Mod: Pls. put this thread in appropriate sub-forum, if suitable. Thanks. Today I was surprised to see Avast SafeZone Browser installed on my Win 7 PC. It appears the browser from Avast is for paid subscriptions and contains anti-keylogging technology for safe online transactions. I did install free version of Avast Antivirus. I am going to un-install it, partly because I don't need it and partly because it was automatically installed along with daily updates, without prior permission. Does anyone have any experience with it? Thanks!
SafeZone browser is now available for all Avast users https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=184616.0
I've been looking at the Avast! forums and the brown stuff has really hit the air conditioning unit there! I did a minimal custom install when I originally downloaded Avast! Free. So it appears I haven't got SafeZone yet. I'm probably OK. I do believe it has been offered with the paid for version for some time though.
Surprise install happened here too, though I let it happen out of curiosity. Yes, Chrome based. When it loads, for a few of seconds, the home tab shows, 'chrome://startpage' before changing to 'Shortcuts'.
Hi everyone, It is my pleasure to inform you that SafeZone Browser is now available for all Avast users. It has been one of the key features of the premium (paid) versions of Avast for many years, and we've now made it available to our free users as well.
That is good news and a reason to update avast version if it is really true. I remember talking with my father in skype and he sharing his desktop to me. None seen about that safezone browser.
From what I've read, it's quite good in protecting against banking trojans. It always performs well in financial malware tests.
OK, I was a bit cocky before. I just took my computer out of sleep and I have a new browser icon ....
Avast did it again. Installed the Safezone browser, without asking, with the latest update (2260), even though I uninstalled it from 2253.
go to 'Control Panel' - 'Programs and Features' - select Avast - select 'Change' - select 'Modify' - untick the features you don't want
That is what I did with 2253 to remove Safezone two weeks ago. Note: For two years I've using only the Web and File shields I did play with the browser again, and I suppose that is Avast's intent (or not). Using System Explorer, 21 processes are shown. 10 are fully active and 11 are small (200-300 kb). Seeing 21 Safezone icons was quite disturbing at first. (This on a Windows XP Pro SP3 box) Will be removing it again and curious what Avast does with the next update. Cheers!
Update from Avast: "I really aplogize for this. It's a bug and we will release a fix soon. SafeZone browser shouldn't be installed during update if you have disabled it in past. Please uninstall it again and during next update it won't be installed again. Sorry for the trouble." (MartinZ) https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=185202.msg1305304#msg1305304
Seems that some sites don't really recognise it, or is that a stealth capability? And add-ons are detected ...
After uninstalling SafeZone I noticed that a scheduled task was left behind for updating SafeZone automatically. It points to a file that is no longer on the system after the uninstall it seems though. I disabled it anyway.
Hmmm ... I think I may have solved the mystery of why Avast! have suddenly made this browser available as a freebie. I don't recall seeing 'SAFEPRICE' being in the previous version. Luckily, it can be disabled.
It now comes with the free antivirus. You can install it separately. In some cases, the SafeZone browser installed itself without user intervention. I know, a browser should be free but people don't like nagware.
I'm pretty sure it was beta tested with the free version as well. Avast! called the recipients 'selected users'. Are you sure? I uninstalled it experimentally the first time and then discovered that I couldn't reinstall it again. I think you'll find it was all cases. I wouldn't say it was nagware exactly, more like surpriseware.
Not for me, why would I want a scheduled task running to try and update a component I already uninstalled.