How to Disable Avast Temporarily? Simple Methods to Turn off Avast

Last Updated:Feb 15, 2024

Every antivirus solution, even Avast, makes mistakes from time to time. It is often the case that you are trying to open a file or access a website, but Avast won’t just allow it. Other than that, you may also come across issues, like the ‘Avast Not Scanning error’ or the ‘Avast Antivirus is not updating.’ In such a situation, only one thing comes to mind, “How do you temporarily turn off Avast?”

False positives or program malfunctioning are possible even with sophisticated algorithms and powerful antivirus technology. You can quickly resolve this issue by temporarily disabling the Avast Antivirus program on your system. 

Nonetheless, disabling Avast, even temporarily, is an extreme measure. Individual Avast shields can be disabled to keep some protection in place. 

Yes, Avast allows you to disable all of its components or just one, giving you complete control over your security and convenience. And fortunately, temporarily turning off Avast and its shields is as simple as a few mouse clicks. 

In this article, we will go through both ways so you can decide which one is best for you. Thus, without waiting much, let’s see what’s in here!

How to Temporarily Disable Avast Antivirus Program?

Intending to know how to turn off Avast? However, before that, you should know that deactivating Avast completely means you will have no protection; it’s the same as having no antivirus at all. 

Nonetheless, I understand that turning off antivirus is one of the primary solutions if you are having difficulties accessing a certain file or program. But this method of resolving issues should only be used briefly and rarely, as viruses can get past your basic system security and harm the health of your system.

So, to learn how do you temporarily turn off Avast, follow the process given below:

  1. To begin with, right-click on the Avast icon present in the right corner of your system’s taskbar. If you don’t see the Avast icon immediately, it must be in the overflow menu, which you can access by clicking on the upward arrow icon present there.
    Click on the Avast icon
  1. Once you right-click on the Avast icon, a menu will appear. There, click on the Avast Shields Control option. 
    Click on Avast Shields Control
  1. Thereafter, you will see several options to disable the Avast Antivirus program. From there, select an option for how long you want it disabled.
    Select the durations
  1. When you select the option to disable all of Avast’s shields, a warning message will be displayed on your screen. It is to make sure that you are willingly taking this action, and that your system is not under the control of some malware attempting to disable it. So, click on the OK, STOP option.
    Click on OK, STOP
  1. Now to ensure that you have disabled the Avast virus protection, open its interface by double-clicking on its icon from the right side of the taskbar.
  1. Go to the Status tab of the Avast interface, and if you see the message as shown in the image below, then you have successfully disabled Avast temporarily on your system.
    Check the Status of Avast

With this done, you now know how to turn off Avast temporarily. And, once it is done, you can again attempt to perform whatever action this antivirus program might be blocking. But, keep in mind that as soon as you are done with the task, don’t forget to turn the antivirus on again. When troubleshooting to fix Avast Antivirus issues, you can apply multiple methods, this will raise your chances of fixing the issue.

Disable Avast’s Individual Shields

Turning off all Avast shields is generally excessive. If you only want to open a prohibited website or email attachment, you should consider only turning off the Avast shield responsible for managing such actions, rather than going for “How to disable Avast?”

Disabling individual shields rather than turning off the entire software is much more sensible. Thus, if you are up for it, here are the steps that need to be followed:

  1. Begin by opening Avast’s user interface on your system. This you can do by double clicking on the Avast icon present on the right side of the taskbar or typing ‘Avast’ in the search bar of your system.
    Click on the Avast icon
  1. Once the Avast interface opens, click on the Protection tab from the left sidebar of the window.
  1. Next, you have to go to the Core Shields section.
    Under Protection, click on Core Shields
  1. Now, all of Avast’s shields will be present on the screen. Determine which shield you want to turn off, and then, click on its toggle button to turn it off
    Disable the required shield
  1. As soon as you turn off the toggle button, you will again be asked to select for how long you want to turn off that shield. Select one of the given options, and the shield will be turned off for that duration.
    Select the duration

TIP: If you are trying to know how to temporarily turn Avast off because you think it is blocking some of your actions, then you need to think about which shield you should disable that will no longer prevent you from performing that action. Like, in case you are trying to access some website, but Avast is blocking it, then turning off the Web Shield will do the trick. Also, once your work is done, don’t forget to turn on the shield again.

How to Disable Avast Antivirus on Startup?

Some apps have permission to be automatically enabled as soon as your system is booted. Avast is one of them, generally speaking, antivirus programs are one of them. 

So, if you want to know how to disable Avast virus protection on startup, here’s what you need to do:

  1. From your keyboard, press the Windows logo + R keys at the same time to open the Run dialog box.
  1. There, type msconfig.exe and hit Enter.
    Enter msconfig exe
  1. On the following window that will open, go to the Startup tab, and then click on the Open Task Manager option.
    Click on Open Task Manager under Startup
  1. Now, Task Manager will open. There, ensure that you are on the Startup tab. Then, scroll down in the list to find Avast Antivirus.
  1. Finally, click on it and then, select Disable.
    Select the antivirus and click Disable

After you have completed the above steps, the Avast antivirus program won’t be enabled upon starting up your system. 

However, doing so is highly discouraged, as you will have to manually enable it every time you restart your computer. In doing so, you may sometimes forget to turn it on, and thereby your system can get infected because of any malware that is free to enter your system in the absence of protection.

How to Turn off Avast’s HTTPS Scanning in the Web Shield?

Wondering how to temporarily disable Avast internet security? Well, you can do so by disabling HTTPS Scanning in Avast. 

HTTPS scanning in an antivirus is the barrier that protects you from harmful software that you can acquire by visiting websites that send malware via traffic created by the site’s TLS and SSL encryption.

When HTTPS scanning is deactivated, your system becomes vulnerable to virus transmission via dangerous sites, which is why you should only do this in emergency situations and when you trust the site.

Here’s how this is done:

  1. First off, open the Avast user interface by double-clicking on the icon present on the right side of the taskbar.
    Click on the Avast icon
  1. When you are in the Avast interface, click on the Menu icon located in the top right corner of the screen.
  1. Then, from the menu that opens, click on the Settings option.
    Click on the menu and then select Settings
  1. Now, switch to the Core Shields tab. And then, scroll down on the page till you see the Configure Shield Settings section.
    Go to Core Shield
  1. Under the Configure Shield Settings, go to the Web Shield tab, and uncheck the box next to the Enable HTTPS Scanning option.
    Disable ‘Enable HTTPS Scanning’ under Web Shield

With this done, HTTPS Scanning will be disabled, and you will be able to visit any website on the Internet. 

Further, once your work is done (that the Avast Internet Security was blocking), turn on the HTTPS Scanning again by following the aforesaid steps, and this time, check the box next to Enable HTTPS Scanning.

Turning off Avast Core Shields

Going through the above sections you might have gotten the answer to “How do disable my Avast antivirus temporarily?”, and must be wondering what this section is about! Well, it is also about the same topic. 

This section walks you through the process to disable core shields of protection of Avast Antivirus programs. So, if the above processes didn’t work for you, you can attempt this as well. 

Listed below are instructions for doing so:

  1. Begin by opening Avast’s interface by double-clicking on the icon present on the right side of the taskbar.
    Click on the Avast icon
  1. Once the Avast interface opens, click on the Menu option present in the upper right corner of the screen.
  1. This will open a right-side menu bar, where you have to click on the Settings option.
    Click on the menu and then select Settings
  1. Next, go to the Protection tab, and click on the Core Shields section in the following window.
    Go to Core Shields
  1. Then, turn off the Core Shields by clicking on the toggle button.
    Turn off the Core Shields toggle button
  1. After that, you will be prompted to select the duration for how long you want the shield to be disabled.
    Select the duration
  1. Finally, click OK on the warning window to confirm the action.

With this, the write-up ends here. As a parting note, just keep in mind to turn on the shields again, whichever you disable, to prevent the entry of any malicious software into your system.

Sources

Avast Support, Adjusting settings for Avast Antivirus Core Shields

Travis Boylls, How to Disable Avast Antivirus, Wiki How, October 25, 2022.

Bhawana Thakur

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