Disable avast accessing internet

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello.

How do I prevent avast from accessing the internet? The company policy does not let us have programs access internet. I disabled everything internet related in avast, but it still tries to connect to internet.

Avast 7 PRO

2

so how do you want it to update if not connecting to internet ?

3

You can disable a number of avast! functions requiring connections (automatic updates, cloud services, remote content display, maybe even WebShield which redirects your browser’s connection via avast! service) - but there’s no guarantee there are/will be no more, so the only reliable way is to block the processes with a personal firewall.

4

Update through either manual update, or by transfer from another machine.

I guess a firewall will be necessary then… any suggestions?

5

Hi All,

@PalHoneybee

Taking away an Modern anti-virus’s internet connection is like getting a knight to defend your castle and taking away his word and shield…

6

I disagree.

  1. The antivirus is still updated to the latest virus database.
  2. None of the system shields are installed - it is used only as on-demand.
  3. Company policy…
7

so you want to use it to scan things? thats a good idea, but it will have to access the internet AT SOME POINT in order to have the latest scoop on the bad guys. Avast does have an option to use manual updates only. Maybe you already know that, I’m just a noob :-\

8

Avast does offer the virus database updates in a stand alone installer that you can copy to a flash drive and install. You can download them here:
http://www.avast.com/download-update

9

Manual updates are not as frequently updated as the Auto updates…

Even if they were completely up to date, Are you going to download the manual updates 4 times a day every day?

If you contract Zero day malware you will not get the definition as soon as you could have.

You also won’t have any cloud services like steaming updates or File reputation.

You say your company policy does not allow programs to access the internet? I assume your are not a sysadmin for this company… Why the hell is your IT department not rolling out a corporate solution for anti-virus??

I’m assuming you will run this along-side another AV?

10

Violating corporate IT policies will result in termination in most jobs. Running unauthorized programs may be against their policy.

11

I would agree that blocking it through a personal firewall would be a prudent move in the sense that it should be a one-time change that solves the issue permanently. However, it would also be appropriate if avast itself provides the means to disable all such connections. Your “…no guarantee there are/will be no more…” comment makes one think that avast does not provide the means of disabling all such connections. Is that the case with 6 or 7? Is it not something you intend to provide going forward?

To OP: Arguably, your employer should block all avast connections for you via their corporate firewall. So in addition to whatever else you are exploring, you might contact the admin and have them look into doing so.

12

The connections are done to avast servers to deploy info, news, marketing stuff… Everything into a well known practice of NOT boring the user. But, for sure, it’s for free and it can generate some pro users, can’t it?
Why would we/they block it?

13

To support the legitimate needs and desires of users? Mind you, although I did not explicitly state it previously, I wouldn’t have a problem with the free version having some limitations with regards to blocking features which require a remote connection. I certainly wouldn’t encourage such limitations, especially if they eliminate the ability to disable those features which send information out of the user’s machine. However, I recognize that providing a free lunch for everyone gets kind of expensive.

14

The information is not sent, but received.
If anything is sent, it’s autonomously.

15

To answer a few questions:

  1. Yes, avast would be used to scan files, initiated manually, nothing automatic.
  2. Updates of avast database would be made fully manually by transferring the update file
  3. Updates would only be done right before new files are introduced into the machine (happens about once a month).
  4. I am not the sysadmin of the company.
  5. We already have a corporate policy for antivirus, but we keep a few testing machines (and virtual machines), which have a single bought license of most antivirus vendors for testing how it behaves.
  6. The tested product was Avast Pro, and the observed (unwanted) behavior has apparently been happening since version 5 of avast.
  7. I don’t see why Avast Pro would need to “keep the user entertained” or show marketing info. Both because it is a Pro version (hence more advanced users, I would hope), and because the user has already made a payment to Avast.
16

Can you share anything more about what it is that you haven’t been able to disable in avast 7? I mean, is this something that happens periodically and infrequently or something that happens every time you perform a scan? Do you know what remote host is being contacted? Can you capture the traffic and track back to a certain feature? Does is seem correlated to something, like popup messages from avast?