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Avast antivirus on Mac - driving me nuts


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I've got Avast Antivirus installed on my Mac Pro and it is driving me nuts. When I'm browsing using Chrome it keeps alerting me to malicious URLs on websites that should be safe - including my own website!

How can I address this? Can anybody help here - is it a malware infection or something similar?

 

 

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Avast always does well in testing with regard to identifying all types of malware, but along with it comes a reputation for having the most False Positives.

I haven't even tried it for many years now, mostly because of the latter reputation, so can't really speak from experience, but I'm certain your questions would be better addressed by Avast than here. 

I might be able to provide some general information if I knew exactly what the malware names Avast is alerting you to. 

You also might want to try the Malwarebytes Chrome Extension that's in beta testing to see if it confirms any of these alerts.

If you aren't using an ad blocking extension with Chrome, you probably should, just to prevent something called "Malvertising" which are ads that contain embedded javascript which cause redirections and fake pop-ups.

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This user has a related topic at https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/699756/how-about-macs/

I have the free version of Avast Security installed on my MacBook Pro's macOS 10.14.5 Mojave.  Its Avast Security stands at v13.13.  I have been running Avast Security for several years and it has been quite well behaved.  It is also quite compatible with Malwarebytes for Mac Premium v3.8.17.2526

Free Avast Security's Web Shield has kept me from a few questionable sites and has stopped access/execution of known malware.

Your Avast Security Web Shield may very well be blocking questionable and/or known toxic URL/IP access.  You may wish to submit questionable URLs to VirusTotal.com for a collective analysis.

HTH

Edited by 1PW
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Thanks, that's me on bleepingcomputer too - doubling up. I should say that Avast acts very differently on PC with Firefox compared with Mac and Chrome.

On my laptop when I access my website and others that are identified as being malicious URLs on the Mac's Avast Web Shield, nothing happens. So is it a Mac/Chrome problem?

How do I find out the malware names - is it in the Web Shield log?Apologies, I use the software but not at an advanced level.

 Just so you know, I also use AdBlock and NoScript on the Mac Chrome browser along with Ghostery.

 

 

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Hello @feromone:

Make certain that the macOS system is up-to-date.  Then do the same for the Avast Security program.  If and when the Avast Security program is up-to-date, please be certain that the Virus definitions are also up-to-date.  Please do not proceed until the above is completed.  Please report all three (3) version levels in your next reply to this topic.  Do an Avast Security "Full System Scan" and report any errors with great detail for the most efficient use of troubleshooting time and effort.  A macOS screenshot of non-truncated information will be most helpful.

Although your own web site seems absent of malware, it is in priority need of security/vulnerability corrections: https://observatory.mozilla.org/analyze/www.welovemedia.co

Thank you.

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Thanks 1PW

I can't (won't) update my Mac OS (Mountain Lion 10.8.5) as I am running software that I prefer to keep as it is. Avast version is 12.9. The virus definitions are up to date.

Did the full system scan and there were no errors.

I am still getting malicious URL alerts on a lot of sites.

Thanks for the Mozilla security scan link - do I get my web developer to address the points it raises?

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  • Staff

Just be aware that Mountain Lion is far from secure at this point. It's no longer supported by Apple, and contains known vulnerabilities that could be exploited. That's probably unlikely at this point, but I've learned through many years of experience to never say anything in the security world is impossible.

I can't speak about the malicious site warnings, since neither I or anyone else here (so far as I know) works for Avast. However, I can say that if you're getting warnings on your own site, it's possible it could have been hacked. Your web developer should definitely look into that.

If you provide some specific sites that you're getting warnings from, we could speak more specifically. Just don't supply URLs directly, which someone might click to go to a site that may have malicious content. Instead, replace the "http" in the URL with "hxxp"... that will prevent it from being a working URL.

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