Once in a while, you’ll probably need to turn off your Avast Antivirus, or just pause some of its shields. Usually, because you want to install some other party security software like a firewall, or because Avast is blocking your favorite website or application.

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Frankly, the average person doesn’t need Java installed on their Mac let alone active in their web browser, disable it and you don’t have to worry about security holes in older versions of the software impacting your Mac.

If you want to disable Avast because it’s blocking program or website you trust, we suggest using the Avast Exceptions/White-list instead.

Here’s the quick step-by-step guide on how to turn off/disable Avast 2019 – completely or temporarily. Steps are applicable to all Avast antivirus products (Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, or Avast Premier).

Quick Summary

1. Right-click on the Avast orange icon in the Windows system tray
2. Select Avast shields control and select for how long you want to disable it
3. Confirm by clicking Yes on the dialog

Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below

1. Turn Off/Disable Avast Completely (All Shields)

Turning off all Avast shields basically means completely turning off the whole Avast Antivirus active protection. So be sure you know what you’re doing, although it’s actually quite simple.

Step #1 – Just navigate to the Windows taskbar and find the orange Avast icon. By default it is hidden in some Windows systems, so click on the top arrow if you don’t see it. Once you find the icon, perform a right-click on it, look for the option ‘Avast shields control‘, and select one of the options there – disable for a) 10 minutes; b) 1 hour; c) until computer restart; d) permanently.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely via Windows System Tray

Step #2 – Whatever option you will choose, Avast will ask you for a confirmation, which you have to confirm by selecting ‘Yes‘. And that’s it, Avast and all its shields should be disabled/paused for whatever time period you have selected.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely – Action Confirmation

Step #3 – If you want to make sure Avast is really disabled, just open its main window. It should be red and saying ‘All antivirus shields are off‘. To re-enable it again, click on the green button ‘RESOLVE‘, and it should turn green with the message ‘You’re protected‘.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely – User Interface

2. Turn Off/Disable Avast Temporarily (Specific Shield(s))

Besides turning off all shields at once, Avast also offers an option to temporarily turn off/pause any specific shield. Again, be sure you know what and why you’re doing it.

Step #1 – If so, then open the main Avast user interface, and go to Protection » Core Shields. Alternatively, you can go to Settings (in the bottom left corner in the main Avast interface) » ‘Components’ (or ‘Active Protection‘ in the older version). There you will see all Avast shields (File System Shield, Behavior Shield, Mail Shield, Web Shield) listed.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Specific Shields – Shields Overview

Just find the one you want to disable and click on the switcher. Once you click on it, you will see four options – stop the shield for a) 10 minutes; b) 1 hour; c) until computer restart; d) permanently. Just select the period you want and click on it.

Step #2 – If the shield has been successfully disabled, you should see the switch change to ‘OFF‘ and the main window should be yellow with the message ‘File Shield is now off‘. To re-enable it again, simply click on the green ‘Turn on‘ button, and it should turn green with the message ‘You’re protected‘.

Shut Down Mac With Keyboard

Avast Antivirus 2019 File Shield Turned Off

3. Uninstall Avast Antivirus Completely

If none of these steps solved your problem, then you can consider uninstalling Avast Antivirus completely. Although we strongly discourage it, as Avast is the best free Antivirus available.

If you’re sure you want to do it, follow our step-by-step guide ‘How to Uninstall/Remove Avast Antivirus 2019‘ or download the simple removal tool called Avast Uninstall Utility.

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).

Turning off Avast protection may leave your computer at risk.

How To Shut Down Avast For Mac Security

hi, firefox has always used it's 'own' certificate store on all platforms, so this is to be expected. since root certificates are an extremely sensitive area (which would allow an attacker to 'take over' the secure web for affected trust stores), a little bit of 'competition' and independent implementations are beneficial to the health of the web in my view.avast would have to insert its certificate into the firefox trusted root ca store for this to work without any issues like the error message you are seeing.