I got a new mobile phone yesterday, after loading avast, and updating the core android apps, like gmail, chrome and such, i loaded whatsapp. all these were from the official play store, after whatsapp loaded i decided to do another virus scan. it came back with 1 file and a message invalid context during scan, and then you have a option to ignore the file. im pretty sure i didnt ignore the file, i then did a rescan and there was no problems found, when looking at the log the only conclusion i could come up with was that it did an auto update of the virus definitions when this scan was taking place and somehow caused this invalid context message. i keep rescanning and it doesnt find any problems. am i safe?, how do i see if there are files ignored during an avast scan?. im not sure if avast creates temp files when it updates the definitions causing this problem?
Hi,
there is currently no way of ignoring a file forever so you are safe if you did a rescan.
Filip
But what could have caused this invalid context?, it was on a random file that i cant even find
Hi,
since it fixed itself, I don’t know. It shouldn’t happen during update, never did for me or anyone else I know. Not saying it can’t cause there might be bugs in everything, but I wouldn’t be bothered by it as long as it works 
Filip
it was a file with random characters and long name in /sdcard0/ which is the main storage for a samsung galaxy note 2. I can not however find this file. Thats why i wondered if avast creates temp files in /sdcard0/ when it updates the definitions. Because when i look at the log, the time of the scan, and the time of when the definitions updated automatically, the times are very close together. Is there a way to see which files are ignored or have been “quarantined” by avast mobile?
Hi,
as I said, there is no long-term ignore option, you can ignore only until the next scan. There is also no “quarantine”. Oh, you were asking about avast! creating temp files on SD card - no, we don’t do that. The only file we create on SD card is an activity log file which should be in /sdcard0/Android/data/com.avast.android.mobilesecurity/files/log/avast-log.txt if you have enough events in the activity log already (usually after few days of usage).
Filip
So what could have caused this?, when definitions are updated, are they perhaps somehow created as temp files before being applied, since it would be strange that it picked up this file with an invalid context message, i remember last time that definitions got corrupted that effected everyone, so could this have occured when a scan is happening and automatic update is happening as well?, because the file it picked up is no where to be found, could it have been a temp file that whatsapp creates when its first installed and then deletes?, but i know avast scans each app before install from google play
Hi,
no, it shouldn’t. The access is exclusive so no errors should happen during that.
Filip
so what causes an invalid context message?, do i now need to factory reset the phone and start from scratch?
Hi,
if it doesn’t show it during a common scan, there is nothing to worry about. It’s being shown when something is really wrong with the database. It might have been just some glitch (maybe even UI one).
Filip
so an invalid context message is a definitions database problem?
Exactly.
Filip
this is why i wonder if it happened while the definitions were updating
It shouldn’t by design. That’s why I really can’t tell you why it happened. Unless you are able to reproduce the issue, of course. In that case we could try to take a closer look
Filip
well all scans ive done after finds nothing, so should i do a factory reset or am i safe?
You are completely safe
Filip
thanks are you one of the avast mobile security programmers?
No problem. Yes, I am.
Filip
same problem here. Today I got it with every app now. 20 and more message. Maybe a database problem?
It might be. But we need to see more details.