Avast! (mac) must be in Applications Folder + Testing?

[kori42]

1. re Mac dmg installation: I normally put programs like this in the Utilities folder, but Avast says it cannot work from there - that it must be in Applications. I assume this is because you have hard coded its location? It’s unusual for a Mac application to have to be in any particular place.

2. Could you provide ways to test its effectiveness? Since there aren’t any viruses in the wild (that I know of), how can we know that it is working? eg Opendns provides fake bad sites that will be “blocked” if you are using OpenDNS:
   http://internetbadguys.com - produces either
   (o) phish.opendns.com/?url=www.internetbadguys.com = BLOCKED or
   (i) internetbadguys.com = “only a demonstration site”

http://exampleadultsite.com - produces either
(o) block.opendns.com/?url=...&ablock = BLOCKED (if nudity or pornography is enabled)
(i) exampleadultsite.com = “only a demonstration site”

[tumic]

@kori42 post:1

2. Could you provide ways to test its effectiveness? Since there aren’t any viruses in the wild (that I know of), how can we know that it is working? eg Opendns provides fake bad sites that will be “blocked” if you are using OpenDNS:
   http://internetbadguys.com - produces either
   (o) phish.opendns.com/?url=www.internetbadguys.com = BLOCKED or
   (i) internetbadguys.com = “only a demonstration site”

http://exampleadultsite.com - produces either
(o) block.opendns.com/?url=...&ablock = BLOCKED (if nudity or pornography is enabled)
(i) exampleadultsite.com = “only a demonstration site”

For malware testing you can use the eicar “virus” from www.eicar.org that is detected by almost all antivirus products, avast! included.

For URL blocking tests you can use the avast! test URL http://www.avast.com/eng/test-url-blocker.html.

[zilog]

@kori42 post:1

1. re Mac dmg installation: I normally put programs like this in the Utilities folder, but Avast says it cannot work from there - that it must be in Applications. I assume this is because you have hard coded its location? It’s unusual for a Mac application to have to be in any particular place.

2. Could you provide ways to test its effectiveness? Since there aren’t any viruses in the wild (that I know of), how can we know that it is working? eg Opendns provides fake bad sites that will be “blocked” if you are using OpenDNS:
   http://internetbadguys.com - produces either
   (o) phish.opendns.com/?url=www.internetbadguys.com = BLOCKED or
   (i) internetbadguys.com = “only a demonstration site”

http://exampleadultsite.com - produces either
(o) block.opendns.com/?url=...&ablock = BLOCKED (if nudity or pornography is enabled)
(i) exampleadultsite.com = “only a demonstration site”

Hallo,

1. • avast is a system-wide application, thus it’s better to have one proper location for it. otherwise, there’s no hardcoded limitation causing this, it’s just an additional check (preventing more versions installed in parallel and other unwanted things).

regards,
pc