Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: ch.allen on May 16, 2012, 12:20:11 AM
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I have read several posts online and on the Avast 7 forums about Avast 7 not being accessible to screen readers. When I speak of lack of accessibility, I mean that Jaws does not automatically read any text on the screen, options are not announced when pressing the tab key, it is not possible to select and deselect checkboxes, and manually exploring controls and information with the Jaws cursor results in not having access to all of the information on a given page. After adding the the main Jaws executable file to the exceptions list in auto sandbox and behavior shield, I turned to disabling the self-protection module. Here are the steps I took for disabling and then re-enabling it again. I cannot guarantee that the sequence works 100% of the time, so try it at your own risk. It is also possible to complete the task independently of a sighted person. The steps may apply to other screen readers as well.
1. When Avast is opened, press alt e for settings.
2. Use the Jaws cursor to verify that the "basic settings" tab with its options is showing.
3. Press control shift tab.
4. Verify with the Jaws cursor that the troubleshooting options are displaying.
5. Press insert F4 to disable Jaws. It is not recommended to leave Avast to disable Jaws and then come back to the program.
6. Press alt a, followed by space, followed by enter. You may need to press enter again.
7. Press enter again and then turn Jaws back on again.
8. Jaws should start automatically reading the Avast screen. If not, close Avast and then reopen the program.
To enable self-protection module
1. From the Avast current status tab, press alt e to bring up settings. This time Jaws should be speaking as you press key combinations.
2. Ensure that the basic tab is displaying, then press control shift tab to get to the troubleshooting settings.
3. Tab six times.
4. Turn off Jaws.
5. Press space bar and then enter.
6. Enable Jaws.
I am not quite sure why this process works. Please pass the information along to others who might benefit. I am not even sure if this is the correct forum on which to post It would be great to develop a Jaws script to simplify the steps that I have described.