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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: nine9s on March 14, 2013, 09:40:20 PM

Title: What settings to make sure Avast 8 does not delete any file.
Post by: nine9s on March 14, 2013, 09:40:20 PM

There is a report today that AVG has detected some Windows files as virus and in some cases deleted them.

Because of that scare of that different AV, I want to make sure that my settings would keep Avast 8 from ever auto-deleting any important files if a false positive like that occurred.

Here are my settings  for "Action"

File System:  Virus: Move-Ask-No  PUP: Move-Ask-No SUS: Move-Ask-No
Mail:  Virus:Move-Ask-Delete PUP: move-ask-no  SUS: Move-Ask-no
P2P:  Virus:Move-Ask-Delete PUP: move-ask-no  SUS: Move-Ask-no
IM:     Virus:Move-Ask-Delete PUP: move-ask-no  SUS: Move-Ask-no
Behavior:  Ask

I assume the Mail, P2P and IM shields would not have barring on Windows or System files, so I left 3rd action to delete on virus.

Will those setting keep Avast from every auto-deleting a Windows or other important system file (quarantine but not delete)?   Or should I use different settings to guarantee no auto-delete?  Are there any settings, besides Action, to change?

Title: Re: What settings to make sure Avast 8 does not delete any file.
Post by: DavidR on March 14, 2013, 11:13:15 PM

Well if you want to be a control freak (like me) I have all of my settings (in shields with multiple actions) set to Ask as the primary action and Secondary set to No Action, that kills the third option. That said the avast defaults aren't bad as generally they are trying to prevent this and it also has protection against the deletion of system files, but generally that is for those with a digital signature.

Other shields that may have only Auto I set to Ask (AutoSandbox, Behavior Shield). I don't use IM or P2P so they aren't installed on my installation of avast.

There are some that would advocate Repair as a first option, Move to chest as a secondary and No Action as the third. You may have noticed I don't like delete, that is final and you have no actions left, the 'first do no harm' is one you should follow and investigate rather than delete.

Title: Re: What settings to make sure Avast 8 does not delete any file.
Post by: Para-Noid on March 14, 2013, 11:30:32 PM

I'm with David on this except I have mine set to "repair", "move to chest" and "no action".
Once you delete a file there is no turning back...it's final.

See http://antivirus.about.com/b/2007/03/11/clean-quarantine-or-delete.htm  :)

Title: Re: What settings to make sure Avast 8 does not delete any file.
Post by: nine9s on March 15, 2013, 12:04:23 AM

Thanks

Title: Re: What settings to make sure Avast 8 does not delete any file.
Post by: DavidR on March 15, 2013, 01:04:30 AM

You're welcome.