Advice Request AVAST/AVG trustworthy again or not?

[oldschool]

Free versions of either.

AVG

 

[omidomi]

No at all, AVG is Better than Avast!
Avast is Junkware
btw its your choice U Can install Spyware by your own risk (or vanished your money for pro version)
there is many more better Security softwares exist that you can use them in both free or paid...

 

[jackuars]

I don't get it when people say that Avast is bloated, it's one of the only antiviruses that provides you a customizable installer where you can "select" the components you wish to install, when installing the program. That reduces bloat like no other antivirus does.

By the way I haven't used it for a very long time.

 

[bayasdev]

Avast software it's quite good and it's highly customizable if you're an advanced user, but they have been involved in many privacy scandals over the last years that most people here (including myself) mistrust them.

 

[JasonUK]

I don't get it when people say that Avast is bloated, it's one of the only antiviruses that provides you a customizable installer where you can "select" the components you wish to install, when installing the program. That reduces bloat like no other antivirus does.

By the way I haven't used it for a very long time.

+1 on this. At the end of the day you have total control over which Avast components you choose to install ~ I'd only choose the four core shields. There are a few guides out there with suggested settings to make it more private and less noisy. I personally find the user interface clearer and easier to configure than the equivalent AVG product but see that others feel the opposite. For a FREE antivirus Avast is pretty decent as either your primary or secondary (in passive mode) AV.

Avast used to be the darling of free AVs until they made their mega-misstep on the use of data. The high quality protection hasn't changed though and Avast have now made it easier to tweak privacy settings.

 

[Moonhorse]

Well i would compare them to any other privacy issued company like facebook as example , 55 billion revenue and 5 billion penalty

FTC Imposes $5 Billion Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

NOTE: The FTC hosted an IN-PERSON press conference at FTC Headquarters, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington D.C., on July 24, 2019.

www.ftc.gov

I think avast/avg are second best antivirus after kaspersky on freemium market, i would use avg with brave browser as example since kaspersky dont support it

As long as they dont force install anything its decent choice for me, but i would not pay anything as freemium gives you all you need

 

[Threadripper]

Regarding the telemetry, every company relies on that. Kaspersky last night classified a custom ransomware that I am working on. I haven’t even finished it, it wasn’t detected before, but now it’s added to definitions. It means my executable has been sent.
They can’t protect users unless they implement telemetry one way or another.

I understand your logic but there's another way of looking at that. Antivirus software uploading and analysing executables it's never seen before and (hopefully) having proper policies and procedures in place to delete them, should they be deemed harmless, is different to Avast using Jumpshot to collect every single website you visit to make an advertising profile.

Both of them are telemetry, but one is very different to the other. I'm fine with my antivirus software uploading and analysing executables it's never seen before (and deleting them if they're found harmless) but not so fine with it collecting files containing my personal information or collecting every website I visit. I'd assume other users feel a similar way regarding this.

 

[AYIZEB]

Nowadays privacy is a hoax, in a connected world there is no privacy, simply choose the product with which you feel comfortable and give you good protection

 

[Eggnog]

To wonder if Avast/AVG are trustworthy again, one must suppose they were ever trustworthy at all.

 

[Cortex]

I'm going to give AVAST a try on my Lappy, see what happens

 

[Tutman]

I'm going to give AVAST a try on my Lappy, see what happens

You're brave! (J/K) I already have installed and testing AVG free latest beta and very nice and fast and light. But yes you have to uncheck share everything in privacy settings and @oldschool You were correct, blocking AVGUI in firewall (with good ole Netlimiter!) works for the false warnings/upgrade ads! Per your post here: Battle - What antivirus should I install on a 10 years old PC?

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Would you recommend Avast over Bitdefender?

I have used both. Personally I would choose AVG over avast, but anyway Avast offers hardened mode which is very great to protect inexperienced users. Avast runs a blit lighter than Bitdefender. Both offer great protection, but I would not use Bitdefender on a system with 4GBs of RAM.

 

[SerialCart]

From my experience they have been trying to fix their mistakes and their performance has not been bad at all...

Their Avast Ultimate offer is amazingly good...

IF you are interested please consider our offers:

SerialCart - Your Software Partner

Buy PC and macOS software at discounted prices. Special offers for Antivirus, VPN Applications, PC Tools, Back up software, recovery applications &...

serialcart.com

 

[Ink]

From my experience they have been trying to fix their mistakes

What kind of mistakes?

Last time I used Avast was during 2017/18, and haven't been exposed to their mistakes.

 

[SeriousHoax]

From my experience they have been trying to fix their mistakes and their performance has not been bad at all...

Their Avast Ultimate offer is amazingly good...

IF you are interested please consider our offers:

SerialCart - Your Software Partner

Buy PC and macOS software at discounted prices. Special offers for Antivirus, VPN Applications, PC Tools, Back up software, recovery applications &...

serialcart.com

AVG offers seems even better

SerialCart - Your Software Partner

Buy PC and macOS software at discounted prices. Special offers for Antivirus, VPN Applications, PC Tools, Back up software, recovery applications &...

serialcart.com

 

[Venustus]

What kind of mistakes?

Maybe with ads and telemetry.

 

[starsfighter]

No i won't trust them
Avast and AVG spying on you via webcam. Beware of scammers.
Q&A - Avast/AVG, you snakes...

 

[jackuars]

and I would've seen the diode of my camera lighting up. Furthermore, why do you think Avast will be interested in seeing your face in the first place?

Recently I've been to an ethical hacking online conference, where they showed live, how hackers hack webcam and make changes to device drivers and turn off the "blinking webcam light" functionality. The way they do it is simple process that seemingly took just seconds and as a result they spy on you by gaining access to your webcam.

 

[Pat MacKnife]

Avast removed it about a year ago, or longer. I couldn't find a reference but I'm sure I saw it.

Yes they removed it , is was part of the dataselling jumpshot that send data, but when uninstalled avast/AVG overseer.exe was not removed... they had complaints on their forum and they fixed the removal proces to be sure that overseer.exe was deleted after uninstall.

 

[fabiobr]

This is sth I would never install. The web filter is more than enough and I do not like the way Avast/AVG hijacks the browser to offer you this stupid extension. I do like how other vendors sned a notification asking you to install the extension, but the way Avast/Avg doing it is disgusting. I prefer product which do not require the installation of extensions such as Eset.

Kaspersky does the same, install the extension automatically.