puzzled by Avast's failure to recognise and promptly act on the obvious security risk.
Kind regards,
Tugi

[Asyn]

OK, wait for one of the devs and/or submit a ticket: https://support.avast.com/support/tickets/new