Avira Software Has Gone To The Dark Side

hahahahahahahahaha was funny.

 

security dilettantes --> "ethics, shmethics"

Hi Folks,

I'm glad that most Wilder's posters understand what is involved. What I find sadly amusing are the security dilettantes that say, in effect:

"Wow, I'm so savvy .. I can avoid any problems .. what do I care if some hundreds of folks have their systems hosed and crippled by this Avira endorsement .. it won't be my system ! What do I care if the scareware and scamware engine steals a few million $ for worthless and dangerous products from those poor Windows users who are not as savvy as me ! Some of that blood money will go to Avira, so I'm happy ! Ethics, shmethics. "

Shalom,
Steven Avery

 

Well he (Ibrad) wasn't joking, and personally a click of the mouse was all it took to dismiss the Ad. So no issue at least for me.

 

Good for you.

 

Saw this about Uniblue : "Uniblue complaints - SHADY COMPANY" : http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/uniblue-c458101.html

 

I'm thinking Avira is feeling the heat more these days because computer users won't be spending extra cash for security products because of the sour economy. Microsoft has a tool that detects that the machine doesn't have an antivirus installed so it prompts a user to install Microsoft Security Essentials under Windows Update. So why bother going to a download site or using a web search for an antivirus.

 

I agree, Chrome would be ok but I can't stand that Uniblue mega super registry power cleaner

 

Well I only care about keeping my PC infection free. With that said Avira's detection rates are still top of line IMO.

So, Avira stays.

 

... what he said +1.

 

I really don't like the Ask toolbar, and am wondering if Avira is hurting for money. If so, I could see this move but only as a last resort. I prefer to use companies with no ASK connection.

 

One Antivirus got to protect the computer(that is him job).
No Registry cleaner ,no toollbar AV is for protection.
Do not leave Avira to do this mistake.All together.

 

Shameful decision, indeed.

 

Avira should have chosen some other business partners. Both Uniblue and ask toolbar are not popular. Like avast, AVG and Bitdefender they could have licensed their technologies to other vendors for additional revenue as Avira anti virus engine is one of the best at present or like clearcloud they could have stopped offering Avira free completely rather than damaging their reputation. Ask is not preferred by users but preferred by companies like Symantec, Dyndns, Nero and now Avira

 

Waiting to see how bad it really is once the update is released to the general public. The ask tool bar is completely useless and I don't know anyone who uses it for anything. Uniblue is a pretty sub-standard software company, their entire range of software is garbage "We improve PCs" lol.

 

Is Symantec still using Ask in their last products (version 2010 and 2011) ?

 

For people who are somewhat experienced when it comes to security, blowing off the ask toolbar and the advertisement from Uniblue is no problem. But, what about all the noobs out there who see Microsoft Gold Partner and think there machine will get faster with this registry cleaner. Or, seeing the option of Web Scanner and thinking the Ask toolbar is related to it. I sense a whole lot of not good.

 

Couple of questions, as I normally would have had more time to read this thread and links.

• Is the Ask toolbar automatically selected by default when a new user is installing the product, or a user has to select it during the installation process?

• If companies such as Uniblue have had a poor performance/security etc in the past, installing these products as of today, will they cause users severe problems? Or is it more, minor problems, tracking, privacy etc?

• And lastly, offering the web guard in exchange, although it's viewed quite negatively for those with security knowledge:
  - isn't this offering users say about $10 value, a portion of the premium edition?
  - would the benefits of the webguard outweigh the negatives of these questionable products for novice users?

(I know the answer for us here, we wouldn't install those products)

But others have said it best, there are other options out there, yahoo toolbar, google toolbar. If these companies such as ask and uniblue have been labelled as malware, if Avira wishes to continue to use these companies as partners, Avira should demonstrate how these companies' products have changed and would no longer be classified as 'unwanted programs' etc.

 

Well this is what happens when enough people speak about it. This thread has been linked to in Softpedias article about it: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Avira-Criticized-for-Recommending-Controversial-Product-205954.shtml

 

Someone explain to me about "Microsoft Gold Certified Partner". What is it about? If they are Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, it should be good right?

 

At least it's good for us IT professionals. The more 'toolbars' and 'scareware' are spread the more PCs will crash!

If people are silly enough to not read and untick toolbars options then they deserve to be infected.

I don't agree with what Avira just did but I can't disagree that the freeware options need to give them money in some way.

 

Uniblue harm - Avira Webguard-Ask details - MS Gold Certified Partner

Hi Folks,

From what I understand, if a free user wants Webguard (a decent product) beyond the basic free, but less than the premium, the install of Webguard must be bundled with Ask-Avira and Ask must remain as a toolbar on the system, short of hacking, for Webguard to stay functional (this is an unusual type of arrangement that I have not heard of before).

There is no option to purchase Webguard instead of having Ask, and since Ask is paying probably about $1 for each install, a $5 or $10 Webguard option would alleviate a lot of the problem, as long as the situation was clearly described. One of the problems with Ask installs is that they often use little tricks to confuse the opt-in opt-out procedure, as happened with Comodo a while back. (Much like Registry Booster has many tricks to start the scan and "OK" is necessary to not scan, a deliberate mouse-click-trick.) Even an opt-in procedure can be worded and placed in such a way as to give a false impression. Another major problem is that Avira puts their name on the toolbar, making Avira officially a crapware supplier, rather than a 3rd-party marketeer.

The current lineup of current Uniblue products is capable of causing problems to the puter, beyond the problems of scareware, anxiety, false counts, and $$$ right and left.

Registry Booster is a low-quality registry cleaner, which means that it can easily hose important entries that can cause various types of crippling and damage. (We have many threads on the dangers of automatic registry cleaning even with better products.) Reports of this abound. SpeedupyourPC has concerns as well. Apparently Uniblue stopped distributing SpyEraser, which earlier caused a lot of problems too and was another member of the "Suite". DriverScanner is now in the current Suite, and similarly automatic driver "updates" can be very problematic, they can install the wrong piece and hurt systems. There are some good freeware and shareware products in that genre, especially for backing up (and then restoring if you have to do a Windows reinstall). All three products can cause difficulties, but RegistryBooster is probably 80%-90% of the real world doozy.

My own economic evaluation would be - Webguard plus $10 (if you are not already nicely layered with various other products) - Forced use of Ask-Avira toolbar - negative $25 and more. Remember, this is different than an accidental install of a toolbar from, say CCleaner (which I did once) where you can just turn around and do an uninstall.

However, there is no indication that these leopards have had stripe changes.

The Avira email says that Uniblue's Registry Booster is "The Ultimate Optimization Tool For Your PC". It comes from avira@news.avira.com. Chief Executive Officer: Tjark Auerbach - is referenced in the email as part of the Avira corporate reference at bottom. You can see the email, which apparently goes to both paid and free customers, at: http://news.avira.com/a/a.aspx?A08AWWnkHA35jxL_3s0stRxKOw2 . Avira may have an opt-out possibility for receiving these emails, but I am not going to deal with a security company who I can not trust to give me sound information. (The Registry Booster pop-ups are on the free Avira. Personally, I never minded those pop-ups, encouraging me to go Premium, until those ads showed up.)

=================

See post #130 about security dilettantes who are not concerned with ethics.

==================

This means that a couple or a few employees of the company passed some certification course or test and the company pays Microsoft probably a couple of hundred dollars, maybe more. I wrote to Microsoft about this and got a slippery nothing response. It has nothing to do with Microsoft approval of their products, and I consider this Microsoft sleaze. Does Microsoft have an ombudsman ? They need one.

On this one, I do not particularly blame Uniblue, they are simply gaming the system. There have been other cases where they have misrepresented reviews and such, where they lack ethics, their putting on MGCP is understandable, taking advantage of MS$ sleaze. It is surprising that more companies have not played that game.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

 

Why Uniblue is scareware/rogue:
http://www.mywot.com/en/forum/5306-uniblue-again

 

Steven, appreciate the quick and thorough reply. Thanks..

 

I feel that the act of Avira choosing these two particular companies to do business with is unconscionable. I would never voluntarily install the Ask Toolbar or the Uniblue Registry Booster under ANY circumstances. I would remove them as quickly as possible if I ever discovered them on ANY PC I worked on for maintenance. Unless someone endorses the business practices of these companies, or the use of these programs, I find it extremely difficult to understand how anyone could feel differently??

Sometimes we have to take a stand in what's right. This is one of those times. If we lose this one, what's next? If we can't trust our AV makers, who will we be able to trust? If the more enlightened members of the PC world at large put enough pressure on Avira, there may still be hope this lunacy can be stopped.

 

https://partner.microsoft.com/40011230