avast! 7.0 released!

Why would you say that? I'll post on this thread as long as I care to post on this thread. If you have a problem with that, please feel free to report my posts to the mods. Okay?

In fact, thanks for reminding me. I just read a thread on the Avast forum

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94957.0

in which someone posted about his concerns over the new EULA agreement (props to him for even having read the thing to begin with). No sooner had he posted his concerns than he was labeled a "troublemaker", and there was a "watched" label under his name. That's exactly the kind of thing that has completely turned me off from this product. For a company that purports to be protecting people's computers at the deepest levels, to be openly attacking its customers for posting the truth is simply unacceptable. And anyone who has a problem with talking about that is highly suspect, as far as I'm concerned.

What's your take on the new EULA, and Avast singling out/ostracizing a customer for having posted about it?

(Oh, and if you have any question as to how/why this is relevant to this thread, the v 7 EULA is distinctly different than the v 6 EULA, so since this is the thread about the new v 7 Avast, and you can't install v 7 without agreeing to the EULA, it's actually quite relevant.)

 

Is a software's EULA considered to be a legitimate discussion of the software as a whole?

 

Assuming you've read the EULA (partially), and perhaps sharing the concerns mentioned in the Avast thread linked, what's your position on the EULA?
F.i. do you agree that cloud-based software, routing data over servers across several continents, will have a EULA that warns that different privacy laws will apply?
Also, that using a program that checks (incoming) email for malicious content might find it useful when detecting threats, to collect IP's and email headers to pinpoint region-specific/content-specific malware threats.
(Just to name some of the mentioned 'privacy threats').

PS. The 'ostracizing check mark' for has gone for both posters 'PrivacyMatters' and 'Pindakaas'. They aren't singled out anymore while 'investigating deep in to the truth', as 'Pindakaas/Peanutbutter' calls it.

 

My take is that it opens up a can of worms that has potentially serious negative privacy consequences, and that that potential needs to be factored into any decision when it comes to choosing an A/V.

 

Sorry, I just meant that since Avast is no longer relevant to you there wouldn't be a reason for you to continue. No malice intended.

 

Fair enough.

The fact that I'm not using it doesn't mean that I have nothing to contribute to this thread. At the very least, I'll provide some much needed balance.

 

Maybe this might be a good tool for the future. EULAlyzer 2.1

 

Anyone care to be specific about what changes there are between the EULAS in Avast 6 and Avast 7?

Tks.

 

Did you read the link?

 

Just saw on download.com
Avast is the most downloaded product on their site, bypassing Avg.
I guess thats for the first time happened !!

 

skbaltimore,

OK, as the previous install of Avast 7 farkled my computer, I was reluctant to revisit it again, but bit the bullet and started the install, read the EULA and terminated it with Process Explorer (just to make sure) before it could install anything.

Have Eula 6 and 7 open in split screen and YES there is a mighty difference between the two.

No mention in 6 of sharing info in any way shape or form, however in the eula for Avast 7 I found this:

"Privacy; Processing of Personal Information
The Software automatically and from time to time may collect
certain information, which may include personally identifiable
information, from the computer on which it is installed, including:"

The including is a boilerplate of 9 codicils (no better word than this to describe multiple paragraphs of legalesse).

"The information collected by the Software is generally not correlated with any other personal information related to you that AVAST may be processing..."

The following sentence says "Unless you have permitted otherwise, the information collected by the Software is used anonymously in aggregation with similar information from other users of the Software for analytical purposes to identify new viruses and threats and for improvement and development of the Software and for statistical purposes."

I balk at the use of the words "generally not correlated with any other personal information" particularly in light of those codicils that say, in part just how much and varied kinds of info are sent back to Avast's servers.

URLS of visited websites
tracking cookies
Information and files that are "potentially infected"
Information about the sender and subject of emails "potentially infected"
Information about supposed spam emails
Copies of (your) files that are "potentially infected"
Certain info about your computer hardware, software, network connection

And the kicker is this one:

"If your version of the Software includes the Website reputation function, which provides information on reputation of web sites as potential sources of malware, and you set the Website reputation function to active, the Software may send AVAST the URLs of all websites you want to visit and the results of your web searches through search engines."

Avast goes on to say that you agree that Avast can share info with its various business partners and does not guarantee that those 3rd parties will keep your info private with this nice litte statement: "The collected information may be transferred to third parties or to other countries that may have less protective data protection laws than the country or region in which you are situated. "

Positively brillant legalese.

 

Avast is going Comodo like then?

 

Nord1, would that leave you in an antivirusless position (and willing) to install the first release of avast 6 in order to see what EULA it dumps in the application directory?

Edit: On second thought, forget I even asked. Wouldn't even WANT you try your luck with another first release.

 

I always update ALL my software as soon as update comes out. And i never had any specifically serious problems. Be it antivirus, drivers, Service Pack for OS, you name it. So generalizing that it always goes bad is just weak.

 

I thought I was implying that it is sometimes more risky

 

Since some users decided to make big fuss about privacy section in EULA i've decided to explain it a bit more in depth here:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=319578

I hope this will clarify why they have to mention certain things in EULA.

 

Please show me a single instance in which I've said that Avast caused problems for EVERYONE. If not, then stop misquoting me.

 

TheWindBringeth,

Not really sure what your point here is... I have the EULA for Avast 6, as I said in my previous post. And I am running Avast 6 now.

I'm no fan of first releases, that said I've done plenty over time. This one was particularly disagreeable. FWIW, no EULA pops up during the Avast 6.0.1367 install from CNET.

I've run all the incremental Avasts from 4.8 up to 6.0 with no problems. Light footprint overall and works well with other apps IMO.

Aside: IF I were to use Avast 7, I would not use DropMyRights if I ran the sandbox, although I have to say that in Avast 6, that was not an issue. Run everyday browsers with dropmyrights, but have others that run without it when admin rights absolutely required (like windows update).

XP PRO SP3, DropMyRights, OutPost Firewall 2009 Free, Avast 6.1367, MalwareBytesPro 1.60, WinPatrol 2011.

 

Because I looked at this too and:

1) I have an EULA in the Avast 6 directory that includes all the terms privacy terms people have been talking about. I think it was installed with avast 6 but, technically speaking, I suppose it could have been modified by a subsequent update/install (the software would have had to explicitly muck with the file dates though, which I'm inclined to doubt without proof). What avast 6 EULA are you looking at?

2) I have tried several avast 7 installers, aborting after the initial screen where you can click on the license agreement file. This is something which it sounded like you tried. None of those installers, when I clicked on the link, displayed an EULA with the privacy terms being talked about. I didn't go on to install and don't know what gets dropped into the app directory. I'm assuming it would install an EULA similar if not identical to the one at the avast website. It sounded as though you saw privacy terms in the EULA displayed by the avast 7 installer and that confuses me.

Just trying to clear up such things.

 

Considering how big deal you're making out of it there is no need to quote any specific words.

 

Ahh i see...probably best to post at the avast forums if you did anyway

 

REPEATING: Those of us who had a bad experience with Version 7 will bitch about it - those of us who didn't a have bad experience will defend it....that's life. No reason to take it personal either way! Let's let it go, folks. and move on to something more constructive.