Is "Warn when downloading files with poor reputation" still functioning?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

hello everyone,

For a long period of time since avast updated to the new UI, I haven’t seen “warn when downloading files with poor reputation” working or notifying even once

I have done some testing with newly updated projects in SourceForge or some download websites, usually avast warns at least 1 download as poor reputation. However, until now, I have downloaded ~30 of them but received no notification from avast

So my question is “warn when downloading files with poor reputation” still functioning? How to verify that it’s still working correctly

Thank you

Version: avast free 18.5
OS: windows 10x64 v1511

2

I didn’t see it neither recently. It looks like last warning was issued at Dec 2017 for me…

3

I’ve contacted a developer of the Web Shield regarding this and they have said it should still be working.

The dev will do more research and update the thread when it is completed.

4

Hello,

Thanks for the report.
Due to some changes in scanning approach this feature currently works only when File Shield is OFF (which I do not recommend :slight_smile: ).
We are discussing the future of this feature and will see whether it is still worth having there.

Regards,
Filip

5

thank you for your reply :slight_smile:
Please, keep this feature because it’s extremely helpful in detecting zero-day malwares. It may help detecting malware downloaded by scripts (.js, .vbs, .jar, .cmd) where they can bypass hardened mode

It works very similarly to Norton’s download insight, which they are very proud of

6

This functionality of course stays, it’s just part of web shield. no more settings needed for it.

7

thank you for your replies
I know this might be not a good question but would it be fixed in the next version update?

Thank you

8

yes, in next version the setting will be removed

9

sorry but I don’t understand this sentence. Could you please clarify it a bit?

in the next version, the setting will be removed so it means either:
1/ the feature of “warn…” will be enabled by default → users can’t disable it anymore if they want to
2/ it will be also removed forever

10

1/ is correct

11

this feature still hasn’t worked in the latest version unless file shield is disabled
I don’t see it in the changelog :frowning: