Avast Free Business Cloud AntiVirus

[edutech4schools]

Can someone post if a fixed version gets released. Cheers

[LeMarchand]

URGENT - Anyone having issues with 11.1.2510 of Avast? It breaks SMB and thus machines cannot connect to network shares (bit of an issues on a network) uninstalling or rolling back restores network connectivity!! Note: Appears to only be affecting Windows 7 machines/ Win10 is ok.

 

Anyone know if this affects Windows 8.1?

[RobFuller]

Doesn't affect Windows 10, not sure about 8.1.

 

I've rolled back for now so all is good, not checked yet to see if a fix has been rolled out.

[LeMarchand]

Doesn't affect Windows 10, not sure about 8.1.

 

I've rolled back for now so all is good, not checked yet to see if a fix has been rolled out.

 

It's not offering a newer version AFAICT. However, the suite here is 8.1, the console says they're on the latest version of AVAST and no-one's complained. I'm going to risk pushing it out to the teachers who it's telling me need updating...

[SpaceInvader83]

New version of Avast so hopefully issues fixed.. https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=184165.0

[RobFuller]

Yes rolling out the latest update to our clients has solved previous Win7 SMB issues.

 

I just ran the silent installer again to perform the upgrade, will be doing that from now on.

 

Rob

[edutech4schools]

So do any of you use Avast on your servers?

[RobFuller]

Yup, installed on all servers. (AD, SQL, Hyper-V, Exchange etc)

 

I followed the usual Microsoft and third-party's software recommendations for AV exclusions and thus far has been working fine.

[pete]

^ What he said. Rolled out to a couple of non-critical canaries and waited a month for oddness to appear and then rolled out to the rest in stages.

 

Provided you setup the AV exclusions (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/822158) and any for known-strange software you should be fine.

[RobFuller]

Yes, I should have said I rolled out on some non-critical systems and gently expanded from there.

[edutech4schools]

Thanks.

Our LA controlled all the virus exclusions until recently, so I am having to start from scratch. Any idea what should be excluded for a data server running SQL with Sims & FMS.

[RobFuller]

I copied mine from when I setup McAfee,

 

.MDF SQL Server data files

.LDF SQL Server data files

.NDF SQL Server data files

.BAK SQL Server backup files

.TRN SQL Server backup files

 

 

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$instancename\DATA\ Data files

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$instancename\BACKUP\ Backup files

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$instancename\FTDATA\ Full-text catalog files

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\OLAP\Data\ Folder that holds Analysis Services data Folder holding Analysis Services temporary files used during Analysis Services processing

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\OLAP\Backup\ Analysis Services backup files

\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\OLAP\Log\ Folder holding Analysis Services log files

[edutech4schools]

Seem to have found an issue with Avast. We changed our proxy server to a new address, prior to doing this I updated the Avast template with the new proxy settings and checked a number of clients to make sure the Avast software had updated itself with the new proxy info. A short while after switching to the new proxy address I start getting X number of devices are in danger. I go and check and it does have the new correct proxy info and the clients are also getting the virus updates etc so whats going on. After looking around on Google I found out that Avast uses a file in C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\conf to call home and this file also has a proxy address. Yep you have guessed it, this local proxy address was never updated and still has our old proxy address.

 

I can't deploy a corrected local file as I think it also has a unique number string for that client. I tested uninstalling Avast from the client and then re-installing and that does fix my issue but I would need to visit lots of clients to do this manually.

 

Anyone got a way to uninstall and re-install Avast on mass? or any other ideas?

[LeMarchand]

Anyone got a way to uninstall and re-install Avast on mass? or any other ideas?

 

Can you uninstall from the console? If you can uninstall that way, then reinstall via a startup script.

[TwistedHelixis]

.MDF SQL Server data files

.LDF SQL Server data files

.NDF SQL Server data files

.BAK SQL Server backup files

.TRN SQL Server backup files

 

I must be looking in the wrong place as I can only enter file paths. I am looking in Settings templates \ Windows server \ Antivirus Settings \ Exclusions

[RobFuller]

I must be looking in the wrong place as I can only enter file paths. I am looking in Settings templates \ Windows server \ Antivirus Settings \ Exclusions

 

Click Advanced view (top right) then goto Settings template ➡ Windows Server ➡ File System Shield (Customise)

[TwistedHelixis]

Thanks Rob.

 

Do you have one settings template for both your clients and servers as it's possible to do both under one template or have you created two separate templates?

[bossman]

@TwistedHelixis

 

I have created 2 templates one for Servers and one for Workstations, I may create more templates for different servers if required but up until now I haven't needed to

[RobFuller]

@TwistedHelixis

 

I have created 2 templates one for Servers and one for Workstations, I may create more templates for different servers if required but up until now I haven't needed to

 

Ditto

[TwistedHelixis]

One last question, I hope.

 

Are you putting all the server exclusions in Settings template ➡ Windows Server ➡ File System Shield (Customise) or are you also adding some to Settings templates \ Windows server \ Antivirus Settings \ Exclusions.

 

Just trying to understand the differences.

[RobFuller]

Settings Templates - Advanced View > Windows Server > File System Shield - Customize > Exclusions

 

Does that make sense?

[TwistedHelixis]

Sorry, I don't think I worded that correctly.

 

I am curious what the difference is between adding an exclusion to the File System Shield or adding it to the virus exclusions section?

 

The reason I ask is that when I am in the virus exclusions section, it says it excludes all other shield protection which I assume includes File System Scan, so why not simply put all exclusions there.

[RobFuller]

My understanding (which could be wrong!) is Active Protection was the always on scanning which is why I put the exclusions in there for the performance benefits and other "compatibility" issue prevention. I assumed the other excludes includes on-demand scans which might be useful if i suspect the system could be infected so didn't want anywhere to be excluded then if that was the case! Edited April 21, 2016 by RobFuller

[TwistedHelixis]

thanks @RobFuller

[jezi55]

I went to avast in our school over the last 2 weeks. I have 900 installs, only issue I found was that when everyone logs on at the same time (200 odd users) my user filshare server system process hit 100% and crashed our server. I have put every exception in under the sun, it's stable now but system is hitting 80% anyone got any ideas? Apart from that it's really user friendly. We previously used McAfee.