From elsewhere I read (and noting some unwanted behaviors of Avast's Emergency Update which is not only to retrieve signature updates but has also retrieved and installed program updates without prompting the user), I did the following:
- Disable Avast's self defense module (Settings -> Troubleshooting -> Enable Avast self-defense module, deselect).
- Add a new firewall rule on outbound connections to block the following program:
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\AvastEmUpdate.exe
- In the C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast folder, rename
AvastEmUpdate.exe
to
AvastEmUpdate.OLD_exe
- Delete the setup\EmUpdate subfolder (the one with the goofy randomly numbered updates).
- Disable (not delete) the scheduled task in Task Scheduler for the Avast Emergency Update.
- Reenable Avast's self-defense module.
I did the above today and have not yet rebooted my computer to see if the scheduled task gets recreated or not. I did not delete the scheduled event but just disabled it. If Avast is rude in regenerating the scheduled event if missing, perhaps it will see the event is still defined, not notice it has been disabled, and not replace the event with an enabled one.
I've heard rumor that Avast will drop the Emergency Updater in November. Any substantiation of the rumor? If Avast continues to include their EmUpdate tool, they really should add a configuration setting, like under Troubleshooting, to let users enable or disable it.