BUG - Changed Shield settings used ONLY after shield stop & re-start

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Stop & re-start is required for File System Shield to start using changed “report file - report items” settings. (Might be more settings that require it too, haven’t tested all!!)

Steps:

  1. From File System Shield → Expert Settings → Report file: untick “Infected items” and click OK to save settings.
  2. Download e.g. EICAR test virus and see that the File System Shield acted on it (moved to chest with my settings).
  3. Open Shield log (FileSystemShield.txt) from “Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\report” folder.

= EICAR virus was logged. BUG! There’s a text line at the end of the file which starts with the date & time and lists the file which was the downloaded EICAR virus (there’s also a “File was successfully moved to chest…” text line after the infected virus log text line).

  1. Stop File System Shield and start it again.
  2. Download e.g. EICAR test virus again and see that the File System Shield acted on it (moved to chest with my settings).
  3. Again, open Shield log (FileSystemShield.txt) from “Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\report” folder.

= Now there’s only “File was successfully moved to chest…” text line. This is correct behavior.

Bottom line: Stop & re-start is required for File System Shield to start using changed “report file - report items” settings.

PROBABLY happens with other shields too. Maybe with other settings too!

This bug has been in avast since 5.x!! Tested with both of my computers.

Desktop PC: Windows XP SP3. Has been running from at least avast 4.x version. Customized settings. Shields installed & On: Network, Script & Behavior. Shield installed & Off: File (has been too buggy and slow to turn on on this machine, started from the first 5.x version, similar settings in 4.x worked just fine.). On-demand scans used for new files (+VirusTotal online scanner for files from unknown/shady sources), and saved custom full scan every month… no malware… if one knows what to do, it’s possible to run a PC without “full” AV protection for better performance.

Laptop: Windows XP SP3. Clean new installation of 7.0.1456. No settings changed. Shields installed & On: File, Network, Script & Behavior.

2

What’s the policy around here? Is bug reports accepted through forum? Will somebody from avast answer that the report is acknowledged?

3

I’ll do something about it.
However, it probably won’t be included in the very next program update. There’s a potential to introduce other problems by the fix, and since this one has been there since 5.0, it can wait a bit more to get properly tested.

4

Thanks Igor again (how many times I’ve written this lately?! :)) I’m all for the proper testing, remember to test other settings too (not just this “report items”) and other shields.

5

This seems to be finally fixed in the latest 7.0.1474 version. Thanks.