Avast a/v caught selling user's private data
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Thread: Avast a/v caught selling user's private data

  1. #1
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    Avast a/v caught selling user's private data

    Avast, caught selling users’ private data, will shut down the division that’s selling the data
    https://www.askwoody.com/2020/avast-...ling-the-data/

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/avast-...vacy-concerns/

    Too late. I no longer trust them. When I first read about this a few days ago I uninstalled Avast for good. I'm now using Bitdefender free. It seems to work well and uses less resources than Avast does and has no annoying nag screens like Avast did as well.

    I tested Bitdefender with various online virus tests and it performed well, catching everything that it was supposed to.

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    photolady is offline Lifetime Friend of Site Staff
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    Thanks for the heads up. A friend was talking about using this for his Windows 7 machine. I'll warn him of this and send him the link to read about it. Plus the link to this warning so he can see Bitdefender works better.

  3. #3
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    One warning is enough. Thanks. AVAST has to go. It's a matter of trust.

    I have a process question, though. I've looked and am unable to find an uninstall portion of the program. Did I miss it? More to the point, what is the proper and safest way to uninstall AVAST?

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    Worth noting is I tried using the Avast Uninstall Utility in safe mode as they suggested and it hosed my MBR (Win7). Even Windows repair disk couldn't fix it. Fortunately I was able to fix/replace it with a recent image from Acronis True Image.

    The regular uninstall method from within Programs and Features worked just fine the second time. There were two or three small Avast folders left behind but they were easily manually deleted.

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    Nice. Thanks for the update, fink.

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    Thank you, sir. I'll try to get that done later today.

  8. #8
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    They probably have my data already, but I just removed it.

    Is this the one? It's not on the BD site, and they're calling it Bitdefender-online. I can't find it on the BD site.
    https://download.cnet.com/Bitdefende...-75902507.html
    Last edited by foxy; February 10th, 2020 at 08:19 PM.

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    Re: your comment about the Uninstall Utility, I just used Revo Uninstaller without problems...yet...

    Too bad M$ hasn't been brought down for doing the same thing.

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  10. #10
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    Is this the one?

    Yes, but I always prefer to download software from the original manuf website...

    https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

    Re: your comment about the Uninstall Utility
    I didn't use a third party uninstaller like Revo, I used the utility/.exe that Avast supplied.

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    I just bought Bitdefender because it was marked down from $39.99 to $19.99. I figured that was good price even though they have a free version. And it was a download from the manufacturer's website.

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    photolady's Avatar
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    I take it back. When I got an email confirmation that I had bought Bitdefender, I went back to their site and was going to close the page. It said I hadn't finished and needed to download the program, well, I had two downloads in my folder on FF but when I closed the site page those two downloads disappeared. Oh, and when I got to the page again before closing it, the page had the same information to buy it again.

    So, I think I'll just wait til I get Windows 10 on here.

  13. #13
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    "Yes, but I always prefer to download software from the original manuf website..."

    So do I, but it was well-hidden.

    "I didn't use a third party uninstaller like Revo, I used the utility/.exe that Avast supplied. "

    I don't trust them anymore to fully uninstall it. They're on my s%#*&^@! list now.

    I forwarded the news to my computer club.

    Win7 Ult/ 3.40 GHZ Intel Core i5-3570K /ASRock mobo Z77 Pro4 /SSD/ EUFI MS 3400 MHZ/8 GB RAM; Win 7 Ult/Verizon FIOS wired network
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