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Consumer Products => Avast Mac Security => Topic started by: SMPlante on December 28, 2007, 04:59:14 PM

Title: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: SMPlante on December 28, 2007, 04:59:14 PM
It look like every time Avast! is launched, it start Apple Mail application.  Even if the function in the preferences is unchecked.

I use "Microsoft - Entourage", (yes, I know, nobody is perfect) may be it could be a good idea to include a way to select the Mail Application we want to protect with Avast! ?

Any solution for now ?

Thank's
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: .: Mac :. on December 28, 2007, 07:44:09 PM
I would have thought disabling the Mail scanning would have stopped it. Guess we just have to wait for a official response.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: SMPlante on December 28, 2007, 09:39:40 PM
Found a way to disable the Apple Mail Application CALL when Avast! is launched.

Delete the "GetRuleScript.txt" from the Avast! Contents; Ressources folder.

See the above image.

It's not really solving the problem but it will do the job until a new release is available with a permanent solution.


Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: internetworld7 on December 30, 2007, 04:15:22 AM
avast! for the Mac is very nice and light on system resources but WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PISSED AND ANNOYED I AM AT THIS CONSTANT POP UP OF AVAST! UI AND LAUNCHING THE MAIL APPLICATION ON MAC OS X LEOPARD. And yes I'm shouting and I should be.  >:(

Do the people at Alwil honestly believe that having this pop up of the UI and launching my Mail application at system boot up each and every time is what the average Mac user wants to see? Why would the people at Alwil be so obtuse as to not include a simple option to disable this ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Guys, I know and can appreciate that this is a new product and that it is not perfect but wouldn't come sense dictate even to a jackass that this is going to be EXTREMELY annoying at EACH and EVERY system boot up?

I'm very disappointed in the judgement of Alwil to release a product that behaves like this. I run avast! on Windows XP and Vista and it runs silently with NO annoying pop ups or launches. Why wasn't this the case for the Mac edition  ???

I was so ready to purchase this but now all I can do is uninstall it and wait for the next release that corrects this.  :-[
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: SMPlante on December 30, 2007, 07:09:55 AM
WOW! internetworld7, we can feel your disappointment in your post.  I think you did not look at my last post ?  I expland how to disable the launch of Apple Mail until a new release of Avast! for MAC (with a permanent solution).

Of course this new product will require improvement but until now I think it's a very good start.  And if I'm not mistaking, it's still free (downloaded from the product web page : http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-mac-edition.html (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-mac-edition.html)).

Think about the time Alwil (Avast!) team need to put on a product that will never be a very important return of investment.  Even the graphic interface have been done by another company (OCSoftware).  So, lot of $$$$ spend and no gain until now.

As specify in another post, regarding Alwil Avast! for MAC development, there is (until now) less than 25 virus real treat for MAC.  So, how much licence do you think they will sale ?  Enough to cover the cost ?  If they do, be sure we will be the first to win on this.

I think, when you like a product, it is better to encourage Alwil (or other company) to continue MAC's development since WE (MAC USER) need to have the choice from different manufacturer than be limited to only one product.

As an AVAST! unconditional user, and base on my experience with Alwil Avast! team, I can assure you they will provide you the BEST support and service when required.  You just have to either use direct Email, this forum or the Support Center Web Page : http://support.avast.com/ (http://support.avast.com/).

I hope this post will give you back your confidence in Avast! MAC Product  ;)
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: internetworld7 on December 30, 2007, 07:39:51 AM
Yes, I read your post about disabling this but I wasn't interested in a work around to this problem. I'm also aware that Mac sales for this product will be very little. I was a for sure customer. However I found it very incompetent and irresponsible on the part of Alwil to expect that an antivirus program that automatically launches both the antivirus program interface and the Mail application at start up is going to be an enjoyable experience for Mac users. If this isn't the behavior on Windows, why the Mac?

Let me ask you, what benefit is there in having the antivirus scanning interface automatically launch at EVERY boot up? Am I suppose to run a virus scan every single time I boot up my computer? Also what purpose is there in automatically launching my Mail application every time I boot up my computer?

Even if an option to disable this silly behavior is included in a future version, what value does this serve and why would this in any way shape or form be considered acceptable  default behavior in an antivirus program?

This type of functionality serves no practical purpose and is very rude and unspeakably annoying. I like the user interface and the fact that it was only using 8.24mb on my MacBook running Leopard with 2GB of memory. I also like the avast! engine and would have gladly paid for this but now I will have to wait until this childish and rude behavior is fixed in the next version.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: chocholo on December 30, 2007, 09:58:51 PM
...

Let me ask you, what benefit is there in having the antivirus scanning interface automatically launch at EVERY boot up? Am I suppose to run a virus scan every single time I boot up my computer? Also what purpose is there in automatically launching my Mail application every time I boot up my computer?

...

I am sure that this is not expected behavior and someone will look onto this in the new year, however all Mac edition developers are out for holidays. (My personal bet is, that it is caused by some error in our workaround for resident protection startup, as startup of resident applications are AFAIK not supported on MacOS.)
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: internetworld7 on January 01, 2008, 10:27:19 AM
Hmmm...I was under the impression that this is what everyone is experiencing and this is the default behavior of the program. My apologies if this is simply a bug and not what Alwil wanted.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: zilog on January 02, 2008, 12:54:44 PM
Hmmm...I was under the impression that this is what everyone is experiencing and this is the default behavior of the program. My apologies if this is simply a bug and not what Alwil wanted.

Hallo,

this "autostarting" behavior was used in the former mechanism (via InputManagers). In Leopard, this framework is no longer usable (in general), and with the new binding, we can leave Mail restarting off. For now, Avast has direct bindings to Apple's Mail only, thus, running Mail is what the majority of users need (to have their mails scanned avast! must tell the application to do the check -> the application must be running).

Indeed, for people that for some reasons use some third-party mail clients, the auto-starting should be supressed. We'll add this in the next release.

regards,
PC
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: zilog on January 03, 2008, 09:59:58 AM
avast! for the Mac is very nice and light on system resources but WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PISSED AND ANNOYED I AM AT THIS CONSTANT POP UP OF AVAST! UI AND LAUNCHING THE MAIL APPLICATION ON MAC OS X LEOPARD. And yes I'm shouting and I should be.  >:(

Do the people at Alwil honestly believe that having this pop up of the UI and launching my Mail application at system boot up each and every time is what the average Mac user wants to see? Why would the people at Alwil be so obtuse as to not include a simple option to disable this ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Guys, I know and can appreciate that this is a new product and that it is not perfect but wouldn't come sense dictate even to a jackass that this is going to be EXTREMELY annoying at EACH and EVERY system boot up?

I'm very disappointed in the judgement of Alwil to release a product that behaves like this. I run avast! on Windows XP and Vista and it runs silently with NO annoying pop ups or launches. Why wasn't this the case for the Mac edition  ???

I was so ready to purchase this but now all I can do is uninstall it and wait for the next release that corrects this.  :-[

In the next release, this behavior will be fixed, together with workaround for "hidden start" (in 10.4.x, flag for hiding in LoginItems doesn't work properly, sigh). So, no "annoying pop-ups and launches", as You wish :).

PC
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: internetworld7 on January 19, 2008, 06:23:13 AM
avast! for the Mac is very nice and light on system resources but WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PISSED AND ANNOYED I AM AT THIS CONSTANT POP UP OF AVAST! UI AND LAUNCHING THE MAIL APPLICATION ON MAC OS X LEOPARD. And yes I'm shouting and I should be.  >:(

Do the people at Alwil honestly believe that having this pop up of the UI and launching my Mail application at system boot up each and every time is what the average Mac user wants to see? Why would the people at Alwil be so obtuse as to not include a simple option to disable this ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Guys, I know and can appreciate that this is a new product and that it is not perfect but wouldn't come sense dictate even to a jackass that this is going to be EXTREMELY annoying at EACH and EVERY system boot up?

I'm very disappointed in the judgement of Alwil to release a product that behaves like this. I run avast! on Windows XP and Vista and it runs silently with NO annoying pop ups or launches. Why wasn't this the case for the Mac edition  ???

I was so ready to purchase this but now all I can do is uninstall it and wait for the next release that corrects this.  :-[

In the next release, this behavior will be fixed, together with workaround for "hidden start" (in 10.4.x, flag for hiding in LoginItems doesn't work properly, sigh). So, no "annoying pop-ups and launches", as You wish :).

PC

Are we any closer to fixing this bug and about when will an update be released? I'd like to really purchase this program.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: zilog on January 21, 2008, 11:15:22 AM


> Are we any closer to fixing this bug and about when will an update be released? I'd like to really purchase this program.

This is already fixed in out internal build. But, we decided to add some additional features to the next release (such as incremental update, hidden mode, etc.), so you must wait a bit yet. As fast solution, you might try the hint mentioned few posts above.

regards,
pc
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: Cattus Thraex on February 04, 2008, 07:23:04 PM
I would have thought disabling the Mail scanning would have stopped it. Guess we just have to wait for a official response.

Could you offer a step-by-step instruction about how to COMPLETELY remove Avast! from my MAC OS X Leopard system?
I have had a problem with my sys immediately after I installed Avast! and would like to check whether this is the cause. I deactivated Avast!, yet it persists in checking Mail.app, and would like to completely and entirely remove it for a time, and check sys integrity without Avast!
Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: SMPlante on February 04, 2008, 08:02:22 PM
Hi Cattus Thraex,

You could just trash the Avast! app from your application folder and it should do the job.

But if you want to make sure everything is deleted from your system, here is some folder where I've found reference to Avast from my MAC :


If you had Symantec Norton MAC Antivirus installed on your MAC before installing Avast!, make sure every thing is deleted (from Norton) before installing Avast! (look in all Library - System and all users).

If you can not locate everything from Norton, I suggest to use the "Norton Uninstall" app., normaly located in the "Applications Symantec Norton Folder".  It should delete everything.

Good luck


Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: Cattus Thraex on February 04, 2008, 08:21:41 PM
Thanks, worked, let me see whether problem with the system still persists.
There are, in fact, two Avast files in ~/Library/Preferences.

When you post next release, please add an uninstaller, as uninstalling Avast! is not trivial.
No, I do not have Norton on my mac, why for? I was just curious whether Avast! may detect Windows viruses, detected none, but meanwhile I had a problem with my sys, and I suspect Avast! may be the cause.

Thanks / Děkuji
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: .: Mac :. on February 05, 2008, 03:21:22 AM
Thanks, worked, let me see whether problem with the system still persists.
There are, in fact, two Avast files in ~/Library/Preferences.

When you post next release, please add an uninstaller, as uninstalling Avast! is not trivial.
No, I do not have Norton on my mac, why for? I was just curious whether Avast! may detect Windows viruses, detected none, but meanwhile I had a problem with my sys, and I suspect Avast! may be the cause.

Thanks / Děkuji

In fact most Mac apps do not have a uninstaller. Thats why lots of people use AppZapper - http://www.appzapper.com/
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: zilog on February 05, 2008, 12:28:31 PM
Thanks, worked, let me see whether problem with the system still persists.
There are, in fact, two Avast files in ~/Library/Preferences.

When you post next release, please add an uninstaller, as uninstalling Avast! is not trivial.
No, I do not have Norton on my mac, why for? I was just curious whether Avast! may detect Windows viruses, detected none, but meanwhile I had a problem with my sys, and I suspect Avast! may be the cause.

Thanks / Děkuji

In fact most Mac apps do not have a uninstaller. Thats why lots of people use AppZapper - http://www.appzapper.com/

Such suspicion has usually no real background, yes, people tend to blame the antivirus for any strange thing that happened to their system after installation of the AV-product. But, to correct your statements:

- MacAvast catches, of course, the whole range of windows viruses - try http://public.avast.com/~cimbal/notvirus.bin (not a virus, only EICAR testing pattern)
- that infamous kernel-crash screen of death (which tells you to turn the machine off) is THE ONLY THING which could be eventually Avast! for Mac blamed for. In all other aspects, Avast! works like well-behaved userspace application which does by itself nothing that you don't want to do...

regards,
pc
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: altero on February 07, 2008, 10:57:57 PM
I registred here only to say that in situations like this, I wish that it would be possible for some organisation to forbid such companies like yours to exist!

Today I found that Avast is to blame for making Mail.app rebuild its database so often. I find this a major flaw in your product, something like that should not be released. At least you could post a visible note in the installer, or your web site.

Now, waiting for the confirmation mail, I was reading a bit here. And to my surprise, I see a moderator saying that Avast is a good thing, it's not to be blamed for any thing, but kernel-panicking Mac OS!!! The worst nightmare.

Shame on you! You should go out of this business.  >:( :-X
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: SMPlante on February 08, 2008, 04:38:20 PM
altero,

I do not agree with your bad comment, and I'm sure a lot of other Avast! users are not too.

 ??? Think a little bit

Why do you think Avast! take the time to have this kind of Public forum ?

This forum is a way to help Avast! user's when problem occur and to improve their product.

You wrote that you specialy registered to this forum to write your frustration in this discussion.

Have you tryied to get support from Avast ?

Did you open a Topic (in this forum) regarding your problem ?  May be Avast! or another user could help you ?

Did you think that may be your problem is not generated by the use of Avast! ?  If you are the only one with this problem, what do you think ?
 

From my experience (over 30years in computer business) and probably your's, it's very difficult to get a software without bug.

So when you find a company who's taking the time to listen and respond to their customer like Avast! do, instead of blaming them for anything happening, you should be more positive and help solving the problem you currently have.

You will be surprise how much the solidarity (Avast! + this forum + positive user) is powerfull.....

So if you do not have anything positive to help us or at least a little good word for Avast!, please do not even respond to this post.

Despite your comment, I wish you will solve your problem and become a very happy Avast! user.
Title: Re: Avast! MAC + Apple Mail Application
Post by: zilog on February 12, 2008, 09:29:58 AM
Now, waiting for the confirmation mail, I was reading a bit here. And to my surprise, I see a moderator saying that Avast is a good thing, it's not to be blamed for any thing, but kernel-panicking Mac OS!!! The worst nightmare.

Shame on you! You should go out of this business.  >:( :-X

Please, don't tweak my words - I said that the scanner is a well-behaved userspace application that simply can't harm your system or other application without your permission. There's only one deep-in-the-system key-part, but any unexpected malfunction in this part would show up different way, and the system would probably halt. That's apparently not the case that you have mentioned.

vast doesn't modify any file without user's permission so it's with the highest probability not responsible for Mail's database rebuildning. But anyway, you should:

1) turn the mail support off to test this (in Preferences)
2) turn the whole mail binding off (= temporarily rename the GetRuleScript.txt file in /Applications/Avast!.app/Contents/Resources)
3) turn the after-close mechanism off (in Preferences)

Regards,
PC