Gargamel360:
To be honest, I very much doubt that is is malicious. However, I am not certain of this and would very much like some transparency on the matter. I recommended my previous antivirus (AntiVir) to many people and, although I personally had no problems with it, found I could no longer do this because of the number of people who were becoming unhappy with it. Really, I would like to be able to recommend Avast because of its impressive features, but think this one single issue too important to ignore. The trust we give to our AVs is possibly higher than any other software, except probably our operating systems and firewalls.
Nesivos:
You are probably right (I certainly hope so!), but I feel I have to be sure. I have never seen this mentioned anywhere either, so I partly feel I have no reassurances about it and wonder why nobody ever mentions it or seems to be aware of it. It's a sad fact that as companies grow they get more hungry for people's information, so I think it is a valid question. Looking at it this way, the vast number of users adds to my concerns and my persistence!