What to do about script blocking in Avast Home?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I am thinking about getting rid of my expired Norton and downloading Avast Home edition. I hear good things about it.

But I see it has no script blocking.

What can I do about that? Do I need script blocking? How do I get it?

Thanks.
stwils

2

Buying the Professional version 8)
avast scans the scripts and block only the infected ones.
Well, you can ‘block’ scripts using Firefox + NoScript funcion (you’ll need to answer yes to which scripts you believe, but without scanning them).
You can ‘block’ scripts with AnalogX Script Defender or ScripTrap.

3

Web Shield also provides some script checking for malicious scripts.

I use script trap and I prefer that to script defender as when I uninstalled script defender it didn’t reset the file redirects back to the default runtime executables, a real pain to resolve you need to know what the executable is to reset the file associations.

All that said, it is an extremely rare occasion when script trap has to intercept a script on my system.

4

DavidR,

Do you mean I really don’t need script blocking with avast Home? Do I run into any kind of danger?

stwils

5

I didn’t say that, I have script trap as a final fall back but it is rarely used. You could use the Pro paid for version if you feel script protection is essential as that has a Script Blocking provider.

One of the Alwil team has previously said that the web shield provides an adequate (not fail safe) protection against web scripts. This was when asked about what to do as the avast pro Script protection doesn’t work with firefox (only IE, Mozilla and Opera I think).

Danger/risk is always present in life and this is no different it is about weighing up risk and the precautions taken and how they impact performance.

Whilst browsing or collecting email, etc. if you get infected then the malware by default inherits the same permissions that you have for your user account. So if the user account has administrator rights, the malware has administrator rights and can reap havoc. With limited rights the malware can’t put files in the system folders, create registry entries, etc. This greatly reduces the potential harm that can be done by an undetected or first day virus, etc.

Check out the link to DropMyRights (in my signature below) - Browsing the Web and Reading E-mail Safely as an Administrator. This obviously applies to those NT based OSes that have administrator settings, winNT, win2k, winXP.

A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT, if you do uninstall Norton, it would be worth running this tool to ensure no remnants to effect avast.

6

DavidR,

Thanks for your reply. (I will surely follow the instructions when I uninstall Norton.)

But on the script blocking issue - I am really not computer savvy, so I am still a bit in the dark about what to do when I get avast. Should I just forget the script blocking issue? (I lead a quiet computer life on my Dell Windows 98, playing games - Civ3 - surfing the web - going to trusted news,movie, and forum sites - doing email. Nothing exotic. But I would like to download games sometimes. And I do a lot of searching via google.)

That said, do you think I will be ok with Avast and no script blocking? Someone suggested I add the free firewall called Zone Alarm. Would that help - or get me into compatibility problems?

Sorry if I sound overly anxious or dense. I just want to do the prudent thing here, keep my computer safe, and go on about my life.

stwils

7

And PS, DavidR, I have Spy Sweeper.

stwils

8

Go for ZA free as you do need a firewall, I would back up scriptrap if you are nervous. But in the many years I have used scrip trap I only had one alert. May I also suggest spywareblaster a small non intrusive programme that passively protects your system

ZA http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Spywareblaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

9

If you aren’t using XP the DropMyRights isn’t applicable.

[b]Further Detail[/b] Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and later support functionality called Software Restriction Policy,
This is what the dropmyrights is doing.

Script Trap is a very small program and doesn’t use any resources until it is called on to intercept a script, so it is a worth while addition to your overall security by applying a multi-application/layer approach.

10

stwils:

You can disable the Windows Scripting Host (the windows component that executes VBScripts) using Noscript.exe:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/win.script.hosting.html

or you can catch scripts before they are executed with Script Defender:

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/sdefend.htm

11

If you use Script Defender you need to exercise care and realise it may cause issues later.

I use script trap and I prefer that to script defender as when I uninstalled script defender it didn't reset the file redirects back to the default runtime executables, a real pain to resolve you need to know what the executable is to reset the file associations.