A little question on avast free

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello to all!!
My father has accidentally stumbled into a mysterious antivirus called “Windows Security Alert”, or something similar.
When he called me, I recognized it like a virus immediatly and I immediatly interrupted downloading.
So,Why avast hasn’t reported the threat before it begins downloading? Or why didn’t prevent access to the page where you found the virus?
Does anyone know the answer?

Another littel question…my avast gadget is disappeared…because I closed it when I upgrade avast to 6.0.1044…and now i have 6.0.1091 version but it doesn’t appeared in gadget window…why?

Thanks to all

2

If you go into any forum you will find these same words “NO SECURITY SOFTWARE CAN DETECT EVERYTHING”. Thanks. Better to teach your Father safe surfing habits and set him up with a secure browser like Firefox or Chrome. Nothing can stop click happy people who want to download this and that. You can also use a secure dns such as ClearCloud. If you press Alt+F4 it will immediately close out the browser. Clicking on anything can still infected you.

As far as you gadget…Uninstall and reinstall Avast.

3

These “rogue Anti Virus” progs can by nature be changed very quick in signature, so no AV can be up to date with al alterations out there.

You need to be alert and act safely, as Dieselman said (I’m repeating it a little more politely).

Also, it’s always a good idea to work / surf with a restricted user account, not one with administrative rights. Sandboxing would even be better.

I agree to the next post… ;D

4

Sandboxie is a very good choice or BufferZone.

5

Yep, Sandboxie or Bufferzone. I prefer Sandboxie.

6

Thanks for the answers, Dieselman and Zyndstoff.

To Dieselman…I know that an AV can’t detect everything,expecially a free version, but I wanted to know the reason.Maybe I expressed badly the concept, but my english is very bad. Another thing,everyone in my family use Firefox 4.0 or Chrome (the latest version) but if you found a threat like this “rogue Anti Virus” I don’t think that a browser is able to protect you.And my fahter isn’t a stupid,he is just afraid to lose his data or to format the hdd.

7

If he is afraid to lose his data then back it up. Get an external HDD is image the drive. Dont be afraid. Be prepared. Add No Script and Ad Block Plus to Firefox.

8

Of course he is no stupid.

There is a big difference between “stupid” and “not PC savvy”. Most of the people are the latter, but all are users naturally.
And people not that savvy tend to panic and click on the offered “save me” button if fake alerts show up - and this being the fatal error.

That’s why it’s alwasy good to work in safer environment like restricted user accounts, sandboxing etc.

The easiest and fastest quick help for you to make your dad live safer is really that additional restricted user account where he can surf and work with.

9

Sorry, Maxreed, but I found out it only comes with avast! 6. Run a full system scan to get rid of the files Windows Security Alert downloaded. Make sure WSA is COMPLETELY uninstalled. P.S. Did your dad get any download alerts or info? Please post that.

10

You cannot uninstall a rogue. Anyways it was never downloaded. ::slight_smile:

11

Yeah, I know. I need to know if he got any auto-download warnings or info.