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#46
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Avast! Emergency Update
On Friday, February 21, 2014 12:03:29 PM UTC-6, BillW50 wrote:
Having so many computers, I have different versions of Avast (free), mainly 7, 8, and 9. I used to always update to the latest program version (not to be confused with engine and virus definitions which I always update). But I noticed that the newer program versions have extra protection for computer noobs which interfere with experienced users. And Avast has out of the blue has upgraded to the latest program version without my permission. Since I rarely reboot my machines, sometimes when I do Avast will pop up saying installing Avast to the latest program version. And I like to walk away from my computers if I reboot and get some coffee or something. Of course, if Avast is updating the program it pops up a window asking if it is ok to install Google Toolbar and Google Chrome. The problem is, if you are not there, it will pick it is ok on its own after xx amount of minutes. Damn them, I hate Google anything! Anyway today on this machine AnVir Task Manager, warned me that Avast! Emergency Update wants to run in startup. I know what it is suppose to do, as it is suppose to override the regular updater (just in case it gets corrupted or infected). And while I have seen this before, I think this is how Avast sneaks the latest program version on some of my computers. Although I wouldn't know for sure until I rebooted, which could be months from now. Then I would have forgotten that I allowed this service to run. So this time I blocked it with AnVir. Does anybody know more about this than I do? -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows Live Mail 2009 v14 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center Avast Emergency Update? Bill, I don't believe there is any such thing. This could be malware trying to fool you. Ignore it. If Avast needs to do an update it will run it itself - and you're right, it won't ask you. dora |
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#47
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 2/22/14 3:57 PM, Nil wrote:
On 22 Feb 2014, BillW50 wrote in alt.windows7.general: Oh course, I have 30+ machines and I only know two that has done this. You need a few more dozens of machines before you might see it. I don't think so. Computer programs are designed to repeat certain actions reliably. In a case like this, with several identical installations, without any outside interferance by me, they would all act the same. I've installed Avast on dozens of systems, and none of them have or have had Chrome installed on them. All this discussion of "It does it for me" and "It doesn't do it for me" and placing the cause on Avast is a waste of time until you know what is triggering it, and why. Just because all the installations *may* be the same, Bill has not said they are in his case, it should not be assumed the hardware is 100% identical. For all we know at the moment, it could be a particular combos of OS, hardware, and software installs that trigger it. Hopefully, Bill keeps after this and figures out what triggers the emergency update. Until then, everything is just speculation. snip -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 24.0 Thunderbird 24.0 |
#49
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 22 Feb 2014, Ken Springer wrote in
alt.comp.os.windows-8: Hopefully, Bill keeps after this and figures out what triggers the emergency update. Until then, everything is just speculation. I don't question that the emergency update happens. I'm certain that it does. What I don't believe is his claim that Avast has recently installed Google Chrome out of the blue without asking. There's quite a bit of information on the 'net about the Avast Emergency Updater. I wasn't interested in it enough to read all that stuff, but I did find out that Avast installs a Scheduled Task that runs it daily. I've disabled the task for now to see what happens. |
#50
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 2/23/2014 12:27 AM, Nil wrote:
On 22 Feb 2014, Ken Springer wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: Hopefully, Bill keeps after this and figures out what triggers the emergency update. Until then, everything is just speculation. I don't question that the emergency update happens. I'm certain that it does. What I don't believe is his claim that Avast has recently installed Google Chrome out of the blue without asking. It happened to Windows 8 Avast users who have their machines set to not update the program recently (one claimed he happened to him and he is using Windows 7). Anybody running an older version of Avast, Avast forced some machines to update the Avast program in the background without the users knowledge. And the next time one rebooted, Avast installed the latest Avast program and supposedly flash up the window about whether to install Chrome or not. Well I didn't know Avast was doing this and I rebooted for some reason and left the room. When I came back, Chrome was installing. Later a second Windows 8 machine of mine was doing the same, except I didn't leave the room (as I was expecting the same funny business from Avast). And the box showed up and I unticked the options on this machine and the box just vanished. Others too have reported similar things. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?top...968#msg1027968 There's quite a bit of information on the 'net about the Avast Emergency Updater. I wasn't interested in it enough to read all that stuff, but I did find out that Avast installs a Scheduled Task that runs it daily. I've disabled the task for now to see what happens. This Avast Emergency Updater is a backdoor that allows Avast to install anything they want to on your system at any time they want to. One IT guy on the forum was up in arms about this. He stated they can't have somebody else have free control over their computers. And frankly, I totally agree. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140730.0 Also in the 15 pages about this, some has noted that this Avast Emergency Updater doesn't phone home to an Avast server, but to a Google server. If this is true, I see this has a huge security risk. Some hacker could hack into this server and they could install almost anything on any Avast users machine that hasn't manually disabled Avast Emergency Updater. Of course some doesn't trust Google much either. -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v24.3.0 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center |
#51
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Avast! Emergency Update
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 10:50:39 -0600, BillW50 wrote:
There is a whole thread on this nonsense (7 pages worth). Topic: Google Chrome installed without my permission, very annoyed! http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=125379.0 Every time there are users who claim Google Chrome is installed and every time an equal number of users say it isn't. (I belong to the latter.) P.S. I have intentionally set "Program Updates" to MANUAL... which is supposed to tell avast neither to check for program updates nor to automatically install them. I find it ironic that so called "emergency updates" --- in this case, merely a "migratory preparation" --- can defy this setting. There are places where I've set avast! up to automatic updates. On my system, settings were to 'Ask when an update is available'. In both cases avast! failed. It didn't download automatically where it should have (even after several weeks) and in my case, a new version of avast! was installed without asking. My only choice was to reboot. My settings are now 'Manual update' and I'm very curious what's going to happen with the next program update. Topic: Emergency Update 2013-11-21? http://forum.avast.com/index.php?top...992#msg1064992 I know about this thread; I even responded to it (under another handle). IIRC the thread was initially about a startup item that wouldn't go away by itself. The same thing was happening to me and I "solved" it by uninstalling avast! (using their uninstall tool) and installing it again. However, reinstalling created another problem. The whole process froze on AvastEmUpdate.exe. Apparently, my HOSTS file from mvps.org was to blame. I still don't know which domain, so I temporary replaced it with the default HOSTS file and the install went fine. avast! is capable of creating a back-up of your settings, so a reinstall wasn't such a PITA. I also remember that avast! officials only reacted /once/ in this thread http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140730.msg1025160#msg1025160 -- s|b |
#52
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Avast! Emergency Update
"s|b" wrote in message ... On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 10:50:39 -0600, BillW50 wrote: There is a whole thread on this nonsense (7 pages worth). Topic: Google Chrome installed without my permission, very annoyed! http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=125379.0 Every time there are users who claim Google Chrome is installed and every time an equal number of users say it isn't. (I belong to the latter.) I have no doubt and until just recently, I would have been totally on your side. But those that received the program update (generally Windows 8 users) running an older program version, which gets their program update (when you tell it manual install or notify only) through the emergency update backdoor will be the only ones who will probably see Chrome automatically installed on reboot (you will be not notified that you need to reboot either). Otherwise I don't think it will ever happen. P.S. I have intentionally set "Program Updates" to MANUAL... which is supposed to tell avast neither to check for program updates nor to automatically install them. I find it ironic that so called "emergency updates" --- in this case, merely a "migratory preparation" --- can defy this setting. There are places where I've set avast! up to automatic updates. On my system, settings were to 'Ask when an update is available'. In both cases avast! failed. It didn't download automatically where it should have (even after several weeks) I heard of this before and I never saw it on any of my machines. Although I have seen it on machines that had malware on it. I am not saying it has to have malware, I just never seen it myself. and in my case, a new version of avast! was installed without asking. My only choice was to reboot. My settings are now 'Manual update' and I'm very curious what's going to happen with the next program update. That is that blasted backdoor emergency update. As Avast can override your settings and force you to get updates anyway. The only way to stop it besides blocking AvastEmUpdate.exe from calling home is to disable it completely. Topic: Emergency Update 2013-11-21? http://forum.avast.com/index.php?top...992#msg1064992 I know about this thread; I even responded to it (under another handle). IIRC the thread was initially about a startup item that wouldn't go away by itself. The same thing was happening to me and I "solved" it by uninstalling avast! (using their uninstall tool) and installing it again. However, reinstalling created another problem. The whole process froze on AvastEmUpdate.exe. Apparently, my HOSTS file from mvps.org was to blame. I still don't know which domain, so I temporary replaced it with the default HOSTS file and the install went fine. avast! is capable of creating a back-up of your settings, so a reinstall wasn't such a PITA. Yes I recall somebody was talking about that too. ;-) I also remember that avast! officials only reacted /once/ in this thread http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140730.msg1025160#msg1025160 Yes indeed. :-( -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows Live Mail 2009 v14 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center |
#53
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Avast! Emergency Update
In message , BillW50
writes: On 2/22/2014 6:25 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: I was wondering why 30+; are you in the maintenance or retail business or something? Yes. I often think I've got too many computers (meaning Windows PCs) here, but only four are in anything like frequent use, and I don't think the total even including possibly non-working ones would reach 15. The vast majority of mine are still fully operational. You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf All humanity is divided into three classes: those who are immovable, those who are movable, and those who move! - Benjamin Franklin |
#54
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 2/23/2014 3:32 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. Oh yes! I already like Gerry! :-) -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v24.3.0 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center |
#55
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 2/23/2014, J. P. Gilliver (John) posted:
In message , BillW50 writes: On 2/22/2014 6:25 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: I was wondering why 30+; are you in the maintenance or retail business or something? Yes. I often think I've got too many computers (meaning Windows PCs) here, but only four are in anything like frequent use, and I don't think the total even including possibly non-working ones would reach 15. The vast majority of mine are still fully operational. You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. Some how those pictures make me fantasize that I could turn on any one of those radios and hear broadcasts from the 20's and 30's, static and all! Wouldn't that be great? -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
#56
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Avast! Emergency Update
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message ...
On 2/23/2014, J. P. Gilliver (John) posted: In message , BillW50 writes: On 2/22/2014 6:25 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: I was wondering why 30+; are you in the maintenance or retail business or something? Yes. I often think I've got too many computers (meaning Windows PCs) here, but only four are in anything like frequent use, and I don't think the total even including possibly non-working ones would reach 15. The vast majority of mine are still fully operational. You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. Some how those pictures make me fantasize that I could turn on any one of those radios and hear broadcasts from the 20's and 30's, static and all! Wouldn't that be great? It's really true. Just go to Co and buy some good legal 'stuff' and you will fine out. -- Buffalo |
#57
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Avast! Emergency Update
Buffalo wrote:
and you will fine out. Is that like feeling fine and spacing out combined? By the way, I live in the "Mile High" city. -- Sir_George |
#58
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Avast! Emergency Update
In message , Gene E. Bloch
writes: On 2/23/2014, J. P. Gilliver (John) posted: In message , BillW50 writes: [] The vast majority of mine are still fully operational. You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. Some how those pictures make me fantasize that I could turn on any one of those radios and hear broadcasts from the 20's and 30's, static and all! Wouldn't that be great? Sadly, no - though he sometimes _does_ operate a fleapower pirate transmitter on the medium wave with music of the period. He says the authorities will never detect it as a pirate station, because it isn't broadcasting rap music ... Though he'd assure you that the sound quality was excellent, no static! -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf Desperation led me to re-boot absolutely everything, even the cat. - Molly Romanov in DIST, 2012-2-4. |
#59
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Avast! Emergency Update
On 2/23/2014, J. P. Gilliver (John) posted:
In message , Gene E. Bloch writes: On 2/23/2014, J. P. Gilliver (John) posted: In message , BillW50 writes: [] The vast majority of mine are still fully operational. You'd like my friend Gerry the Museum (http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/tour/photos1.htm); he makes the same claim about his collection. Some how those pictures make me fantasize that I could turn on any one of those radios and hear broadcasts from the 20's and 30's, static and all! Wouldn't that be great? Sadly, no - though he sometimes _does_ operate a fleapower pirate transmitter on the medium wave with music of the period. He says the authorities will never detect it as a pirate station, because it isn't broadcasting rap music ... Though he'd assure you that the sound quality was excellent, no static! There's an FM station not far from here, fairly low power but licensed, that specializes in big band music of the 30s and 40s. It's nice to listen to occasionally. It's run by Menlo-Atherton High School (by students, I guess?), in Menlo Park, CA. It's really a tape loop, there are no announcements. When you want to know what's playing you have to go online at http://www.kcea.org/ -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
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