Method 3: Turn off/ Disable Avast Antivirus (Specific Shields) Avast Antivirus also gives an option to its users to turn off specific shields only. It will temporarily turn off/ pause any particular shield.

1. Here is how to turn off Avast Anti Virus Software temporarily so that you can download software from smaller publishers that are being blocked. Open up Avast.
2. Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2018 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.

Download and installation

What are the system requirements for Avast Security?

The system requirements for Avast Security and Avast Premium Security are:

• Apple macOS 10.14.x (Mojave), Apple macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra), Apple macOS 10.12.x (Sierra), Apple Mac OS X 10.11.x (El Capitan), Apple Mac OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite).
• Intel based Mac computer with 64-bit processor.
• 512 MB RAM or above (1 GB RAM or higher preferred).
• 256 MB minimum hard disk free space.
• Internet connection (to download and register the product, for automatic updates of the program and virus database).
• Optimally standard screen resolution not less than 1024 x 768 pixels.

How do I download and install Avast Security?

To download and install Avast Security or Avast Premium Security:

1. Click the link below to download the Avast Security setup file:
2. Double-click the downloaded file avast_security_online.dmg.
3. In the dialog that appears, double-click the Avast Security icon and follow the on-screen instructions.
4. When installation is complete, click Close.

For detailed installation instructions, refer to the following article:

If you have purchased Avast Premium Security, activate your subscription by going to ☰ Menu ▸ Activate paid features and entering your activation code.

Do I need a subscription to use Avast Security?

No, a subscription is not necessary for the free version of Avast Security. After installation, Avast Security is ready to use. You can connect Avast Security to your Avast Account to benefit from the device management feature.

For additional features, upgrade to a paid subscription of Avast Premium Security. You must activate this product with a valid activation code.

How do I upgrade from Avast Security to Avast Premium Security?

To upgrade to Avast Premium Security:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Click Upgrade on the main Avast Security screen.
3. Follow the on-screen purchase instructions.

After purchase, Avast Premium Security automatically activates. If necessary, you can manually activate the product by going to ☰ Menu ▸ Activate paid features and entering your activation code.

How do I activate Avast Premium Security?

To manually activate Avast Premium Security:

1. Open the order confirmation email you received after purchasing Avast Premium Security.
2. Locate and copy the activation code from the confirmation email.
3. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
4. Go to ☰ Menu ▸ Activate paid features.
5. Type or paste your activation code into the text box, then click Activate.

To view the duration of your subscription, go to ☰ Menu ▸ My subscriptions. For detailed activation instructions, refer to the following article:

How do I connect Avast Security to my Avast Account?

After you download and install Avast Security, you can connect the product to your Avast Account to benefit from the device management feature.

To connect Avast Security to your Avast Account:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Go to ☰ Menu ▸ Log in to Avast account.
3. Enter your Avast Account credentials, then click Log In.

For detailed instructions, refer to the following article:

What is the difference between Avast Security and Avast Premium Security?

Avast Security is a free product that does not require a paid subscription to use.

Avast Premium Security includes additional features and requires a paid subscription. The additional features include Ransomware Shield and Wi-Fi Inspector.

Features

What is File Shield?

File Shield is the main layer of active protection in Avast Security. It scans programs and files saved on your Mac for malicious threats in real-time before allowing them to be opened, run, modified, or saved. If malware is detected, File Shield prevents the program or file from infecting your Mac.

What is Web Shield?

Web Shield is an additional layer of active protection in Avast Security. It scans data that is transferred when you browse the internet in real-time to prevent malware, such as malicious scripts, from being downloaded and run on your Mac.

What is Email Shield?

Email Shield is an additional layer of active protection in Avast Security. It scans your incoming and outgoing email messages in real-time for malicious content such as viruses. Scanning applies only to messages sent or received using a mail management software (email clients, such as Mail, Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird). If you access your web based email account via an internet browser, your Mac is protected by other Avast Security shields.

What is Ransomware Shield?

Ransomware Shield, available in Avast Premium Security, secures your personal photos, documents, and files from being modified, deleted, or encrypted by ransomware attacks. This feature automatically secures your Pictures and Documents folders and allows you to specify which other folders you want to protect from untrusted applications. Additionally, you can specify which applications are allowed to modify the files in your protected folders.

What is Wi-Fi Inspector?

Wi-Fi Inspector, available in Avast Premium Security, is an active protection component which continuously monitors your network and connected devices for threats.

What is the Virus Chest?

The Virus Chest is a safe place for storing potentially harmful files, completely isolated from the rest of the operating system. Files inside the Virus Chest are not accessible to any outside process, software application, or virus.

For more information about the Virus Chest including how to send files to the Avast Threat Labs, refer to the following article:

How do I run a scan?

To run an Avast Security scan:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Click … (three dots) next to Run Mac Scan.
3. Click Run Mac Scan or Scan Now on the tile of the scan you want to run.

You can run a quick scan of the most vulnerable areas of your Mac, or a thorough scan of the whole system, or quickly scan a particular folder or removable drive, or create and schedule your own scans.

For more information about each type of scan as well as scan settings, refer to the following article:

General settings

How do I check which version of Avast Security is installed?

To check which version of Avast Security is installed on your Mac, go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings and select the General tab. The version number is displayed at the top of the screen.

How do I exclude files or websites from scanning by the Core Shields?

To set an exclusion for a Core Shield:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings and select the Core Shields tab.
3. Click Add Exceptions under the shield you want to set an exclusion for.
4. If you are adding an exclusion for File Shield, select the file and click Open. For Web Shield and Email Shield, specify the server and service, then click Add.

For detailed instructions on how to set exclusions for Core Shields, refer to the following article:

How do I exclude files or folders from the pre-defined scans?

To set an exclusion for one of the pre-defined scans:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings and select the Scans tab.
3. Click Add Exceptions under the scan you want to set an exclusion for.
4. Select a file or folder, then click Open.

For detailed instructions on how to set exclusions for the pre-defined scans, refer to the following article:

Temporarily Turn Off Avast

Troubleshooting

What does the status message 'Unable to scan' mean in scan results?

Avast Turn Off Firewall

The status message 'Unable to scan' means that the file could not be scanned, possibly due to an encrypted ZIP archive or because the files are currently in use. The status does not mean that there is anything wrong with the file, only that it is not available for scanning.

What does the status message 'You are in passive mode' mean?

If you see the status You are in passive mode, you need to manually allow Avast Software extensions on your Mac. For detailed instructions, refer to the following article:

What should I do if I'm unable to browse the web or use other software on my Mac?

Avast Security shields detect and block suspicious files, dangerous websites, and unauthorized connections. In some cases, a Core Shield may cause connectivity issues. If you are unable to use online software or browse certain sites, use the troubleshooting steps below to determine if a shield is causing the issue:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Click Core Shields.
3. Click the ON (green) slider above File Shield and perform your original action (for example, if you were unable to access a certain site, try to access the site again).
4. If the connectivity issue persists, click the OFF (red) slider to turn the shield on again, then repeat the above steps for each shield.

Temporarily Disable Avast Antivirus

When you determine which shield is causing the connectivity issue, you can set an exclusion for a certain file, site, or mail server by using the steps in the following article:

How do I uninstall Avast Security?

Avast Security cannot be fully uninstalled by dragging the application to the Trash. To uninstall Avast Security:

1. In your Applications folder, double-click the Avast icon to open the application.
2. Click Avast in the menu bar, then select Uninstall Avast Security from the context menu.
3. Click Uninstall.

For detailed uninstallation instructions, refer to the following article:

• Avast Security 14.x for Mac
• Avast Premium Security 14.x for Mac

• Apple macOS 10.14.x (Mojave)
• Apple macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra)
• Apple macOS 10.12.x (Sierra)
• Apple Mac OS X 10.11.x (El Capitan)
• Apple Mac OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite)

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.

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

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‘

How Can I Temporarily Disable Avast

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

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

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

Avast

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).

Turn Off Avast Secure Browser

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