Author Topic: Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements  (Read 1183 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline asparagus

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 25
Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements
« on: August 23, 2021, 09:55:52 PM »
... and even though I unblocked it it still won't start. This is licensed software that I have been using more or less daily since I installed it in 2015 on this machine. I used it most recently last night. Today it wouldn't start. I played a hunch and looked in Avast Premium Security settings and found PE had been blocked (twice) on grounds of trying to access passwords. I unblocked both blocks and it still won't start. Here are the possible explanations as I see them, in order of plausibility, given the facts:
 - false positive as the result of a recent Avast Premium Security update
 - true positive as a result of Adobe suddenly getting into data harvesting
 - true positive caused by Photoshop Elements suddenly compromised by unidentified malware

Obviously I don't want to use it if it is either of the last two, but this is not the first time I have had Avast Premium Security block software that was surely false positive (whilst unblocking PE, I discovered I still have Scripted Diagnostics Native Host blocked and that's part of Windows). Which is why I unblocked it. But it still won't start!

How do I establish the explanation and how do I get my software working again?


Offline asparagus

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 25
Re: Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2021, 10:32:49 PM »
This is what happened when I tried to fire up Avast Cleanup Premium to try and see if it might be implicated. Looking even more likely to be an Avast cockup, I'd say. So all I need is some help to fix it, please. Unless a restart magically fixes everything. Let's see ...

Offline bob3160

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 48523
  • 64 Years of Happiness
    • bob3160 Protecting Yourself, Your Computer and, Your Identity
Re: Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2021, 10:38:40 PM »

Report a false positive (select file or website)
https://www.avast.com/false-positive-file-form.php

Free Security Seminar: https://bit.ly/bobg2023  -  Important: http://www.organdonor.gov/ -- My Web Site: http://bob3160.strikingly.com/ - Win 11 Pro v22H2 64bit, 16 Gig Ram, 1TB SSD, Avast Free 23.5.6066, How to Successfully Install Avast http://goo.gl/VLXdeRepair & Clean Install https://goo.gl/t7aJGq -- My Online Activity https://bit.ly/BobGInternet

Offline asparagus

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 25
Re: Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2021, 11:58:33 PM »
Thanks for that link, bob3160. Photoshop Elements was working again after a restart, so it sure looks like my two Avast products got something wrong, and I reported it as a false positive file. It's not the file that's false positive, though, is it? It's the behaviour it was alleged to have exhibited. So I had to make that clear in the description. I find it hard to understand how accessing sensitive information could be falsely observed!

Offline bob3160

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 48523
  • 64 Years of Happiness
    • bob3160 Protecting Yourself, Your Computer and, Your Identity
Re: Avast Premium Security suddenly blocked Photoshop Elements
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2021, 12:24:13 AM »
It may very well have been because a restart was required.


An update of some kind.
Free Security Seminar: https://bit.ly/bobg2023  -  Important: http://www.organdonor.gov/ -- My Web Site: http://bob3160.strikingly.com/ - Win 11 Pro v22H2 64bit, 16 Gig Ram, 1TB SSD, Avast Free 23.5.6066, How to Successfully Install Avast http://goo.gl/VLXdeRepair & Clean Install https://goo.gl/t7aJGq -- My Online Activity https://bit.ly/BobGInternet