Web Shield

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have a web page that I access regularly that Avast has identified as a phishing site which I absolutely know it is not.
Avast therefore blocks me from accessing it.
So I went to the appropriate place and created an exception for that domain except that Avast continues to block me.
Today I went and disabled (for 10 minutes) web shield against all the warnings but Avast still blocks me from this page.

Am I missing something or is this just a bug?

This is enough to make me move to another anti-virus.

Regards Graham

2

A screenshot of the Avast alert window, with the More Details option opened, would help as there is no way to investigate the unknown.

Reporting a Possible False Positive File or Website - https://www.avast.com/false-positive-file-form.php.
You should get a response in a day or two.

3

Thanks for the reply. I have reported it as a false positive.
All I get is a message saying the site is not safe as per this attachment. No ‘More details’ option

Regards Graham

4

Well this one is strange I would have expected the Avast Web Shield to be detecting this.

However it seems to be the Avast Online Security & Privacy browser Add-on, which unfortunately doesn’t give the URL of the site so it can be investigated against other site inspection tools.

What is the URL of the website you are trying to visit, ensure the link isn’t active, no https or www, etc. before the domain name, e.g forum.avast.com (which isn’t active/clickable).

5

Do you have the Avast extension installed in your browser? You might need to disable that as well.

6

Lets not jump the gun here, confirm, don’t just disable or you could live to regret your actions.

Whilst that is your choice on your system not something to offer to others when we don’t even know the website in question.

7

The OP stated, “Avast has identified as a phishing site which I absolutely know it is not.” And was wondering how it could still be blocked when he disabled web shield. I simply gave him a possible reason.

8

How they would know that is beyond me, when we don’t even know what the site is or how they would know 100% it is absolutely not.

Essentially the Web Shield database would be being used remotely by the Avast Online Security & Privacy browser Add-on.

9

Hi,
I reported the problem to Avast and they said "We have now cleared its reputation in our database based on the findings and removed the detection. This change may take up to 24 hours to take full effect. "
So I will wait for a bit.

For those who wondered I know it’s not a phishing site since it is an email anti-virus admin site from the people who manage my servers. I did get them to check first that there were no issues.

Regards Graham

10

Thanks for the confirmation.