Is avast actually running?

[system]

Hi!

I have just downloaded and installed ‘Avast Free Mac Security’, but I don’t see a process in the activity monitor, except ‘com.avast.helper’ and ‘com.avast.update-agent’. Isn’t an anti virus software a process that runs in the background? Is avast actually running?

thanks!

[Eddy]

You can always test it with the EICAR testfile.

[Mac]

Yes it runs in the background. You can use the EICAR test file as eddy says to test it.

Also you can verify the WebShield is running by visiting a HTTPS (Secure) website and looking at the certificate in use, it will show Avast as the certificate issuer.

[tumic]

@r.gerger post:1

Hi!

I have just downloaded and installed ‘Avast Free Mac Security’, but I don’t see a process in the activity monitor, except ‘com.avast.helper’ and ‘com.avast.update-agent’. Isn’t an anti virus software a process that runs in the background? Is avast actually running?

thanks!

Most probably it is running correctly but you did not display the “system” processes, only the user ones. If you enable displaying of processes of all users, you will see 4 more Avast “system” processes (com.avast daemon, com.avast.service, com.avast.fileshield and com.avast.proxy) that belong to the shields and the scan engine.