Some time ago here, I recommended — because it was working pretty well back then — the Avast Anti-Virus program. I would like to withdraw that recommendation. The program has started flagging false positives, trying to delete programs that I know are not infected. They also have a module that when employed, insists on popping up from time to time and demanding that you change your home page to Bing. This is the kind of annoyance that your Total Internet Security packages are supposed to eliminate, not initiate.
The last straw came last week when I was trying to solve a tech problem with them. They have a 24/7 Tech Support line which is manned by people who don't seem to know their product very well. Because I wasn't getting anywhere without doing so, I let one of them have remote access to my computer so he could perhaps fix something and all he could do was (a) try to delete any competitor's product I had on my computer and (b) convince me with double-talk that my computer needs an expensive tune-up from the Avast company.
It was at that point that I decided to part ways with the Avast people and I'm finding that to be quite difficult. The only departments you can reach on the phone are Tech Support and Billing, and no one there can tell you anything about cancellation except to steer you to a hard-to-find crevice of their website so you can submit an online Support Ticket. (There is a section there where you're supposed to be able to manage your subscriptions online but though every other part of their enterprise recognizes my e-mail address as valid, that section doesn't so I can't do anything there.)
I almost don't mind the program not working well. I mind a lot that they make it so difficult to cancel…and impossible to talk to anyone who can help with that. When I pick software from now on, I'm not only going to research which one will work best for my needs, I'm also going to look into how easy any program that involves a subscription is to get rid of.
There will be more posts about the Avast problem as things develop.