Avast and AVG Browser Extensions Spying On Chrome and Firefox Users

Josey Wales · 04 Dec 2019

Avast has turned into Garbage, never used AVG. I am happy with Windows Defender and smart Web Use.

eLPuSHeR · 05 Dec 2019

Ditto. AVAST was quite good in the past. Now it's a mess as an AV.

jimbo45 · 05 Dec 2019

Hi folks

I think ALL these 3rd party A/V software programs aren't worth installing on Home computers any more --certainly not on the latest versions of W10 -- you don't even need the quite often recommended malwarebytes any more --certainly not the free version.

Windows defender (to be called windows protector) together with SAFE SURFING and the windows real time protection should be more than sufficient --corporates and those hosting websites domains etc need another level of protection entirely - a different issue to standard home computers.

I wonder these days if things like malwarebytes show up things anymore that WD plus the real time protection don't -- Ms is making huge inroads with cloud computing and azure services so security is absolutely paramount -- Ms security from being originally a total joke is quite robust these days even for enterprise use.

Cheers
jimbo

Hewjr100 · 05 Dec 2019

Avast has turned into Garbage, never used AVG. I am happy with Windows Defender and smart Web Use.

Same here. Windows Defender and not visiting sketchy web sites. This has been my policy since becoming an insider in 2015.

Gort

Andrew129260 · 06 Dec 2019

The problem with windows defender is everyone has it. It comes preinstalled with windows. So for malware and viruses to bypass it, all they need to check for is if windows defender catches it. It is the one they check for first now. If it doesn't, then any system that uses it as their main protection is vulnerable very easily. But then again, microsoft can patch it very quickly once it is out in the wild. (If they find out about it)

With 3rd party av's existing, it makes it slightly harder as there is more varied protection.

AVG hasn't been relevant in a decade, and now Avast and even malwarebytes are starting to become rather nasty, and I am starting to see not so good patterns behind them. Their protection scores are dipping, and they are starting to use more privacy invading behaviors.

Panda free av is the only one I still use and recommended alongside windows defender periodic scanning as they still dont do or add any crap. They do offer there toolbar but it does not need to be installed. Though I admit there toolbar might have the same problems as avast. I have not checked it.

TairikuOkami · 07 Dec 2019

Is Your Antivirus Tracking You? You'd Be Surprised At What It Sends

An old article, but still valid, mentioning Emsisoft as well. As fas as I know, Emsisoft is the only one from anti-malware extension, that sends URLs in an encrypted form, so people can not sniff on your browsing history.

Then again, if you want to use some features, you need to give up some privacy or you can disable them. Yandex browser nicely explains it in a guide. I wished more products would do it like that.

Sending data to the server by the browser - Browser. Help