Avira and Ask toolbar

[Dustin]

The product is in the genre of anti virus and was posted in anti
virus related news groups where the subject matter is important and
apropos.

Shadow did no wrong and should not be chastised for cross posting to
pertinent, On Topic, news groups.

IAWTP


--
you know ill be the one who gets falling down drunk at my neighbor kids
soccer game. I got a 82 fiero with a car seat in the middle broken down
on the interstate. I got a beer-staind t-shirt looking like Joe Dirt
Something 'bout me just ain't right! I'm a cash stealing, drug dealing,
loser without any feeling getting trailer trash tonight.
Theory of a deadman - LowLife

 

[FromTheRafters]

IAWTP

Technically, does AntiVir Free version qualify as freeware? It seems to
me that it is ad supported software (adware). Of course that's no bar to
it being on-topic in the freeware group as I'm sure there are a lot of
"free, but for a price" freeware offerings out there. )

 

[Yuhler G]

http://www.calendarofupdates.com/up...calendar&do=showevent&cal_id=1&event_id=95954

There is no way I can get rid of the nag screen to install the
toolbar (appears at every boot), so I'll either have to do some more
registry hacking or go to Avast .... uggh
I have the ask domain blocked in my firewall. Apparently you
cannot opt-out of the install, you have to let ask.com install the
toolbar, gather your personal data etc before you have an option to
uninstall the bloody thing.
[]'s

I dont understand, are you getting this on the standard avira free av install? Or is it
one of their extras?

The standard fee license expires in September. If you download the software update you
are extended to November 2012 with a catch. From the System Tray Avira pop-ups a
notification of a search bar install as a new feature. That installs Ask Toolbar and to
use the Webguard feature of Avira you have to enable Ask Toolbar.

I just closed the System Tray Avira pop-up notification and it did not install and on my
WinXP pro desktop I denied the execution of "ApnStub.exe" and "ApnToolbarInstaller.exe"
via SECPOL.MSC.

On my Vista Business notebook it required a reboot. I closed the System Tray Avira pop-up
notification and it did not install as well as I denied the execution of "ApnStub.exe" and
"ApnToolbarInstaller.exe" via SECPOL.MSC. Vista shows there is a Webguard that is
disabled because Ask Toolbar isn't installed and I went into the configuration and
specifically unchecked the box to load Webguard.

All this is PITA and Avira will feel the backlash when thye lose customers.

My POC at Avira could only state "Alas, I am not allowed to comment on this."

I use Diamond CS Process Guard (v2.0 and v3.5, both free) and it spots three
new executables after a normal AntiVir on-line update: avhlp.exe which calls
ApnStub.exe. I granted execution of avhlp.exe but had ApnStub.exe blocked.
ApnToolbarInstaller.exe was not executed (probably because of blocked
ApnStub.exe). After that, the only drawback is the "closed umbrella icon" due
to nonoperational WebGuard.

I heard Ask.com was closing its business but looks like they will annoy us a
bit longer. Alas, the joint-venture they made with Avira may finally throw me
on Avast's arms.

--
Best,
Yuhler G.

Reply-To: partially ROT13, invalid=com
Due to spam I'm filtering-out GoogleGroups. Sorry.

 

[G. Morgan]

Technically, does AntiVir Free version qualify as freeware? It seems to
me that it is ad supported software (adware). Of course that's no bar to
it being on-topic in the freeware group as I'm sure there are a lot of
"free, but for a price" freeware offerings out there. )

It only advertises itself though, I can deal with that.

When I can't <grin>, I have a little .reg file to make a local path
policy that disallows"avnotify.exe" to execute.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

Avira is basically payware. Sad to see its free version to become adware.

It's always been adware.

No. It's not a few years ago.

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silence.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.1
^ ^ 16:36:01 up 18 days 45 min 1 user load average: 1.01 1.06 1.05
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[Man-wai Chang]

I have the ask domain blocked in my firewall. Apparently you

cannot opt-out of the install, you have to let ask.com install the
toolbar, gather your personal data etc before you have an option to
uninstall the bloody thing.

Installing the executable from http://www.free-av.com, no Ask Toolbar is
installed. How did you get your Avira Antivir Free?

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silence.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.1
^ ^ 20:50:01 up 18 days 4:59 1 user load average: 1.00 1.02 1.17
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[David H. Lipman]

Installing the executable from http://www.free-av.com, no Ask Toolbar is installed. How
did you get your Avira Antivir Free?

--

Now update the program.

Update --> start product update

 

[Shadow]

http://www.calendarofupdates.com/up...calendar&do=showevent&cal_id=1&event_id=95954

There is no way I can get rid of the nag screen to install the
toolbar (appears at every boot), so I'll either have to do some more
registry hacking or go to Avast .... uggh
I have the ask domain blocked in my firewall. Apparently you
cannot opt-out of the install, you have to let ask.com install the
toolbar, gather your personal data etc before you have an option to
uninstall the bloody thing.
[]'s

The irony of it:
http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&postID=986984
(Read before they delete the post in their forum)
///
marfabilis Moderator
Date of registration:
May 14th 2010


Monday, August 2nd 2010, 4:19pm

It would also be advisable to uninstall:

Ask Toolbar - Ask.com Toolbar, bundled with many third party
applications
fxp Toolbar - a Conduit/EffectiveBrand "Free Community" toolbar -
modifies the default IE SearchHook. Some Conduit toolbars are reputed
to have a certain adware/trackware functionality.
///

I've gone to Avast, but if Avira cleans up the mess, I might
switch back. A simple "do not install" option, together with the
current "install now" and "install later" would do the trick.
IMHO
[OT] Yrrah, get that hemorrhoid ointment, quick, or take a
laxative or something !!
[]'s

 

[Man-wai Chang]

Now update the program.

Update --> start product update

Product update???

I always removed the old one and installed the new one from scratch....

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silence.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.1
^ ^ 22:35:01 up 18 days 6:44 1 user load average: 1.05 1.03 1.05
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[gaz]

Installing the executable from http://www.free-av.com, no Ask Toolbar
is installed. How did you get your Avira Antivir Free?

Do an update, following a reboot you will be asked if you want to install
the toolbar. They might be rolling it across different regions. I have not
seen any adverts for uniblue, just some european download site.

 

[FromTheRafters]

It only advertises itself though, I can deal with that.

So can I.

When I can't<grin>, I have a little .reg file to make a local path
policy that disallows"avnotify.exe" to execute.

Yeah, I've got that too, but I haven't used it yet. I figure
a little advertisement is only fair especially since I knew
about it going in.

Sometimes, it's even entertaining.

(detects rotkits lol)

 

[Man-wai Chang]

Do an update, following a reboot you will be asked if you want to install

the toolbar. They might be rolling it across different regions. I have not
seen any adverts for uniblue, just some european download site.

Thanks. The solution is simple: don't do a full product update, but
download and clean-install.

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silence.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.1
^ ^ 15:17:01 up 18 days 23:26 1 user load average: 1.00 1.04 1.05
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[Bear Bottoms]

No. It's not a few years ago.

It makes no difference because adware does not require payment so it is also
freeware.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

It's always been adware.

It makes no difference because adware does not require payment so it is also
freeware.

But the freeware got income from those ads.

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silence.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.2
^ ^ 17:22:01 up 1:45 0 users load average: 1.06 1.04 1.05
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[Bear Bottoms]

But the freeware got income from those ads.

You wouldn't have an economy without income.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

I went ahead and hit OK to install the update/toolbar on the tray popup.

Which prompted Avira to give me a repair or remove option. So I hit
repair and there was an option on whether or not to install the toolbar.

I elected not to, and now Avira is fine.

Thanks!

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silent.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.2
^ ^ 19:12:01 up 3:35 0 users load average: 1.03 1.18 1.14
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[Dennis]

Something strange is going on. Yesterday I allowed Avira to upgrade
itself to SP2. After rebooting, I started Avira and noticed a new option
on the main window which said "Online Protection". Since I didn't want
the Ask.com toolbar I disabled it and followed Dave's instructions on
disabling the nag pop-ups. At this time I noticed that the Avira
notification icon was "closed" and thought to myself that I would have
to live with this because I opted out of WebGuard.

Just now I glanced down at the Avira notification icon noticed and it
was "open". Curious, I started the Avira GUI and main window no longer
has that "Online Protection" option. The version is 10.2.0.696 dated
yesterday.

What happened? I'm confused!

 

[Dennis]

Something strange is going on. Yesterday I allowed Avira to upgrade
itself to SP2. After rebooting, I started Avira and noticed a new option
on the main window which said "Online Protection". Since I didn't want
the Ask.com toolbar I disabled it and followed Dave's instructions on
disabling the nag pop-ups. At this time I noticed that the Avira
notification icon was "closed" and thought to myself that I would have
to live with this because I opted out of WebGuard.

Just now I glanced down at the Avira notification icon noticed and it
was "open". Curious, I started the Avira GUI and main window no longer
has that "Online Protection" option. The version is 10.2.0.696 dated
yesterday.

What happened? I'm confused!

Never mind.

Just checked their facebook page and found this...

"Avira: Yes, if you did not install the WebGuard and Toolbar yesterday,
but update fix corrected this. The WebGuard was never installed but
accidentally shown as installed which led to the closed umbrella. If you
want to install WebGuard, please see here:
http://www.avira.com/en/support-for-free-faq-detail?faqid=862"

So it appears things are working properly now.

 

[RayLopez99]

        I've gone to Avast, but if Avira cleans up the mess, I might
switch back. A simple "do not install" option, together with the
current "install now" and "install later" would do the trick.
        IMHO
        [OT] Yrrah, get that hemorrhoid ointment, quick, or take a
laxative or something !!
        []'s

Avira clean install did not give me a nag screen for Windows 7, if
Avira is the one with the red umbrella (PC not in front of me now).

But I did recommend Avast to somebody recently, never having used it,
and other than perhaps a slightly smaller detection rate than Avira,
am curious if there's anything wrong with it. Seems Avast is OK from
the reviews I've read.

RL

 

[Man-wai Chang]

The irony of it:

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&postID=986984

It's talking about the Premium version.

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silent.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.2
^ ^ 00:33:01 up 5 days 8:56 0 users load average: 1.01 1.03 1.05
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa