"Relevant ads": most of us do not want ads at all relevant or not.
Is there actually a way of opting out of such "harmless" intrusions? If so I think a lot of people here would be pleased to know. AVAST then might get the message.
Yeah, well, if you don't like ads, there is always Internet Security or Premier edition where you can entirely turn them off. Getting upsell ads is a regular part of free programs. You may not like it, I don't like it either, but avast! is a company and their programmers are paid for the work. And money doesn't just fall from nowhere. Someone has to make it. It's really that simple.
If you dislike avast! this much, then you may want to look at some other products. They'll still show you ads and limit functionality in FREE version, but they won't show you such relevant ads. They might still track you in the background, but you just won't be aware of it. If ignorance is bliss kinda situation makes you feel better.
I mean, lets be realistic here, avast! has 400+ million users, do you really think they care that you've visited I don't know, something sensitive like P*rnHub and avast! displayed a VPN ad for their service on it? It's all fully automated. When avast! comes across a certain type of domain, it shows the ad. There is no one "behind the scenes" looking at your exact browsing data and saying, Oh, this chap is browsing the adult site, here you go, I'll show you an add for VPN product we have. They made these predefined rules at some point and then it's just a simple local URL matching. It feels weird if you don't know the inner works of it, but if you do, it kinda makes sense. It's just that initial negative perception you get when you encounter it as a casual user...