Avast Free legit?

[lordhavok96]

 Hey everyone

A quick question that now has me wondering if I should uninstall Avast all together from my system has came up.

Just a little background.  I've used Avast for more than 10 years, give or take. 
I started out using the free version and for the last two years I upgraded and paid for it, as I trusted Avast. 

Sadly I had to cancel for this up and coming year as I've ran into some financial hardships.
 
Now this is where my questioning Avast has came from. Every since I downgraded to the free version, I've noticed that every time I turn on my pc now,
Advast pops up how it's blocked this virus or that virus and thrown them into quarantine. Hell, it's as if the free version is better than the paid version...

Or is it?  Has Avast started trying to freak me out to get me to pay them again? Or am I now, out of the blue became a target of virus from some weird reason?

I'd like to get the thoughts from other members of Advast on this. Both paid and free subers.

Thanks

Edit: Pic added

[DavidR]

Without any detailed information, screenshots it is almost impossible to answer.

I've been using Avast Free for almost 20 years, without any real issues.  Everyone is different and my online practices I wouldn't consider lax or risky, some are potentially their own worst enemy, diving i where others fear to tread.

[lordhavok96]

Without any detailed information, screenshots it is almost impossible to answer.

I've been using Avast Free for almost 20 years, without any real issues.  Everyone is different and my online practices I wouldn't consider lax or risky, some are potentially their own worst enemy, diving i where others fear to tread.

Sorry. I just added a pic of this one that happened today.

Hope that helps.

[DavidR]

No problem, given your attached image, are you using

This search returns many hits - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=HxTsr.exe
Some old but may give you an idea of what HxTsr.exe is and are you likely to be using it or it being misused.

Do you actually have the Windows Apps on your system, I don't as I have been avoiding Microsoft Windows Apps like the plague.  The other thing I find suspect about the detection is this number generation function code in the path.  So I feel it suspect at the least.

Since this was sent to Quarantine, you can Open the Quarantine and send the file to Avast for further analysis.

Are the multiple detections you mention the same, e.g. the use (or misuse) of HxTsr.exe, resulting in the same Alert  ?

[lordhavok96]

Hi
Thanks for reply.

I've gotten 7 hits from this of late. 
The PDF:MalwareX-gen

They do seem to be the same thing.

I just sent a few of them through Avast in hopes they'll be able to let me know. 
As far as scanning goes. It never pulls anything up.
So I'm kind of at a lost as to how I keep getting these from time to time.

I do have game pass apps from Microsoft for PC game pass etc.
As well as the controller app support. 
Which allows me to change the controller around if need be in games that don't support it.

Could it maybe be this? 

I'm starting to wonder if I keep getting these hits, maybe due to the apps auto starting up. So in the end it could just be a false pos. ? 

I appreciate you taking the time to have a look at the pic and share your thoughts.
Thanks.

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

Looking at your image raises two points:
1.  The initiating process - C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\microsoft.communicationsapps_\weird sub-folder\HxTsr.exe which is the initiating process.
2.  The Avast detection is from the Mail Shield, which I find very strange - I would have been expecting it to have been the Web Shield or File System Shield. 

So why would the connection from your system effectively generate something that would be detected by the Mail Shield, I find this very strange. 
In this search it returns many hits - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=HxTsr.exe - some of which relate to malware and how to remove, this would be worth a look at some of those and see if any are close to your symptoms.
This, anti-malware detection and removal certainly isn't my area of expertise.

I'm starting to wonder if I keep getting these hits, maybe due to the apps auto starting up. So in the end it could just be a false pos. ?

You could try disabling this App for a while and see if they cease.

As far as scanning goes. It never pulls anything up.

Given that this is a detection from an External Avast Shield, the Avast Mail Shield, it is effectively stopping anything being saved on to your system.

[lordhavok96]

Once again, thanks for taking the time to look over this.

I ended up having two more hits today.
 In fact the 2nd one I just had before jumping back on here to report it.

I don't know why it slipped my mind but yes. These last two I've gotten. The first one happened when I started up my mail. As soon as I did, a strange email popped up and then Avast caught it.
The funny thing is, of course how emails work. With the mail program, you have to click on the emails to open them, otherwise it just shows a list.
 Yet this funny email that popped up, acted as if I tried to open it. That's when Avast popped up another warning and stopped it.

It's as if I've got a problem with something trying to send me emails to open in hopes that I do. Luckly Avast is stopping it.

Now to just figure out how to stop this from trying to do that.

I'll check the link you gave about mail type malware and see if I can figure something out.

Thanks again.

Edit: I just had a look at my gmail account and notice some funny looking emails, all with  attachments to dl... 
 I went and blocked all of those senders.


 

[DavidR]

You're welcome, hopefully this is the end of it in this case.

But obviously someone/something would appear to have harvested/misused your email address, if it is out there it could occur again in the future.  Now you are forewarned it should be easier to block at gmail.

Personally I don't download my gmail, but use my browser to visit and view my gmail and in many cases they are already in the Spam folder.