Heheh... maybe a .reg file to add this data that prevents the program from prompting to install the Anus toolbar.

Still, I can't really use such a workaround professionally, because I can't count on it to stay like that. The next upgrade could "fix" that functionality.

I'm debating what to do about this. I'll probably play with it in a virtual machine to better understand the behaviour.

I can either just let people install the Arse toolbar (easiest solution) and let them use the web guard back end, though I hate shit like that anyway. The more redundant filtering and gyrating, the greater the contribution to the conversion of a computer to a 3 foot length of turd.

Or I can start to ditch Avira in favour of... what?

I'm not very happy with Microsoft Security Essentials. It's not stellar protection, but is better than nothing or AVG for real time protection. However, its scanner is so slow and crippling that it's not worth using and it's rather weak on the user interface, with not many settings. It relies on Windows Update mechanisms too.

I'm still not happy with Avast (I thought it had improved, but I saw it in action the other day and it was nothing but crippling rubbish in my way, while trying to remove the malware it missed. This was a paid for Avast Internet Security program though, so it tasted more like ass.)

I'll never go back to commercial packages like any of that McNorton shit.

Eset is too much of a pain in the ass to deal with, and it hasn't got as much going for it as it used to either. (Not worth the hassle, I don't mean it's total shit)

Kaspersky is too expensive and too hardware intensive.

Another thing that's important about Avira is that it's not as invasive as other programs and (the free version) can be easily and quickly installed, and is an effective brute force scanner that I have come to trust. So I'd want to install that anyway for the customer, during a cleanup.

I suppose what I could do, is buy up a bunch of Avira licenses and just give one to every customer that needs it. It's really small money compared to paying for my services anyway and there would be no exposure to that whoreware associated with the free version.