Hello, I received weird new message from Avast:
Please restart to apply changes to your system. The Avast app will then reopen automatically.
I checked and there was no Avast Update (last one was from december 16).
But then was new definition update. It never asks for restart due to definition update.
Update happened at 21:13 today, I received such message at about same time. It was definition update 250106-4.
I restarted PC after half an hour, I checked Avast once again and it said new definition was applied at 21:49 and it waa 250107-4.
What was also weird that Avast Icon appeared on desktop, like as if Avast was freshly installed.
Question is:
Were these definition updates behind this weird message from Avast?
Are todays definition updates normal, real?
Do these definition updates that happened today trigger restart for everyone?
Did everyone get an Avast Icon on desktop like as if it was freshly installed?
Which Avast product do you have. Free or Premium (paid)?
Latest defs I have today is: 250108-0
It is not unheard of that an emergency update via definitions may ask for a restart, so although it did not happen to me, I would not be concerned by it.
What concerned me is wording: "Please restart to apply changes to your system. "
Does it always say this when it needs to restart due to update of definitions or is there a different wording?
Like, could there be different changes to my system outside of AV but Avast just needed to restart to apply them?
And also next thing, a fresh icon on desktop (also avast appears among recently installed programs).
same as rocksteady, 250108-0 here but i am on premium paid version.
If avast is asking to update then its an update from avast. i wouldnt of thought avast would ask you to restart if it was say a windows or similar update as windows would do that itself.
depending where you are in the world updates are staggered so not released to whole world at same time.
new icon on desktop is a strange one but it could well be its just added a new component and as you didnt have a shortcut its applied one.
just a guess but i dont think you have anything to wory about.
Yes, I use Avast Premium and the restart popup first came on my Office PC. After restarting, Avast was in passive mode with all protection disabled. Its not just that, all settings I had set was reset completely (as if it was a fresh new installation) and the AV was running too slow. Some menu’s were not working properly where I had to restart again and still, it was of no use. So I wanted to uninstall and reinstall it. Even the normal uninstallation was stuck, I had to use the Avast removal tool for a clean removal. Reinstalled the app and set back all settings. Yes, just as you told, there was only definitions update.
Later the same popup happened in my Home PC, and after restart, the AV was in passive mode. But thankfully, all settings were working fine and there was no need to reinstall the AV. I was worried if Avast was compromised with some malware but am glad that the issue isn’t just mine.
Usually, when a restart popup happens, Avast does say it is part of the update, but this does not say any particular reason, except for some unknown changes.