Default "Actions" to ASK, -not- Delete

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Tired of installing/reinstalling Avast and later finding your expected important email was deleted because Avast gets ‘suspicious’ and by default simply doesn’t Ask if you want it or not? Instead Avast just DELETES it, leaving you with only a lame ‘Warning’ message… and really no detail about the email except for a warning.

Perhaps, a poll will generate enough numbers that Avast might take notice and offer us all some SAFE alternative other than the summary execution of (deletion of) email that Avast finds ‘suspicious’ or ‘possibly unwanted’ or false positive or whatever.

I’ve emailed myself important information as an MHT webpage, from across town… all for naught since Avast Heuristics gave me a warning WITH NO RECOURSE to retrieve the email/attachments. Indeed there was not even the simple text message that was included with the attachments. Thanks Avast.

I’m just tired of having to go into the Security, Antivirus page to each Shield, Settings, Actions… then to set the defaults in -triplicate- for Virus, PUP, and Suspicious. For myself, for times when I might wipe/reinstall… and for the many other users for whom I provide help/recommendation/installation of an antivirus program. Tedious, TEDIOUS, TEDIOUS with Avast to keep it from exterminating anything suspicious.

There should be, at least, an ‘advanced’ installation option to set ONE set of defaults to apply to -all- shields and -all- states (virus, pup, suspicious)… then they could be later adjusted individually.
And it would help to have Actions settings indicators on the Summary page.

Previously it was a simple PDF from across the country that I lost… now MHT. How many other filetypes would disappear because Avast won’t ‘Ask’… if I didn’t rebuild the Actions tree?
Hard to recommend the program to others when -I- have to do the setup and tediously change Actions in a dozen or more locations.
Gripe, gripe. No, don’t defend the current defaults to me, please. It’s not helpful.

2

Apparently you have no used a lot of antiviruses. Most of them do delete once an infection is found. The reason that “ask” is not the default state is cause anytime you leave the decision making up to the user it can become very dangerous. Most antiviruses are setup with the average user in mind. The average user does not know if something is malicious or safe. They rely on there antivirus to tell them that. No reason to make a poll and I highly doubt Avast will change the default action. What if the average user clicks “allow” instead of block on a piece of malware? Then they get infected and blame Avast for not blocking it. Thanks and have a great day. The following remove malware without asking:

  1. Norton
  2. Kaspersky
  3. BitDefender
  4. McAfee
  5. Panda

So is Avast alone? No. User intervention is never a good idea when it comes to malware. 99% of pc’s users do not want to be bothered answering “allow or block”. They just want there antivirus to work.

3

Ask requires that the user has the knowledge to answer the question on what action to take for the file, With in excess of 180 million users avast has to take into consideration the average user.

Those more experienced users are more than capable of changing the default settings at their own risk.

4

I agree.