Advice Request Avast removed "old settings" and now Unable to choose between Moderate and Aggressive for Hardened Mode

[DSD27]

Old settings gone? How to set Hardened mode now? Avast removed the old settings and with that, the possibility to choose between moderate and aggressive for hardened mode is gone, for now... Will it come back? Hopefully, since it was the best thing about Avast free.

 

[Ink]

It was expected from the moment a New Settings UI was introduced.

O/T:
One day Control Panel from Windows 10 will be gone, and many will mourn over it (...and complain, endlessly)

 

[oldschool]

Did you miss this post? Go to Settings>Search and enter geek:area. There's a 1 minute video here. I don't know what settings you'll find there since I don't use it.

Remember: "Seek and ye shall find."

 

[DSD27]

It was expected from the moment a New Settings UI was introduced.

O/T:
One day Control Panel from Windows 10 will be gone, and many will mourn over it (...and complain, endlessly)

Yes, and that's ok, you missed the point... The concern here is Hardened Mode Aggressive, don't care for the old settings, the problem is that they should have brought it to the new UI before removing the old settings.

Did you miss this post? Go to Settings>Search and enter geek:area. There's a 1 minute video here. I don't know what settings you'll find there since I don't use it.

Remember: "Seek and ye shall find."

Yes, it's not there. The ability to choose between Moderate and Aggressive was only present in the old settings.

 

[Ink]

Yes, and that's ok, you missed the point... The concern here is Hardened Mode Aggressive, don't care for the old settings, the problem is that they should have brought it to the new UI before removing the old settings.

It's better to leave feedback on the Avast Forums - unless it's cross-post for "exposure".

Avast's reputation is tarnished.

 

[DSD27]

It's better to leave feedback on the Avast Forums - unless it's cross-post for "exposure".

Avast's reputation is tarnished.

That's the very first thing on the thread.

Tha'ts harsh. I would say not really, most people don't even know about it. Also Avast didn't do anything that others don't' do. It had just as big of an impact as Kaspersky spying for Russia, maybe not as muc tbh.

I'm only concerned about the specific feature here...

Little more mention on the matter here NEW Version: 20.3 (April 2020)

 

[oldschool]

Yes, it's not there.

I'm only concerned about the specific feature here...

I suppose they want to keep the settings more automated and "user-friendly" like Bitdefender Free so they get less complaints from uninformed users.

Maybe you should post mages of all the available settings.

 

[DSD27]

I suppose they want to keep the settings more "user-friendly" so they get less complaints from uninformed users.

Maybe you should post mages of all the available settings.

It's easy, they've simply removed the old settings, the new UI is just like it was. For Hardened mode, you can check or uncheck the box, that's enabled or disabled, that's it.
The question is, if is this just temporary, as a consequence of simply removing the old setting without thinking about hardened mode, or is there going to be only one type of hardened mode from now on.

 

[bayasdev]

What's next Avast removing settings for free users like BD do?

 

[DSD27]

What's next Avast removing settings for free users like BD do?

Kaspersky did that too in their free version, before the name change to security cloud.
Well... Aggressive Hardened Mode is what sets Avast apart from the other free AVs, if they get rid of it, I might return to KSCF. But I find it hard to believe they could actually intended to get rid of it, aggressive is much better than moderate, for all users.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

I installed avast 1 week ago and the old settings UI was still there

 

[bayasdev]

Kaspersky did that too in their free version, before the name change to security cloud.

But that was a a step forward change unlike Avast who's going backwards

 

[DSD27]

I installed avast 1 week ago and the old settings UI was still there

They've removed it like few days ago.

But that was a a step forward change unlike Avast who's going backwards

If it was a step forward, then why did they re-enabled the settings for Security Cloud Free?

 

[bayasdev]

If it was a step forward, then why did they re-enabled the settings for Security Cloud Free?

You didn't got my point, Kaspersky did a step forward allowing free users to control the AV settings.

 

[DSD27]

You didn't got my point, Kaspersky did a step forward allowing free users to control the AV settings.

Ah ok... my point is that they used to have them disabled.
Avast actually has tons of settings, the new UI has a lot of stuff and the geek:area tons more.

 

[Ink]

I don't think you need it, Avast recommends Hardened Mode for Novice users only.

Tha'ts harsh. I would say not really, most people don't even know about it. Also Avast didn't do anything that others don't' do. It had just as big of an impact as Kaspersky spying for Russia, maybe not as muc tbh.

Spoiler: Slightly relevant to topic with off-topic hidden

Depends if you mean don't know, or don't want to know.

Look up Antivirus scandal on Google. They are the first results. Avast were caught red-handed and the CEO Vlad immediately shutdown the service that sold their own customers' user data.

The Kaspersky allegedly spying case was different, because it involved the US Government and treated as a direct threat, just as Huawei and 5G.

Spoiler: This part is off-topic, and some speculation

From my point of view, those allegations against Kaspersky spying are mostly nonsense.

Before installing any Antivirus software on your personal computer, you have to Agree to the terms and conditions. User agreed. Kaspersky was installed.

So if, and when a file is flagged as suspicious, the Antivirus will want to upload it to their servers for further analysis - assuming that function is enabled by default or by the user - that is what happened. Whether the Antivirus software will notify the user prior to uploading the file, I do not know. Perhaps it's in the terms and condition that the user already agreed to, or the User was click-happy.

Off-topic speculation hidden by default.
It's evident that a threat to the US Gov. will result in conflict, bans and allegations towards their country of origin. Kaspersky (Russia), Huawei (China), Nuclear Arms (North Korea, Iran), COVID-19 (Wuhan, China).

 

[DSD27]

Good news.. I got an answer from Avast's forum product manager, Aggressive is now the default hardened mode, it's moderate that is gone.

 

[Bryan320]

my personal opinion..... who cares??? who would want to use avast after everything that has been reported recently? I would not trust avast if my life depended on it. If they are offered $1 to sell you're info they will give it up. Avast's reputation is already done for and will never be the same from here on out. Anyone remember I0bit in what they did to malwarebytes???? yup.... they were never the same again... Stealing and selling is the same thing...

 

[DSD27]

my personal opinion..... who cares??? who would want to use avast after everything that has been reported recently? I would not trust avast if my life depended on it. If they are offered $1 to sell you're info they will give it up. Avast's reputation is already done for and will never be the same from here on out. Anyone remember I0bit in what they did to malwarebytes???? yup.... they were never the same again...

Don't you get tired of preaching the same old story, just because you saw some other guy doing it online?
Then you will have to quit windows, fakebook and google's products, big spoiler alert: They all sell your data to advertisement.
Avast is still one of the most used AVs worldwide and the best free one due to its hardened mode, but if you don't want to use it you're entitled not to.
Go use the one who sends data to russian government and was even banned in USA.

 

[Chuck57]

Tens of millions of people used and still use AVAST, and millions of new people are getting it because they might not know how to turn on a computer without instruction, but they've heard of them. And most of these people know nothing about the AVAST scandal. I'm not one of them. I will probably never go back, and AVAST did well by me. Was never infected in the years I used it.

Same with Comodo, except I'm willing to give them a try if they finally have their software reasonably workable.