OK. I can detect a virus-riddled website at 20 paces; they usually have give-away signs like a "Loading" bar etc. So, I went on one particular website last night, and a java 'splash-screen' appeared; I tried to close the window but it was too late, and I thought, "Brace yourselves: Avast siren in 3...2...1..." [The Avast siren is amazing, by the way. Even when I'm expecting it, it never fails to give me a minor heart-attack. This is why I usually keep my laptop on 'mute' when I'm on the internet]. But, Avast didn't come to the rescue...
Instead, Threatfire popped up. "Er. Excuse me, something's not quite right here. What do you want me to do?" Not being particularly familiar with Threatfire, as it is a recent addition to my list of computer programs, I said, "Uh. I don't know. Stop process and quarantine, please." Three attempts later, Threatfire came back saying, "Ur. Humbly report, I tried my best but it didn't quite work out as expected. Sorry. Please don't uninstall me." OK, I thought, it's time to let Avast take over with a scan. I let it scan and went into another room.
About 15 minutes later, my cat's head snapped 'round, in that owl-like fashion, to look at my laptop. "Ah good," I thought, "Avast has detected the virus" [perhaps this is good enough evidence to suggest that the Avast siren causes minor heart-attacks in household pets as well]. I opened up the chest, and had a look at what kind of virus it was. It was AppleT.Class, which, after a quick Google search later, I discovered this to be a malicious key-logging and screenshot-saving trojan. This made me think, if this is such a malicious code, why did Avast let it through?
This is not the first time, though. A couple of weeks ago Avast quite happily allowed 12 viruses on (most were apparently the same self-replicating virus, so maybe it just let the one on and the virus did its magic...). Now, I would like to note that this is not a complaint, by any means. Usually Avast pops up in that accusing manner: "Silly girl, you let a virus on your computer. etc" And I must confess I experience a bizarre joy and accomplishment every time I run my daily thorough scan (yes, I also admit I'm obsessed with scanning for viruses.) and I manage to find a virus. But lately, Avast hasn't been detecting virus threats.
Basically, I just want to know why Avast has suddenly stopped detecting immediate threats. As far as I know, I haven't turned virus protection off, so what's up?
Thanks, and sorry for the long post.
