I am running Outlook 2016 and AVAST PREMIER on my Windows 10 workstation. Every once in awhile my boss sends me an e-mail with a .zip file attached that has a .EXE file in it. Hes the developer for our company and sends me these files to do testing/etc. This is the way he prefers to do it even though we have ftp, ShareFile, etc.
AVAST will sometimes label the files as VIRUS and delete the attachments, since they are from my boss and developed by my boss in a closed environment I know that they are safe. I can’t find a way in the AVAST interface to add exclusions to the mail shield. No way to trust attachments from a specific domain or user. No way to trust specific EXEs in attachments.
How can I prevent it from stripping these attachments from the boss?
I have not tried to send it zipped with a password. It is my boss sending am e-mail to me, on my personal computer where I pay for AVAST PREMIER. Unfortunately for me, I can’t change his process from his perspective.
I understand, I place exclusions to prevent it from being a problem when the files are found in the file system. This is basically a development environment, with various files the boss develops and sends over ‘quickly’ for some testing. He is not going to accept having to put a password on the files.
Is there no way to exclude specific domains/people or filenames from the mail shield?
I’m afraid that it is not currently possible to set exclusions in Mail Shield. The safest way to download these attachments would be to open the email in the web app (Web Shield may still detect the attachment, but you can add an exclusion to Web Shield to prevent this - instructions for adding exclusions can be found here: https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Antivirus-scan-exclusions).
If you cannot use a web app to open the emails and need to do so from Outlook 2016, you could exclude .zip files from being extracted by Mail Shield when scanning - although this would reduce the effectiveness of Mail Shield, and you would have to rely on File Shield and/or Behavior Shield to detect any malicious .zip file when the file is opened instead of when it is downloaded.
To change the packers that Mail Shield extracts, please open the main Avast application > click “Menu” in the top right corner > click “Settings” > click “Components” on the left hand side > click “Customize” next to Mail Shield > click “Packers” on the left hand side > deselect “All packers”, and then select each packer individually except for “ZIP archive” > click “OK”.