Is it safe?

[Randissimo]

Sorry for the wait; needed to install the English language package on my Win7 x64 Laptop which has still Avast 2014 installed on it.

At least I can ignore files marked as suspicious with Avast 8 on the spot. The screen is showing a harmless virus pop-up screen, because I haven't triggered an evo-gen in the last days and I didn't know any other method to make this type of screen appear directly with evo-gen/suspicious file messages instead of virus warning pop-ups.

anyways, only the block feature seemed to be working for me with Windows 8 x64, everything else resulted in a loop and if I had chosen to block the file, it would have tried to destroy the file while it would have left some temporary rest on the disk drive - the same as when the default action would be to move it into quarantine.

[Para-Noid]

I have never seen that pop-up.
I will contact our Win8 guy, I'm using a Win7x64.
Have some patience as I don't know how quickly he will be able to help you.

The only thing I can tell you is to "move to chest" where you can safely deal with it.
Have you tried "fix automatically"? 

[bob3160]

I have never seen that pop-up.
I will contact our Win8 guy, I'm using a Win7x64.
Have some patience as I don't know how quickly he will be able to help you.

The only thing I can tell you is to "move to chest" where you can safely deal with it.
Have you tried "fix automatically"? 

I've never seen an ignore feature. You can exempt items but once detected those are your choices.
Selecting the chest is always the best option since it gives you a way to reverse a false positive.

[Randissimo]

I have never seen that pop-up.

You can test it for yourself. Just paste the following sequence:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
in a notepad window and save as: eicar.com with the settings of "all files" instead of the default .txt extension.
edit: I'd advice to show extensions for every file beforehand.

I will contact our Win8 guy, I'm using a Win7x64.

The screen has been done on my Win7x64 computer, while I've already switched back to Avast8 on Win8x64, but thanks anyways.

The only thing I can tell you is to "move to chest" where you can safely deal with it.

I've had tried everything and only the "block" option got me out of the loop. Even when resetting the settings to the default action of moving it to quarantine first, it destroyed the file and left some temporary rest of it on the drive. Same as the "block" option.

I've never seen an ignore feature. You can exempt items but once detected those are your choices.

They only appear on suspicious warning pop-ups on Avast8 and when a download with a (falsely) detected threat is started.
Avast2014 removed even those options.

[Para-Noid]

I ran your test and avast acted just as it should.
The file is malicious, extension not withstanding.
It's the file avast is detecting not just the extension.
You may, if you so desire (why I do not know) add the file
to your exclusions list. GUI>Settings>Antivirus>scroll down to "exclusions".

This might help you http://www.eicar.org/86-0-Intended-use.html

[Randissimo]

The file is malicious[...]

No, it isn't, it just acts as if it would be malicious. Did you really read the link you've suggested to me for yourself?
I've only chosen this test to make such messages appear.

It's the file avast is detecting not just the extension.

So what does that have to do with anything?

You may, if you so desire (why I do not know) add the file
to your exclusions list.

Thanks again for the picture, but I've already answered that I'd like to have the option directly in the "actions to take" window.
While Avast 8 also doesn't have the option to directly exempt potential virus threads, it at least lets me choose to do so with suspicious files (= Evo-Gen messages in Avast 2014) and with downloads from supposedly malicious files.

Now I still want to see whether there is an option to directly allow evo-gen false positives without making exceptions beforehand or moving it into chest first, because the first one is annoying, especially when the false positives are increasing, and with the latter one, I've had problems with the files when I tried to restore them after some newer update hadn't detected anything anymore on an earlier version (don't know which one it was exactly). Thankfully, those files were actually just some unneeded files from the Intel rapid storage driver (which I've installed, because I didn't know whether I needed them or not) and that having those files or not didn't make any difference.

Apart from this, even if a new attempt to cleanly install Avast 2014 on my Windows 8x64 computer were to fix the critical bugs and make it work normally just like on my Windows 7x64 computer, I wouldn't see any reasons why I should do that for

- less features (no ignore/exempt function in the dialog boxes/resume downloads anymore, no deletion of one specific log file possible)
- a worse GUI without the possibility to check for updates first in the right mouse button context menu and then going to start a full/boot-time scan; instead, I need to close the window and open another one with the main page again
- more advertisement on the main page, though it's still acceptable
 
 

[bob3160]

Sorry but you're incorrect in your assessment of the new version.
There are actually more features. They may have combined some features but, there are more features not less.
Simply hover your mouse over the avast! icon to see the latest updates applied.
Use the action shortcuts in the UI to access many functions very quickly.
It usually takes a little time to learn all of the functions of a new version of any product.

[Randissimo]

Then you can prove me wrong by providing screens whether it is possible in Avast2014 to

- directly allow files which are marked as suspicious (evo_gen in Avast2014) when asked what to do
- directly continue downloads on the dialog when a (false positive) virus or suspicious file alert is given
- delete one specific log file from the scan section

Now tell me please, where I can learn to do those 3 functions in Avast2014. Or did you mean I should take my time to wait for those features to come back? If that's so, I'll gladly do that with Avast8 running.

Also, I haven't mentioned anything about the merging of the 8 shields into 3 and the modification of the auto sandbox to deepscreen, because I can't say anything about whether those are rather removals or additions.
However, seeing those 3 options I've mentioned earlier gone, I can't help but say that Avast 2014 has less functions in my mind. If anyone has some objection, do it with proof or leave me alone please.

"Simply hover your mouse over the avast! icon to see the latest updates applied."
While that's a nice feature, it doesn't compensate for the loss of the more important options mentioned above. Same with the shortcuts I've never used and most likely never will.

So summing up, you've named 2 new features in Avast2014: one which is useless for me (shortcuts) and one which is nice to have but unnecessary (mouse over with data base/program version information). On the other side, I've mentioned the loss of 3 old features from Avast8 which I consider much more important than the 2 new features.

[bob3160]

For me, a file marked suspicious, is a file I don't use till I've verified that it is truly safe.
Therefore, that file will wind up in the chest from where I'll report it.
Since you've obviously made up your mind that the latest version isn't to your satisfaction,
nothing I or anyone else tells you, will change your mind.

[Randissimo]

I check the files on VT first, before I click on them and do regular full scans with Avast and Malwarebytes with no threats found.
However, it happens very rarely that some file which I know is safe has become detected because of some signature update:
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/fcd64507edebcd2d267c6b7db56e74ac466529c2264253ad1b2648d18333be3b/analysis/

A later local analysis after reporting it hasn't found any threats anymore in this file.

I don't like having to go to the chest first, because of some bad experiences in the past I've mentioned earlier.

I don't need to change my mind, but I'm open to do so if there are strong enough reasons to do so.
 

[psikofunkster]

LOL avast has NEVER been safe, it can mess with your PC at anytime.

Being said that, avast is not a hug resource in your pc (reason why i left kaspersky for example), it protects your pc from outside threats pretty well the problem is the inside threats (software upgrades, virus definitions, etc)......sad but true.

[Para-Noid]

LOL avast has NEVER been safe, it can mess with your PC at anytime.

With all due respect I disagree with you. If avast is "unsafe" why have 200,000,000 users depended
on it for protection?

Being said that, avast is not a hug resource in your pc (reason why i left kaspersky for example), it protects your pc from outside threats pretty well the problem is the inside threats (software upgrades, virus definitions, etc)......sad but true.

Inside threats?      Huh? 
Software upgrades and vps updates are vital for avast to function.
If it involves the various files on your system you have the file shield to rely on.