Actions

Manage these settings at: Menu ▸ Scan ▸ Scan for viruses ▸ <select scan type> ▸ Scan Settings ▸ Actions Menu ▸ Settings (gear icon) ▸ Active Protection ▸ File System/Mail/Web Shield ▸ Customize ▸ Actions

The program reports any suspicious files at the end of the scan by default. You can choose how to process infected archives automatically by customizing the following:

Options

Specify actions to take when a threat is detected inside an archive such as .zip, .rar, and other compressed files:

  • If necessary, perform the selected action at the next system restart (default) - When a file is in use, Avast carries out the action when the computer is restarted.
  • Try to remove only the packed file from the archive. If it fails, do nothing (default) - Avast tries to remove the threat but does not delete the entire archive.
  • Try to remove only the packed file. If it fails, remove the whole containing archive - When it is not possible to remove the threat Avast deletes the entire archive.
  • Always remove the whole archive - Avast deletes the entire archive.

Actions

You must check Automatically apply actions during scan... to enable customization. Click the tabs to choose actions for each type of threat.

  • Fix automatically - Run a sequence of actions (repair file; if not possible, then move to Virus Chest; if not possible, then delete)
  • Move to Chest - Send the threat to the Virus Chest where it cannot harm your system.
  • Repair - Remove only malicious code attached to an otherwise safe file; this is not possible for files which are entirely malware.
  • Ask - Avast asks what you want to do with each detected threat.
  • Delete - Permanently remove the file from your computer.
  • No action - No action is taken during the scan; the threat is listed in your scan results and you can decide what to do later.

If any action is selected you can also specify an alternate action to take if the first action fails.