Avast Security for Mac - Virus Chest

Access this screen from: Virus Chest

The Virus Chest is an isolated space where you can safely store potentially dangerous files or send them to the Avast Threat Labs for analysis. Files in the Virus Chest cannot run or access your system and data, so any malicious code contained within a file is unable to harm your Mac.

Files are automatically moved into the Virus Chest in the following ways:

If a predefined scan detects a suspicious file and you confirm that the detected file should be moved to the Virus Chest.
If an active shield detects a suspicious file.

Manually add files to the Virus Chest

To manually add a file to the Virus Chest, click Add File... and locate the file on your Mac using the Finder window, then click Open. The selected file is added to the list of files in the Virus Chest.

Manage Virus Chest files

To manage the files added to the Virus Chest, select the files using the check boxes on the left, then use the buttons at the bottom of the screen:

Delete: permanently remove the file from the Virus Chest.
Restore: click … (three dots) then select Restore to copy the file to its original location.
Restore as: click … (three dots) then select Restore as to move the file to a location you specify.

Submit files to the Avast Threat Labs

We recommend you send the following file types to the Avast Threat Labs:

Potential malware: files that Avast has not flagged as malware, but you believe may be malicious.
False positive: files that Avast has identified as malware, but you believe may be clean.

To submit a file to the Avast Threat Labs, follow these steps:

Ensure the file has been added to the Virus Chest.
Ensure Avast Security is up to date: go to ☰ Menu ▸ Preferences ▸ General, then click Update Now.
Hover your mouse over the file in the Virus Chest, then click … (three dots), and select Send for analysis.
Provide the requested information about the file, then click Send.

The file is submitted to the Avast Threat Labs for further testing. In most cases, Avast Threat Labs processes the files they receive without sending a response to you.