MEGA GRIPE witn AVAST - installs CHROME as well Grrh!!!!

What's up with some of these sites these days -- I was installing AVAST (free) FROM ITS OWN WEBSITE on a friend's XP machine --they still want to keep it and the MSE nagwhere about expired OS was too annoying.

So installed amid screens loudly presenting images of its 25th anniversary. Anyway it also installs CHROME and a wretched Google toolbar on IE as well -- and also it seems to have that even more irritating stuff of announcing LOUDLY in AUDIO -- system ready -- etc etc. It also changed the default from IE to Chrome without asking permission too -- BAD ONE HERE.

1) SOFTWARE should ONLY install want you have requested whether EXPLICITLY or IMPLICITLY - especially from IT's OWN SITE -- other sites -- well we usually need to check but the software's HOME site should be above board - it should make it clear from the download or install procedures that other programs might also be installed and then give you the option to cancel.

2) People usually don't want the audio bells and whistles with this stuff - especially if the computer is going to be used in a room with other people. PLEASE CUT THE AUDIO - or give the option BEFORE product is installed to disable it.

3) PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE USERS DEFAULT PROGRAMS WITHOUT ASKING FIRST.

Bad one AVAST -- software used to be OK but totally uninstalled after this experience.

Cheers
jimbo

You could try Baidu. It is the one I use. No extra junk, and no nagging. It is called Pro, but is free.

Baidu Antivirus | Professional Antivirus + Ultrafast Cloud Security

SIW2 said:

You could try Baidu. It is the one I use. No extra junk, and no nagging. It is called Pro, but is free.

Baidu Antivirus | Professional Antivirus + Ultrafast Cloud Security

Click to expand...

Hi there
Thanks for the suggestion and I appreciate the link.

However my main complaint here and it shouldn't get lost on the recommendation of alternative programs was the manner in which their website behaves - installing extra unwanted programs, changing user defaults and not before install giving the user the chance to disable the incredibly irritating sound.

Cheers
jimbo

Yes, that is why I am not using Avast. It doesn't help them to keep customers. Pretty clear from my post that I use something without extra rubbish included.

Avast gives you the option of opting out when installing but it should be the option to opt in,
In setting you can disable all sounds.

Looks like they are all doing these days. That crafty little tick box to download Chrome. Ithink Adobe or is it Java does it as well. Even MBAM now has a default box ticked to install their product as a full version trial.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, nor a free antivirus, it seems. The parasite load of unwanted programs on the back of a "free" utility, may merely be an attempt to get some financial payback for continued development of the utility, but it destroys credibility and trust. Even Microsoft shenanigans with Defender and MSE which are first and foremost anti-piracy measures for MS products, with other malware detection and control coming a weak second - MBAM often has to sweep up the dregs that MSE allows through.

Therefore, always choose the "customised" install, rather than the automatic default install, which allows no choice of co-installed software.

Still, the driver and manual download field is even more fraught with difficulties to avoid paywalled items which are merely archived for download, and not even developed by the download site. Even some PC manufacturers are putting their older drivers behind paywalled driver download sites - Fujitsu Siemens is an example.

The worst of the multiple-green-download-buttons-on-the-page sites can be tamed somewhat with hosts file modifications, which prevent the most viral of the adware merchants offerings from being displayed on your browser, often leaving only the green button you actually wish to click to download the program of your choice. I can live without ads, especially those which drop their payloads with a mere mouseover event.

You don't get any rubbish with Baidu.

Baidu Antivirus | Professional Antivirus + Ultrafast Cloud Security

Hi there.

@fafhrd - Those multiple green arrows just get worse and worse now -- Fortunately there isn't a lot of Free software that I need any more - I've got most of what I use -- and if I see a newer version leads me to one of those sites I just don't install it and keep the older stuff until it doesn't work any more.

My Free stuff - TREESIZE (disk mapping utility), VLC (multi-media player), LOGITECH MEDIA SERVER (Music server), SQUEEZEPLAYER( software client for LOGITECH MEDIA SERVER to play music locally on a client PC or an android phone - Samsung S5 -- the server sends also to dedicated hardware devices around the house - which aren't PC's), THE GIMP (excellent Image processing program as alternative to Photoshop, CALIBRE (e-book management), CUE TOOLS (expanding CUE / APE files back into the original tracks), MP3TAG -- excellent music tagging program (tags FLAC etc as well), 7-ZIP (compression / archiver), UTORRENT and that's about it. Might be a few more but I obviously don't use them that much. I also have a NAS for remote Video.

I use commercial programs for backup etc (Acronis) and Office (Ms Office) although I've been testing the free KINGSOFT OFFICE (now WPS office - Free version -- seems OK but don't throw away ms EXCEL just yet !!!). I run various Linux distros where the "Green arrow syndrome" doesn't really exist as the repositories of the distros you are using are generally much better managed than having to download from specific sites. I don't use 3rd party browsers on Windows as they are full of "addons" and "features" including sometimes rubbish toolbars and maybe ad/ cr'p ware.

It could be the solution to the "Green Arrow" problem is for developers to sling their stuff into the Ms Store -- but would Ms be able to control it or would it become that unholy mess that is now the Google Play store (for android phone apps).

Cheers
jimbo

I'm sucker for free programs, apart from Windows I don't think I have more than 3 payed programs including MS Office. Found out long time ago that those large expensive programs do at least 10 times more than I actually need. Those programs that do all but babysitting and cooking lunch and cost accordingly have 90% useless stuff. I prefer smaller programs that do one thing and do it good. I even tolerate small amount of adds in them if they are good enough. The trick is to be careful where you get them from, watch if they have a "Guest" with them and pay attention during install. I'm afraid that times when you could just go Next >Next >Next, are gone for most part but if that saves me few hundred bucks...... Of course that those tricks they use to get you something you don't need or even dangerous are despicable and downright rude but if it takes of time and attention, it can be avoided.

I also dislike searching and downloading some of these free applications as they assault you with a myriad of links for other crap and you have to click around to find what you actually want.

With anything, you have to be extremely careful when installing. You have to read the prompts, you have to uncheck the boxes, you should click on Customize install and you should check the Add/Remove programs box when done to be sure that nothing else has made itself into the list (fortunately you can sort this by date).

I too don't buy much software....most of the free stuff gets the job done for me. I've purchased Acronis for backups in the past, I currently use Paragon. I've also purchased Sony Vegas HD Studio.

SIW2 said:

You don't get any rubbish with Baidu.

Baidu Antivirus | Professional Antivirus + Ultrafast Cloud Security

Click to expand...

Well, I've given Baidu AV a try - and it has so far given 3 notices that it has trapped infections in as many days. I am not used to getting antivirus warnings based on my web behaviour over the last 10 years, on XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8, with AVs as diverse as MSE, AVG, AVIRA, AVAST and Comodo.

So - either I have entered a new phase of living dangerously, or Baidu AV throws up false negatives - time will tell! (one of these was a reported worm in the Crucial Memory Scanner for XP - Worm.Win32.Viking.pf from the Crucial UK site - can anyone else confirm or refute this?)

OTOH my newly installed XP installation on a 9-Y-Old Desktop which I intend to use as a media server, and using a suite of Baidu free products, I have obtained consistent sub-40 second boot times, so I am impressed with the ability to shave off useless features and memory hogs. It is faster than any boot-up times from HD than Windows 7 or 8 on more recent hardware that I have.