AvastEmUpdate.exe wants server rights

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I had too many problems with the free avast! 7.0.1456 update last July and was discouraged so rolled back to 7.0.1426. I decided to wait for a later version. I even looked at some other antivirus programs but couldn’t find anything better.

Now I’ve just done the internal program update to 7.0.1466 which was quick and problem free. All of my original module selections and settings (even an avast5.ini file tweak) were retained. Congrats on providing a fast and clean update process.

The only uncertainty was with the AvastEmUpdate.exe process (“avast! Emergency Update”) which wants server rights, which I denied. I consider anything that wants server rights to be a privacy and security risk (phoning home). I’ve aware of some prior discussions and arguments about it here, which did not change my mind. I’m not totally closed to hearing more arguments in its favor, but it would be a tough sale. :-\

2

hmmmm…so you don’t trust your security program ::slight_smile:

3

It serves a purpose, should there be an avast problem that isn’t recoverable by the user aside from a full reinstall, the Avast Emergency Update function can download a fix update from avast to overcome the problem. It is only checking for the presence of an avast emergency update (nothing else) if so it would download it so the problem could be resolved. This isn’t going to be happening frequently as its name implies Emergency it isn’t a daily occurrence, just the check is. So far in the time it has been present there hasn’t bee a case for its use.

We aren’t going to sell you anything I certainly won’t waste time trying change your mind, tough sell or not.

Now you know its purpose or probably already did from what you have said you read before, you have to decide. I hope you will be happy with whatever you choose.

4

Thanks for the clear explanation.

Since it has never been used, it seems a waste of resources to keep a process running constantly on my computer for such an unlikely eventuality maybe years in the future, maybe never. It is not listed in msconfig or services.msc so I can’t do anything there. I attempted to stop the process manually in Task Manager but access was denied. I also tried to rename AvastEmUpdate.exe to .old in my Program Files folder but it wasn’t allowed. It does not appear in Scheduled Tasks in Control Panel.

Is there were any way to refuse, uninstall, or block that process from starting, such as an avast5.ini file tweak? Or any way to stop/block/modify the daily check attempt? Otherwise I’ll block it with my firewall as much as possible, but it would be nice if I could kill the process entirely in the first place.

5

Where did you get the idea that this process is “constantly” running? It’s not you know…

6

It appears in Task Manager as an active process AvastEmUpdate.exe, using a certain number of kb memory.

However I believe I’ve found a way to kill it…

I renamed AvastEmUpdate.exe to .old in the Program Files folder in Safe Mode, and it was accepted OK, then rebooted into normal Windows Mode. Now that process is apparently no longer running (does not appear in Task Manager). And the avast GUI has not complained (so far).

That’s an easy fix, if there are no hidden negative consequences(?).

7

You seem to spend more time trying to kill features in avast than anything else, why do you constantly fight what is there for a specific purpose.

Avast’s integrity checking might well detect that it isn’t present and replace it. Plus you may well get errors when the scheduled task tries to run.

As RejZoR said it isn’t running all of the time, it is run as a schedule and once run closes. I have no entry in the Task Manager, so it would rather depend on when you checked the task manager.

8
You seem to spend more time trying to kill features in avast than anything else, why do you constantly fight what is there for a specific purpose.
it seems some are more worried about the security program they install then the malware they may get ::)
9

I’ll leave it that way for awhile and see what happens… So far so good. I’m happy with it, at this point.

P.S. I never let it have server rights, so maybe it didn’t run even once, which may explain why it was in my list of Task Manager processes.

10

Yep, it would.
Only option to block it (I don’t recommend it) would be with a firewall. :wink:

11

+1.

Igor’s answered a similar question a while back: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=100291.msg802029#msg802029

According to WinPatrol, my AvastEmUpdate.exe, is set to run @ 12 hours. BTW it is the only place that shows the time schedule. CCleaner also shows it as a scheduled task, but it does not show the time.

12

Check out the OP’s signature. Obviously he wants to make use of the viruses and worms section.
I can’t wait to see if he disables the web shield. ;D

13

Thanks for the info & clues. So far it hasn’t reappeared. I’ll wait til it does to try anything more.

14

FYI
It still hasn’t reappeared after 6 days so I don’t think it will.
Maybe that’s because I have avast set not to check for program updates(?).
This is a satisfactory solution to me.
Thanks for your help.

15

FYI:
The AvastEmUpdate process didn’t reappear til I updated to the new 7.0.1473 program version today. So I renamed AvastEmUpdate.exe to .old in the Program Files folder in Safe Mode again, and it’s gone again…til the next time I update the avast program, I suppose That’s not a lot of trouble, but I wish there were an aboveboard setting to turn it off permanently.

16

If I were paranoid about any program (including security) or it’s components, it would not be installed for long. ::slight_smile:

17

I posted a reply to that “paranoid” nonsense comment which has disappeared. Why? Was it deleted by moderator? If so, that has never happened before. And if so, I’ll be less likely to waste my time here in future.