Advice Request Is Avast becoming scareware?

[SHvFl]

I was just notified by Avast that I have a "privacy issue", since my IP address is visible.
Guess I should buy their VPN or something...

Can such ads be considered borderline scareware? What are your thoughts on this matter?

You should be scared when you use avast for many reasons that are not only related to malware.

 

[Bikeman0I17]

One of the Many Avast Popups that attempt to scare people I feel, of course I know it's really trying to sell there Secureline VPN, Dudes if I wanted it, I would've bought it a long time ago. I know they have to make money to keep providing the free edition, but where does the line draw--it's ridicoulous

 

[Ink]

Not scareware. Just marketing to prompt Free users to upgrade. Most Free AV do the same, where there is a paid tier available.

Block avastGUI.exe in firewall outgoing rule and all ads are gone.

Not everyone feels comforable with using Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, or it's not as easy for new Avast users.

Blocking AvastGUI.exe is bad for Avast users who want to upgrade. In 2016, an Avast Upsell Ad pop-up appeared which had a special offer, Spend £5 for 2 Years of Avast Premier. Deal.

 

[Threadripper]

One of the Many Avast Popups that attempt to scare people I feel, of course I know it's really trying to sell there Secureline VPN, Dudes if I wanted it, I would've bought it a long time ago. I know they have to make money to keep providing the free edition, but where does the line draw--it's ridicoulous

Imagine that popping up on a streamers screen, and all of the prank calls they'd get...

 

[Bikeman0I17]

Yeah that wouldn't be good for sure, thankfully i don't stream, but i'm sure other people do

 

[petersaints]

One of the reasons why I switched to Kaspersky Antivirus Free, and later to the Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, is that they seem to behave much better than Avast in terms of popups. It's basically as intrusive as using Windows Defender, whereas Avast can be a bit in your face from time to time.

 

[Trender]

Adware yes. I paid for Interne Security and STILL get every kind of ads of buy this, performance this, clean that...

 

[SumTingWong]

No avast for me.

 

[ικανότητα]

Avast Internet Security has a module for accessing saved passwords in web browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Look for browser_pass.dll and firefox_pass.dll in Avast's installation directory.

 

[Stedy]

It most certainly is scareware and it's not OK to be that aggressive. At least they'd put some explanation link under "RESOLVE" for people that would like to know what, why and how they'll be resolving!