AVG Secure Search Security Toolbar

Worth reading. I never liked this kind of toolbar anyway.

http://dottech.org/101609/avg-secure-search-toolbar-is-malware/

 

I never got the point of sticking idiotic toolbars on security software. It's like bundling lockpicking kit with a house alarm (with the kit attached to the outdoor unit)...

What i also hate is the fact that they bundle toolbars by pretending that it's actually a security feature. But in fact it's just a plain casual dumb toolbar with a fancy name. Nothing else.

 

I had trouble with this toolbar last year. I had installed a driver updating program and noticed one of the default installation options was this toolbar – needless to say, I unchecked this option and went ahead with the installation of the program.

When I next opened Firefox however, there was this new Home page with the AVG Secure Search Security Toolbar installed! I thought what the hell? Where did this come from? Not only that – but this 'new' search tool did not even work! I could not access the net using this so called tool!

Anyway, the guy in the link was right – getting rid of this crap was difficult. Despite using Revo Uninstaller – I still had to manually search through Registry to completely remove all traces of the Toolbar.

 

Sometimes installers have 3 settings...

Radio buttons or checkboxes to select what do you want to install of toolbar and Decline and Next > buttons below.
Sometimes (very rarely), even if you select not to install it via checkboxes or radio buttons and not click Decline, it will still install it. It's lame and stupid but i've seen it. Or it was just crappy written installer that ignored any user input.

 

AdwCleaner 2.115
AdwCleaner

Junkware Removal Tool

 

Just as a follow up – after I finished testing the driver update programs ( I was actually testing to see their reliability) I uninstalled the lot. About 3 months later I installed the same program that had given me the unwanted AVG Secure Search Security Toolbar before – and yep! It did the same again! Despite me carefully unchecking the option – it again installed the Toolbar!
(this time I had no problems getting rid of the Toolbar!)

 

Making money off customers and tricking them into thinking its a good thing. Everyone's doing it now.

 

I'm not sure if it's a "good thing". Maybe you meant a "smart thing" from their part, instead?

Tricking users into installing applications that won't keep them and their systems safer, and only adds more buggy/exploitable code, is far from being a "good thing", IMHO.

Something I dislike in AVG's approach is that Internet Explorer users cannot use AVG Do-Not-Track component without installing this toolbar crap. Firefox and Chrome users can install the extensions available at Mozilla addons and Chrome Web Store pages. Why forcing users into making IE more vulnerable by injecting more buggy/exploitable code, that won't even protect them, at all? What sense does this make?

 

I just finished reading the article. I wonder if their security programs are this effective protecting themselves against termination?

 

I said it was good for them, to make those dolla dolla bills. Not good for the user, but why not bundle it, charge a user $60 and then make money off them again with search revenue toolbar.

 

Slightly off topic but related. I am currently using Avira free and hate the toolbars. I found a way to get the web protection without adding these toolbars.

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/disable-avira-searchfree-ask-com-toolbar-popup-nag-alert/

 

I see.