Avast Pop-Up

Shax · March 06, 2024, 03:56:53 AM

G'day to all! I don't even know if this message will post, as I'm currently back in India, and forums (fora?) have a monotonous habit of not receiving my posts from here...

This message has been popping onto my screen every 10 minutes or so. Don't know if it's genuine or a new marketing ploy from Avast. I finally allowed it as an exception, immediately scanned with Avast and Malwarebytes, all clear, and it no longer appears. Any ideas what it is?

Corrine · March 06, 2024, 02:19:13 PM

Hi, Shax.

It appears that Avast has blacklisted that link based on the report at Scamadvisor, which indicates a low trust score for the site. If it is a site you are familiar with and know that it is safe, then the exception is fine. However, if that is not the case, I suggest you remove the exception.

To remove the exception, do the following:

Open Avast Antivirus and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings
Select General ▸ Exceptions
Hover the cursor over blacklisted link and select the Trash icon: Remove the exception from your list" option

Shax · March 07, 2024, 01:24:00 AM

Hi, Corrine, and thanks for the advice. The problem with releasing it from exceptions, is that I have no idea which website it refers to! The popup kept appearing every 10 minutes or so, no matter which site I was browsing. So annoying! The only site always open on my browser is Outlook/Hotmail.

xrobwx71 · March 07, 2024, 12:26:50 PM

It appears to be clean. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/71048c9c8b77de74eb4d6f21d1b8fdff9d199086bbbfc7095155595231598feb?nocache=1

DR M · March 07, 2024, 01:16:09 PM

Hello.

Which browser are you using?

Try to clear your browser history.

Control + Shift + Delete, will normally get you to the option to delete the browser's history.

Let us know if you continue getting the popup from Avast.

Shax · March 07, 2024, 03:46:23 PM

I'm using Firefox, and yes, I clear my browser history a couple of times a week. Since I've allowed this site as an exception, I haven't heard a peep from Avast about it. And full scans from both Malwarebytes and Avast itself are clean.

v_v · March 07, 2024, 04:03:12 PM

This is just a pure guess, but I am going to say that some site that you have visited has a link or connection to this other 3rd party site. Thus by visiting the site that you wanted to visit you somehow got linked to this 3rd party site, through no fault or interest on your part.

But as you have now created an exception, everything has checked out clean, and there are no further issues then you are probably in good shape.

v_v

DR M · March 07, 2024, 05:57:27 PM

Quote from: Shax on March 07, 2024, 03:46:23 PMI'm using Firefox, and yes, I clear my browser history a couple of times a week. Since I've allowed this site as an exception, I haven't heard a peep from Avast about it. And full scans from both Malwarebytes and Avast itself are clean.

You must remove it from the exception list. I assume that an add-on you are using in Firefox is trying to connect to that site, thus the Avast popup.

Shax · March 09, 2024, 08:54:17 AM

If I remove it from the exceptions list, it will again start to pop up every 10 minutes or so, the exact problem I was trying to relieve!

DR M · March 09, 2024, 12:40:09 PM

Hi, Shax.

Yes, I know that it will start to pop up again. By hiding it, however, we don't fix it.

Remove it from the exception list.

After that, disable all your Firefox add-ons/extensions. Close and re-open Firefox.

Check if you continue to get the Avast warning with all the add-ons/extensions disabled.