Avira Software Has Gone To The Dark Side

Anything will be better than this one I guess. And Mr P is very nice I think .

 

I had...x64 windows.
Avast 6 had a problems with version 6.0.1000 but for 2 monts everythin is done.
Avira still 1 year.

 

Yes I think so as well.

Yea they are really putting the great reputation at risk here. And one can really wonder if this is the CEO's decision or not, I hope not.

 

To quote Mike Nash when they thought about including the Ask toolbar with Online Armor:

Users place a lot of trust in security vendors. They are trusted to do the right thing. Do not abuse that trust.

 

Personally i haven't liked avira since version 6.That said what is so bad about this ask toolbar?.Isn't it just another search engine like google? and it also collects anonymous info like google too?In their faq they state that they are not spy or adware...so what is the truth?
http://about.ask.com/apn/toolbar/docs/default/faq/en/ie/index.html#na1
Ive installed lots of stuff that has an optional ask toolbar installation and personally at present cant see what the problem is,unless there's something about ask that i haven't heard about.As for uniblue i would agree that it would be most unwelcome to receive ads of the uniblue type in a security product.
ellison

 

@Ellison

The Calendar of Update page has some information about it: http://www.calendarofupdates.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=16253&st=0

 

First off, but NOT last.

Re - ASK toolbar

I don't wany ANY toolbar, but it's not going to wreck your comp, & it's NOT malware for gawds sake. Plus it's optional = no big deal = so don't install it then.

Re - Registry Booster & Uniblue "products"

From what i've read, it "appears" that their actual main modus operandi is marketing = making $ rather than providing top quality/reliable etc software. If Avira used to classify them as PUP's etc, & now is taking $ for promoting them, then that's not good at all. But once again, it's NOT malware they are suggesting anyone installs.

My guess is Avira could do with some more $, and we don't know who approached who first, but either way, Avira accepting $ from people like Uniblue shows signs of desperation to me. Avira have an Excellent product, which has consistantly does well in many AV tests over the years, so if i was them i'd stop providing it for free, and/or increase the purchase price. Let's face it, the $ it costs for what you get for 365 days is miniscule. I would also kick **ss in their sales etc team, & get VERY busy prominently promoting it in one or more KEY countries.

It would be a great loss if Avira's reputation & AV was severly harmed, long term over this incident. I hope if it's not too late, due to signed contracts etc, they will reconsider, at least the Uniblue agreement. If it is too late, then there's not a lot that can be done, until it expires. Lessons learned the hard way, i suppose !

 

Hi..
Ive read that ibrad ,but i dont see anything there other than the toolbar being called questionable?.I dont like any toolbars ,yahoo,google or ask.But i dont see any difference between either of them.Dont they all behave the same way and collect anonymous stats?.I can see the deal with uniblue causing a few ruffled feathers but i dont see what the problem with the toolbar is ....IF ..its optional.
ellison

 

First "Update problems" with Avira Free to push the people to bay licences ,and now Ask Toolbar.
Goodbay Avira Free,hello Avast Free or MSE or Panda or Comodo....

 

"what is so bad about the ASK toolbar?" Check out the various research done.

e.g. : http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/ask-toolbars/

http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/ask-toolbars/name.html

This is an appaling, retrograde business decision by Avira. It's coming straight off my 2nd laptop.

 

Avira has proven trough the years to be one of the top AV´s around (many times the best, according av-comparatives tests) , and also with a excellent pricing. Thats why, IMO, they shouldn't offer their product for free, but yes invest more in marketing (other well known Av´s aren´t as good as Avira and yet they sale many more – Mcafee, BitDefender, Norton during many years, just to name few).

Maybe they i´ll do better if they simply drop the free version, instead of partner with Ask or Uniblue. I believe that many free users would buy the full version if that happens, because of the great quality of the product and because of the low price. This way, instead, they loose some credibility.

Is sad to see a serious company that served users with one of the best AV´s for free during so many years, be obliged to sell crapware in order to assure some income

This makes me think: with the economic crisis, how will be the present/future of free Av´s? They must support a lot of costs due to the very large number of users. Take Avast, for instance. How many people, among their millions of users, really buy the full version? How many people they have to employ to support the free version and assure the competitiveness and the development of the product? How do they get the money for it and for their profits? Strange things may start happen... That´s one of the reasons I changed to MSE.

Sorry my poor English

 

Thanks for the link Dermot7.I notice that the information there was last updated 5 years ago,and the concerns seemed relevant then.I am not convinced that ask today is any different from any other vendor that wants you to install their toolbar,and my point is that (as far as i can tell) all these toolbars like ask ,yahoo,google etc all behave the same way and have the same function.As long as they don't install by stealth but by option and have an uninstaller ,i don't see what the big deal is.To me its the same as avast optionally bundling chrome with its free version.As long as the choice is there ,its no problem ...for me at least
ellison

 

All I see here is a lot of cry-babies.

How do you expect a software developer to keep running business giving away software for free and not bundle it with some sort of think like this.

You don't like tool-bars, then do not use it. Period

There is a lot “free” of software out there that is bundled with these kind of things. CCleaner for example, et al. You have the option of not installing the tool-bar or installing the tool-bar free installer. It's your choice to use it or not.

Software developers are just human beings like you and me and they need to provide food to their families. If Avira PAID is not doing well with sales and they offer Avira “FREE” and, to survive partnership with Ask , I don't see nothing evil on it.

As I said before, you do not like tool-bars, then look somewhere else instead.

I have yet to see so called free software that doesn't include a FINE PRINT on it.


Regards,


Carlos

 

I guess you missed the post where they are pushing Uniblue on their paid customers. There is a long thread on Avira's forum about it but as of yet no official response from Avira.

Edit:
I see they have replied but only that they are looking into it.

 

hi, as i said in the avira beta thread, i also do not like this, but it would be better to give negative feedback to avira direktly.
there is mail adress for the beta program.
or the avira forum.

 

I might. I'm not saying the contrary.

But, the thing is people complain about EVERYTHING. If I paid for something, I would expect excellent quality and a very good product. However, when somebody gives me something for FREE, I try to not complain too much because, bottom line, it's FREE. It did not cost me a DIME...

The other day somebody started a thread about AVAST! FREE using FLASH PLAYER to render some statistics on its welcome screen and saying that this made that AV insecure. Even VKL had to jump in the thread to clarify that the next version won't have Flash.

Again, people complain about everything, even if it's FREE.


Regards,

Carlos

 

Computer security is a big deal though. I don't think it is unreasonable to complain if a security company is engaged in shady activity.

 

Finally, a post with some common sense after a few pages of "OMG ASK TOOLBAR".... The free business model can't sustain itself indefinitely. Avira is not a charity, nor is it in the business of making security software because they are such good sports...they are a business, and a business needs to make money in order to be able to stay competitive and create new technology. Without money, there will be no Avira....and a quick and easy way for them to make money is to partner up with another software company and offer to bundle their software or advertise their services to them.
With regards to premium users being sent marketing regarding another product, they have obviously signed up to Avira marketing emails.....simple remedy will be to unsubscribe from marketing emails and you shall be bothered no more (in theory).

Simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of their userbase won't really care about the toolbar and just be happy that they are getting a good security product for free (subsidized by the toolbar). Frankly, the only people kicking up a fuss are the security geeks/those supposedly in the know who frequent forums such as this one, and those that expect free products to somehow magically pay the wages of the virus analysts and developers that create security software. If you don't agree with Avira making the decision to use the toolbar as a company, you can uninstall the product and look elsewhere.

What I cannot understand about certain internet security communities (and the professionals which work within them) is the witch-hunt that they kick up every time a company includes a toolbar with their product. They are entitled to include a toolbar as much as you are entitled to choose a different piece of software...and every time the same arguments are thrown around...notably Mr. Edelman's research (dated October 21, 2006) which seems to cast doubt on the behaviour of certain toolbars. Fair enough, but surely something must have changed since October 2006 and people shouldn't rely solely on what has happened in the past? I haven't been able to find any current evidence of the "bad behaviour" of ASK toolbar from any of these community experts.

This announcement doesn't affect me in any way as I do not use Avira products, but I thought the point regarding toolbars was worth exploring.

 

IF avira is having financial problems, we might see a take over in the near future.

 

That would be interesting depending on who the buyer was.

 

Hitman PRO also offer Registry Booster after the scan is finished. nothing new but it will help Avast for get more users.

 

I highly doubt Avira is nearing bankruptcy or any form of financial problems. The inclusion of partners/toolbars is simply a method of gaining more funds to develop your products more and expand their online services and whatnot... someone complained how "stale" the development is in Avira, well maybe this income of funds can help them gain more momentum in that regard, yes?
As for whether there could've been better partnering choices, probably yes...

 

Yes every company needs a way to make money off a free product. I honestly don't care about most products toolbars. In fact every once in a while if I really l like a product I will install the toolbar with it to support the free product.

However I honestly don't like that it is the Ask Toolbar. Mainly because the owners of Ask is IAC. I have had some problems with IAC sites such as their game site. I know people who went there, attempted to play one of the games, told they can't play till they install the toolbar, they install the toolbar and in the end the games don't load. I just honestly don't like that is how they push the toolbar.

 

I don't think Hitman Pro ever detected it as a threat though. Avira in the past detected Ask as a threat.

 

That is for push the people to buy licence
Marketing trick
If you like Avira but you don't like Ask Toolbar buy Avira Premium for 20 euros....theres no toolbar.
....p.s. Like the blocking update before for avira free.
Avira make to much marketing tricks