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General discussion

Avast junk cleaner

by Kees_B Forum moderator Apr 3, 2014 6:04AM PDT

Since a few days Avast free antivirus pops up once a day or so telling me I have it's willing to speed up my PC, because I have 4 bloatware programs that slow the booting process, the registry can be changed on 11 places to speed up the system, and it can clean 443 MB of disc space, so it needs optimising.

Since I did a clean install a month ago (Windows 7 retail version + only the programs I wanted) I was interested in what it considered bloatware. So I clicked OK and OK and OK and then was told I had to upgrade from the free version to the paid version to enjoy the junk cleaning functionality.

I don't mind the occasional reminder it gives since half a year or so about necessary updates (although I doubt if updating irfanview will really make my system safer), because it makes some sense for security patches and lets me manually exclude programs from the alert and lets me decide if and when to update the programs it lists.
So that's OK to me. But how to disable this irritating junk cleaning offer, that has nothing to do with protection?

Kees

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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I keep
by itsdigger Apr 3, 2014 6:08AM PDT

my free Avast set to the Silent/Gaming mode and have never had any of those popups. The only time I did was once when it warned me I was downloading something suspicious so I stopped the download.

Digger

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Avast
by Bob__B Apr 3, 2014 10:23AM PDT

Not sure what happened but there was a post by Carol....the "m" that post depressing stuff and bums out members.
Now it seems to be gone??

I'll guess this is coming from one of those Avast features.
You make your own call if you want that stuff.
I stripped Avast down to just the AV portion.....works fine.

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Avast is starting to bloat
by Willy Apr 3, 2014 2:00PM PDT

More and more Avast is pushing the added protection/features to enhance itself. That means more and more and basically becoming a suite. If you have the free version then the added pop-ups will start now and then if only to post whatever is available or enhance your Avast experience. I, for one decline and usually that stops its until the next "news window" offers some other feature, etc., until you close and that's it. If you don't pay attention to uncheck [X] the boxes then you for one get a limited trial period then a nag to buy it or improve and/or continued posting to inform you of yet more features. Settle for the basics from Avast is just that, basic and thus will always present the added features for a more improved protection. That of course is up to the user to decide, but for many isn't required.

tada -----Willy Happy

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Carol's answer.
by Kees_B Forum moderator Apr 3, 2014 5:58PM PDT

Carol even posted twice, and she deleted both later. This is the essence of her fine answers. Thanks, Carol.

- That feature is called Grimefighter. It's discussed at several posts in the Avast forum.
- It's possible to opt for not installing it, if you choose custom install in stead of default install when installing Avast.
- In the latest version (2014.0.9.2016) of Avast Tools>Settings from the main screen has an option to disable Grimefighter (like it has an option to configure Software-updater)

Since I had only version 2014.0.9.2013 (installed Februari 17, the latest then) I updated to .2016 and found that setting. All is fine now.
Let me note also that the update install did NOT have the possibility to choose custom install. It just updated what I had. But it was very nice to see that finally it has a checkbox to install or not install Google Chrome. Up till now that installed automatically.

Kees

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Dropbox added
by Willy Apr 4, 2014 3:44AM PDT

One new feature or offer is Dropbox. I don't use cloud anything for now, maybe it could be a nice feature, but it shows what Avast is offering. Yes, you can uncheck it via the [X] box.

tada -----Willy Happy

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Thanks for this.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 4, 2014 3:46AM PDT

I was wondering but not so much to go install Avast to find out.

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Thanks, Kees...
by Carol~ Apr 4, 2014 4:11AM PDT

I'll spare all a long-winded explanation, as to why they disappeared.

Carol

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