eMails And Avast "Problem" ?

[Robert11]

Hi,

If not in the correct Forum, I apologize.
Figured someone here would know what is going on. I miss many of the nuances these days; old age problem again.

Always something new.

Have been getting eMails with a small envelope icon, a check mark, and a line that says Virus Free and a link to the Avast site.

All that opens up, ever, irrespective of what I check on, envelope, check mark, etc. just takes me to the Avast site.

Can't open up the actual photo or video that the sender is sending me.

Not sure if the "problem" is on the senders side, my side, or both.

Avast isn't saying there is a virus.
Simply want me to sign up for allowing even more marketing Cookies, etc.

Any thoughts on this, and what to do would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[IWT]

Thoughts? Well, first off, don't download Avast or any other "anti-virus" app - ever!

There are two free apps we do regularly suggest: Detect X Swift (DetectX) and Intego's Virus Barrier Scanner from AppStore.

These only need to be run on an occasional basis - not all the time. They are good at detecting Malware of any kind - and dealing with it. Run these after a reboot. Should stop these intrusions.

Ian

 

[Robert11]

Hi,

Much thanks,
Bob

 

[Raz0rEdge]

There are a couple of things in play. The sender might be going through an email server that has Avast installed and as such all outgoing content is being scanned and the fact that the messages (and its contents) were deemed safe is highlighted by the message. However, apart from clicking on the Avast link, the attachments and contents should be left alone.

The other option is that you have Avast running locally and it's screening all emails and their contents and is letting you know things are fine. This should also leave the contents alone but give you a link to take to Avast.

Some employer based email use a different type of scanner which converts all incoming link, documents and other attachments with a link to itself where the data is actually kept. You have to go through a validation scheme to get to the data. My company uses Mimecast which does this.

You didn't tell us if you're running Avast locally, if you are, follow IWT's advice above and remove it.