avast windows 8.1 Is Google Analytics code in the GUI in Avast Antivirus a Privacy Risk?

[bikeman25]

Hi All

 

Wondering if the code built into Avast ui is a privacy risk or not?  can't get really a straight answer from Avast support forum, so figured i'd try to find out in here before I decide what i'm gonna do with other household PC's antivirus protection.   Currently 3 of 4 PC's running Avast free 9.0.2008

 

 

If anyone can relax my fears on this, then maybe I won't worry about it so bad

 

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Here is a quote from Avast on it.

 

 

 

Re: Why is avast tracking my interface usage with anaytics?

? Reply #11 on: June 07, 2013, 10:47:14 AM ?

 

Hi newJason,

And thanks for raising this question.

The reason why the avast UI contains an analytics module is to help us better understand its usage patterns. As you may remember, the UI in v8 has changed quite dramatically and we wanted to have a good way to understand how people actually use the UI, where are the hot spots, what's the typical flows, where people are dropping out etc etc. This all with the hope that it will ultimately allow us to restructure the UI in a way that will suit best most of our users. We're already taking some of these findings into account now while designing the v9 UI.

Besides that, there have always been speculations about how many people actually open the UI, how often they use it etc., and an analytics module allows us to better understand these aspects as well.

It's important to note that all this data is completely anonymized and void of any personal information.

Still, if you are uncomfortable sharing this data with us (i.e. you don't want, for any reason, us to see how you navigate through the Avast UI), there's ways to suppress this feature. Let me know if you need more details.


Thanks
Vlk

 

As far as blocking it (which will do more than just block it in Avast) here is how to do it.

 

Add the following to your host file.

127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com

127.0.0.1 imageads.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads1.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads2.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads3.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads4.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads5.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads6.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads7.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads8.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads9.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 www.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 apps5.oingo.com
127.0.0.1 www.appliedsemantics.com
127.0.0.1 service.urchin.com

[bikeman25]

Oh ok Thank you for the reply, eases fears a lot with the Avast explanation and also the info on blocking if shall decide to in the future, appreciate it