 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
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| reply to Sentinel
Re: Avast 7 installs Chrome said by Sentinel:I would not mind paying for software for any purpose; AV included. But much of the "pay" software includes even more crap that I don't want or need. In general I use freeware not because it is free but because usually freeware has less features and that is what I want.
Really, if I were a software designer, I would make my full feature suite the freeware and you would pay if you wanted the less featured smaller version. I would pay for that. 
It really depends on the software. I do agree with you that some out there are like that. At the same time, we have other free versions of software that install other "free trials" or "search engines" that you have to uncheck. Those are the things that upset me, but I understand that people need to make money for their time so they have to offer it.
You know that Google paid Avast to offer this in their install package. That I am ok with. Just as others have said here, you have to be prepared for it. I would have preferred a dialog box at the beginning stating it was going to be installed.
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 SentinelPremium
join:2001-02-07
Florida
kudos:1 | Yeah, definitely I agree.
Is the paid version of Avast the same? Does it do the same stuff in other words? Or does it not install Chrome?
I totally agree that if someone is giving you something for free then you have no right to complain about how they serve it to you. For free they have every right to change their product as they see fit. Your choice is only to take it or leave it. Free = forfeiting your right to complain. If you pay then you are also paying for your right to complain. |
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 lordpufferComfortably NumbPremium
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Rio Rancho, NM
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| said by Sentinel:Yeah, definitely I agree.
Is the paid version of Avast the same? Does it do the same stuff in other words? Or does it not install Chrome?
I can tell you that I have Avast Antivirus Pro, the paid version. I already had Chrome installed as my default browser when I updated Avast and experienced no issues.
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Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to Sentinel
said by Sentinel:Yeah, definitely I agree.
Is the paid version of Avast the same? Does it do the same stuff in other words? Or does it not install Chrome?
I totally agree that if someone is giving you something for free then you have no right to complain about how they serve it to you. For free they have every right to change their product as they see fit. Your choice is only to take it or leave it. Free = forfeiting your right to complain. If you pay then you are also paying for your right to complain.
I don't agree at all. You are stating that it is perfectly fine for an AV vendor (the vendor you place absolute, total trust in more than any other vendor whose product you may choose to use) to detect Ask toolbar as MALWARE for many, many years, and which had removal instructions for it on its website, to suddenly decide that Ask toolbar was no longer malware, but a WONDERFUL product that Avira was giving to users of Avira personal antivirus.
Plus, you are saying that the same AV vendor did nothing wrong in suddenly partnering with Uniblue to install their crap registry cleaner that has a LONG history of BREAKING many computers. Uniblue products had also been detected as malware by Avira until suddenly Uniblue was a great vendor. This kind of absolute hypocrisy is acceptable to you coming from your antimalware vendor? The ONE vendor you need to be able to FULLY TRUST as far as integrity and honesty goes?
If a vendor of a free antivirus product cannot continue to make that product free then the ONLY PROFESSIONAL AND HONORABLE choice they have is to no longer offer a free product or begin charging a small amount for it. Less preferably, but marginally acceptable, would be for the vendor to lay it out CLEARLY AND HONESTLY as to why they have suddenly crossed to the dark side. (In Avira's case it was to help pay for their fancy new office building and fund their move into world wide markets in a big way and they felt losing their ethics in the process was a small price to pay).
Avast's situation is somewhat different. Avast's problem is that they rush new versions (since 4.5) and have the philosophy that the chips should fall where they may. They shrug their shoulders at the carnage, apologize (which over time becomes hypocritical to all except newbies to Avast) and then proceed to slowly fix all the problems. Their installer has a major bug in that many don't get a window where they can remove the check mark for installing Chrome. Then Chrome installs and removes all personal settings if the user already had Chrome. That's a Google bug but Avast had the responsibility to know about this bug and warn users who already had Chrome to be sure and uncheck the install Chrome box which many of them didn't even see because of Avast's installer bug. The burden is on Avast shoulders here even if one bug is a Chrome bug.
Anyone can see that an installer of something as critical as an AV, that affects the computer at a deep and profound level, should be free of ALL BUT THE MOST MINOR BUGS when released. Further, Avast, if ethics matter to them, should have made it clear at the beginning of the installation that Chrome would also be installed unless the user removed the checkmark. That choice should not have been left until late in the installation process. I don't like Chrome but I have not put it in the same category as Uniblue and Ask toolbar but since Google's announcement of their privacy changes, I now consider Chrome to be malware and, consequently, I am putting Avast in the same category of Avira in betraying the trust of their users. Avast has bundled Chrome before this version and I did not consider that to be in the category of Avira's betrayal, but I do now because of Google's privacy changes, Avast's sloppy release of a very buggy installer, and their refusal to place the choice to install Chrome at the VERY BEGINNING.
Like I said to Avira many times, if it is becoming too much of a burden to offer free AV then offer a LITE version at a small price. Avast has a bunch of unneeded modules and they could offer Avast Lite for $10-15 without most of the superfluous modules.
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| On an upgraded machine (Avast 6 to 7), I've noticed that if I launch Chrome on my own, it looks normal. However, any links from within Avast to a URL spawn a Chrome window that appears to be a different instance of Chrome. That is, no bookmarks, customization, or history of the normal Chrome instance is available in that one.
Any idea what's going on here? Is the instance of Chrome that Avast spawned sandboxed? I was wondering if perhaps Avast installed a 2nd instance of Chrome. However, I searched and don't see a 2nd instance of Chrome.exe on the machine. I certainly was never prompted to install Chrome during the upgrade, nor would I have chosen to (I'm already running it!). |
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| See »forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94348.0 |
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1 edit | Thanks for the link - a very valid conclusion. However, one that makes a lot of sense and that I'd already considered.
Only problem - there is no Google/Chrome directory under the Program Files path. Furthermore, if I check task manager for the process attached to the Chrome task it spawned and browse its path - it's the same path as my "normal" Chrome instance. |
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| One difference I HAVE noticed so far: the about page for each instance is the same, with one exception. The instance that Avast spawns, in the about window where Google normally lists "up to date", displays "Update server not available (error: 1)".
According to Google: Error 1 means that Google Chrome can't be upgraded in its current directory.
First, check which version of Google Chrome you're running by looking at the version number in the About Google Chrome box.
If the box lists "Google Chrome," then the most likely reason for this failure is that the Google Chrome files have been moved out of their default installation location. This configuration isn't supported for updates. Moving the files back to their original location should resolve this issue. If you haven't moved the files, you may be able to resolve this issue by uninstalling and reinstalling Google Chrome. |
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