Avast Security
Avast Security is a Mac antivirus app that helps protect your Mac with real-time malware scanning, web protection, and on-demand security scans.
What is Avast Security?
Avast Security is a security and privacy app for macOS that helps users protect their Macs from malware, malicious downloads, and unsafe websites. It is designed for people who want always-on antivirus protection together with manual scanning tools for files, folders, and external drives. The app includes real-time shields that monitor files and web activity, plus on-demand scan options such as Smart Scan, Deep Scan, and targeted scans. It can also quarantine detected threats so they do not continue to affect the system. Avast Security is published by AVAST Software a.s. and is used as a native Mac desktop app rather than a browser-based service.
Key features
- Scan your Mac for malware with Smart Scan, Deep Scan, and targeted scans
- Monitor files in real time to block malicious items before they run or are saved
- Check web traffic for harmful downloads and malicious scripts while browsing
- Scan removable drives and external storage devices for threats
- Quarantine detected threats so they are isolated from the rest of your Mac
- Schedule custom scans to run automatically with settings you choose
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Safety overview
Status: Use with caution
Avast Security is a legitimate antivirus app, but it requests broad permissions that are typical for this type of software, including Full Disk Access, background login items, and security/network-related components needed for real-time protection. Those permissions are consistent with antivirus features, but they also give the app deep visibility into files and web activity. Keep it only if you want Avast as your antivirus solution, and avoid running multiple antivirus apps at the same time because that can cause conflicts, duplicate alerts, or performance issues.
Recommendation: Keep Avast Security if you actively use it for Mac protection and want its real-time shields and scheduled scans. If you use another security product or rely on built-in macOS protections instead, removing Avast can reduce background activity and eliminate overlapping antivirus behavior.
Common paths
/Applications/Avast Security.app
Support paths
~/Library/Application Support/Avast/Library/Application Support/Avast
Preference paths
~/Library/Preferences/com.avast.AAFM.plist
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