Installing Avast Antivirus

Installing Avast Antivirus : Avast is a widely recognized brand for Antivirus and Total Security services and support. Though the system interface of Avast is kept at minimal, it has potentially supreme tools that can outperform any other Antivirus system in every sense of word. Avast is renowned for its super-light interface, robust features, top-notch support and comprehensive online documentation.

Installing Avast Antivirus is also ridiculously easy and fast. It sponsors Google Chrome during the installation process and if you wish, you may skip it or install the browser as well. It is really slick and fast!

Given below are the guidelines on installing Avast Antivirus on Windows and Mac.

Preparing the operating system for installing Avast Antivirus

1. To begin the installation process, we need to remove any existing installation on the current operating system. Go to the Search bar in the taskbar of Windows, and search for Add or Remove Programs.
2. From the new window, scroll down to the list of apps available on your Windows. Select or search for Avast and you will be able to see the existing instances of Avast installations.
3. Uninstall all Avast products and its relevant apps.
4. Restart the computer for total cleaning of any remaining registry items.

Installing Avast Antivirus (Free edition)

1. Go to https://www.avast.com/ and select the option to download Avast Antivirus.
2. The new screen will open, and it will automatically fetch and download Avast Antivirus.
3. Once downloaded, go to the Downloads folder of your browser. Click on avast_free_antivirus.exe to begin the installation process.
4. The setup will guide through and the steps are very easy. Amid the process, you may be asked to install their sponsored browser that is Google Chrome. You may agree or reject to install the browser and continue with the installation of the Antivirus.
5. The installation will begin and may take a few minutes to complete. On completion, press Finish to exit the installer and launch Avast automatically.
6. On the very first boot, Avast will ask for a Smart Scan. It is highly recommended that you continue with the scan process.
7. Once the scan is complete, Avast will generate a report and automatically take actions on the detected viruses, spyware or malware. If it fails to automatically resolve any issue, you may select a manual action to be performed from its interface.

Upgrading Avast to premium versions

To upgrade Avast to its premium versions (Premiere, Ultimate, and other locale variants), you require a proper valid license key from Avast. It can be either soft-copy (sent through email or auto-activated based on your account) or a hard-copy (the key should be couriered to you and written on a piece of scratch card).

Given below are the steps to upgrade your Antivirus edition to its premium paid plans, and activating your license for the purchased time-frame.

1. First, locate the icon of Avast Antivirus in your icon tray. Right click on it and select Subscription Information.
2. On the My Subscriptions screen, select the option Enter a valid activation code.
3. You may either manually type or paste the activation code in the single-line text box and hit
4. The product will be instantly activated and you may continue using the premium version of Avast Antivirus.

If you have the Ultimate Edition of Avast Antivirus, you will also get access to special features such as VPN (Virtual Private Network), Total Internet Security, Avast Passwords and Avast Cleanup Utility. For a minimal extra price, you may also opt for Driver Updates and Battery Saver features.

Troubleshooting Avast Antivirus

My Avast Antivirus is showing a red cross or an exclamation mark on the icon in system tray area.

If you see either a cross or exclamation mark in the system tray area, they one or multiple options may be possible:

1. One or more of the essential features of Avast Antivirus are disabled. You may have to manually enable them from the Avast Control Panel. To do this, simply right-click on Avast Antivirus and select Open Avast User Interface. Then, from the Protection control panel, enable the features that are disabled.
2. Your virus definitions may be out of date. To update your program, virus engine and definitions, do the following:
   1. Right click on Avast Antivirus tray icon and hover the cursor over Update and a dropdown will open.
   2. You may either choose to update the program or the virus engine and definitions.
   3. The selected features will be silently updated in the background and you will be notified once the process is complete.
   4. It is always recommended to restart the computer after a successful update process.
3. You may be already affected by a virus that can’t be removed from the system. You have to manually add it to the Virus Chest of Avast Antivirus.

My Avast Antivirus is not enabling or displaying icon on startup.

1. There may be a buggy task running in the background. Hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE to find any resource-consuming task (user initiated) and right click to end the task.
2. Restart the laptop and check if the problem persists.
3. If the problem persists, disconnect from the Internet. Uninstall Avast Antivirus entirely and reinstall Avast Antivirus again.
4. Search for Add or Remove Programs from the Search area in Windows taskbar, and from the new screen, search for “Avast” from the list of installed apps.
5. Uninstall Avast Antivirus completely and restart the computer.
6. Now, install Avast Antivirus again by following the aforesaid steps.
7. After installation is complete, restart your computer.