Is _avast_ folder in TEMP related to any Avast product?

[Windsurf48]

My Windows 11 system TEMP folder has an '_avast_' subfolder.  I have no Avast products installed and can't find any other files or folders with 'avast' or 'Avast' in the name.  I might have briefly installed an Avast free product by mistake and immediately deleted it. I downloaded and ran avastclear.exe using the default values and 'Avast Free Antivirus' successfully, although I don't know if it deleted anything.

When I delete the '_avast_' folder, it's recreated almost immediately by something.  Is the folder related to any Avast products, and if so, what do I need to do to get rid of it?

[igor]

Yes, that sounds like a temp folder use by Avast products... it's definitely the case for the anti-malware products, possibly even other products (I'm not completely sure there).

However, since I don't know who's creating the folder (if you say you uninstalled the product and the product is not "visible"), it's hard to say more. You may try to use avastclear.exe once more, and if it won't help... I guess some more research would be needed. (First, you may check the usual installation folders such as C:\Program Files\Avast Software or C:\ProgramData\Avast Software\Avast (log folder in the later could be useful), and if nothing is there, it may be time to use Process Monitor to find the process that creates that folder.)

[Windsurf48]

There are no files or folders with 'Avast' in their name anywhere on the PC.  I checked manually in the 2 Program Files folders and ProgramData on the C: drive and ran Windows search using 'avast' and '*avast', and only the system TEMP '_avast_' folder with its 'unp_low' subfolder turned up, plus 'avastclear.exe'.

I ran avastclear.exe again in Safe Mode, deleted the '_avast_' folder again, and it came back again.

[Windsurf48]

I left my PC running while I had dinner.  When I got back, the '_avast_' folder was still missing.  Since Avast is offered when you install CCleaner, I decided to try running it.  As soon as CCleaner launched, the '_avast_' folder appeared in the TEMP folder.

Why is CCleaner creating an '_avast_' folder with a 'unp_low' subfolder?

[igor]

Most likely because there are shared pieces of code and, as a part of common libraries, the same code (that initializes the temp subfolder on an AV product) is also used in CCleaner - and because there's no special override for CCleaner product/brand, it falls back to the default "_avast_".