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Free Version of Avast Reportedly Marketing User Data


Corrine

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Although Avast implemented new security measures after Google and Mozilla removed temporarily removed the extensions, apparently that is not the end of the story.  Numerous tech articles have been posted today reporting that the anonymized web history data can still be picked apart and then linked back to individual Avast users.

Some of the articles published today:

 

Bottom line:  If you use the free version of Avast, you may want to consider a different antivirus.  (PC Mag has a collection of free A/V's here:  The Best Free Antivirus Protection for 2020 | PCMag).  For a licensed A/V, ESET remains a favorite.

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V.T. Eric Layton
28 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

If you are not paying for it, you are the product.

 

Or you're stealing it. ;)

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via Bleeping Computer Avast Shuts Down Jumpshot After Getting Caught Selling User's Data:
 

Quote

Protecting people is Avast’s top priority and must be embedded in everything we do in our business and in our products. Anything to the contrary is unacceptable.

For these reasons, I – together with our board of directors – have decided to terminate the Jumpshot data collection and wind down Jumpshot’s operations, with immediate effect.

 

Avast blog post:  A Message From CEO Ondrej Vlcek | Avast

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If you absolutely can't afford to purchase security software, I'll agree that free is better than nothing, but if possible, I think it's much better to purchase a well-rated product (NOT Norton).

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The av included with Windows 8.1 and above is good.

Couple that with free Malwarebytes and your system should be okay provided you aren't click happy. Thankfully my husband is not click happy. It has been more than a decade, perhaps two since anything got on a computer.

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