Active Protection services won't stay off

[rednoise0]

I only want the File Protection service to be resident. I do not want Mail or Web shield running, so I turn their little sliders to "Off" and choose the "Stop Permanently" option. Fine and dandy for a few days up to a week or so when I find that those options have turned themselves on again with no action on my part. Why? How can I make them stay off?

Windows XP SP3
Avast Free ver. 11.1.2241

[Rednose]

Hi rednoise0, welcome to the forum

I dont think we are related, although your username suggests differently
You can simply remove the modules you don't use/need :

1) Start - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs - Avast - Change.
2) Change.
3) Uncheck module(s).
4) Continue.
5) Reboot.

Greetz, Red.

[DavidR]

There is nothing to stop you doing a custom install and only selecting the modules you want.

Now you have gone past that stage, there is nothing to stop you uninstalling the modules you don't want. Control Panel > Add Remove Programs > avast antivirus > Change - from this next window you can uncheck the two modules you don't want.

[rednoise0]

OK, thank you both, that answers how to turn the services off for good, although it's a bit more drastic than I had hoped - I might want to turn them on occasionally. But I'd really like to know why they do that. I'm almost certain this didn't happen with Avast Free 2015 but only started with the 2016 version. I don't see any other complaints about this, so is it something peculiar to my system, or has nobody else noticed it, or do they just live with it? I don't like this behavior - user options should stay where the user wants them, especially when the program give no indication that it intends to later alter them whenever it feels like it with no warning.

[Rednose]

Hi rednoise0

About the why I don't have an answer.
But you could update to Avast 2016.11.1.2245 https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=179855.0 and test again.

Greetz, Red.

[rednoise0]

About the why I don't have an answer.
But you could update to Avast 2016.11.1.2245 https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=179855.0 and test again.

I thought I checked earlier today, before I posted, and I didn't see an update, so maybe it just came online? Anyway I'll do it. This might confirm one of my suspicions that the services get turned on whenever I update the program.

I'll report back what happens.

[rednoise0]

I thought I checked earlier today, before I posted, and I didn't see an update, so maybe it just came online? Anyway I'll do it. This might confirm one of my suspicions that the services get turned on whenever I update the program.

I'll report back what happens.

OK, I just updated to ver. 11.1.2245... and yep, sure enough, the Mail Shield and Web Shield that I had "permanently" turned off earlier are now turned back on.

I do not like this behavior. I guess I'll have to resort to the brute force method and actually uninstall those components. I don't think that should be necessary.

Maybe this is an XP thing? I haven't noticed it happening on my Windows 7 computers.

[DavidR]

Rather depends on how you updated, if you did an install over the top or a clean install shields may well be enabled.
I suggest that you do as I suggested an uninstall the elements you don't need/want. Not really a brute force method, takes less than a minute to complete on my XP system.

Personally if I'm doing a clean or install over the top of an existing installation I do a custom install. That way you get what you want and no surprises.

[rednoise0]

Rather depends on how you updated, if you did an install over the top or a clean install shields may well be enabled.
I suggest that you do as I suggested an uninstall the elements you don't need/want. Not really a brute force method, takes less than a minute to complete on my XP system.

Personally if I'm doing a clean or install over the top of an existing installation I do a custom install. That way you get what you want and no surprises.

I didn't do an update from a downloaded install file, I accepted the in-place update from the running program's "Update" menu. I guess that would be equivalent to an "over the top" installation in your terms, except you aren't presented with any options to customize the update.

[REDACTED]

OK, I just updated to ver. 11.1.2245... and yep, sure enough, the Mail Shield and Web Shield that I had "permanently" turned off earlier are now turned back on.

Maybe this is an XP thing? I haven't noticed it happening on my Windows 7 computers.

No this is not WinXP specific.  I did an update on my Win7 box about 45 minutes ago, and I was notified of the change by Firefox, which asked me to allow a new add-on to be installed.
Like you, I use the update function from within the task bar, my last "manual" install from a downloaded package was years ago.  Back then, Avast came without modules like password protection, browser cleanup, home network security, and I was never asked if I want those.

Guys, this is BAD!  Changing settings without user request is poor behaviour.  Changing settings without even a notice to the user is an absolute no-go for security software.


Regards,
  Stefan

[DavidR]

Rather depends on how you updated, if you did an install over the top or a clean install shields may well be enabled.
I suggest that you do as I suggested an uninstall the elements you don't need/want. Not really a brute force method, takes less than a minute to complete on my XP system.

Personally if I'm doing a clean or install over the top of an existing installation I do a custom install. That way you get what you want and no surprises.

I didn't do an update from a downloaded install file, I accepted the in-place update from the running program's "Update" menu. I guess that would be equivalent to an "over the top" installation in your terms, except you aren't presented with any options to customize the update.

During beta testing and standard program updates I often do a manual UI update and so far it hasn't enabled the Mail Shield signature. This was also the same for modules that I hadn't installed previously, my setup remained the same, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what is going on.