How to disable Avast shell integration/item in context menu?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I can’t find this option in the settings.
I read something about changing avast5.ini to add ShellExtensionFileName=-1 but I can’t edit that file, says Access Denied.

2

You can only use notepad (other text editors only have read access) to edit the avast5.ini file, when you save your changes the avast self-defence module will ask for confirmation.

I don’t know about the -1 value though, don’t know where you read that. It also doesn’t remove the integration in the explorer shell it just removes the long file/folder names being displayed.

3

Asked for confirmation but Notepad says access denied.

I guess I’ll just uninstall Avast. People who failed to include option to disable shell integration probably fail at many other more important things.

4

You should use Notepad with administrator privilege.

5

There used to be an option that let you temporarily disable the self defense
module. Once it was done, you could edit and save the file.

Is that option no longer present ?

6

Avast GUI → settings → troubleshooting → enable self defense.

But this should be unchecked only temporarily. Once whatever you want to do is finished, you should recheck that checkbox.

Generally speaking, this is not really needed. Most common tasks can be done without lowering Avast’s defenses.

7

I didn’t know about that one either…but it seems to work. I changed it to -1 and there was no avast entry

EDIT: There is a thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=82240

8

I’d like to know why you would even want to disable the shell intergration, it’s such a handy feature and is a true necessity with any good av for simple right clicking and scanning any file. ???

9

Yes, I really wasn’t sure if the - would be an accepted parameter, as we have seen that trying to apply a - in other areas (but the UI) and it didn’t seem to have that effect. So I though we were stuck with 1 (default on display file/folder name) or 0 (off don’t display file/folder name) for the ShellExtensionFileName option.

So weird to see -1 to switch off shell integration completely. I had completely missed that recent post.

10

It wasn’t until I tried it that I searched for it. Guessed it was probably posted here somewhere…

11

Whould be interested to know, why the OP needs this…???

12

Some people just don’t like shell extension clutter.

13

Hmm… Ok.

14

I don’t think I need it, that’s why. Why should I need to right click and scan files, isn’t that done automatically whenever a file is accessed?
Also, I like my context menus clean and free of icons and unnecessary entries.

The right question to ask is why wouldn’t the developers provide the option to disable shell integration via settings in the GUI? Put it in advanced settings, along with all other configuration options that the program supports.

Anyway thanks to DarkMasters, I have now disabled the context menu entry and I look forward to ignoring Avast as it protects my system for years to come.

15

HI THERE!!!.. I HAVE A BIG RPOBLEM!!..PLS HELP ME…HOW CAN I ENABLE THE CONTEXT MENU EXTENSION IN AVAST 8.0.1483??..WHEN I CLICK RIGHT BUTTON ON THE FOLDER DON’T APPEAR THAT EXTENSION…HOW CAN I FIX THAT??HELPP MEEEEE!!!

16

Please don’t post in multiple topics about the same thing, this isn’t going to help resolve your problem, it just duplicates effort for those trying to help.

17

Repair avast!:

  1. Control Panel → Add/Remove programs → avast!
  2. Click on ‘Repair’.
  3. Follow instructions.
  4. Reboot.
18

Already told him that in the other post he made 1 minute before this one.

19

Just saw it, we could clean this topic then. :wink:

20

There is a free program which is very useful in its’ own right, Piriform CCleaner, that has a tool that can customize your shell. Under “tools”, “startup”, "context menu.