Avast For Mac Web Shield Blocking All Internet Access

  

The problem has nothing to do with adware, and there is no reason to download anything.

Avast for mac web shield blocking all internet access except

'Avast' is the worst of the whole wretched lot of commercial 'security' products for the Mac. Not only does it fail to protect you from any real danger, it may send personal data (such as web browsing history and the contents of email messages) back to the developer without your knowledge, give false warnings, destabilize and slow down the computer, expose you to network attack, and corrupt the network settings and the permissions of files in your home folder. Removing it may not repair all the damage.

What is HTTPS scanning in Avast Antivirus? HTTPS scanning is a feature of Web Shield in Avast Antivirus and is automatically enabled when Avast is installed. HTTPS scanning decrypts and scans encrypted traffic to detect potential mawlare contained on sites using HTTPS connections.

Some versions of the product also inject advertising into web pages. In short, apart from the fine print in the license agreement, Avast is indistinguishable from malware, and is arguably worse than any known malware now in circulation.

Back up all data, then remove Avast according to the developer's instructions. Restart.

If you tried to remove Avast by dragging an application to the Trash, you'll have to reinstall it and then follow the instructions linked above.

In very rare cases, Avast may detect and block some programsor website pages as a virus, although you know for sure it’s safe. These wrong detections are called false positives. If such false-positive detection prevails after the virus definitions update, you may want to exclude the detected software or website from the Avast scan.

This is a perfect fix when Avast is blocking one of your favorite programs, but you still want to run/allow it. In the past, Avast was blocking some of the most popular software (Steam for example) for a short period of time. To be fair false-positive detection happens basically to every antivirus on the market, it’s not just Avast.

Avast Web Shield

Anyway, we strongly recommend scanning the file/webpage also through some other virus engines to make sure it’s really clean. For this, you can use a free online scanner VirusTotal. Sometimes you may think the file/URL are safe but they are actually infected and it’s not just Avast which is detecting them.

Quick Summary

  1. Make sure the blocked file or webpage is not malicious by testing it at www.virustotal.com
  2. Add it as an exception by going to Settings » General » Exclusions
  3. Confirm by clicking OK

Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below.

In this guide, you will learn how, but we strongly suggest using exclusions only when you’re an advanced user. There are three basic types of exclusions/exceptions in the Avast Antivirus 2019:

  • Global exclusion list of the folder/file/program/application from being scanned at all
  • Global exclusion list of the website/URL from being scanned at all
  • Exclusions in the specific shield (File System Shield, Mail Shield, or Web Shield)

Global Whitelist – Exclude Specific Folder/File/Program/Application from All Avast Scans

If you want to add the exception for the specific website, domain, or URL from being scanned by Avast, follow these steps. This is so-called Global Whitelist or Exclusion List.

  1. Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘General‘
  2. Find the tab ‘Exclusions‘ and add specific programs to the ‘File paths‘ tab
  3. Added applications and/or paths will now be excluded from any Avast scanning

Adding File/Folder/Program Exception into Avast 2019

On the screenshot above you can see that application ‘FileZilla FTP Client‘ and ‘DAEMON Tools Lite‘ are excluded. Such exceptions also apply to all sub-folders on these folders as we have used ‘/*’ in the path.

Global Whitelist – Exclude Specific Website/URL from All Avast Scans

Internet

If you want to add the exception for the specific Avast shield, follow these steps.

  1. Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘General‘
  2. Find the tab ‘Exclusions‘ and add specific websites or URLs in the ‘Urls‘ tab. Please note ‘http://’ will be added automatically, so if you want to exclude Yahoo, just type yahoo.com. Please note you need to differentiate between ‘http://’ and ‘https://’
  3. Added websites/URLs will now be excluded from any Avast scanning

Adding Website/Domain/URL Exception into Avast 2019

On the screenshot above you can see that URLs ‘https://www.gmail.com‘ and ‘http(s)://.gmail.com‘ are excluded. Such exception also applies to all pages on these domains as we have used ‘/*’ in the path.

Add Exception for Specific Avast Antivirus Shield (File System Shield, Mail Shield, or Web Shield)

If you want to add the exception for the specific Avast shield, follow the steps further.

  1. Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘Active Protection‘
  2. Select the shield (File System, Mail, or Web) for which you want to add the exception, and click on ‘Customize’ link
  3. Find the menu item ‘Exclusions‘ and add the item you want to exclude from scanning by the specific Avast shield. You can also specify when the exclusion applies (for reading, writing, or executing)
  4. Please note that global exclusions are always applied although they aren’t listed in the specific shield. Also please note a lot of items are listed there by default

Adding Specific Shield (File System, Mail, or Web) Exception into Avast 2019

On the screenshot above, you can see many items are excluded from the File System Shield scan by default. We haven’t added any of them.

[IMPORTANT] Restart All Avast Shields to Make Exclusion Work

After you successfully add the file or webpage to exclusions you need to actually restart all Avast shields to make it work. Otherwise, Avast will keep detecting and blocking it as a threat.

  1. Find Avast icon in the Windows system tray (click on the top arrow)
  2. Go to ‘Avast shields control‘ » ‘Disable for 10 minutes‘ » confirm
  3. Go again back to ‘Avast shields control‘ » ‘Enable all shields‘

Restarting All Avast Shields From the Windows System Tray

Now Avast should stop detecting the added files/URLs in the exclusions. You can also simply just restart your Windows.

Report a False Positive Detection to Avast

We also strongly suggest reporting the detection you believe is a false positive directly to Avast team. They will look into it and eventually confirm the reported file, software, or website is clean.

Link to report is included on every in-product pop-up displayed when the harmful webpage or file is blocked. Just click on ‘Report the file as a false positive‘.

Avast Web Shield Has Blocked a Harmful Webpage or File Pop-up

Then you need to fill-in following simple form. In the additional info, you can add a link from VirusTotal scan. Don’t forget to check the option ‘I know what I’m doing‘ and click on ‘Submit‘.

Avast In-product Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites

For

Alternatively, you can use the official web form for reporting false positive detection.

Web Shield Avg

Official Avast Web Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites

Additional Notes

Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2019 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.

Steps are relevant for all Windows versions – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update).

Avast For Mac Web Shield Blocking All Internet Access

Managing exceptions or turning off Avast protection may leave your computer at risk.