App Review Avast One Essential Free Antivirus 2021

[Shadowra]

Content source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4YszAWrFKA

Hello to all!
Today we will see how Avast pprotects our computer.
Avast is an antivirus from the Czech Republic, very well known and appreciated by novices due to its popularity and especially because it is user-friendly.
At the beginning of September, and due to the acquisition of Avast by NortonLifeLock, Avast released a ONE version that contains Antivirus, Firewall and VPN included!
On the Web, Avast is doing very well except on phishing where it still has a lot of trouble...
On the files of the pack, Avast achieves a very good score.
On the other hand, no security on unknown viruses!
My home-made Ransomware passed without reaction destroying the computer...
Another point that disappointed me, Avast CyberCapture is useless!
It analyzes to finally tell you that the file is healthy... while it is a malware.
Avast is recommendable, but it can do better.

RAM Usage : Light
Phishing Test : 1/3 (many dead or undetected phishing)
Malware URL test : 10/10 (all detected)
Fake crack : 1/1 (detected by Avast database)
Malware Pack : Remaining 27 files. Avast does not catch any files. CyberCapture is useless
Home Malware : 0/1 => MBR Blocked by my malware. End of the test

 

[Templarware]

Is it only in english yet?

 

[Shadowra]

Is it only in english yet?

Yep

 

[ForgottenSeer 67480]

Woah. Avast with epic fail, just like Sophos.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

CyberCapture is useless

hi, cybercapture only works when we download the file from internet browser and run it. It's similar to windows defeder's smartscreen
in previous version, Avast has hardened mode aggressive (renamed in avast one) which can easily block these types of malware
avast without hardened mode enabled is not as strong as other AVs. With hardened mode, it's kind of a beast

 

[Shadowra]

hi, cybercapture only works when we download the file from internet browser and run it. It's similar to windows defeder's smartscreen
in previous version, Avast has hardened mode aggressive (renamed in avast one) which can easily block these types of malware
avast without hardened mode enabled is not as strong as other AVs. With hardened mode, it's kind of a beast

The problem with the enhanced mode is that it blocks unsigned files, malware or not.
It reminds me of Trend Micro's blocking mode, so a bit of a cheat....

 

[Evjl's Rain]

The problem with the enhanced mode is that it blocks unsigned files, malware or not.
It reminds me of Trend Micro's blocking mode, so a bit of a cheat....

the moderate mode blocks unsigned file while aggressive mode blocks files that are not/not yet verified to be safe according to avast's cloud
aggressive works similarly to windows smartscreen while moderate mode seems to be more aggressive ironically

my experience shows a file is blocked today but when it has enough time on the cloud and has enough reputation rating, it will be unblocked, just wait

 

[Anthony Qian]

CyberCapture is useless

Totally agree. CyberCapture is a cloud-based scan that takes 60 seconds to complete, including uploading and analysis time. I believe that 60 seconds is insufficient to determine whether or not a program is safe. CyberCapture, in my experience, flags a lot of dangerous samples as safe.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Totally agree. CyberCapture is a cloud-based scan that takes 60 seconds to complete, including uploading and analysis time. I believe that 60 seconds is insufficient to determine whether or not a program is safe. CyberCapture, in my experience, flags a lot of dangerous samples as safe.

actually, cybercapture takes hours to complete when it is triggered (file must be downloaded by your internet browser). During that time, the file is locked. Very few times, it can be triggered so it's basically useless

the one you see is avast's deepscreen/sandbox, which only takes 15 seconds to analyze and most of the times, the results are safe -> another weak feature. If we enable Hardened mode moderate, the file supposed to be analyzed by deepscreen is ignored by deepscreen and is blocked by hardened mode moderate instead

 

[Anthony Qian]

actually, cybercapture takes hours to complete when it is triggered. During that time, the file is locked. Very few times, it can be triggered so it's basically useless

the one you see is avast's deepscreen/sandbox, which only takes 15 seconds to analyze and most of the times, the results are safe -> another weak feature. If we enable Hardened mode moderate, the file supposed to be analyzed by deepscreen is ignored by deepscreen and is blocked by hardened mode moderate instead

I think CyberCapture (CC) has been updated. In the past, CC took hours to make a decision. But now, CC only scans for 60 secs.
Maybe, Deepscreen has been integrated into CC? I'm not sure.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

I think CyberCapture (CC) has been updated. In the past, CC took hours to make a decision. But now, CC only scans for 60 secs.
Maybe, Deepscreen has been integrated into CC? I'm not sure.

by the way, those features are virtually useless if hardened mode aggressive is enabled. I've ditched avast for almost 2 years so I'm no longer updated
HM aggressive + a script blocker (syshardener or hard_configurator): almost a default-deny approach, similarly to voodooshield in auto mode
I used this combo for almost 2 years and confirmed, almost nothing can bypass it. Safe, reputable files were allowed to run automatically