Avast Home contains Rootkit!?

[Alkim]

Hi! I have read into a user review on download.com that Avast is a spyware and contain some Rootkit! I'm a user of this excellent free av, but after this news I'm scared..... Some developer of Avast can explain?

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3640-2239_4-10375520.html?sb=3&v=0

This is the link where i have read about spyware and rootkit (psguard) that are contain into Avast Home.

[Spyros]

NO! Avast does not contain any "malware". I have been a user for years. This application has been tested by many AV experts and is considered to be one of the best antiviruses on the planet! Don't believe any stupidity some fool writes on download.com. 

[RejZoR]

People tend to write all sorts of crap there. But honestly most of them have no clue what they're talking about. Have slowdowns or abnormal functionality, maybe bug? I guess they never heard for tech support (email/forums and even phone).

SpyAxe in avast! ? Roflmao, he must be kidding. ICSA would never certify a rouge program. Not to mention numerous awards from Virus Bulletin.
It was even a SC Magazine winner among all AV products!

Not to mention it's one of the oldest AV companies on AV market.

EDIT:

Few more "bright" examples:

Wtf? Ever heard of Add-Remove Programs? Guess not...

Slows down computer & cant uninstall this junk

15-Oct-2005 06:25:03 AM
Reviewer: Edip

Pros: NO UNINSTALLER!!!

Lol? This guy probably has 50+ processes running with all sorts of garbage apps and just 128MB of RAM with XP OS...

useless

13-Sep-2005 09:10:09 AM
Reviewer: felis

Pros: it's free. that's the only reason why i give one star to this product

Cons: ram eater. can't do anything beacuse of it

Lol^2. Then have it.

I rather have a virus than this.

25-Jul-2005 09:57:48 PM
Reviewer: avant_gs

Pros: mmm.. let's see, it detects virus, trojans and worms, like it says it does.

Cons: this is worse than a virus. It slows your computer, and takes a lot of memory. It takes like 5 hours to scan the computer, and it's just annoying. trust me don't download this.

Bummer... ever even virtually bothered to read what program showed to him? Or at least vendors webpage? Again most probably not...

Adaware!

23-Mar-2005 09:22:55 PM
Reviewer: R2_

Pros: Skins ?

Cons: It will work only for 30 days, from that on, "no virus were found". How great? so you think your computer is safe... But no, if some virus could not be removed, then Avast will find, and tell you "Buy the full version"!

It uses too mutch of your RAM memory.

God i'd personally beat up such users if i'd be programmer of this program.

[trigger]

I can not prove or disporve it, but I am a long time user also and never had the idea avast did anything other than detecting and blocking viruses.

There will always be the person that can't get it to work and blames the software...
There will always be the person that likes another program and bashes all others...
There will always be the person... you get my drift.

Oh and to turn things around, what makes them believe their software is correct in detecting the rootkit?

[Abraxas]

Anyone can make a review of a product @ Download.com . I wouldn't take the " odd reviews " you linked to as anything but nonsense.

Of course it's your decision whether to use Avast! , or believe these reviews.

If you go to the link here : the reviews are positive.
The Average user rating is 4.5 Stars (out of 5 ) out of  1,370 votes
Common sense hopefully should prevail 

[mike6688]

Also, how do you know that some of these reviews were not written by their competitors?

[DavidR]

avast! certainly doesn't contain any malware, I too have been using it for two years and have done numerous anti-spyware/trojan and rootkit scan on my system and nothing has ever been found relating to avast.

Check the replies to his comments.
http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3641-2239_4-9541082.html#review

Considering that the overall avast rating is 4.5 stars on thousands of downloads, when I say that group of 5 who only scored it 1 star, it looks strange. I also doubt those people ever ventured to the forums or the avast.com site, to try to resolve the issue.

[Alkim]

Thanks very much for all!!! I have read this crap on download.com I have decided to wirte here, I use Avast from one year I consider it one of the best product on the market. But when I read some reviews on download.com I'm very scared.... but now I know that the reviews on downloads.com are only crap
Thanks again!

[Lisandro]

But now I know that the reviews on downloads.com are only crap

Not all of them... I try to be fair when I post a review there 
These ones that RejZor found are, indeed, crap.
Well, you can be awared of such *great* reviews with just one or two lines: the user even give time to write a real review about anything. 

[DavidR]

Not all reviews are c*ap on download.com but you have to take them in context, a program doesn't get a rating of 4.5 and have thousands of downloads and 1300+ people took the time to comment without some confidence it is a good/safe program to download.

The other problem is you don't know if it is an IT/Systems expert or the village idiot writing the review, so at times you have to bit your lip ad take it with a pinch of salt and believe your own experiences with avast.

Welcome to the forums.

[CharleyO]

***

IMHO, most (but not all) negative reviewers at download dot com are either kids/other newbies who had a bad experience because they do not know what in the first place ... or ... are those types of people who will down-grade anything just because they can. I added my 2-cents worth to "mr angry's" post also.

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3641-2239_4-9541082.html

To para-phrase David, you have to take them with a grain of salt.   


***

[ardvark]

Hi all...

Here's another one....

"nice looking, kinda works , but a real pain.
11-Mar-2006 06:57:19 AM
Reviewer: zippy222

Pros: It works ( kinda )..looks nice

Cons: Hard to understand instructions.

Will not let me access my email once mail wizard is set up ( it can't be disabled).

Took hours to instal.

Was this review helpful? 0 of 3 users said yes."

huh

I have never heard of Avast doing this and the mail provider can be disabled, either through the mail wizard or through the particular POP program (OE, Eudora, etc.) if they're running 9x.
With XP, I don't think you even need to bother with anything.
I didn't.

Must be a configuration that needs changed or something is going on within the OS.

It's really too bad, I think we could have helped this person solve their problem.   That's what this forum is here for.

Best Regards...

[RejZoR]

I'd reply to all these users but i'm not registered there...