The reason for asking is that my 15 year old teenager don’t quite get it when I tell him WHY AWAST reacts on some keygen he is trying to use. I would therefore love to be able to control how AVAST is used on his laptop. For example, I would like to predefine what kind of action AVAST would have when it detect a virus or trojan - such as Delete file. It should under no circumstances be possible for my son to bypass this with for example “No action”. Neither should he be able to temprarily disable AVAST.
Now, if this could be remotely controlled, from for example the Windows Home Server interface, this would be super!
Well first off, I trust that you only give your son a Limited User account, as that could well limit the damage done by any malware that did manage to get on the system.
I don’t believe there is a way to stop the No action selection by your son, however all that no action means is take none of the options given. However, avast won’t allow that to run if it feels it is infected, no matter how many times no action is selected, every time he tries to run it avast will alert.
The only way round that is for the file name and location to be added to the exclusions lists, Now I don’t know if by adding a password to the avast Program Settings would stop him doing that I don’t know.
The avast self-defence module would stop avast being disabled but not via the ‘a’ icon as you can see on the image example, there is a Stop on-access protection and or Pause or Stop Provider options. I just don’t know if this too would be blocked by the setting of the password as I don’t have a password on my version and once set the only way to remove it it a reinstall.
I think he would get it when the system is not available to him after infection, but that is a little late.
Using a password will stop setting changes without the password. As a relatively new user take this for what it is worth, it may work to customize the standard shield to go to silent mode and answer No as the default. I think the alerts would not show up to select an action and the offending program would be put in the chest (or possibly deleted which could be a problem).
I have been able to add a password and then change it back to no password a number of times. To change to a blank password I enter the old password and tab through the new password boxes leaving them blank and select OK. I haven’t had to reinstall Avast to not have a password required (Vista x64).
Yes you can change it to a blank password, but doesn’t that still pop-up a window asking for the password, albeit that you don’t enter anything just click enter (or does it just not ask) ?
Only i use my pc so i dont need password but is it necessary use it to prevent unwanted changes by viruses ?? Is it possible that someone from net can change my settings? I want a quick password to reach my settings immediatelly and i heard about blank password it seems very practical. Is it good enough ?
When returning to a blank password I don’t even get the pop-up window. I usually maintain a password for extra protection since others do occasionally use this PC.
Thanks for the update, that should allow the original poster to set a password and see/test what it actually blocks.
@ rvoith
You could also try to setup a notification on his laptop to notify you when a detection is made. You can elect to be emailed (MAPI or SMTP) using the Program Settings, Alerts, section, though I have never been able to get this working on my system with dial-up. When I tried this as a test, the actual test function worked but a real test alert (eicar file) the email failed to be sent.
I assume that this is the Home version your son is using ?
If so I feel any options are likely to be less as the Pro version can be set up to take automatic action on detection (a little more than the silent mode with general answer No that was previously mentioned), repair, if fails, move to chest, etc. etc. So your son wouldn’t be able to take any no action option as it would be dealt with with the auto processing of the pro version.
Teenagers being what they are and many technically proficient, you never know he may lock you out ;D
And it seems like the basic password lock can be sufficient to lock my son out of the configuration screens. If I tried to Pause or stop any of the providers, AVAST asked me for a password.
The password blocks the settings and the disable of the providers. The automated actions could be configurated in Pro version. In the Home one, you can only send files to Chest.
I have avast! set to full Silent Mode for all providers and locked with password for my sister’s laptop.
So she doesn’t have to worry what to click when malware is detected and no one can ask her to disable it manually.
