Pay Mode woes

I have Avast Pro and since the upgrade of Safe Zone I am having all sorts of problems, all related to Pay Mode. Is there a way to turn Pay Mode off and just use Safe Zone as I used to prior to the change? If so is Safe Zone still secure without Pay Zone? The whole Pay Zone concept seems to be about as user-unfriendly as is possible. Collectively I spend hours a week trying to get past the login screen for my financial institutions. Pay Mode pops up, won’t work, tells me to try again, tells me to try the fixes if it won’t work, none of them including updating to the latest version of Avast work. Even if and when I finally get it to reluctantly allow me into the site a strip comes up at the top asking if I want to stop seeing it every time. I indicate yes and next time it is there again. I feel like just going back to using my normal browser and ignoring Safe Zone altogether. I never had this problem with the earlier version. (My OS is win 10)

Bill in Oz

Update to the latest version (2016.11.1.2253): https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=182468.0

Thanks Asyn, I did that about half an hour ago, then restarted the computer, but it made no difference. I definitely have V 11.1.2253

  • OS…? (32/64 Bit…? - which SP/Build…?)
  • Other security related software installed…?
  • Which AV(s) did you use before Avast…?

64bit, have Malwarebytes Pro and the standard Windows firewall. I’ve had Avast for years, initially the free version but switched to Pro over a year ago.

One thing that may be the reason… After downloading the new version today and restarting the computer I used my original desktop icon to get into Safe Zone. I’ve just noticed the new version has given me a new icon and when I tried that I found Pay Mode worked, (though it did say it didn’t work and asked me to retry). I sat and looked at it for a moment, as in the past sometimes it then comes up despite the “retry” sign. It did this time and let me into my bank. As this has sometimes worked in the past I can’t be sure this indicates it is now OK. I guess I should trash the old icon and see how it goes over the next day or two. I’ll come back after the weekend if I am still having problems. Save you spending time when maybe it isn’t necessary.

Thanks Asyn, much appreciated.

Bill in Oz

You’re welcome.
Please note, that SafeZone has been replaced with SafeZone Browser for a while.

It has been replaced for a while indeed.
But the updates don’t remove the old safezone.

I thought it was always a browser. Today it is still working, but first Pay Mode run for a while, then says “try again” and then after a few seconds delay works anyway. Then the bar across the screen opens and asks if I want to see it again and I indicate “No”, but next time it appears again. Are both of these peculiarities normal?

It wasn’t a browser, it was more like a VM (Virtual Machine).
Whatever you did in it, stayed in it and did not get to the real machine (OS).

Pay mode can be seen as a Matroesjka doll.
You have your system (the largest one), in it is the SafeZone browser and in the SafeZone Browser is the pay mode.

Anyway, sometime it helps if you enter pay mode first and then visit your banks website.
See if it makes things working (better) for you.
If so, I suggest you mention it to avast (providing as much details as you can) so they can have a look at it and perhaps use it to improve the pay-mode.

Thanks Eddy, Yes it does work that way, but still rather slow and clunky, for want of a better word, compared to the old SaveZone. Thanks for explaining how the system fits together too. I’ll enter into Pay Mode first in future.