Anyone else having problems with Avast’s ‘Disable Shields’ control?

Topic

New Reply

I use Avast Free Antivirus on multiple devices, all updated to the latest 2016 version, i.e. v11.1.2253.

Just recently I’ve noticed on them all that right-clicking on the Avast icon in the Notification area and choosing Avast shields control then one of the options no longer works. (I often need this function as Avast regularly flags NirSoft utilities incorrectly.)

44002-avast_shields

Avast goes through the motions, i.e. pops up a prompt asking for confirmation, but never actually turns the shields off temporarily.

In addition, Action Center shows Avast needs to be turned on, even though the Avast icon shows it IS on.

44003-avast_turn_on

Selecting to trust Avast makes no difference whatsoever.

44004-avast_trust

I’ve uninstalled/re-installed Avast – including using the avastclear tool to clear any remaining remnants – but the problem persists. I’ve installed Avast Free on a new VM and had the same problem… so I think it’s an issue with Avast Free 2016.

Are there any other WSL members using Avast Free? If so, could you try to temporarily disable the shields and see if it works for you? Many thanks…

Reply | Quote

Replies

I’ve been using Avast for some time now, I’ve found it easier and more reliable to call up Avast’ main menu, go to the sub-menu housing the shields — and turning ’em off one at a time, along with specifiying how long to leave ’em off.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

Reply | Quote

Roland – Are you running the latest version of Avast Free, i.e. v11.1.2253?
Do you mean the Active Protection dialog? If so, they are completely blank on 2 PCs I’ve just checked!
44007-avast_active_protection

Reply | Quote

11.1.2241 — I’ve kept any/all program updates away because of immediate missing dll error.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

Reply | Quote

11.1.2241 — I’ve kept any/all program updates away because of immediate missing dll error.

OK, thanks. I’m just setting up new VM from scratch to test.

Reply | Quote

Rick, does the active protection dialogue box still appear blank in the current version, 2253? On mine, the dialogue box gives me the option of turning off file system shield, web shield, and/or mail shield.

Roland, how did you know there’s a missing dll in the current version?

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Rick, does the active protection dialogue box still appear blank in the current version, 2253? On mine, the dialogue box gives me the option of turning off file system shield, web shield, and/or mail shield.

Yes, the Active Protection dialog is still blank on both my Win 7 and Win 10 PCs.

Reply | Quote

Roland, how did you know there’s a missing dll in the current version? Thanks.

Issue is moot now; since I’m not renewing my 3PC license, I have removed Avast from all three computers. Later, maybe I will try the free version as a standalone scan, a “2nd opinion” if you will.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

Reply | Quote

I haven’t used Avast Free since December but (for all AVs) it was easier to exclude the Nirsoft folder and use WSCC (or NirLauncher) to grab the full suite. That way your utilities should work as intended, any interlopers imported by malware should still be blocked.

Most, possibly all, AVs do not fully disengage when paused/disabled anyway.

For my last 6 months or so with Avast Free, I found it needed most of the ‘new stuff’ disabled/uninstalled, just the base AV was all I used – with exclusions where needed. The ‘cloud’ elements especially were too trigger happy, though that aspect was similar with all the free AV versions I’ve tried.

If anyone has issues with interface elements not showing up, complain to their forum about it, open a ticket.

Reply | Quote

If anyone has issues with interface elements not showing up, complain to their forum about it, open a ticket.

Been there, done that weeks ago with posts about it being a reproducible fault on multiple devices… all to no avail except I found that I’m not the only one on the Avast Support forum with the same problem.

I’ve decided to look for an alternative AV after 1) reading other recent complaints there (even from two Avast Evangelists – which appears to be the equivalent of forum VIPs here), especially about the new version; and 2) after seeing the result of the latest AV-Comparitives Real World Protection Test, compared with the previous four Real World Protection Tests.

Reply | Quote

Those results are still very good for a free AV compared to all the pay AV/Suites that it was matched against.

Reply | Quote

Those results are still very good for a free AV compared to all the pay AV/Suites that it was matched against.

With regard to reviews of AVAST, it almost always looks very good on other reviews. I’ve had excellent luck combining it with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (paid) and Super Antispyware.

About twice a month I run NPE and Alwil. The only drawback with these is they turn up more false positives.

Please keep readers of this thread informed of what you decide to do. If you do find a solution to your problem with AVAST, be sure to let readers of this thread know.

Charles

Reply | Quote

Please keep readers of this thread informed of what you decide to do. If you do find a solution to your problem with AVAST, be sure to let readers of this thread know.

After a lot of thought… I’m not going to get involved in any discussion about Avast (and/or its Support forum). Life’s too short.

Instead, after testing in Win 7 and Win 10 VMs and comparing with Norton AV and ESET’s NOD32 (both of which I’ve used in the past), I’ve decided to go back to the free version of Avira for the moment. I used Avira before Avast and only changed when Avira’s pop-up ads became too intrusive – which, to be fair, was understandable.

My only current reservation is that Avira is very slow to turn off its real-time protection when I want it to… but I can live with that and will make exclusions for the folders it has issues with (e.g. my own compiled/compressed AHK programs which it keeps flagging up as false positives… ).

Note that I haven’t yet changed over. It will happen in the next week or two.

Reply | Quote

I used Avira before I upgraded to Windows 10 and found it fairly unintrusive. It does pop up an upgrade ad on each boot but its simple to dismiss. With Windows 10, I find the built in Windows Defender good enough.

Jerry

Reply | Quote

I’ve now un-installed Avast (and gave feedback on both the product and support forum) and installed Avira instead.

Reply | Quote