Hello! I’ve been using Avast for a long time and I want to report this kind of issue if anyone has experienced it before.
So Avast Free Antivirus possesses many features that make protection strong, but paid version provides more. One of the free features is the Network Inspector, which I believe might be the cause of the problem I faced.
I have a family member complaining about Avast attempting to gain access to his device’s data and that attempt causes significant internet traffic at his end. I want to know if there’s any reason why, if it’s the Network Inspector’s fault, it is attempting that kind of action. If possible, how do I prevent that problem from occurring again when I run my Avast again.
The Network Inspector, as far as I’m aware should be local only, in that it protects the network that Avast is installed on.
Typically a PC or Laptop that has Avast installed monitors any connections to your WiFi it shouldn’t have any need to actually connect to the internet. See attached screenshot of the Network Inspector settings on my system.
I have a family member complaining about Avast attempting to gain access to his device's data and that attempt causes significant internet traffic at his end.
If there are connections to the internet, I would have to doubt it is the Network Inspector. The shield that monitors your internet traffic is the Web Shield, it isn’t initiating the connections as such but checking for malware.
I haven’t found that to be an issue on my system (only I’m the only user), but I have no idea what the family member is doing to feel that something in Avast ‘causes significant internet traffic at his end’. Are you or any other family members experiencing this ?
You can stop it from monitoring a network - AvastUI > Protection > Network Inspector > Monitor this Network and see if it makes any difference.
Only that member had that problem and everyone else isn’t affected. Or maybe the reason why his device is targeted is because he was out of the house for awhile with the device. So when he came back into the house with the device, Avast sees a unknown device entering the internet.
Certainly strange, if it were as reported I would have expected to have see in impact all users on the network.
But out of the house it is possible with a weak WiFi network password it could be possible for someone else to connect to the WiFi network.
I would check his Network Inspector settings in the 2 images I posted and ensure that the protection levels are monitoring connections. That said I don’t think that when he comes back in his system would have to effectively reconnect to the home network.
It might see a visited and unknown network, as in my first image, but given the range of WiFi it shouldn’t retain that connection and be able to use it. As I have said the network inspector is essentially a local service to prevent unauthorised access to your WiFi.
I’m at a loss as to why he (?) might think it is the network inspector as it is a local service.
Avast attempting to gain access to his device's data and that attempt causes significant internet traffic at his end.