AVAST / AVG 'FREE' ANTIVIRUS SOLD USER DATA
It was announced this week that Avast, the parent company of AVG had angered many users after it was discovered that the company sold their information. Avast and AVG are both ‘free’ antivirus products that have been around for years.
The sale of user data was to JumpShot, another avast company that specialized in collecting and selling user data to large companies with names that we all would recognize.
So technically Avast/AVG updated their license agreement to say that use of their ‘free’ software is consent for them collecting and selling your data. But the outrage was real and swift from customers and so sever in fact that Avast has closed JumpShot all together. (Very unfortunate for the former staff at Jumpshot. More details are available from Techcrunch.com and thank you in Ingrid Lunden)
In case you were wondering, I recommend Trend Micro Internet Security for laptop/desktop antivirus. Trend Micro is not free and requires a yearly license. (Computer Services would love to support you with the installation and license renewal for this.) There are however people that would rather not pay for antivirus protection. Although I feel the price is worth it for Trend Micro, if you insist on not paying for a license I would recommend sticking with Windows Defender which is free.