Author Topic: Avast installed itself  (Read 114203 times)

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  • Guest
Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #15 on: February 24, 2018, 10:10:52 PM »
You would not have seen the Avast installation option the second time since there are still
Avast traces on your system. Till you run the removal tool, the remaining Avast files and reg. entries will remain.
Removing them is your decision to make.

Thanks.  Ran the avast removal tool, mainly so I could run the CCleaner installer again.  No bundled offers with this new install attempt either, so I have added my two cents to the other thread with the CC rep looking for data on the issue.  His post has cleared up my questions, and left me feeling better that my PC is not possessed, and that I am not getting old ... but that latter issue is entirely possible, ha!

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  • Guest
Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #16 on: March 16, 2018, 04:39:04 PM »
I have had the same problem.  Avast free seems to have installed itself on my computer and that of my partner.  I also noticed the rather arresting icon on the desktops (we use Bitdefender).  The experts on here seem to be in denial (it can't happen; you must have installed it at some time in the past, etc).  But Google even has a preformed search phrase for it.  I think Avast should take it seriously because it is bizarre to say the least.  When legitimate software becomes tainted as possible malware then it could do great damage to Avast's reputation, which I know has been good.

Offline bob3160

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #17 on: March 16, 2018, 05:02:12 PM »
I have had the same problem.  Avast free seems to have installed itself on my computer and that of my partner.  I also noticed the rather arresting icon on the desktops (we use Bitdefender).  The experts on here seem to be in denial (it can't happen; you must have installed it at some time in the past, etc).  But Google even has a preformed search phrase for it.  I think Avast should take it seriously because it is bizarre to say the least.  When legitimate software becomes tainted as possible malware then it could do great damage to Avast's reputation, which I know has been good.
Is avast actually active (resident) or is it running in compatibility mode. (Not resident.)
If you updated Ccleaner, it is possible that you didn't notice the pre-checked box to install Avast.
If it was installed even though you already run an AV, then it should have installed in compatibility mode.
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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #18 on: March 16, 2018, 05:56:16 PM »
I have had the same problem.  Avast free seems to have installed itself on my computer and that of my partner.  I also noticed the rather arresting icon on the desktops (we use Bitdefender).  The experts on here seem to be in denial (it can't happen; you must have installed it at some time in the past, etc).  But Google even has a preformed search phrase for it.  I think Avast should take it seriously because it is bizarre to say the least.  When legitimate software becomes tainted as possible malware then it could do great damage to Avast's reputation, which I know has been good.

See this related topic:  https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=208612.msg1446139#msg1446139

Quote
Hey guys,

I'm the Product Manager of CCleaner. I'd like to make it clear that silent, drive-by installs of Avast are absolutely not the intended result here. You should always see the consent screen when installing CCleaner Free edition or Pro Trial (see attached image). The paid 'Pro', 'Business' and 'Technician' editions do not contain this promotion.

We are monitoring a small number of edge cases where it seems the consent checkbox is not displaying correctly. After gathering what information we could from our users on the CCleaner forums, we were able to identify a case where high system load could delay the offer from displaying immediately. This allowed us to reproduce the issue internally and resolve it. We made change to guard against this root cause and released it in v5.39 (January 16th). There is potential for another bug/edge case to be causing the consent checkbox to not be visible, and this is what I would like to continue to investigate with your assistance.

If you have encountered this issue in the installer of CCleaner v5.39 or later, it would be of huge help if you could respond to the following questions so we can identify some reproducible conditions and gather clues to the root cause. We want this fixed just as much as you do. Together, I'm confident we can get to the bottom of this.

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2018, 06:57:45 PM »
I have just gotten here and registered to inform you, that the same thing has just happened to me:
Avast was installed on my win10 today without asking me and without installing any other program that I'm aware of or has requested.
I found it out by Chrome popping up a message alerting me that Avast extension has been added - I selected to remove it, and then noticed that it has been also added to my taskbar.
I definitely did not install it myself, and no one else has access to my computer.
I will remove it, but I think you should find out how this happens.

 

Offline Pondus

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #20 on: June 19, 2018, 07:13:26 PM »
I have just gotten here and registered to inform you, that the same thing has just happened to me:
Avast was installed on my win10 today without asking me and without installing any other program that I'm aware of or has requested.
I found it out by Chrome popping up a message alerting me that Avast extension has been added - I selected to remove it, and then noticed that it has been also added to my taskbar.
I definitely did not install it myself, and no one else has access to my computer.
I will remove it, but I think you should find out how this happens.

 
Did you install or update CCleaner?
https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001205071-Why-has-Avast-been-installed-to-my-machine-







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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #21 on: June 19, 2018, 07:58:18 PM »
I have just gotten here and registered to inform you, that the same thing has just happened to me:
Avast was installed on my win10 today without asking me and without installing any other program that I'm aware of or has requested.
I found it out by Chrome popping up a message alerting me that Avast extension has been added - I selected to remove it, and then noticed that it has been also added to my taskbar.
I definitely did not install it myself, and no one else has access to my computer.
I will remove it, but I think you should find out how this happens.

 
Did you install or update CCleaner?
https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001205071-Why-has-Avast-been-installed-to-my-machine-

Thanks for the reply, Pondus.
No, and I have just ran a search to verify - no CCleaner is found on my computer.

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  • Guest
Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2018, 09:01:26 PM »
I have just gotten here and registered to inform you, that the same thing has just happened to me:
Avast was installed on my win10 today without asking me and without installing any other program that I'm aware of or has requested.
I found it out by Chrome popping up a message alerting me that Avast extension has been added - I selected to remove it, and then noticed that it has been also added to my taskbar.
I definitely did not install it myself, and no one else has access to my computer.
I will remove it, but I think you should find out how this happens.

 

Did you also find the Avast antivirus program installed, or was it just the browser extension?  And did you already have some active antivirus on your system, with real-time protection enabled?

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  • Guest
Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2018, 09:26:21 PM »
I have just gotten here and registered to inform you, that the same thing has just happened to me:
Avast was installed on my win10 today without asking me and without installing any other program that I'm aware of or has requested.
I found it out by Chrome popping up a message alerting me that Avast extension has been added - I selected to remove it, and then noticed that it has been also added to my taskbar.
I definitely did not install it myself, and no one else has access to my computer.
I will remove it, but I think you should find out how this happens.

 

Did you also find the Avast antivirus program installed, or was it just the browser extension?  And did you already have some active antivirus on your system, with real-time protection enabled?

Avast antivirus was installed as well. I had to remove it from "Add and Remove Programs" and restart.
I don't have another antivirus other than the default Windows Defender that is a part of Windows 10. I'm not sure it was enabled though.

Offline drake127

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #24 on: June 19, 2018, 11:45:37 PM »
We can be able to help you identify the cause of Avast (re)installation if you supply setup logs (C:\ProgramData\Avast Software\Persistent Data\Avast\Logs) and approximate date/time when the Avast was installed.

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #25 on: June 19, 2018, 11:50:27 PM »
[

Did you also find the Avast antivirus program installed, or was it just the browser extension?  And did you already have some active antivirus on your system, with real-time protection enabled?

Avast antivirus was installed as well. I had to remove it from "Add and Remove Programs" and restart.
I don't have another antivirus other than the default Windows Defender that is a part of Windows 10. I'm not sure it was enabled though.

Well with Windows 10, Defender will fully activate itself unless you disable it, or if it automatically detects a 3rd party antivirus solution installed.  If it detects another AV, it will go into passive mode.  If you uninstall your current AV, Defender will pick up the slack.  That's actually a good call on Microsoft's part!

But the installer for Avast had to arrive on your machine bundled with something else.  I can't imagine it just appearing out of the ether.  In my case earlier, I had Bitdefender running on a Windows 7 machine, and when I updated CCleaner, it installed Avast!  There was a known issue where that install was supposed to be optional, but apparently CCleaner missed something in the GUI that did not show ME the opt out.  It was probably a rare corner case, but it did happen!

That was long winded, but I must assume something else was updated on your computer that invited Avast aboard.   ;)
« Last Edit: June 19, 2018, 11:53:05 PM by tinstaafl »

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #26 on: June 20, 2018, 03:06:26 AM »
Created an account just to let you know:

- Did not install or updated CCleaner (don't use it and never had);
- Never had Avast installed on my computer;
- I installed ImgBurn yesterday and refused all the bundles;
- Today i found Avast installed on my computer with a 20 hour time difference between last usage;
- Avast Installer was still running and i had to kill the process to uninstall it (found this when trying to uninstall got the message: "Setup is still running") even though Avast was already running on my taskbar;
- After uninstalling Avast I restarted my computer and I got a message asking me to wait while Windows was updating.

Unless It's from Windows Update (doubt it) what kind of an AV does this?


Offline drake127

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #27 on: June 20, 2018, 01:17:50 PM »
It should be enough to look into setup logs and look for "/cookie:" parameters. If Avast comes with a bundle, there should be identifier of such bundle and we can investigate more.

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #28 on: June 20, 2018, 02:16:02 PM »

- I installed ImgBurn yesterday and refused all the bundles;


Interesting ... according to the ImgBurn change log: "OpenCandy now handles product offerings during installation."  http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=changelog

According to Wikipedia "The OpenCandy adware version of the ImgBurn installer (v2.5.8.0) distributed directly from imgburn.com (not the adware-free version available from the official mirror sites) has been characterised as a virus by Avira and ESET Endpoint Antivirus"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImgBurn

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Re: Avast installed itself
« Reply #29 on: June 20, 2018, 05:54:30 PM »

- I installed ImgBurn yesterday and refused all the bundles;


Interesting ... according to the ImgBurn change log: "OpenCandy now handles product offerings during installation."  http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=changelog

According to Wikipedia "The OpenCandy adware version of the ImgBurn installer (v2.5.8.0) distributed directly from imgburn.com (not the adware-free version available from the official mirror sites) has been characterised as a virus by Avira and ESET Endpoint Antivirus"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImgBurn

Downloaded ImgBurn from a site called SuperDownloads. Only the installer without bundles. Even if it was coming from this, why the 20 hour time difference?