Behavior Shield - Settings

Manage these settings from: ☰ Menu ▸ Settings ▸ Components ▸ Behavior Shield ▸ Customize

Behavior Shield is an additional layer of active protection in Avast Antivirus. It monitors all processes on your PC in real-time for suspicious behavior that may indicate the presence of malicious code. Behavior Shield works by detecting and blocking suspicious files based on their similarity to other known threats, even if the files are not yet added to the virus definitions database.

By default, Behavior Shield is configured to provide optimal protection when switched on. We strongly recommend you keep this component turned on at all times and only make configuration changes if you have an advanced understanding of malware protection principles.

Use the tabs on the left-side of the screen to manage parameters of Behavior Shield. After making any changes, click OK to save Behavior Shield settings.

Main settings

The Main Settings screen allows you to specify what action to take if a threat is detected:

  • Always ask: sends you a notification when a threat is detected and provides options for further action. You can decide to move the file to the Virus Chest, remove the file completely, or ignore the detection.
  • Automatically move detected threats to Chest: moves all detected threats to the Virus Chest automatically.
  • Automatically move known threats to Chest (enabled by default): moves only known threats to the Virus Chest automatically. This setting only applies to files which are verified as dangerous and included in the virus definitions database.

Exclusions

Specify folders that you want Behavior Shield to exclude from scanning.

To add a new folder, type its location into the text box or click Browse, tick the relevant folder, and click OK.

To add another location to the list, click Add. To remove a location, click the relevant row, then click Delete.

Note: Exclusions that you specify on this screen only apply to Behavior Shield and do not affect any other antivirus scans or shields. If you want to exclude a location from all antivirus scans and shields, go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings ▸ General ▸ Exclusions to specify the location.