You are definitely wrong on that as in these forums it is just one of a number of artificial forum rankings
This was my mistake, for which I sincerely apologize; I used "evangelist" almost certainly because of seeing the term here, but I was
not referencing every member with that behind their forum name. I was specifically referencing those few here who are myopic in their love for Avast, constantly referring to it as, "the best" and promoting it even when there's no particular reason to do so. (I an
not generally putting Avast down, only noting that
no software can universally be "the best" for every situation. Most independent reviews place Avast somewhere in the top tier, but none agree with others as to a "best" for everything. I never receive email on a Windows machine, for example, so anything that scores highly in that task would not be "the best" for me. Someone who uses no IM application wouldn't care about that...people who reject javascript by default might not care about web safe lists...etc...etc.)
Perhaps I should have said "apostle" or "zealot" or the more awkward "proselytizer" instead of "evangelist;" and yes, the religious overtone of all of these descriptives is intentional as it implies a level of faith instead of objective review. Regardless, a quick read of these forums, and the critical (applying criticism, not vitally important) advertising posts in particular,
will clearly show there are a few here who will defend and promote Avast, period. It is those people I referenced and, I believe, others have when suggesting some here are already, "hardcore followers," not those forum members with a bunch of posts under their belts. And I don't even fault them for their emotional attachment, simply recognize it and then ignore those comments stemming from it.
Truth is, I only wanted Alwil Software management to know that not only does this particular consultant who started recommending Avast specifically
because it didn't utilize the deplorable advertising tactics so evident in AVG, Avira, and others find their gauche push advertising unacceptable, but he has strongly recommended to others it should be removed from their system and replaced with anti-virus software that according to independent reviews is
also somewhere in the top tier and does not (yet, though certainly it inevitably will) annoy its users in this fashion. They need to add to their calculus the reach of negative word-of-mouth...especially those of us unashamed to shoot them off loudly and frequently.
Anything else I probably should have kept to myself anyway, since it is inevitable (as I said before) that reasonable discussion on the merits of this would be impossible in a forum designed to support and promote the product. There are plenty of other places on the Net where Avast is, "taking it on the chin" for this intrusive decision...
