Smart Scan has lost its Browser threats scan feature

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I cannot find any way of restoring Browser threat scanning in Smart Scan. Does anyone know how or where the setting for this is, please.

Smart Scan still performs the malware scan. This issue occurs on one Windows 10 system only and with Avast Free 2022.4.6011 through to Avast Free 2022.7.6025 on that system (only one at a time :slight_smile: ). It occurs with the default configuration in use, i.e. after Avast installed without user configuration file present.

Is Smart Scan the only way to scan for browser threats? Does Web Shield detect browser threats?

Browser Cleanup is enabled, according to Avast settings ‘ADD/MODIFY COMPONENTS’.

2

I have just observed this on a Windows 8.1 system which I have not had my hands on previously. This useful check is surely absent on more Avast installations than might be thought.

Does this Browser Check really matter? If not, why is it there? Browser security is much more important than operating system security updates.

3

Hi,

Have you tried removing, restarting and re-adding the Browser Cleanup component yet?
Which browsers do you have installed?

Web Shield: Scans data that is transferred when you browse the internet in real-time to prevent malware, such as malicious scripts, from being downloaded and run on your PC.
Browser Cleanup: Scans for untrustworthy and malicious add-ons.

4

Thank you r@vast. I will do as you suggested and post the result.

5

Hi r@vast. I have done exactly as you suggested and the result is unchanged. I am using Mozilla Firefox ESR 91.12 x64. The version of Avast in use is 22.4. Versions 22.5 and later greatly slow my Windows 10 Pro x64 21H2, seeming to halve its speed (it’s running on a 2007 Toshiba Satellite Pro P200 laptop with Intel Core Duo T5550 processor and 4GB RAM).

6

Hello loungehake,
we were running an AB test on Avast. There were two options: smart scan starts by browser scanning and the second option was that smart scan starts by scan for outdated applications. You probably have the second option. The test is done and we are going to get back browser scanning for whole userbase. This change should be seen on clients let’s say in 24hours.

Petr

7

Thank you Petr. Not all installations of Avast are affected. Browser checking is still working on most of my PCs.

8

Thanks Avast. Browser Cleanup is now working.