I am running the latest ver of Avast Free 17.3.2291 on win7 sp1.
I have been running Avast on my PC’s for many years and love the software.
I have now found that Exclusions in the ‘Filesystem Shield’ are not being excluded.
I have a ‘download directory’ that I want to be left untouched by Avast (until I specifically select the Directories and/or files), yet when I run ‘Smart Scan’ the directory is being scanned.
I have proved it is ‘really’ being scanned by placing a known ‘Keygen’ in the ‘download directory’ and Avast is picking it up when I perform a Smart Scan.
Additionally, I also am finding that clicking on the ‘Bell’ to list notifications, does list scans performed BUT when I attempt to look at the ‘scan log details’ the scan is started again.
To my knowledge previous versions of Avast did not have these problems.
Thanks for the Free AV software, very useful to have, and I hope these problems can be fixed soon.
What is it that you are actually entering in the exclusions window ?
The Details starting the Smart Scan again is a known issue and has been for some time. What I can’t understand is why it hasn’t been fixed yet.
Personally I feel excluding the downloads folder could be putting your system at risk.
The Smart Scan doesn’t have any settings like the other on-demand scans, so you can’t specifically enter an exclusion. I don’t know if you have set the path into the avastUI > Settings > General > Exclusions (Global exclusions) and see if that applies to the Smart Scan.
DavidR,
Thanks for the response.
From what you say, am I to understand that ‘Smart Scan’ ignores ALL exclusions, including the ones that you enter in the ‘File System Shield’ ? [See 1st Attachment]
Also the Smart Scan DOES have its own exclusions amongst other options to set !!! (I set the same directory spec in ALL exclusions throughout Avast.)
The Smart Scan (an on demand scan) has nothing to do with the File System Shield FSS (an on-access scan) so I would say it is highly unlikely it would comply with the FSS exclusions.
My apologies, I had missed the entry for the Smart Scan in the General Settings, I was looking at the lack of the Smart Scan in the drop down list on the Scan For Viruses options.
Yes any exclusions you put in the Smart Scan section should work.
I see your new attachment and the avastUI > General > Exclusions I believe should also work in the Smart Scan also, as that is a universal exclusion. So you aren’t having to set exclusions for all scan types.
Thanks for the clarification.
I thought that the various settings for the shields appliied across all scans.
Logically, the Smart Scan is just a ‘inbuilt’ version of the scans you can run yourself, or so I thought.
Either way as you have stated the exclusions I have set both globally and within the Smart Scan option SHOULD work !!!
Is anyone able to verify that this is a known problem or is it just me ?
BTW:
The risks you have stated are not as large as you think, in my case.
I know what I am downloading and I do not execute anything downloaded to my excluded directory on the PC.
All the PC’s/Laptops/Tablets are protected by Multiple AV/AM software (including Avast) + Router based Firewall + local network based DNS Server with ‘address filter’ + PC based Firewall.
(All risks are taken within a VM within another VM [Nested VirtualBox within Vmware] which is restored to a Clean State/Build automatically from ‘Snapshots’)
Touch wood … I have never been infected by a virus or any malware in 30yrs.
I research regularly for improvements and changes to my ‘protections’.
This gets stranger - I only have 17.3.2291 installed on one system (the XP one in my signature), the other two win7 home 32bit and win10 home 64bit (which I using right now). So there are times I’m working from memory, not great.
I have now opened my system with 17.3.2291 and opened the Smart Scan settings and I have to wonder if it should be scanning your Downloads folder (even without exclusions. The default Scan Areas are Roootkits (very quick scan), Auto-Start programs and Modules loaded in memory. Unless you have changed the default settings for the Smart Scan, scan areas it shouldn’t be scanning the download folder.+
As far as risk goes, my comment was not only for you but others who may also be reading this topic and not knowing the measures that you take. You certainly have yourself covered.
I have not changed the default settings other than to add the exclusion(s) for ‘C:\Downloads’.
Can you confirm that the exclusions do not work for you ?
It would be useful if this could be confirmed and passed back to the Devs as a problem.
Re: my comments on risk, it was not a criticism, simply wanted to set the context to show that it could be valid to exclude IF you ‘cover your back’ so to speak !!!
I provide ‘Free’ Tech support to Friends & Family so need to be as sure as possible that MY PC’s etc are not infected before I touch anyone elses kit.
As I very rarely run on-demand scans, usually in beta testing and in relation to forum topics.
But I have Exclusions set up for a number of areas, a virus test folder (for eicar tests, etc.) and another exclusion folder for samples, possible FPs (whilst investigating). Of all of the test scans none have resulted in alerts during scans.
I have the exclusions in the AvastUI > Settings > General > Exclusions, rather than in the specific scans and they work for me, no alerts during scans that would include those locations.
What I can’t understand is why the Smart Scan would go anywhere near your Downloads folder.
I’m running a Full System Scan right now but it will take a bit of time to complete. But image3 shows prior Smart Scans and a Quick Scan.
My Full System Scan (which I had set to also scan PUPs) did pick up a PUP in my downloads area (which I hadn’t excluded) and also in my backup locations.
I have tested it again and it does not happen. ???
I am at a loss to explain but have de-installed/re-installed Avast from the offline .exe and restored the setup from the backup file.
I have set up ‘Reporting’ from everything I can set, so that there is an accessible .txt file that I can read/list if anything happens again.
Many Thanks for your Time/Help.
You can put this one down to ‘Trouble between Chair and Keyboard !!!’ as I cannot prove otherwise. ;D
I don’t doubt that it happened, I just can’t see why it would, especially in the Smart Scan, which is a quite limited scan.
It is a bit weird, but I’ve just thought why it might go to the Downloads folder (but it is a bit thin on fact). If you go into the Smart Screen settings > Sensitivity - Links and do you have the Follow links during scan enabled (I think that is a default option). I just wondered if there might just be a link to downloads, very thin I know.
Computers, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.
Re: Computers, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.
So so true
I have seen so many unexplained/unexplainable ‘quirks’ on computers of all sizes/OS’es.
Usually you run out of time to investigate when users want the problem fixed rather than you tracking the fault down definatively.
A re-boot / re-install etc usually fixes it but you can never say why !!!
Once again thanks for your help.
I will see if it happens again but I expect it will not, just to annoy me
