Avast SafeZone Browser Security Flaw Discovered

More often than not I recommend and install Avast Free Antivirus for my clients personal computers. Avast has been my antivirus since 2007, and it has rarely let me down. It's fast, light, and efficient.

Free has its price, however, and the price is usually bloat and up-selling. Avast tries to increase their value proposition by offering new features and modules. These offers motivate users to upgrade to paid versions of Avast. Some of these additional features are excellent, yet others seem redundant concerning features already present in Windows and through other installed software. For this reason, I always choose custom installation and remove options I feel are redundant, such as the Avast SafeZone Browser.

Avast SafeZone browser was touted as a safe alternative to other browsers. Except SafeZone is just a rebranded version of the open-source Chromium browser, the software Chrome is built from.

In December 2015 a serious flaw was discovered in the SafeZone browser, which could allow a malicious website to read cookies, stored passwords and local files: PCWorld

If you feel SafeZone is redundant or unnecessary, you can follow the instructions below to remove it from your Windows system.

How to Remove Avast SafeZone Browser from Windows

1. Hit Windows-Pause to open the Control Panel of the operating system. 
2. Select "Control Panel Home", and on the screen that opens "uninstall a program". 
3. Scroll through the list of programs and select Avast Free Antivirus. 
4. Click Change, then click Modify and deselect the checkbox next to Avast SafeZone Browser.
5. Click Change.

The image below shows the options I typically install for my client's.

If you don't yet use Google's Chrome web browser, you can download and install it directly from Google at chrome.google.com.

If your opinion differs, please chime in via the comments below. I welcome any and all points of view.