How to disable the email signature in Avast Free Antivirus
People often ask me which antivirus I recommend, and while I suggest Windows Defender (and uBlock Origin) for most people on Windows 10, I have wondered how other programs fare.
Earlier this week, I installed Avast Free Antivirus on my Windows 7 laptop, intending to write a review about it here. But a few days later, I almost feel disinclined to do so.
Aside from the annoying pop-ups that it throws on occasion, things have been quiet otherwise. Except for one minor annoyance, the email signature.
You might tell me this is my fault, that I must have enabled it. I didn't, and on day one or maybe two, I got the following pop-up which reads "Earn rewards with your emails. Turn on our friendly email signature, sit back and collect rewards." I immediately took a screenshot of it, which I wanted to include in my review. I distinctly remember selecting the "turn this off" option.
A couple of days later when I was typing an email to Martin, I noticed that my previous message to him contained an email signature included by Avast.
I don't like my emails being used for adverts; nobody does. I was perplexed on how this happened, since I had declined the option to enable the signature. Naturally, I opened the settings page in Avast to disable the option, only I didn't find one. Well, this is getting odd. Upon further digging, I found it. But it wasn't where I thought it would be.
How to disable the email signature in Avast Free Antivirus
- Open the Avast user interface by double-clicking its icon on the taskbar.
- Click the menu button in the top-right corner of the UI.
- The pop-up page has a side-panel, and one of the options here says "Protection". Open it.
- Click on the "Core Shields" option on this page.
- Scroll down till you see the "Configure shield settings".
- Click on the "Mail Shield" tab and you will find an option which says "Add a signature to the end of sent mails." This was pre-enabled for me.
- Toggle the check-box next to the option. Close the antivirus' interface (and your web-browser).
This should disable the email signature, while still allowing you to use the antivirus.
Here is a video of the entire process
Tip: You can disable Mail Shield completely if you want to.
Is this the price we pay for a free product? The pop-ups asking you to subscribe I can tolerate, slightly. The fact that this isn't an obvious place, to have the option for an email signature is what's questionable. It is not by any means a protection feature at all, so it shouldn't be hidden in this manner. I find this to be an unethical practice by Avast. Speaking of which, Martin has written a nice PSA about CCleaner's shady new settings.
Avast ye, scallywag!
I had been using Kaspersky Free Antivirus on my laptop, since the program's debut in 2017. Never once did it annoy me with pop-ups, other than an occasional "News" pop-up once a week or so. And it kept my computer spotless, even blocking malicious pages at times.
To remove the email signature from Avast (https://bit.ly/2SrdklV) on Windows as of February 2021, the steps are now as follows:
1. Open Avast user interface
2. Select “Menu†(in top right) >> then “Settingsâ€
3. Select “Protection†(on left) >> then “Core Shields†in left-hand sub-menu
4. Scroll down & under “Configure shield settings†select the “Mail Shield†tab on the right
5. Uncheck the box for “Add a signature to the end of sent emailsâ€
Hope this helps!
To remove the avast signature for avast free antivirus & avast premium security & few other products the steps should be like given below-
. open avast antivirus interface and go to Menu under it Find Settings
. Select Protection & then Core shields
. Now scroll it down to Configure shield settings and now click the tab that says mail shield.
. Uncheck the box in front of Add a signature to the end of sent emails.
. Now it should be disabled from any outgoing emails.
It’s free. It’s by Avast, so it’s malware. Uninstall it, problem solved.
Or maybe not; when I had Avast years ago and uninstalled it, I had to go through the registry manually to really uninstall it. It leaves breadcrumbs everywhere, not uncommon behavior but the extent of it was amazing.
Kaspersky used to have an Avast uninstaller on their site that was very thorough, may still be there.
FWIW, AVG is Avast in a different wrapper.
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/malware-protection-test-march-2019/
Very good written and informative review, thank you. I use Defender and Ublock too on Windows 10, and until now no problems.
I’m glad I uninstalled Avast, after years of use.
I distinctly remember that this setting was not in that devious place. It was not easy to find, because nothing is easy to find in this bloated, arrogant and constantly-changing interface, but it was not obfuscated in this blatant and dishonest manner.
This is obviously deliberate, and one more sign that it’s time to abandon this piece of malware.
The list of good and free antivirus programs is getting smaller and smaller! Another free antivirus worth mentioning is “Bitdefender free”…
“…I had been using Kaspersky Free Antivirus on my laptop, since the program’s debut in 2017. Never once did it annoy me with pop-ups, other than an occasional “News” pop-up once a week or so. And it kept my computer spotless, even blocking malicious pages at times….”
Have you check large unmovable aggregating files hidden in “System Volume Information” created by Kaspersky? Cant be deleted, cant be moved, large bits placed randomly all over hard disk…
Quite unfortunate to see with what kind of tactics Avast comes up, but I fear that is the price of “free”. Yet its performance is still way better compared to Windows Defender, which is honestly the biggest reason why I would still recommend it. Because most of the components that Avast comes with can be deselected before installing the program, making it way less obtrusive. Luckily, and fortunately still.
Avast is a bit tricky regarding privacy (german link): https://www.heise.de/security/meldung/Avast-gibt-Nutzungsdaten-an-Analysefirma-weiter-2677838.html
Does it still call home?
Avast (which I still remember as ALWIL Software many years ago) used to be a relatively small outfit with a decent product. They’ve become disgustingly pushy and dangerously lax about user data in the last couple of years, and I’ve abandoned them and returned to ESET.
> I had been using Kaspersky Free Antivirus on my laptop, since the program’s debut in 2017. Never once did it annoy me with pop-ups, other than an occasional “News” pop-up once a week or so.
This can be disabled, never had any popups from Kaspersky.
Windows Defender ? Is it April the 1st ? Hahahaha !
Windows Defender + UblockOrigin is mostly enough for common users, no problem in four years!
I suggest you look at AV Comparatives and their independent test results in recent years’, you will see who is the fool.
https://www.av-comparatives.org/
Ever since they bought CCleaner and AVG it has been a battle if you use their products. Too bad as they were pretty good at one point.
Every time Avast updates it tries to change my default browser to Chrome. I have to opt out by locating and unchecking a tiny box. I wouldn’t expect this from an AV product and I imagine lots of people miss it (the first time, anyway).
I guess it’s time to look into Defender, per your experience.
It’s not the end of the world, people.
Avast email sig is essentially telling the recipient that this computer is scanned with Avast and whether or not the email(s) were sent from a clean or an infected OS.
Is it safe tell to your contacts and ‘potentially’ to others which Internet Security you use? I don’t think so.
@Shiva:
I don’t think doing so increases your security exposure to any appreciable degree. That said, if there’s no reason to tell others what you use for security then it’s probably better not to.
https://www.teamsid.com/100-worst-passwords/
@John Fenderson
‘to any appreciable degree’
I’m agree with you. Sure, the probability that an average user might be targeted by a direct and personal cyber attack is low and the same reasoning applies to the probability that others with evil intent can achieve your mail by your contacts to target you. There’s always a ‘but’…
Firtst of all don’t forget that we are on gHacks, a place when people may find useful info about privacy and security. To paraphrase this post, do you think that ‘most of people’ are informed like you and interested about these arguments? ‘Most of people’ send their pictures to FaceApp without readind a single line of ‘Term of use’. Hell, I’m not even sure myself sometimes (here I’m a basic user), I don’t really trust some of my friends based on their computer skills. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe on their infected PC… All quotation and kidding aside, ‘Next next users’ become a compliment and this is the same for privacy or which software they use. Diatribes between Firefox and Waterfox? Ah!Ah!Ah! Without talking about Smartphones….
Secondly, know what Internet Security you use is a useful information. Based on AV-Comparative you can find good alternatives (I’m impressed to see the improved results of Windows Defender), but at the same time you can also come to know what product are not at the top or not good with many vulnerabilities.
Anyway, I’m sure that I’m not an hacker and this is a simple overall reasoning.
I’m also using kaspersky but it bugs me once a day to get their free account. I’ve disabled all cloud “features” so not sure why it keeps doing it.
Very interesting and useful information, thank you @Ashwin. :)
thanks, already uninstalled avast and ccleaner