Have you recently noticed an Avast SafePrice extension on your PC? Once installed, it can interrupt your browsing experience and may become difficult to remove completely from your computer and browser.
This article will teach you how to get rid of this plugin so that it doesn’t leave any traces behind.
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What is the Avast SafePrice plugin?
The Avast SafePrice browser add-on offers best prices, coupons, and deals for online shoppers. The plugin is powered by Avast and it’s absolutely free to use.
Some of the reasons you may want to use this plugin are below.
1. It gives you the best prices for the item you want to buy
2. You can see various coupons that you can use while shopping online
3. It gives you access to amazing online shopping deals
4. You save money while shopping online
5. It installs in your browser to make it easy for you to access Avast SafePrice without leaving your browser
6. It’s unintrusive, which means it will disappear when you are not shopping online
How do you use the Avast SafePrice plugin?
To use the Avast SafePrice plugin, simply follow the easy steps below.
1. This plugin installs automatically in your Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome browsers when you install Avast Antivirus as part of a security package
2. If you have installed SafeZone Browser from Avast, this plugin is installed in the browser by default
3. You can also install it manually by going to this link (Google Chrome) and this link (Firefox)
4. Now go to your favorite online store
5. Search for the item you want to buy
6. It will automatically give you the best prices, deals, and coupons for the item you searched for
7. Click on a coupon or deal that you like
8. It will direct you to the page where you can finish your purchase at the discounted price
9. Complete the purchase
That’s it. Using this browser plugin is that simple.
What kind of coverage does it provide?
Avast SafePrice is a relatively new plugin. As a result, it only provides prices and deals from a few selected online shops.
This plugin is continually working to increase the number of supported shops. If the plugin doesn’t provide a price comparison or deals for a particular product, it could be due to the following reasons.
1. You are already seeing the lowest price for the product
2. The product has an extended delivery period
3. The item is currently out of stock
4. The plugin couldn’t identify the item you are trying to buy
5. The online store you are visiting isn’t part of the SafePrice catalogue
In the future, you can expect this plugin to include more online stores, making it a very good option for online shoppers.
How do you get it on your computer?
You can get this add-on two different ways.
1. As part of the Avast Antivirus app
2. With freeware you downloaded from the Internet
When you install Avast Antivirus or update the app, it includes this plugin for your browser. Although you can choose not to install it, many users don’t notice it. They just keep clicking the Next button during installation and give Avast the permission to install this add-on in their browsers.
Is Avast SafePrice a virus?
Many users panic when they see this plug-in installed in their browser without them ever installing it manually. But it’s a part of Avast so it’s not a virus.
Unfortunately, this add-on falls under the category of adware and malware and you might want to remove it from your browser.
It interrupts your browsing experience, displays ads and steals your information in order to provide relevant ads and price comparisons. If you are concerned about your privacy, you don’t want this add-on to be running in your browser.
Here is what it can do to your browser and computer when it’s installed and enabled.
1. Change your default search engine
2. Change your default homepage
3. Alter the browser’s new tab settings
4. Automatically update the Avast software package
5. Allow publisher cookies to be stored on your computer
6. Change default error pages in your browser
7. Display pop-up ads
How do you get rid of this browser add-on? Complete removal guide for Avast SafePrice
As discussed earlier, this extension falls into ‘gray’ area. If you are concerned about your privacy, you should remove it. Here is the complete removal guide for the Avast SafePrice browser extension.
1. Remove Avast SafePrice from Windows using your Control Panel
When you have installed Avast SafePrice on your computer, willingly or accidently, you have to remove it from the Control Panel. If you have ever removed any program from your computer using Apps & Features, you know what to do. If this is your first time, follow the simple instructions below.
a) Click the Start button on your Taskbar
b) Now locate the Control Panel and open it
c) Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start button and choose ‘Control Panel’ from the context-menu
d) Once you have opened Control Panel, locate Apps & Features
e) For Windows 10 users, go to Start > Settings > System to find Apps & Features
f) In Apps & Features, click on the program you want to uninstall (Avast SafePrice in this case)
g) When you click the app, you will see the option to uninstall it
h) Click Uninstall to remove Avast SafePrice from your computer
Simply follow the on-screen prompts to complete the process.
2. Remove it from Mozilla FireFox browser
After you have removed this malicious app from your Windows, it’s time to remove its attachments from your browsers as well. Let’s start with Mozilla Firefox.
a) Open Menu>Add-on in Firefox
b) Find the Avast SafePrice extension in the list of add-ons
c) Click on Remove next to the name of the extension
d) Wait a second while Firefox removes this add-on from your browser
e) Restart your browser
3. Remove it from Google Chrome
For Chrome users, the steps to remove this extension are below. Follow them to get rid of any remaining traces of this malicious shopping add-on from Avast Security.
a) Click the Customize option in the upper right-hand corner of Google Chrome (represented by three horizontal lines)
b) Now take your mouse to More Tools to expand additional options
c) You should be able to see Extensions here
d) Click it to open the Chrome Extensions page in your browser
e) Alternatively, you can open the Extensions page in Google Chrome by simply typing the following address into your browser:
Chrome://extensions
f) Search for this extension
g) Click the extension when found
h) Click the delete icon (trashcan) to remove this plugin from your browser
i) Restart your Chrome browser
4. Remove it from Internet Explorer
If you are an Internet Explorer user, here is how to easily get rid of this extension.
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a) Click on the Tools icon in the upper right-hand corner of your browser
b) You should see an option to Manage add-ons
c) Click this option
d) Search or manually locate the malicious add-on
e) Click the add-on and select Disable from the menu
f) Wait a few seconds while your browser removes this extension
g) Restart the browser
Now you have removed the extension and its files from all your browsers. However, you still have some work to do as this add-on modified some settings in your browser at the time of installation. You want to reverse these settings to their default state in order to fully restore your computer back to normal.
5. Reset your browser to fix the Homepage and other hacks
This is the final step. Once you have reset your browser, you will not see any traces of this extension.
Here’s how to do it for different browsers. Google Chrome
a) Go to the Chrome Menu by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner of your browser
b) Select Settings
c) Once you are on the Settings page, scroll to the bottom and locate Advanced Settings
d) Click on Advanced Settings to expand more options
e) At the bottom, you will see the Reset Settings option
f) Click it
g) Now wait for your browser to do some background work before it resets itself and restarts
Mozilla Firefox
a) Click on the Menu in the upper right-hand corner of the Firefox browser
b) Go to Help from the Menu
c) Click on Troubleshooting Information
d) Alternatively, type the following into your address bar and press the Enter key to get to the Troubleshooting page
about:support
e) You will see an option to refresh Firefox here
f) Click this option and wait for your browser to refresh and reset
Internet Explorer
a) Open your browser and go to Options by clicking the ‘gear’ icon from in the upper right-hand corner
b) Now click on Internet Options
c) A dialogue box will appear
d) Now click on the Advanced tab
e) Under the Advanced tab, find the Reset button and click it
f) Now you will see a dialogue box asking you to select further options before you reset your browser
g) Select “Delete Personal Settings” and then hit the Reset button
h) Close your browser
When you open your browser again, everything will be back to normal as it was when you first used your Internet browser.
Avast SafePrice invades your privacy and interrupts your browsing experience. I hope you were able to remove this malicious plug-in from Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer using this removal guide.
When you update Avast next time, be sure to carefully read everything and remember to uncheck the option to install any extensions.
We warned you at the beginning of the year that many of your browser extensions are spying on you, tracking what you are visiting, and even inserting ads into pages. These aren’t just no-name developers either: even Avast, one of the most trusted antivirus vendors was in on the game.
Update 2: We just want to point out that this happened in the past, and Avast has cleaned up their act. They have a decent product, and while you can read this for historical purposes, you should know that many of the other antivirus vendors are doing worse things.
Update: Avast has posted a response to our article on their forum. We stand by our article and our research with the exception of one very inconsequential technical detail that we have updated below. The purpose of writing these types of articles isn’t to be vindictive — we just honestly want to make the world a better place for PC users.
Before we go even one step further, it’s important to note that they recently disabled the spying “shopping” feature in their browser extension. So if you are running the latest Chrome with extensions updated, you are fine. For now.
So Avast has stopped integrating the spying extension, but this is about the principle: you should be able to trust your antivirus provider. Why are they adding a feature that spies on your browsing, inserts ads… and all without properly notifying you?
And why, at the same time, are they claiming to stop spyware, even uninstalling other shopping extensions from other vendors, while they were doing the same thing they are supposed to stop?
On our test system, the only spyware and crapware that Avast actually detected and removed were the ones that competed with their own shopping extension.
Avast Online Security Extension Added a “Shopping” Component
About a week ago, we were playing around with installing a lot of nonsense from crapware sites, so we loaded up trusty Avast antivirus to see how much of the malware it would actually catch during the process. We were shocked to find out that some of the adware wasn’t from a third-party, but from Avast itself.
The problem lies in the SafePrice component of their Online Security extension, which adds shopping recommendations (ads) as you are browsing around the web.
Here’s the thing: many people actually want shopping extensions that help them find better prices — in fact, one of the HTG staff writers recently asked me what was the best way to find better prices. As a standalone product, if you specifically and deliberately choose to install something like this, there’s nothing wrong with it.
The problem is that Avast snuck this component in to their browser extensions that have at least 10 million users for the Chrome version alone. And then they enabled it by default.
Note: as we were doing research for this article, they updated their extension to not include the shopping feature, but it was there since maybe around last December.
Spying, You Say?
You might remember earlier how we said that this extension is spying on you and, unlike many websites, we’re definitely not going to make some claim like that without proof of what is really going on. So we loaded up Fiddler to see what’s really going on behind the scenes and under the hood and behind the curtain.
As it turns out, every single URL that you visit was being sent to Avast servers — first there would be a check to /urlinfo on one of their servers, passing in a unique ID that represents you on every single request. In this way they can build a list of every single page you have ever visited. They claim on their web site that they remove all personally identifying information, but how, exactly, are they able to do that when they are tracking every single page you visit and sending back that URL with a unique ID to represent you?
Update: Avast contacted us to point out that the /urlinfo page that we showed in the screenshot is actually part of their security extension, which does make sense. The /offers page, however, is sending back data as well.
That unique tracking ID is the biggest problem here: while it might not identify you by name, it’s enough to tie your whole browsing history together, and that’s a scary thing.
And remember, you didn’t ask for this. You just wanted to keep yourself safe online with a trusted antivirus provider.
The Bottom Line: Browser Extensions Have Wayyyy Too Much Power
RELATED:Warning: Your Browser Extensions Are Spying On You
This behavior, while ridiculous and sad from a company you should trust, isn’t new at all. Almost every product and service on the Internet and almost every browser extension, app, and website, are doing some form of tracking. Here on How-To Geek we use Google Analytics to see our site statistics, and our advertisers probably use a lot of other tracking that we can’t control. And it’s the same with every single web site.
Personal information and big data have become the standard; because after all: if a product is free, the real product is you. If you are browsing and reading a completely free web site, it’s not that big of a deal… after all, sites like ours need to pay our writers, and advertisements are the only way to do that. The problem is when it’s across everything you do.
The problem is that most browser extensions have access to everything you are seeing on the Internet, across every web site. And they aren’t properly disclosing this to you.
So the next time an extension says it can “Read and modify all your data on the websites you visit”, perhaps you should click that “Remove from Chrome” button instead.
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How To Stop Avast Safeprice Mac
Avast is our favorite antivirus program for Windows, but it isn't perfect. It has a lot of great advanced settings, but it also comes with annoying sounds, popups, ads, and extra tools you probably don't want. Here are the ideal settings to get rid of its annoyances.
You should always have a good antivirus program running, even if you browse carefully—and Avast is a great option. It's biggest downside, however, is its constant nagging and loud notifications. Luckily, you can turn all of these off—you just need to know which settings to tick.
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First: Use Avast's Custom Installation
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Let's start at the beginning: When you first install Avast, we highly recommend choosing the 'Custom Installation' option, as we do with all programs. This ensures you only get the features and add-ons you want, and none of the stuff you don't.
By default, Avast's custom installation comes with a lot of things checked. Most of them shouldn't bug you too much, but we recommend unchecking anything you don't think you'll use. For me, that means unchecking the Software Updater, Remote Assistance, SecureLine, GrimeFighter, and Browser Cleanup features. I already have other software updaters, remote access, VPN, and cleanup tools installed that I prefer. I usually leave the browser protection enabled (though I don't use it much) and the rescue disk tool in case I need it.
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If you want, you can read more about what these features do on Avast's web site. Unchecking the ones you don't want may stop some notifications related to these features—like the software updater—and will tidy up the Avast interface, to boot.
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Turn Off Avast's Sounds
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When you get a virus, it's nice to have an audible notification to let you know—but I don't need the soothing voice of Lady Avast telling me every time my virus definitions have been updated (even if I can make the voice sound like a pirate).
To mute Avast's voice notifications (recommended): Head to Settings > General > Sounds and uncheck the 'Use Voiceover Sounds' box. All notification sounds will just have the familiar 'ding' instead of a spoken notification.
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To mute certain notifications: Head to Settings > General > Sounds and uncheck the boxes for any notifications you'd like to mute. This will stop that particular notification from making any sound. Generally, I prefer to leave this on for completed scans and found viruses.
To mute all sounds: Head to Settings > General > Sounds and uncheck 'Enable Avast Sounds.'
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How To Stop Avast Safeprice FreeTurn Off Update Notifications and Ad Popups
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Avast's other main annoyance is its constant notifications. Once again, I appreciate notifications if I've gotten a virus, but I don't really need a popup every time it updates virus definitions, or every time it wants me to upgrade to Avast premium. Luckily, this is easily fixed with one checkbox.
To turn off ads and update notifications (recommended): Head to Settings > Update > Details and uncheck the 'Show Notification Box After Automatic Update' box. This one box disables both update notifications and ads. We wish there were two separate options (for those that wanted notifications about virus definition updates), but we'll take what we can get. After unchecking this one box, I've found that Avast behaves better than ever.
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To turn off all notifications: Head to Settings > General and turning on Silent/Gaming Mode. I generally don't like this because I prefer to get notifications when I have a virus or potentially unwanted program detected.
To change the duration of notifications: Head to Settings > General > Popups. Each notification type has a number, in seconds, that it'll appear on your screen. You can tweak this to your liking (setting it to 0 gives it unlimited duration).
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Other Features You May Want to Tweak
Those are the big ones, but while you're making a trip through the settings, there are a few other settings we recommend at least looking at:
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These are generally less annoying than the main sound and popup features, but they're worth looking at while you're digging around the settings.
This isn't an exhaustive list of every setting in Avast, just the ones we recommend tweaking as soon as you install it (based on the ones people complain about most). Avast has a lot of other features and settings that are pretty handy, so as with most programs, we recommend giving yourself a little tour of everything it has to offer when you first install it. Hopefully this guide at least makes it a little less annoying. Of course, if you prefer to try another program altogether, there are some great alternatives in our App Directory. Good luck!
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