Avira antivir adds ask toolbar and Scareware pop-up

[~BD~]

Avira AntiVir has long been a favorite provider of free antivirus
protection. The product has also received acclaims for the quality of
protection. Unfortunately, Avira has made several changes, resulting in
removing the product from the "recommended list".

Avira AntiVir had replaced the Avira Personal Free edition notifier. It
is no longer suggesting upgrading to Avira premium or the security
suite. Instead, the notifier is advertising Uniblue "Registry Booster".

Licensed users of Avira Premium are receiving e-mails advertising the
same Uniblue "Registry Booster" product.

The addition of a toolbar with the pre-checked option to include the
Ask Toolbar (AntiVir WebGuard) and change the default search provider to
Ask.

Although some people have referred to Uniblue's "Registry Booster"
product as a rogue, based on descriptions of how it works, the product
is better described as scareware. Scareware products are those that
provide scan results that imply there are serious issues with the
computer. However, the only way to fix the issues is purchase the product.

To add to the computer owner's confusion is that Uniblue proudly
displays the Microsoft Partner logo. This gives the impression that the
company has any close relationship with Microsoft. It is important to
understand that there is no vetting to become a registered Microsoft
partner. All it means to be a Microsoft Partner is that the company
employs the requisite number of certified professionals and has
completed the registration process, nothing more.

In my opinion, as well as that of many members of the security
community, it is deplorable when a security vendor adds a pre-checked
option to include an unnecessary add-on and change the user's
preferences. A responsible security vendor should provide a clean
installer, focusing on improving the product, fixing any bugs and
continuing to improve the product.

If you are using Avira AntiVir antivirus software, I encourage you to
read the articles listed in the references section below and decide for
yourself if this is a product you wish to continue using.

Read more:
http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2...#ixzz1PHRJCi1l

[G. Morgan]

~BD~ wrote:

>If you are using Avira AntiVir antivirus software, I encourage you to
>read the articles listed in the references section below and decide for
>yourself if this is a product you wish to continue using.

I'm not one to willy-nilly accept all the installation defaults, so I
think I'll keep using it. I made a .reg file to disable the 'nag'
screen, so I'm good.

[~BD~]

G. Morgan wrote:
> ~BD~ wrote:
>
>> If you are using Avira AntiVir antivirus software, I encourage you to
>> read the articles listed in the references section below and decide for
>> yourself if this is a product you wish to continue using.
>
> I'm not one to willy-nilly accept all the installation defaults, so I
> think I'll keep using it. I made a .reg file to disable the 'nag'
> screen, so I'm good.
>

As you wish! ;-)

Do you have any knowledge of, or views about, Uniblue?
http://www.uniblue.com/company/story/

[G. Morgan]

~BD~ wrote:

>Do you have any knowledge of, or views about, Uniblue?
>http://www.uniblue.com/company/story/


****ware.

[~BD~]

G. Morgan wrote:
> ~BD~ wrote:
>
>> Do you have any knowledge of, or views about, Uniblue?
>> http://www.uniblue.com/company/story/
>
>
> ****ware.
>

That's pretty much the same as Dustin once said!

Thanks. :-)

[gaz]

~BD~ wrote:
> G. Morgan wrote:
>> ~BD~ wrote:
>>
>>> Do you have any knowledge of, or views about, Uniblue?
>>> http://www.uniblue.com/company/story/
>>
>>
>> ****ware.
>>
>
> That's pretty much the same as Dustin once said!
>
> Thanks. :-)

Downloaded the installation file direct from Avira, at no point in the
installation does the option for an ask toolbar popup and one is not
installed at the end. After installation during initial update there is the
usual update pop up for avira paid for, nothing else.

[Jagg]

On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:06:27 +0100, gaz wrote:


> Downloaded the installation file direct from Avira, at no point in the
> installation does the option for an ask toolbar popup and one is not
> installed at the end. After installation during initial update there is the
> usual update pop up for avira paid for, nothing else.

Yea,my Avira still pops up the upgrade to the paid version ad during every
update and is the same as always. He must have downloaded an "altered"
version from a rogue website.

[~BD~]

Jagg wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:06:27 +0100, gaz wrote:
>
>
>> Downloaded the installation file direct from Avira, at no point in the
>> installation does the option for an ask toolbar popup and one is not
>> installed at the end. After installation during initial update there is the
>> usual update pop up for avira paid for, nothing else.

> He must have downloaded an "altered" version from a rogue website.

*He*???!!!

Look at the 'References' section, here:-

http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2...#ixzz1PHRJCi1l

[G. Morgan]

Jagg wrote:

>Yea,my Avira still pops up the upgrade to the paid version ad during every
>update and is the same as always

The nag screen can be disabled with a local path exclusion policy.

Copy everything in between the lines (except the lines), paste into a
text editor (notepad if that's all you have). And save the file as
nonag.reg to the desktop. Now double click the .reg file and it will
ask if you want to add these to the registry, hit yes.

This works for Win 7 Pro x32:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Group
Policy
Objects\{62F44680-8A76-48DE-8EDC-91D72274E1B6}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Paths\{8bd48249-a31b-48a0-9e46-94b007f53f34}]
"LastModified"=hex(b):90,f8,50,10,ee,34,cc,01
"Description"="Disable Avira Nag Screen, -GM 6/2011"
"SaferFlags"=dword:00000000
"ItemData"="C:\\Program Files\\Avira\\AntiVir Desktop\\avnotify.exe"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This works Win 7 x64:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Group
Policy
Objects\{0E5E5113-C91A-432A-B576-AC61F22762B5}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Paths\{4be91efe-5c3b-4ac4-9c30-3d596ae62b95}]
"LastModified"=hex(b):f1,6e,2b,1e,12,89,cb,01
"Description"="Disable nag screen -GM"
"SaferFlags"=dword:00000000
"ItemData"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Avira\\AntiVir
Desktop\\avnotify.exe"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[gaz]

"Jagg" <jagg@it.invalid> wrote in message
news:t1kobnv552kb$.c3jzrtflgku1$.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:06:27 +0100, gaz wrote:
>
>
>> Downloaded the installation file direct from Avira, at no point in the
>> installation does the option for an ask toolbar popup and one is not
>> installed at the end. After installation during initial update there is
>> the
>> usual update pop up for avira paid for, nothing else.
>
> Yea,my Avira still pops up the upgrade to the paid version ad during every
> update and is the same as always. He must have downloaded an "altered"
> version from a rogue website.

Now getting infrequent popups about some download company offering
wallpapers, contained within the Avira prompt.