Source: Avast Free Antivirus review: Capable but annoying
"The catch with Avast has always been the relentless upsell. Happily, the annoying adverts that used to pop up every time the software updated itself are now gone. Indeed, the whole interface is much more straightforward than it used to be about what's actually included in the free suite, with premium features shown with a little orange padlock next to their icons. The fact that this applies to fully 50% of the icons in the interface feels a little pointed, though.
We were also irritated to find that when you launch a scan, the software now doesn't just hunt for malware, but also reports back on dubious "performance issues" -- and invites you to shell out £20 a year for Avast's commercial clean-up software in order to remedy them. You can disable this behaviour from the settings page, but making it default in the first place is pretty obnoxious."
For those using the latest version of Avast Free Antivirus, what are your thoughts on their upsell tactics?
"The catch with Avast has always been the relentless upsell. Happily, the annoying adverts that used to pop up every time the software updated itself are now gone. Indeed, the whole interface is much more straightforward than it used to be about what's actually included in the free suite, with premium features shown with a little orange padlock next to their icons. The fact that this applies to fully 50% of the icons in the interface feels a little pointed, though.
We were also irritated to find that when you launch a scan, the software now doesn't just hunt for malware, but also reports back on dubious "performance issues" -- and invites you to shell out £20 a year for Avast's commercial clean-up software in order to remedy them. You can disable this behaviour from the settings page, but making it default in the first place is pretty obnoxious."
For those using the latest version of Avast Free Antivirus, what are your thoughts on their upsell tactics?
