How to deactivate Avast and make your computer faster.

Has your computer been lagging? Have you been having issues while trying to download new software and drivers? All of this could be happening due to your antivirus avast but fear not because. In this blog, we will show you how to deactivate avast.

While Avast is a great antivirus considering that it’s free, it does have some major drawbacks.

Why you should deactivate avast?

Like most other antiviruses avast constantly operates in the background to find viruses which eventually makes your computer slower and in case your computer has less than 2 cores, it is practically impossible to get any work done on your computer.

Apart from making your computer slower it also misidentifies driver applications and certain other programs as malware. 

It often tags random files on your computer as a virus. Not only is this alarming for new users, but it’s also extremely annoying to have to constantly allow permissions to every app since avast mislabeled them.

The free version of avast keeps on bothering the users with pop-ups to upgrade to a premium plan which is just plain annoying and drives you closer to deactivate avast.

In my experience windows defender has been a good enough alternative to the free version of avast as it can detect quite a few types of viruses and does not bother you with as many pop-ups as Avast does.

But in case you are happy with Avast and just want to install some program and Avast is causing problems, read further to learn how to deactivate avast.

In case you are interested in keeping your computers safe from hackers, you should read more about WiFi sniffers

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How to deactivate avast

Now that you know what all could be the problem with avast, let’s talk about deactivating avast. There are multiple ways to deactivate avast and all of them are targeted towards different aspects of the antivirus, you should choose the one that is right for you.

Deactivate avast to increase performance

As we’ve already talked about earlier, avast can slow your computer down by a lot in case you’re using an older computer or a computer that has less than 2 cores.

One of the first things to do in such cases is to either delete the antivirus in this case or you can deactivate certain features to save some CPU.

Typically people choose the first option and deactivate avast, or whichever antivirus they are using. Deactivating avast is a better choice as compared to uninstalling the program altogether as you might have to reactivate later in case you want to use it again.

The simplest way to do this is:

STEP 1 :

Check whether the antivirus is switched on or not, in case it’s on, look for the Avast icon on the icon tray.

You can find the icon tray on the taskbar (the bar on which the start menu or the Windows logo rests). The icon tray can be accessed by clicking on a small arrow pointing up as shown in the screenshot below.

STEP 2 :

Next, try and locate the Avast antivirus logo in the icon tray.

Right-click on the icon, this reveals a menu as shown in the screenshot below.

On this menu hover over the option “Avast shields control” doing this shout reveals another menu with multiple disable options. You can select the duration that you want to deactivate avast for. 

I’d suggest selecting the option “Disable until computer is restarted” this way you can first see for yourself whether disabling avast actually adds to your computer’s performance or not.

STEP 3 :

In case you see that your computer is working faster now, then restart your computer and follow steps 1 and 2 all over again but this time in step 2 instead of selecting the option “Disable until computer is restarted” select the option “Disable permanently”.

Congratulations, if you have followed so far, you have been able to successfully deactivate avast.

In case you need Avast back don’t worry just skip ahead to how to reactivate avast and we’ll tell you how to reactivate Avast.

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Deactivate avast to install a program

When installing a new program you do want to check for viruses but at the same time, you want to install the program without any problems.

You could go ahead and deactivate avast for the duration of the installation process through the process mentioned above but there is a better way.

The better way of doing this is to go into avast and deactivate avast shields that are specific to the installation of the program. This way Avast can constantly be active in the background and keep a check on other files and programs to detect viruses.

STEP 1 :

To disable individual shields first open the app.

You can access the Avast antivirus app either through the desktop shortcut or by going to the search box ( you can access the start menu by clicking on the box next to the  windows icon which is usually on the bottom left of your screen )

In case you can’t find Avast yet then try to locate the folder in which you have installed Avast and find the avast app, usually, it’s the first .exe file that you see in the main folder.

STEP 2 :

Now that Avast antivirus is open go to the protection tab which should be visible on the left side of the antivirus app.

In case you cannot find the protection tab try updating Avast or contact customer support.

STEP 3 :

Under the protection tab, you should be able to see a “Core Shields” option, select this option.

In case you cannot see this option try checking whether this feature has been renamed or not.

STEP 4 :

Once under the “Core Shields” tab search for the settings, it’s shaped like a cog and is usually on the right-hand side of the app.

STEP 5 :

Uncheck the second last, third last, and fourth last options to make sure that avast gives you no problems while installing the program.

You can also selectively uncheck some boxes but I’d recommend not doing that unless you know what you’re doing.

STEP 6 :

Once you’re done installing the program, come back to the same menu and re-check all the boxes that you just unchecked so that avast can carry on working as it should be.

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Deactivate avast to browse a certain webpage

You might have faced some problems with some websites when using Avast antivirus. This is because Avast tries to encrypt websites but since these websites have not been designed to work like that they misbehave.

Sometimes you are not allowed to download from websites you know and trust simply because Avast does not trust these websites.

In such cases, you might just want to deactivate avast but that won’t solve all your problems. Instead, you should deactivate avast online internet security.

STEP 1 :

To deactivate avast online internet security you need to first open up the Avast antivirus app.

You can try searching for it in the windows search bar, right next to the windows start button (The button with the Windows logo on the bottom left corner of your screen), or click on the desktop icon in case you can’t find it through the search bar.

Lastly, if you can’t find it there then you need to find the installation folder for Avast antivirus.

STEP 2 : 

Now that your app is open, find the option “core shields” and select it.

STEP 3 :

You should now be in the core shields tab here you should be able to see the option “web shield” this is the shield that is responsible for protecting you online.

In case you’re having problems with sending emails you can deactivate the emails shield as well.

STEP 4 :

Once you’re done accessing the website, follow steps 1 and 2 to get back to the same panel and reactivate the shields that you had previously disabled.

It is a better idea to reactivate these shields as they do provide much necessary protection when surfing the web.

Reactivate avast

Thus far we have shown you 3 ways to deactivate avast but now we’re going to show you how to reactivate avast.

Avast is a great free antivirus and there is virtually no reason why to not use it. It provides you with basic protection against malware and potentially dangerous websites and programs which is much required in today’s digital age.

If you have been able to follow all the methods to deactivate avast, you can just retrace these steps to reactivate avast but in case you’re stuck here’s a small guide.

METHOD 1 :

This is the easier way to reactivate avast and works for most people. In case you can’t find the icon in the icon tray then skip to the end to see what you can do to fix that or try method 2.

STEP 1 :

Go to your icon tray and select the avast antivirus icon.

The icon tray should be visible on the right end of your taskbar, it typically rests right next to the weather prediction and looks like an upward pointing arrow.

STEP 2 :

Once you find the avast icon right-click on it and select the avast shields control option on the menu. This opens up another menu where you can now see the option to enable all shields as the first option up top, click on this option to enable all the shields at once.

METHOD 2 :

This method is slightly more complicated but this method will always work. Sometimes you can’t see the icon in the icon tray making this a more foolproof method of reactivating Avast. Apart from being a foolproof method, this method gives you more control since you can reactivate individual shields.

STEP 1 :

Alternatively, you can open up the Avast antivirus app by either clicking on the desktop shortcut or by searching in the search bar right next to the start button or by finding the location where avast has been installed and opening the .exe file.

STEP 2 :

After opening up avast go-to protection, under protection click on “core shields” and re-enable the shields that you want to.

A few more things

To wrap this topic up, here’s a problem that you might encounter when you try to deactivate avast.

Avast icon not visible on icon tray

This happens because avast might not be functioning properly this can easily be fixed as shown below.

STEP 1 :

To make sure that Avast is running properly, restart the avast app, you can do this by first going into the task manager which you can find by searching for it in the windows search bar on the taskbar.

Once you’ve opened up the task manager look for the avast antivirus app.

If you can find it, right-click on it and click end task this suspends the program’s activity.

Make sure to end tasks for all the smaller applications named Avas as well.

In case you cannot find the program running you can move on to the next step.

STEP 2 :

After ending the task, restart your computer. For most people, Avast antivirus automatically starts running when your computer starts. If you still can’t see the avast icon then open the Avast antivirus app by either clicking on the desktop icon or by searching it through the search box on the taskbar. 

Here make sure that all your shields are up and your home screen for avast looks something like this :

If there’s any warning click on the respective buttons and that should solve your issue, you should be able to see the icon in your icon tray.

Conclusion

In case you’re running a low-end computer you can consider windows defender as a good alternative to Avast antivirus. Windows defender is much lighter on your CPU and does not constantly keep running in the background, unlike Avast antivirus.

If you decide to use Windows defender, then you should consider deleting avast instead of deactivating it.

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