Comprehensive fansite about Avast Antivirus 2018 – the World's most popular antivirus. Useful tips & tricks, latest news, free downloads, license keys, activation codes, support, comparison reviews, and much more. Like McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac), Avira, Trend Micro, and several others, Avast marks up results in popular search engines with green for safe, red for dangerous, and gray for unknown. Antivirus Actively scans files, URLs, and email attachments to protect your business from malware, spyware, ransomware and more. Scans files and programs before allowing them to open or run. Yes: Yes: Yes: Web Shield Checks web URLs and certificates to ensure they are safe before a network connection is made.
In very rare cases, Avast may detect and block some programsor website pages as a virus, although you know for sure it’s safe. These wrong detections are called false positives. If such false-positive detection prevails after the virus definitions update, you may want to exclude the detected software or website from the Avast scan.
This is a perfect fix when Avast is blocking one of your favorite programs, but you still want to run/allow it. In the past, Avast was blocking some of the most popular software (Steam for example) for a short period of time. To be fair false-positive detection happens basically to every antivirus on the market, it’s not just Avast.
Anyway, we strongly recommend scanning the file/webpage also through some other virus engines to make sure it’s really clean. For this, you can use a free online scanner VirusTotal. Sometimes you may think the file/URL are safe but they are actually infected and it’s not just Avast which is detecting them.
Quick Summary
- Make sure the blocked file or webpage is not malicious by testing it at www.virustotal.com
- Add it as an exception by going to Settings » General » Exclusions
- Confirm by clicking OK
Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below.
In this guide, you will learn how, but we strongly suggest using exclusions only when you’re an advanced user. There are three basic types of exclusions/exceptions in the Avast Antivirus 2019:
- Global exclusion list of the folder/file/program/application from being scanned at all
- Global exclusion list of the website/URL from being scanned at all
- Exclusions in the specific shield (File System Shield, Mail Shield, or Web Shield)
Global Whitelist – Exclude Specific Folder/File/Program/Application from All Avast Scans
If you want to add the exception for the specific website, domain, or URL from being scanned by Avast, follow these steps. This is so-called Global Whitelist or Exclusion List.
- Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘General‘
- Find the tab ‘Exclusions‘ and add specific programs to the ‘File paths‘ tab
- Added applications and/or paths will now be excluded from any Avast scanning
![Avast Business Antivirus For Mac Avast Business Antivirus For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/1/126174416/509221222.jpg)
Adding File/Folder/Program Exception into Avast 2019
On the screenshot above you can see that application ‘FileZilla FTP Client‘ and ‘DAEMON Tools Lite‘ are excluded. Such exceptions also apply to all sub-folders on these folders as we have used ‘/*’ in the path.
Global Whitelist – Exclude Specific Website/URL from All Avast Scans
If you want to add the exception for the specific Avast shield, follow these steps.
- Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘General‘
- Find the tab ‘Exclusions‘ and add specific websites or URLs in the ‘Urls‘ tab. Please note ‘http://’ will be added automatically, so if you want to exclude Yahoo, just type yahoo.com. Please note you need to differentiate between ‘http://’ and ‘https://’
- Added websites/URLs will now be excluded from any Avast scanning
Adding Website/Domain/URL Exception into Avast 2019
On the screenshot above you can see that URLs ‘https://www.gmail.com‘ and ‘http(s)://.gmail.com‘ are excluded. Such exception also applies to all pages on these domains as we have used ‘/*’ in the path.
Add Exception for Specific Avast Antivirus Shield (File System Shield, Mail Shield, or Web Shield)
If you want to add the exception for the specific Avast shield, follow the steps further.
- Open the Avast user interface and go to ‘Settings‘ » ‘Active Protection‘
- Select the shield (File System, Mail, or Web) for which you want to add the exception, and click on ‘Customize’ link
- Find the menu item ‘Exclusions‘ and add the item you want to exclude from scanning by the specific Avast shield. You can also specify when the exclusion applies (for reading, writing, or executing)
- Please note that global exclusions are always applied although they aren’t listed in the specific shield. Also please note a lot of items are listed there by default
Adding Specific Shield (File System, Mail, or Web) Exception into Avast 2019
On the screenshot above, you can see many items are excluded from the File System Shield scan by default. We haven’t added any of them.
[IMPORTANT] Restart All Avast Shields to Make Exclusion Work
After you successfully add the file or webpage to exclusions you need to actually restart all Avast shields to make it work. Otherwise, Avast will keep detecting and blocking it as a threat.
- Find Avast icon in the Windows system tray (click on the top arrow)
- Go to ‘Avast shields control‘ » ‘Disable for 10 minutes‘ » confirm
- Go again back to ‘Avast shields control‘ » ‘Enable all shields‘
Restarting All Avast Shields From the Windows System Tray
Now Avast should stop detecting the added files/URLs in the exclusions. You can also simply just restart your Windows.
Report a False Positive Detection to Avast
We also strongly suggest reporting the detection you believe is a false positive directly to Avast team. They will look into it and eventually confirm the reported file, software, or website is clean.
Link to report is included on every in-product pop-up displayed when the harmful webpage or file is blocked. Just click on ‘Report the file as a false positive‘.
Avast Web Shield Has Blocked a Harmful Webpage or File Pop-up
Then you need to fill-in following simple form. In the additional info, you can add a link from VirusTotal scan. Don’t forget to check the option ‘I know what I’m doing‘ and click on ‘Submit‘.
Avast In-product Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites
Alternatively, you can use the official web form for reporting false positive detection.
Official Avast Web Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites
Additional Notes
Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2019 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.
Steps are relevant for all Windows versions – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update).
Managing exceptions or turning off Avast protection may leave your computer at risk.
Besides the World’s most popular antivirus for Windows, Avast is offering a comprehensive antivirus for Apple Mac OS X (Macintosh). The product is called Avast Free Mac Security 2018 (version 11) and same as the Windows version it’s completely for free. It doesn’t even require the registration, so you can just download, install and use it without any hassle.
While some Mac users are still questioning the need for the antivirus/security software on OS X, we definitely recommend have Avast installed as the number of hacker attacks on Mac users is rising rapidly.
Avast for Mac Key Features & Benefits
- Award-winning antivirus engine with 100% detection rate (according to the independent test by AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives)
- Real-time protection with 3 layers (File System Shield, Mail Shield, Web Shield)
- Automatic streaming updates of the virus definitions
- Excellent performance – very low on system resources
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- Completely for free – no registration required
Avast for Mac Free Download & Installation
Avast for Mac is unfortunately not available on iTunes or App Store. But you can simply download Avast Free Mac Security using the link below:
From the Official Avast Servers
After you finish the download you can proceed with the installation. The installation process is really easy and doesn’t require any technical skills:
- Close the Safari browser, locate the setup file called ‘avast_free_mac_security.dmg‘ and run it
- Confirm the Avast License Agreement by clicking on ‘Agree‘
- You can customize the installation by clicking on ‘Customize’, click on ‘Install’ to start the installation
- If prompted enter the administrator name and password
- Once the installation is complete, you should get the confirmation screen
Please note it’s heavily recommended to uninstall any other antivirus/security software from your Mac before installing Avast.
Avast Security Pro for Mac – Is it worthy to pay extra?
Besides the free version of Mac antivirus, there is also a premium one called Avast Security Pro for Mac. The pro version offers two extra features
- Wi-Fi Alerts – This feature will immediately notify you if someone connects to your Wi-Fi network. This helps you to keep hackers/neighbors out of your network.
- Ransomware Shield – Ransomware shields keep your personal data from being encrypted without your permission.
For these, you need to pay for the premium version which costs $59.99 per year. Is it worthy? We would say yes as ransomware on Mac is on the rise and Avast offers solid protection against it.
Avast for Mac User & Experts Reviews – What others are saying?
Avast Free Mac Security is also really popular among the users and technical experts. It is by far the most downloaded Mac antivirus/security on Download.com with more than 4.5 million downloads! While other competitors don’t have even half a million (Sophos 247k, Avira 80k, Norton 30k, Kaspersky 12k, McAfee 11k, Eset 9k).
Avast Free Mac Security is the most downloaded antivirus for Mac with more than 4.5 million downloads
Free Antivirus For Mac
Also, the user reviews on Download.com are very positive. Avast Free Mac Security 2018 has 4.5 stars (out of 5) from 1,641users.
Avast for Mac is doing really well also in the independent tests. It has been certified with 100% detection rate by the German laboratory AV-TEST. Same results were measured also by the Austrian laboratory AV-Comparatives.
According to Tom’s Guide, Avast Free Mac Security was better in detecting viruses than the other paid solutions: ‘it was better at malware detection than all three of the paid antivirus solutions we reviewed‘.
Avast for Mac System Requirements – Will it run on your Mac?
Minimum system requirements are quite easy to comply and really nothing special. Avast Free Mac Security will run even on the older MacBooks (Air/Pro) and iMacs:
- OS X Version: Apple Mac running macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) or newer
- Processor: Intel-based Mac computer with 64-bit processor
- Memory: 128 MB RAM or above (1 GB RAM or higher preferred)
- Free space: 500 MB minimum hard disk free space
Avast for Mac Uninstall – How to remove it from your Mac?
If you decide to uninstall Avast Free Mac Security from your Mac, there is nothing special you would need to do compared to any other Mac application. To remove it simply follow the instructions below:
- Close Safari browser and open Avast by going to ‘Finder’ » ‘Applications’ and double-click on the Avast orange icon
- Open ‘Avast Mac Security‘ in the menu bar at the top-left, select ‘Uninstall Avast‘ and confirm (you may need to log in as an administrator)
- Wait and the uninstall process to finish and Avast Free Mac Security is completely removed
Avast Antivirus For Mac
Unfortunately, there is no removal tool or uninstall utility for Mac. Avast Uninstall Utility (AvastClear) is available only for Windows.