Ahoy me hearties. I have used the free version of Avast for a long time and couldn’t like it better. BUT it finally let me down. Somehow, some spyware installed completely undetected. It’s a rather well known spyware known as Relevant Knowledge. Been known for at least 5 years and there has even been topics about it at this very message board in the past years. Why isn’t it blacklisted by avast by now? Please block this from secretly installing from now on. Better late that never! Thanks.
Have you removed it yet?
If not, download and install Malwarebytes Free, update the definitions and then run a full scan. MBam will remove it.
www.malwarebytes.org/
probably because it s detected as PUP
https://www.virustotal.com/nl/file/1fb9cb60b11165df3298dee55b59517e3ed15957b820b19b4ca0d8f9f2e20173/analysis/
PUP = not a virus / Possible Unwanted Program
pup scan is default off in quick/full scan, but on in bootscan
so i suggest you run AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes
see instructions here. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0
if still problems, let us know and we will notifie the removal experts and they will assist you
Is there anyway to run PUP detection 24/7?
I got rid of it with Spybot, it had to restart to complete removal.
I know it’s not a virus but it should be treated like one. “Relevant knowledge” can be very difficult to get rid of, like a virus.
PS, having the captcha verification here is a big pain in the butt. I’ve already registered here and activated my account, why do I have to enter a captcha? If you enter a single letter incorrectly, your entire reply is gone. Just like that. And if you’ve ever used captchas (pretty sure everyone has) you know how hard they can be to read. Bleh. Get rid of it. I’m not going to post here in the future or anything, just giving you a suggestion to vastly improve your message board 
the captcha is only for first 3 post…spam protection 
you can trurn on PUP scan in avast, but be aware that many legit programs, like factory insalled programs from Dell / HP / Thosiba will be detected as PUP because of what they can do…programs that can be good or bad if abused.
so you need to check what they are before you take action…so i would let avast stay at default scan settings and let AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes take care of the crap
i would replace SpyBot with Malwarebytes, SpyBot once a good program in the early days of spyware is no good with todays malware
run the programs i suggested
AdwCleaner will clear your browser for all crap toolbars/files/adware
Malwarebytes will clear additional malware and crap if you have any
files detected as PUP by Malwarebytes is usually not a problem removing…they will be in MBAM quarantine folder if you need to restore
you may post scan logs from AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes here when done
Keep in mind that NO antivirus is 100% effective.
Go to Avast shields and then go to settings for File system Shield and go to sensitivity, turn on PUP settings, then hit OK, do the same with Web Shield, then go to Scan Now and check PUP scan for all the scanners.
+1 when will people ever understand this :
You can go to the Norton forums, Kaspersky forums and the McAfee forums and see the same post. Nothing finds everything and every antivirus will miss something. It’s a proven fact.
For a review of SpyBot S&D see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412372,00.asp