Author Topic: Is this legit?  (Read 5065 times)

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Offline mbres60

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Is this legit?
« on: February 25, 2019, 11:49:58 PM »
I have the free Avast for Mac.  I am on High Sierra. Today, for the first time, every time I try to open Avast it pops up saying I'm protected but immediately something else covers most of it and says "Help us keep you safe.  Your mac is not covered by real time protection.  Systems software from developer "Avast Software a.s." was blocked from loading.  Asks me to allow it to use real time protection.  Most of the text is orange and black.  It wants me to go to Security and Privacy to change my settings.  There is an orange rectangular box that says "Go to system preferences" .  At the very bottom in small print I could clink on to continue without real time protection (not advised). 

I am very leary to click on this til I know it is legit (was once burned by something else).  Thanks for any help.

Offline BWhit

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Re: Is this legit?
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2019, 09:57:01 AM »
Hi mbres60,

Newer macOS versions (10.13 or higher) require user approval before loading new third-party kernel extensions, which Avast Security for Mac uses for real-time protection. The app does use a pop-up similar to what you describe to alert you if the approval has not yet been granted.

I would recommend checking this support article about approving the extensions to make sure the image matches what you are seeing, but the pop-up should be legit: https://support.avast.com/article/119/

Offline mbres60

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Re: Is this legit?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2019, 05:07:43 PM »
Thank you.  That was the pop up I received.  Don't know why it suddenly appeared.  I followed the instructions so hopefully all is well.

One other question... i have had this for about the last 4-5 years.  Is it better at this point to uninstall and reinstall a newer version?  To do a full scan takes hours and hours so I don't do it.  I assume that when I get off the computer and it goes "asleep" or standby it interrupts the scan.  I may be wrong though.