Shows popup "You have been protected by Avast antivirus"

[Patrick2]

I'm actually using 19.3.2369, just didn't update signature yet

Would hope it's removed suddenly as well, as definitely not a pass experiment in my mind

Plan on doing my system cleanup towards end of April I think at this point, so hopefully this issue resolved and I can choose to stay with Avast Free

[rocksteady]

@bob3160. Please note your signature also says you are still on "AvastFree 19.2.2364".

[mchain]

Are you actually seeing this on Avast version 19.1.2360, I thought this came in with 19.3.xxxx (could be wrong on that) ?

Given the excellent (NOT) response to this completely useless, uninformative, nonsense popup, that is an experiment.  I would hope it is considered a failed experiment and is removed as suddenly as it appeared.

I'm thinking your question was addressed to Patrick2, but it's not just version 19.3.2639 this useless popup is appearing in.  I'm running 19.2.2364, (have not update to latest because of issues with chkdsk not starting in the latest version) and I'm still getting this on startup/restart.

[DavidR]

Are you actually seeing this on Avast version 19.1.2360, I thought this came in with 19.3.xxxx (could be wrong on that) ?

Given the excellent (NOT) response to this completely useless, uninformative, nonsense popup, that is an experiment.  I would hope it is considered a failed experiment and is removed as suddenly as it appeared.

I'm thinking your question was addressed to Patrick2, but it's not just version 19.3.2639 this useless popup is appearing in.  I'm running 19.2.2364, (have not update to latest because of issues with chkdsk not starting in the latest version) and I'm still getting this on startup/restart.

Yes it was, I can't recall having this popup when I had 19.2.xxxx, I too was was hanging back on 19.3 and I hadn't long updated to 19.3.xxxx when I started seeing it.

Thanks for the confirmation.

[MartinZ]

thanks for all the feedback provided (even for the negative one ;-). For this type of test beta isn't ideal as there isn't that many users and the country distribution isn't the same as for production. It's not related to any product version, targeting all 18+ versions. what is the biggest concern? the message itself? the time unless it hides? the frequency (once per 24h)?

[MartinZ]

It's rather a slide-in (like the ones we had in earlier versions).
I'll try to catch a screenshot when it shows up again...

Like a Toaster Popup ?

Yep.

Yes, Dave it is that exactly.  Remains for about 20 seconds or so and then slides back down.  First time I saw it here too, after a restart.

Check if the settings are still in place for changing the duration, remember the 0 value = no limit.  Also it would be a case of which category does/would this come under information (INFO), etc. if avast are considering this as promotion (which would be wrong) we're stuffed as they didn't have a category.

Ah, I just opened up my laptop to check and see where the settings for Popups are (and I got the toaster popup, but not for very long). I couldn't find them, they were in the old Settings, General area and no popups area exists in 19.32369 UI (well not on mine). 

I had a look in the geek:area (and what a dumping ground that is becoming), its a mess, one big long list, hard to find anything and scrolling forever and nothing related to Popups.  I had to go into the Troubleshooting section, General > Open Old Settings and here in General > Popups are the various categories, my INFO section is set for 3 seconds (see attached image for my settings). This is why it didn't get a screen capture, id didn't stay up long enough for me to get a screen capture.

This setting is obsolete and it didn't work last 2 years..That's also the reason why it's not in the new settings

[MartinZ]

I also liked the "Virus database has been updated" but we now update it every approx 6 minutes and you kinda don't want to be notified that often ;-))

[DavidR]

thanks for all the feedback provided (even for the negative one ;-). For this type of test beta isn't ideal as there isn't that many users and the country distribution isn't the same as for production. It's not related to any product version, targeting all 18+ versions. what is the biggest concern? the message itself? the time unless it hides? the frequency (once per 24h)?

The fact that it imparts zero information, "You're protected with Avast Free Antivirus" I already know this, after all I installed it.

On the theme of "You're protected with Avast Free Antivirus":
We are already swamped by popups, trying to get the user to buy this or that (because we aren't protected in some way ) To be honest some of these are borderline, give the user a headache and then sell the aspirin.

Marketing have to get smarter and not just carpet bomb with the same message over and over, the users obviously can't ignore it's in your face, and many are leaving as it is the only way out. Is Marketing out of control ?

[Patrick2]

Heck I've been using Avast since version 4.8 after testing Windows Live One Care on my old XP Machine back in 2005/2006,  Got such a bad infection  folks in another PC game recommended Avast and I tried it,   I feel word of Mouth is best advertisement for this product, I know Developers don't make any money from that way,  but at the time it was uninstrustive,  nice sound alerts at the time.     

Hard for me to leave this product that I use for protection of all my PC's, but also a lot of forums that I visit even don't recommended Avast Free anymore for some reason

main thing is just wanna be happy with protection I choose to use, without popups distracting me from what im doing

is Marketing trying to get as many paid subscripers as they can or trying to drive people away with these test of popups

[mchain]

thanks for all the feedback provided (even for the negative one ;-). For this type of test beta isn't ideal as there isn't that many users and the country distribution isn't the same as for production. It's not related to any product version, targeting all 18+ versions. what is the biggest concern? the message itself? the time unless it hides? the frequency (once per 24h)?

To put it nicely, biggest concern is the (sometimes) apparently cavalier attitude Avast has towards it users when implementing features or advertising on captive systems without their true consent, implied or otherwise, that really don't complement the main Avast mission, that of protecting their users from malicious harm from outside.

Please don't forget we chose to put Avast on our systems and once we do that, we really don't need reminders.

Avast does a great job in protecting us, we are grateful for that. 

Run silently, but carry a big stick for use when necessary, as in the American vernacular. 

That is what we need and want.   

[DavidR]

<snip quotes>
Check if the settings are still in place for changing the duration, remember the 0 value = no limit.  Also it would be a case of which category does/would this come under information (INFO), etc. if avast are considering this as promotion (which would be wrong) we're stuffed as they didn't have a category.

Ah, I just opened up my laptop to check and see where the settings for Popups are (and I got the toaster popup, but not for very long). I couldn't find them, they were in the old Settings, General area and no popups area exists in 19.32369 UI (well not on mine). 

I had a look in the geek:area (and what a dumping ground that is becoming), its a mess, one big long list, hard to find anything and scrolling forever and nothing related to Popups.  I had to go into the Troubleshooting section, General > Open Old Settings and here in General > Popups are the various categories, my INFO section is set for 3 seconds (see attached image for my settings). This is why it didn't get a screen capture, id didn't stay up long enough for me to get a screen capture.

This setting is obsolete and it didn't work last 2 years..That's also the reason why it's not in the new settings

Why was/it obsolescent someone must have decided to remove it.  It gave the users control of how long a popup (toaster or otherwise) remained up.

What was removed from these old setting were Ad Popups as Marketing presumably wouldn't like that.

Interestingly, as I have mentioned the first time I saw this on my win10 system, it was up and gone so quickly I didn't manage to get a screenshot as I had my Info popups set to 3 seconds.

So it appears it was working for me.

[jwater]

The pop up settings are gone in 19.3. I had mine set to 3 sec which made them more tolerable. Now you have to acknowledge them by closing the box manually or they will sit there for who knows how long. Why would they take away our ability to limit the information pop ups?

[Asyn]

thanks for all the feedback provided (even for the negative one ;-). For this type of test beta isn't ideal as there isn't that many users and the country distribution isn't the same as for production. It's not related to any product version, targeting all 18+ versions. what is the biggest concern? the message itself? the time unless it hides? the frequency (once per 24h)?

Hi Martin, to start with, an option to turn it off would be great. Cheers

[rocksteady]

@MartinZ
There is a Avast icon resident in the System tray which confirms Avast protection is provided. You can even hover over it and get a message to that effect.
IMO it is not necessary to have a toaster popup every boot to say the same thing.
It is just plain annoying to have to X it every time.

[chris...]

thanks for all the feedback provided (even for the negative one ;-). For this type of test beta isn't ideal as there isn't that many users and the country distribution isn't the same as for production. It's not related to any product version, targeting all 18+ versions. what is the biggest concern? the message itself? the time unless it hides? the frequency (once per 24h)?

the message itself undoubtedly   
you can display a protection message, so you should be able to propose a non-protection message(it already exists), the latter is much more useful

such a message without having the possibility to remove it is - in my opinion - a lack of respect for the user (almost a breach of the rules)

Wouldn't it be possible to answer your questions through a poll here?
I could create it myself but I'm not very comfortable setting it up with the right questions