Free Avast

Oldbiggles

When Microsoft said they were no longer updating XP and also Microsoft security essentials, I took “Closer’s” advice and switched to ‘Free Avast’ but after several months I keep getting a popup from Avast telling me that there are things on my computer that are slowing it down and they will only fix it if I pay a monthly fee. Has anyone else experienced this with Free Avast?

MoneyMate

Yes happened to me too, I waited till special offer :money: was on and purchased the package from avast! for £15 per year, it did help, but it's not the end of the world if your computer runs a bit slower. :beer:

I'm running on Vista Home premium.

dogmaryxx

Check that you do not have Grime Fighter installed on Avast.

http://techdows.com/2013/12/uninstall-avast-grimefighter.html

Oldbiggles

MoneyMate wrote: »

Yes happened to me too, I waited till special offer :money: was on and purchased the package from avast! for £15 per year, it did help, but it's not the end of the world if your computer runs a bit slower. :beer:

I'm running on Vista Home premium.

They say my PC has 25 nasties. Did they tell you what your nasties were? The strange thing is that the PC doesn't seem to be running slower than its always done. (Its over 10 years old)

Oldbiggles

dogmaryxx wrote: »

Check that you do not have Grime Fighter installed on Avast.

http://techdows.com/2013/12/uninstall-avast-grimefighter.html

Right. Done that, thanks. I didn't know it was possible to change the way Avast works.

Like I've always said. this site is great for helping out us computer illiterates.

Thanks again.

MoneyMate

Oldbiggles wrote: »

They say my PC has 25 nasties. Did they tell you what your nasties were? The strange thing is that the PC doesn't seem to be running slower than its always done. (Its over 10 years old)

Hi can't remember but 25 ish sounds about right, I think it has made a difference I held on until special offers were advertised, and made sure it was not Auto Renewed in 12 months time. :beer:

Just for piece of mind it must do some good, i've been impressed by Free :money: and paid from Avast! :beer:

Geep

For many people (if not most) some of these programs offering to fix "nasties" can do more harm than good.The process can interefere with links necessary for the sweet running of your system. Whilst Avast is probably less likely than some to cause issues, nevertheless be aware in principle of trying to fix problems that are relatively insignificant. Probably CCleaner is the best for eradicating stuff that is not wanted, but even there don't allow it to be too aggressive.
Do I take it you are still running XP? If so, you no doubt know it is now less secure and will become much more so over the next few months, and should really be replaced. Nevertheless, if you want to, there really are things that can be done to XP to speed things up in a safe way.

GunJack

when downloading the free (NOT trial) version of avast, choose Custom installation, untick the additional google or dropbox bits, and on the avast select modules page of the installer, untick all the optional modules (middle column).

In some cases it may be easier to download the installer again, uninstall the existing version and then re-install following the above advice......

esuhl

I assume that Avast's Grime Fighter is just looking to clear up temporary files and registry stubs from removed programs.

I'd be surprised if it did anything more than (the free) CCleaner.

MoneyMate wrote: »

Just for piece of mind it must do some good...

It definitely makes Avast profit... whether it does much else that's useful, I'm not sure!

Geep

It definitely makes Avast profit... whether it does much else that's useful, I'm not sure![/QUOTE]

And neither are a few others, at least according to the Avast forum, wherein some criticism:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=143373.0

Geep

esuhl wrote: »

It definitely makes Avast profit... whether it does much else that's useful, I'm not sure!

And neither are a few others, at least according to the Avast forum, wherein some criticism:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=143373.0