Dumb Ad ???

[DavidR]

Dumb Ad

Got this on entering Google Apps on my PC (Avast looking over my shoulder) this morning - Real Smart, NOT.
Only made worse when I already have Avast Mobile Security on my phone and my Avast installation is linked to my.avast account as is my AMS installation.

People don't like this type of snooping Ad, so I rather doubt it is going to entice those that don't have AMS already and annoy those that have.

Needless to say I clicked the 'Don't show again,' but I'm pretty sure I have seen it before on this PC and responded in the same way

[mchain]

Word of mouth could be the best form of advertising for Avast.

NOT.

[DavidR]

Word of mouth could be the best form of advertising for Avast.

NOT.

It was effectively what Avast was built on, word of mouth (no costly ad campaign), but that is a double edged sword, dumb ads like this I feel are more likely to have a negative effect.

[RedFan]

Avast is shooting themselves in their own foot...
I read many reply's on other forum and reviews, many people leaving avast because of all these ads popups.... its just too much !

How others do it :
Avira ads can be set once for every 24 or 48 hours.
kaspersky free no ads.
Panda : ads can be swithed off.

We all know there is an internet security or a premier version, so stop with the stupid ads

[schmidthouse]

Been going on for years.
Is this really going to 'decrease' users or does the advertising increase users.
Any statistics I wonder.??

[SpeedyPC]

Been going on for years.
Is this really going to 'decrease' users or does the advertising increase users.
Any statistics I wonder.??

^^^ What he said above ^^^

[REDACTED]

An excellent post over at MalwareTips. Not by myself, but by a member who is also very Knowledgeable and this post is worth 5 minutes of ANY AVAST! users or potential users:

https://malwaretips.com/threads/fresh-on-the-heels-of-kaspersky-adobanal.82132/#post-728558

[REDACTED]

I've been using AVAST for many years now, but these ads are forcing me to bail out and find a new anti-virus.

I'm a retired 30 year veteran of IT and I help a lot of friends with their computers. I've always recommended AVAST. I'm going to suggest that they switch now too, because I'm getting a lot of calls when they're confused by these ads.

One of the reasons I, and those I support, moved to the paid Pro version was to eliminate these popup ads. I could forgive AVAST for them when I was on the free version, but now that I'm paying, and I unchecked the box allowing popups, I expect to have an ad-free experience.

[Alikhan]

I've been using AVAST for many years now, but these ads are forcing me to bail out and find a new anti-virus.

I'm a retired 30 year veteran of IT and I help a lot of friends with their computers. I've always recommended AVAST. I'm going to suggest that they switch now too, because I'm getting a lot of calls when they're confused by these ads.

One of the reasons I, and those I support, moved to the paid Pro version was to eliminate these popup ads. I could forgive AVAST for them when I was on the free version, but now that I'm paying, and I unchecked the box allowing popups, I expect to have an ad-free experience.

Have you unchecked the following option if you use a paid/trial version:

Avast UI > Settings  > General > Popups > [Uncheck] Show popup offers for other Avast products

If that is unchecked, there shouldn't be any ads.

Theere may be other that come from Avast Cleanup if the component is installed - that is easily solved by removing the Cleanup component through Settings > Components.

[schmidthouse]

I've been using AVAST for many years now, but these ads are forcing me to bail out and find a new anti-virus.

I'm a retired 30 year veteran of IT and I help a lot of friends with their computers. I've always recommended AVAST. I'm going to suggest that they switch now too, because I'm getting a lot of calls when they're confused by these ads.

One of the reasons I, and those I support, moved to the paid Pro version was to eliminate these popup ads. I could forgive AVAST for them when I was on the free version, but now that I'm paying, and I unchecked the box allowing popups, I expect to have an ad-free experience.

Have you unchecked the following option if you use a paid/trial version:

Avast UI > Settings  > General > Popups > [Uncheck] Show popup offers for other Avast products

If that is unchecked, there shouldn't be any ads.

Theere may be other that come from Avast Cleanup if the component is installed - that is easily solved by removing the Cleanup component through Settings > Components.

I don't think many users are yet aware of choosing "Custom" install so that the software is not installed with ALL the components checked by DEFAULT, and most the users  unaware they are installing added features many do not need or want.
As mentioned above some of the components are the source of unwanted adds (Clean-up for example)

I've always disliked all the components checked for install by default

[bob3160]

Maybe this will make it easier to understand:
https://youtu.be/ZKkX9xLcGgg

[REDACTED]

I've been using AVAST for many years now, but these ads are forcing me to bail out and find a new anti-virus.

I'm a retired 30 year veteran of IT and I help a lot of friends with their computers. I've always recommended AVAST. I'm going to suggest that they switch now too, because I'm getting a lot of calls when they're confused by these ads.

One of the reasons I, and those I support, moved to the paid Pro version was to eliminate these popup ads. I could forgive AVAST for them when I was on the free version, but now that I'm paying, and I unchecked the box allowing popups, I expect to have an ad-free experience.

I've also worked within the IT field for a rather long time and, just like you, I've also stopped recommending Avast! Free to family and friends. It's a shame because it is a solid product, but my above post with the link to the thread at MalwareTips was the final nail for me. Can anyone from Avast please explain this behaviour in Avast! free and Avast Android security? Because it doesn't just look like spyware it actually is spyware looking at this:

We have AVG(AVAST) sending plenty of data to Jumpshot.

analytics.ff.avast.com seems really busy.

Avast/AVG seem to send a lot to thirsty little Jumpshot. Community/Analytics disabled matter not, Jumpshot is thirsty and Avast/AVG provide the water.

Jumpshot: "The most precise way to unlock human behavior online."

Now I know why;

New Analytics Tool Jumpshot Based on the Avast Users Data

Little sniffers can find some data as;

Meta Field Data
Window Identifiers
Tabs
URL/TLD
System Identifiers
Referrers

Ex-filtrating Avast/AVG installed systems at preposterous levels perhaps? PCAP and Shark's unleash yourself. But wait, it's better.. AVG for Mobile Devices? Joined at the hip with Facebook Analytics, Google Analytics, Flurry Analytics. BUT! The hidden capabilities of AVG for Mobile devices will leave you gasping perhaps. These aren't user space permissions, they're app service permissions.

AVG/Avast is quite handy with your mobile device.

Add custom device admin
Sideload APK
Call logs to Outgoing SMS
Camera hardware to HTTP Header
Camera hardware to HTTP upload
Camera hardware to Network
Camera hardware to Outgoing SMS
Camera hardware to Socket
Contacts to Outgoing SMS
Current Wifi info to HTTP Header
Current Wifi info to HTTP upload
Current Wifi info to Network
Current Wifi info to Outgoing SMS
Current Wifi info to Socket
IMSI to Network
IMSI to Outgoing SMS
Location to HTTP Header
Location to HTTP upload
Location to Network
Location to Outgoing SMS
Location to Socket
SMS to Outgoing SMS
Telephone number to Network
Telephone number to Outgoing SMS
User Input to HTTP Header
User Input to HTTP upload
User Input to Network
User Input to Outgoing SMS
User Input to Socket
Bluetooth MAC address
Calendar
Call logs
Camera hardware
Contacts
Current Wifi info
IMEI
IMSI
Local images
Location
Photo
SIM ID
SMS
Screenshot
Telephone number
User Input
Make Call
Obfuscation

Avast/AVG sure likes to visit these website;

http://ab.ff.avast.com
http://adlog.flurry.com
http://ads.flurry.com
http://ai.ff.avast.com
http://al.ff.avast.com
http://analytics-dev.ff.avast.com
http://analytics-stage.ff.avast.com
http://analytics.ff.avast.com
Avast | Download Free Antivirus for PC, Mac & Android
AVG 2017 | FREE Antivirus & TuneUp for PC, Mac, Android
http://avgmobilationtest.elasticbeanstalk.com
http://connectivity.ff.avast.com
WikiBeacon by Radius Networks
Flurry
http://droid.cloud.avg.com
AVG 2017 | FREE Antivirus & TuneUp for PC, Mac, Android
http://lansec-test.ff.avast.com
http://lansec.ff.avast.com
http://localhost
http://lon23.ff.avast.com
http://m.avg.com
http://mobilation.backup.avg.cz
http://mobilation.download.avg.com
http://mobilation.update.avg.com
http://pay.fortumo.com
http://play.google.com
http://plus.google.com
http://schemas.android.com
http://streamback-sandbox.ff.avast.com
http://streamback-test.ff.avast.com
http://streamback.ff.avast.com
http://ta.ff.avast.com
http://ui.ff.avast.com
http://www.avg.com
http://www.avgthreatlabs.com
http://www.example.com
http://www.google-analytics.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.tumblr.com
http://xmlpull.org
https://a.fortumo.com
https://adlog.flurry.com
https://ads.flurry.com
https://api.fortumo.com
https://api.tumblr.com
https://app-measurement.com
https://app.igodigital.com
https://auth-test.ff.avast.com
https://auth.ff.avast.com
https://avg-cs-test.appspot.com
https://avg-hrd.appspot.com
https://avg-nl-d61cc243-si.fortumo.io
https://aws.droidsecurity.com
https://bkt.cloud.avg.com
https://cdn.flurry.com
https://consumer.exacttargetapis.com
https://cs.ff.avast.com
https://csi.gstatic.com
https://data.flurry.com
https://e.crashlytics.com
https://ff-backup.avast.com
https://ff-billing.avast.com
https://goo.gl
https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net
https://graph.*.facebook.com/network_ads_common/
https://graph.facebook.com
https://ipm-provider.ff.avast.com
https://maps.google.com
https://myaccount.avg.com
https://mysearch.avg.com
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com
https://play.google.com
https://plus.google.com
https://policies.yahoo.com
https://proton.flurry.com
https://sb-ssl.google.com
https://settings.crashlytics.com
https://ssl.google-analytics.com
https://stage.app.igodigital.com
https://stats.avg.com
https://test-bkt.cloud.avg.com
https://toolbar.avg.com
https://wutlar.fortumo.com
https://www.*.facebook.com
https://www.facebook.com
https://www.googleapis.com
https://www.googletagmanager.com
https://www.tumblr.com

[bob3160]

@Hitch,
What are you quoting

[CraigB]

@Hitch,
What are you quoting

The malwaretips link from reply 6

[bob3160]

@Hitch,
What are you quoting

The malwaretips link from reply 6

The link was sufficient IMHO He should also have read the following:
https://www.avast.com/en-us/eula
Avast doesn't share personal information so have no clue what Hitch is trying to infer