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avast! Free Antivirus Additional Protections

Last modified: 2012-04-14 21:42:58 EEST

avast! Free Antivirus has several advanced modules that provide additional protection from malware:

• AutoSandbox - preventing changes to files and settings by unknown programs.
• Browser Protection, aka WebRep - providing community-based web reputation system as an add-on/plugin in Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It also blocks known phishing sites that try to steal your user names and passwords.
• Site Blocking - preventing access to defined web sites for parental control.

Configuring avast! AutoSandbox

avast! Free Antivirus has AutoSandbox feature that puts unknown or suspicious programs in so-called Sandbox - the programs run (and have red border around their windows), but no changes are really saved to file system (hard disks or removable disks) or Windows Registry.

By default, AutoSandbox tries to work in fully automated mode, but this might lead to inability to properly run downloaded programs that are stored in temporary internet files folder or programs that wake up User Account Control. Such programs terminate before proper launch outside AutoSandbox.
 

To prevent unneeded hassle, click Additional Protection tab, open click AutoSandbox tab and click Settings on the right.

To run AutoSandbox in a more well-behaved mode, select Ask from AutoSandbox mode combo box.
In very limited occasions (such as running ComboFix), it is best to turn off AutoSandbox temporarily - disable the Enable AutoSandbox setting then.
In the Reasons for AutoSandboxing section, it is recommended to keep all settings turned on. Those who often launch unsigned (but safe) programs from network shares and removable drives (such as USB flash disks), might want to disable the The file is executed from a remote/removable media option. But please keep other options enabled here!
To exclude some programs from automatic sandboxing, use the browse button. To remove a program from the automatic sandboxing exclusion list, click delete.

Now you are able to select Open normally from Actions to take combo box of AutoSandbox popup and use the Remember my answer for this program option.

avast! Browser Protection / WebRep

avast! WebRep is an equivalent to McAfee SiteAdvisor or Web of Trust toolbar - a browser add-on that displays reputation ratings for web sites you visit and for search results of major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing). In version 7 of avast! Free Antivirus, the plugin adds protection from phishing sites.
avast! WebRep plug-in works with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari.
The color of rating bars shows how safe the site is - green ones are safe, yellow ones have some problems and red ones are dangerous.
The number of filled bars shows how many ratings have been submitted for the site - the more bars, the more ratings.

Because avast! Browser Protection gathers reputation data from normal users, many sites have not been rated yet. You can help avast! by providing your own rating to unrated sites or sites with few votes. Just click the avast! WebRep button in browser and provide your own rating.
 

WebRep's biggest shortcoming is the lack of blocking red (dangerous) sites. Sites considered harmful open as usual (potentially allowing zero-day exploits and malware to run) and no additional protection is offered by the plug-in. Therefore I really prefer using WOT Safe Surfing Tool over it.

Uninstalling avast! WebRep plugin from browsers

WebRep module can't be removed by disabling or uninstalling the add-on/plugin in the web browser. This will just disable WebRep temporarily until the next time you close and restart your browser.
If you are not satisfied with avast! WebRep module or you do not need it, open avast! Free Antivirus main window by clicking its orange icon in Taskbar Notification Area or using avast! Desktop Gadget.

Click Additional Protection tab on the left and then click Browser Protection. Click Uninstall button for the browser you are using. If you have multiple browsers installed, you need to click the button for each one separately.
It is recommended to close all open browser windows now.

avast! will make sure your really-really want to remove the browser plugin. Click Yes.

After a few moments, the success message will appear. Click OK.
If you had browser window(s) open at the time of uninstallation, you must close all open browser windows and then restart the browser for the WebRep browser plugin removal to take effect.

Installing avast! WebRep browser plugin

If you need to add WebRep plugin to your browser, open avast! user interface, Additional Protection tab, Browser Protection. Then click Install for each browser you use.
It would be best to close all open browser windows before enabling avast! WebRep add-on.

After a few seconds, a success message will appear. Click OK.

If you had browser window(s) open at the time of installation, you must close all open browser windows and then restart the browser for the WebRep plugin to work.

Configuring avast! site blocking - denying access to unwanted sites

Introduced with avast! 6 Free Antivirus, site blocking feature is useful for parents protecting their kids from addiction to some online games or websites; or any user who needs to block his/her computer from accessing some certain site (for example, to help cleaning malware).

This feature must be used with avast! password protection, otherwise it is absolutely ineffective.

In avast! Free Antivirus user interface, click Additional Protection tab on the left. Then click Site Blocking tab.
Click to check the Enable site blocking box. Then, under URLs to block, type a web site address. For example, www.facebook.com. Note that avast! adds "http://" to the beginning of the address and an asterisk (*) to the end of the address. The asterisk means that any sub-address (e.g. www.facebook.com/avast) of the site will also be blocked.
As wildcards, such as asterisks and question marks are supported, it is not recommended to use the "www." prefix. Instead, replace it with "*.", for example "*.facebook.com" - this will disable using any subsites of Facebook. As an example, specifying "www.facebook.com" will deny access to http://www.facebook.com, but not to http://facebook.com. Using "*.facebook.com" will block both.

To change an entry, simply click it and make your corrections. To delete an entry, click the delete button to the right of the entry.

When a user tries to open a blocked site, a blocking message will be displayed:

Sadly, there is a huge limitation to avast! Site Blocking - it does not support secure connections (https). So you can block http://www.facebook.com, but not https://www.facebook.com.

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