Here’s the thing, i’ve been using Avast for over 8 years on every computer I owned during that time.
It seemed, effective, safe and free.
but
lately, for the past few months, my Avast keeps popping up in the lower right with all these messages like
“your PC is being slowed down by all this crap, we can fix it”
“your drivers are outdated, which can cause serious issues, click here to update”
“your computer has x security issues, click here to fix them”
“millions of PC are attacked every day, click here for real time protection”
and more
and when I look, all the features are locked behind a paywall . they want me to buy the “premium version”
Avast’s own website warns people about the “your drivers are out of date, pay us to update the drivers” scam and
how there is all this “ransomware” out there that threatens to do bad stuff to your computer unless you pay them
yet they themselves are using the same tactic!!! it’s more subtle, because they aren’t thresting me directly, only suggesting to me that the threat is out there unless I pay them, so it’s more like Mob racketeering…
meanwhile, when I do into the auto updaters on my computer and go into my drivers and click “search for driver updates”, it always tells me I have the latest drivers and yet Avast keeps telling me my drivers are out of date and wants me to pay them to get the updates.
I’m 99% sure that I’m using the “real” version of Avast, because it’s the same one I’ve been using for the last 8 years…but wtf?
Hello,
Thread locked due to spam.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Avast has become adware.
Avast used to be a great anti-virus. Both the free and premium versions were great.
But over time it’s become more and more bloated with nagware.
Last time I tried it a few months ago it was aweful. Those nagging ads for them to allegedly speed up my computer forced me to permanently uninstall and i’ll never install it again
Avast now isn’t Avast of 5 yrs ago. Bunch of redundant features & memory abused. AVG belongs to Avast now and it becomes a fkin Avast clone. 10/10 would recommend other AV than Avast.
Did you customized the installation? I would recommend to get only the file shield, behavior shield and web shield.
If you want ad-free, free antivirus, go for Panda or Bitdefender.
Even if you decide to spend money on an Antivirus, Avast feels cheap and unpolished. And there is simply too much crap.
also I want to note, that i’ve been having sporadic blue screen errors lately and my USB ports stopped working.
I dunno if it’s because my computer is 4 years old or not,
some google results have suggested it’s because my drivers are out of date.
a website called drivereasy dot com suggested some memory checks and stuff and then at the very bottom of their page suggested I install their software and that I can update the drivers safely and easily, but when I looked on reddit, many people advised against ising driver easy and claimed it was unsafe so I did not download it.
I have not downloaded anything new in months except for a couple of game I bought through Steam. I don’t go to weird websites. I don’t look at porn or anything silly like that.
the only places I go are Steam, Hulu, Netflix and Youtube.
I tried doing research on how to manually update my drivers, given that my computer keeps telling me all my drivers are up to date when they are not, but the processes are so convoluted and confusing, I gave up.
I never knew you needed a Masters degree from MIT just to keep your computer files up to date. something that the computer should bendoing on its own…
I’m running windows 10 btw, which I have regretted since the first day I upgraded, way back when I first bought this computer with windows 8 on it and microsoft immediately emailed me with a “special offer, to upgrade to windows 10 for free, but only if I did it right then and there, because later, they were gonna start charging for it” and I opted in to upgrade to windows 10 and now I can never go back
If you don’t click on everything then windows defender should be enough. If you want better protection then you can install kaspersky free.
A lot of my data was sent to avast servers and i sent them two emails what data they collect and why and they didn’t answer me. I don’t trust them anymore and they F up ccleaner too.
They have scam ads for some time now and i’m pretty sure a lot older (?) people buy it.
If you want free AV then kaspersky free, if you want to pay then ESET internet security
I quit using avast because of this, Windows defender is the best free antivirus you will ever get, trust me
Do you guys know how to delete avast I’ve tried to delete it but doesn’t let me for some reason
Once, avast quarantined itself. Funny right? Though it’s true.
I agree! Keeps on with the “ooo if you don’t… cor yer never know wot’ll 'appen ,do ya”
Well, I didn’t and my machines still function. In any case you can always store stuff on SD cards and external drives and just reformat the P.C.
If that is “Of an age”, maybe replace the PC would be money better spent, surely?
After i dowload Avast my storage keep getting higher and higher even tho it says it can clear like 6.1GB, i recommend you guys to not dowload Avast, use windows security instead.
i’ll admit, i’m seriously considering the same action. given that many reddit posts claim that the default windows 10 defender is better, do I even need 3rd party software?
always in the past, everyone always used to say that the default protection was no good and that it was almost mandatory to install 3rd party software, now people seem to be saying that the default software is better. my cable internet provider also claims that they have antivirus in there too but I don’t see it
also, I just 2 separate scans with both Avast and windows defender respectively and neither of them found any threats on my computer, which I guess is good, but then, I still don’t kniw what caused the blue screen errors.
could it be that my computer is just too old? in the last 10 years, i’ve gone through 3 computers, i’ver never had a computer last more than 3 years before the BSOD ruined it. my current one is the longest i’ve ever managed to keep a computer running in all that time
and its so weird how it happens, the computer will seem perfect for 99% of it’s lifetime , theres no gradual degradation or warning or anything, it will run perfect and then suddenly, it’s BSOD BSOD BSOD time to get a new one.
Pretty much this. Shame too as it gets consistently good scores in testing…
A few years ago I was getting blue screen errors caused by a bad install of an anti-virus. Try uninstalling Avast and just use Defender which is Windows 10’s built in anti-virus. See if the blue screens continue.
Although the fact that you USB ports have stopped working could suggest a hardware problem or a driver problem which could also cause blue screens.
how to manually update my drivers, given that my computer keeps telling me all my drivers are up to date when they are not, but the processes are so convoluted and confusing,
I never knew you needed a Masters degree from MIT just to keep your computer files up to date.
Updating drivers is not really rocket science, just go to Device Manager via Control Panel, right-click on said name and do an update. You can also manually install via The Web if you are not satisfied with the results and check that way if you have the latest.
something that the computer should be doing on its own is driver updates.
Would be nice; Not necessarily needed until problems arise with said driver(s) or you just want the latest version of a specific graphics chip. https://computer.howstuffworks.com/update-drivers-computer.htm
Would you recommend ESET pay version over Kaspersky pay version? I’ also used Avast and I’m tired of it. I bought it very cheap on Newgg but with the time I’ve been wanting to change it.
Idk, I uninstalled it today. That’s probably already fixed!
There’s an avast removal tool that barely works