How To Disable Avast Antivirus | Turn Off Avast Antivirus

This hands-on tutorial explains the step-by-step process to Disable or Turn Off Avast Antivirus either all shields at a time or one at a time:

Installing an antivirus is very important to protect your computer from different types of malware attacks and viruses.

That is why most people prefer to purchase an antivirus after trying out a trial version of a particular brand to ensure ultimate protection for their system.

Table of Contents:

• Avast Antivirus Overview
• How To Disable Avast Antivirus
  • Recommended Tool – System Mechanic Ultimate Defense
  • Disabling All Shields At The Same Time
  • How To Disable Avast Shields, One At A Time
  • Switching Off HTTPS Scanning In The Web Shield Of The Antivirus
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• Conclusion

Avast Antivirus Overview

Most of the antiviruses available in the market are capable enough to protect your computer. But some antivirus software are quite popular among users because of the reliability and efficiency they offer.

Without a doubt, Avast antivirus is one of them. This is the reason why so many people choose this antivirus for long term use. But, there are times when antiviruses block certain sites from loading and could block even trustworthy apps from installing or altering the system files in some way.

Further Reading => How to Fix When Avast Won’t Work

Yet, deleting the entire antivirus application just for this purpose can cause additional risks for the users.

Avast antivirus does not let unknown service providers install anything on your computer and this can lead to a great problem for you at some point in time. Hence, you should know how to disable Avast, if you want to disable it for a time being.

But if you want to learn how to turn off Avast completely or power down certain Avast shields, then in this tutorial, you will exactly learn how to do that!

How To Disable Avast Antivirus

Doing this might completely turn off the antivirus protection on your system, so do this only when you are going to install any other such software. Here’s how to turn off Avast Antivirus, completely, without outright deleting the app.

Recommended Tool – System Mechanic Ultimate Defense

System Mechanic Ultimate Defense – We understand that Avast might not be everybody’s cup of tea. This is perhaps why you would want to disable it. You still need an antivirus program that can thwart threats to your system and we can think of no other tool that can do this job better than System Mechanic Ultimate Defense.

System Mechanic gets to work as soon as it is installed in your system. It features a perpetually updated ‘reputation database’, which makes it capable of detecting new and previously unknown threats. It also makes use of artificial intelligence and intuitive threat detecting algorithms to be accurate in its ability to detect issues to the system.

From spyware and adware to viruses, System Mechanic can detect and remove them all without a hassle. System Mechanic can fix over 30000 issues as of now. It is a great alternative to Avast as you get a tool that is equally great at full PC optimization and anti-virus protection.

Features:

• Real-time Anti-virus Protection
• Military Grade Drive Wiping Technology
• AI-Driven Threat Detection
• On-demand malware detection and removal.
• Removes bloatware to boost PC speed.

Price: $63.94 annual plan.

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AVG

Best for Robust virus and malware protection.

If you are looking for complete antivirus protection, then we cannot recommend AVG enough. This tool is exceptionally powerful and effective at combatting all sorts of threats like viruses, malware, ransomware, phishing attacks in real-time. The software will run in the background, once launched, catch a threat and proactively neutralize it before the situation worsens.

Features:

• Secure phishing sites
• Block malware and viruses
• Ransomware protection
• Block unsafe and fake websites

Price: The tool is available to use for free. For added internet protection, you’ll need to pay $3.89/month to secure 1 device.

Website: https://www.avg.com/

Disabling All Shields At The Same Time

Step 1: Locate the orange icon for Avast on the Windows taskbar, then right-click to open the settings for the antivirus Avast.

Step 2: Now, go to Avast shields and select one of the given options i.e. disabling for 10 minutes, for an hour, until the computer is restarted or disable the shields permanently.

Step 3: Confirm the chosen option by clicking on “OK,” and after doing this, all the shields will be paused for however long you have selected.

Step 4: Just to confirm that Avast has actually disabled all the shields, go to the main window for the antivirus. Now, stay on the status tab and wait till you receive the below prompt.

If you receive the above prompt, then you have successfully turned off all the shields.

If, by chance, you have to restart the shields, then just click on the option ‘TURN ON’ in the main window, and your shields should be back on.

How To Disable Avast Shields, One At A Time

You won’t have to completely shut off your virus protection for everything. Shutting off particular shields might do the job as well. This has another benefit too i.e. if you turn off Avast antivirus services one at a time, then you will be able to finish your task with some modicum of protection services still on.

Step 1: Find the Avast icon on the taskbar i.e. on the bottom right corner. Double click to open the user interface of Avast.

Step 2: Once there, you can go to the ‘Protection’ tab, where you will find the option ‘Core Shields’. Now select the ‘Core Shields’ option.

Step 3: Inside the core shields, you will find 4 types of shields and their toggle buttons for disabling or enabling the shields.

Step 4: Now you can toggle the on-off toggle switch to disable one of the shields. Now again you will be asked what time do you want to disable the shields, and you can select any one of them.

Reactivating the disabled shields

Once the task is complete, you can toggle ‘ON’ to switch the shields on for installing complete protection.

Switching Off HTTPS Scanning In The Web Shield Of The Antivirus

HTTPS scanning in an antivirus is the shield that protects you from malicious malware that you can acquire from going to websites that deliver malware through the traffic generated through TLS and SSL encryption of the site.

Suggested reading =>> Best Malware Removal Software

Although, if HTTPS scanning is disabled, the system is now open to malware delivery through unsafe sites, and that is why you should go ahead with this only in dire situations, and when you trust the other site.

Here is the guide to switching off HTTPS Scanning:

Step 1: Go to the main user interface of Avast.

Step 2: Select the MENU button at the top right corner.

Step 3: Select the settings option as shown in the below snapshot.

Step 4: Select the ‘Core Shields’ option and scroll down from there till you come across the ‘Configure shield settings’ option.

Step 5: Now uncheck the box where it says, ‘Enable HTTPS Scanning’ and you’re done. If you want to turn the scanning on, then you just have to enable this setting by following steps 1 to 4.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I turn off Avast?

You can follow the above-mentioned steps and disable the antivirus temporarily or till you choose to start the protection back on.

2. How do I temporarily disable Avast Antivirus on Android?

To disable Avast antivirus on Android devices, you have to follow the below steps.– Go to the ‘Apps’ option (if you can’t find it immediately, then search for it).– Scroll down to Avast Mobile security and select it.– You’ll find the ‘Force Stop’ button at the bottom of the screen.– Click on the ‘Force Stop’ button, and your Avast antivirus for mobile devices app would stop working until you decide to turn it on.Suggested reading =>> Top Antivirus apps for Android Smartphones

3. How do I turn on my Avast Antivirus?

First, ensure the below things:– Avast is installed on your system.– The application version and virus definitions have been updated.– Your subscription to the antivirus is active.

Now that you’ve ensured these three things, go to the user interface of the antivirus and select ‘Resolve’ to ensure that the antivirus has turned on.

4. Why can’t I uninstall Avast Antivirus?

Sometimes the Avast antivirus software won’t be uninstalled in the standard way. To uninstall it properly, reach to the control panel and just use program features to uninstall the app. In such cases, you can use the Avastclear software from the Avast developers only.Download the avastclear.exe file on your PC, restart Windows in Safe Mode and then run the .exe file to remove Avast. Once this is done, restart your computer.

5. How do I disable Avast free antivirus in Windows 10?

Please follow the detailed steps mentioned above for doing so.

6. Is Avast malware?

Avast tends to spy on their user’s precious data and browsing history, which is indeed something malware can do.

7. Does Avast slow down the computer?

Yes, but this is something that all antiviruses will do. They use a lot of CPU power for doing what they’re supposed to do i.e. to scan your files and constantly monitor your system’s data.

8. Is McAfee better than Avast?

McAfee is certainly better than Avast in terms of performance, protection, and interface. The paid version of McAfee is also cheaper than the paid version of Avast.Suggested reading =>> How to completely remove McAfee from Windows

9. How to disable Avast antivirus and firewall?

All antiviruses can be disabled by clicking on their icons in the icon tray of the Windows taskbar. Once the antivirus protection is paused, you can restart it by going to the main console of the antivirus.For disabling the firewall, go to the Windows start button, then go to settings by clicking the clog wheel icon. Now, go to update and security and then select Windows security and then firewall and network protection.Now open the Windows security settings and then select the network profile. Switch off the firewall from here.

10. How much does Avast antivirus cost?

In total, Avast has 3 types of subscription plans as shown below.– For a year: $30 (one device)– For two years: $55 (one device)– For three years: $80 (one device)

11. How do I disable antivirus without an administrator?

This is how you disable antivirus software without requiring any admin privileges:Start your computer in safe mode using the F8 key at the boot menu.Select boot into safe mode from here.Click start and go to the control panel and disable the firewall from the security tab (see detailed explanation above).

12. Is free antivirus good enough?

Yes, since free versions of a good and dependable antivirus have enough defense in place and you seldom have to buy a subscription plan, that too when your data is extremely sensitive.

13. Is Avast Antivirus free forever?

Yes, the free version of the antivirus software is free forever. You don’t need to buy the full paid version if you don’t want to.

14. How do I disable Avast Antivirus on startup?

Open the ‘Run’ dialog box by pressing the Windows key and R together. On the console type, “msconfig.exe” and press enter.

Select the startup option as shown in the snapshot below.

Open task manager and scroll down to Avast, click on it, and select “Disable” to ensure that Avast doesn’t start at the startup.

Conclusion

From this tutorial, you now know how to pause Avast antivirus shields as a whole or you can selectively disable certain shields.

Further reading => Avast vs Windows Defender

Disabling an antivirus is a simple process, yet it should only be done if there are no other ways to proceed further. That’s why this step by step comprehensive guide should help you when you’re in a bind.

Hope this tutorial provided a clear understanding of Disabling Avast Antivirus.

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