Strange Network Detected

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi everyone

I have recently installed the free 20 day trial offered by Avast and twice today I’ve had a notification for different networks being “detected”

The first one I didn’t question because I assume it was for the VPN I use.

However, I’ve just logged back into my LT, after a few hours of it being in idle/sleep mode, and came back to this odd notification.

I don’t even use WiFi and have it turned off. Ethernet cable only.

Anyone any idea what the hell it is? It doesn’t even give me an option to disallow it, only if I want to set it to Public or Private.

Also, this is the second time I’ve been offered a 20 day trial. The other one ended barely a month ago. Is that normal?

2

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+microsoft+wifi+direct

3

Pondus.

I’ve already did searches. I’m not tech savvy, most of it makes no sense.

It doesn’t answer why I’m being asked about the network when I have WiFi and Bluetooth disabled.

4

Hi,
Wi-Fi direct is a virtual adapter, created by MS, to support peer-to-peer connections over wifi. As such it is visible in the system, even though you may not be actively using it. It does not have a default route assigned, but this is also true for many VPN virtual adapters. This dialog is a result of a recent change inside firewall in avast, where we started to support different firewall profiles (public or private) for each network adapter.

Here we should probably understand that this particular virtual adapter is not a VPN, but rather this special Wi-Fi direct and do not display the popup for such cases. We will further fine tune this behaviour in the next update. For now, I guess answering “private” once is all what it takes - the popup should be displayed only once.

Cheers,
Lukas.

5

Hi Lukas

Thanks for your reply.

So it’s nothing to worry about?

The thing is, I set everything to ‘Public’ because it was my understanding that this is the safest option? Should I set it to ‘Public’ like everything else, or would you still recommend ‘Private’

Also, I’ve noticed that the MAC address used in the above pop-up is the exact same as the VPN one earlier, which again, is confusing.

It’s also strange that I’ve been given a new 20 day trial when I had been given one not too long ago (back in June, I believe). I thought they were given maybe around once a year?

6
It's also strange that I've been given a new 20 day trial when I had been given one not too long ago (back in June, I believe). I thought they were given maybe around once a year?
Trail is something you get for paid products to test it before you pay

avast free is FREE and you register once a year, but does not have a firewall

right click avast tray icon and select about to see what avast version / build number you have

7

Pondus

I’m aware of how it works. I’ve been using AVs for years.

I just found it strange how I’ve been given 2 free 20 day trials within the space of 3 months, which is rare.

8
I'm aware of how it works. I've been using AVs for years.
I dont know you so i have no idea what you know and dont know, so we sometimes have to give answers that for many are obvious
9

Hi Lukas :slight_smile:

But I don’t understand why SecureLine is shown as Public ?

Greetz, Red.