IMPORTANT NOTE
- Avast Mac Security Free
- Avast Security For Mac
- Avast Security For Mac Review
- Avast Free Antivirus For Mac
Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with unusual bonus features. Phishing protection only works well in Chrome and Firefox, but this free utility is still worth a. Avast Mobile Security for Android Avast Mac Security And, lastly, our newest offering, Avast Mobile Security for iOS, has just been released to protect all your iOS mobile devices. Avast Free Mac Security. When it comes to Avast Free Mac Security, Avast and AVG belong to the same Avast family. Avast is one of the largest security companies in the world and protects over 400 million customers in more than 150 countries worldwide. Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2018 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. Also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.
Avast SafeZone (sometimes also misspelled as Safe Zone) is a free browser from Avast based on Opera and running on Chromium engine. It comes as a component (not a standalone application) with all Avast antivirus versions (Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus, Internet Security and Premier) available on Windows computers. According to Avast, it’s the most secure browser on the market.
SafeZone browser is basically replacing old SafeZone feature within the Avast paid products and is available completely for free to anyone. The main benefit of using the SafeZone browser is the Pay Mode for private online transactions (banking and shopping). It also includes useful built-in plugins like Passwords, Ad Blocker, Video Downloader or Do-Not-Track. Unfortunately, you are not able to install any other plugins or add-ons, due to security risks.
Below is the main page of Avast SafeZone browser. The design is very clean and modern, yet nothing surprising.
Avast SafeZone Browser – Shortcuts (Starting) Page
The full list of key features contains:
- Top notch security provided by integrated anti-malware shield and anti-phishing scan
- Pay Mode for doing online transactions (banking) in a safe virtual environment (sandbox)
- Integrated AdBlocker plugin for browsing without intrusive advertisements
- Integrated Video Downloader for downloading videos from YouTube, Vimeo etc.
How to Download and Install Avast SafeZone Browser for Free
IMPORTANT NOTE Avast SafeZone Browser has been discontinued and replaced with the brand new Avast Secure Browser in April 2018. You can download it using the button below or read our full review/test.The only way to download and install Avast SafeZone is together with the Avast antivirus (including the free version). Technically it’s only a component of Avast, therefore it’s not available for separate download or usage. You can only use it together with Avast.
To download and install SafeZone browser follow these steps:
- Download latest version of Avast antivirus
- Run Avast installer (avast_free_antivirus_setup_online.exe)
- Select ‘Customize’ to make sure ‘SafeZone Browser‘ component is selected and confirm by clicking on ‘Install‘
Once the installation process is finished you can open the SafeZone browser from the desktop (orange circle icon with rudder) or from Avast user interface under ‘Tools‘ » ‘SafeZone Browser‘.
SafeZone Installer Unfortunately there is no standalone installer for Avast SafeZone Browser which you could upload on a USB stick for example. Therefore if you want to install on it on a different computer, you need to use the Avast Offline Installer.Performance Test – Avast SafeZone Browser vs. Google Chrome vs. Mozilla Firefox vs. Internet Explorer
Besides the security element, one of the most important browser qualities is performance and speed. We have compared SafeZone browser against the market – Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. And surprisingly Avast SafeZone is really fast, almost as Chrome!
Using various available tools for browser performance testing we found out following. Chrome (green bar) is still the fastest browser on the market, scoring high scores in all tests. While SafeZone (orange bar) is the second fastest browser nowadays. Firefox is somehow behind them and Internet Explorer is by far the slowest one.
Browser Performance Test Results – Avast SafeZone vs. Google Chrome vs. Mozilla Firefox vs. Internet Explorer
Final performance test results are highlighted on the chart above. The higher the score is, the faster the browser is. You can find more details about how we tested in the ‘Additional Notes’ section at the end of the article.
Avast SafeZone Browser Features in Detail
Let’s take a look on the key SafeZone features in detail.
Ad Blocker – No More Advertisements While Browsing
One of the pre-installed built-in plugins is Ad Blocker. Recently it raised some controversy whether it’s fair to use it and some sites even restricted content to users who are using any form of ad blocking. On the image below you can see Ad Blocker blocked 12 different ads on Huffington Post site.
Avast SafeZone Browser – Ad Blocker Plugin in Action on Huffington Post
Ad Blocker in Avast SafeZone runs fully automatic and there is no need to set it up. Just browse the web as usual and all ads are blocked. To see the number of ads blocked click on the red icon ‘AD’ in the navigation panel. You can also disable Ad Block for a specific domain or block any other specific ad (element) on the page.
Pay Mode – Do Your Banking & Shopping in Total Privacy
The most interesting and unique feature of the SafeZone browser is Pay Mode. It basically opens any page in a virtual environment (sandbox) which is completely isolated from your system. That means any keylogger or hacker cannot see what you are doing or what is your password. Also, your system can’t be infected if you visit some ‘shady’ site.
Avast SafeZone Browser – Pay Mode Tab Activated
Pay Mode is automatically triggered for a majority of the online banking sites. In case your bank is not on the list you can always enter Pay Mode by clicking the credit card icon next to the navigation panel (top-right corner). You can tell the page is opened in Pay Mode if the tab has green credit card icon and font.
Video Downloader – Download Videos From YouTube With Single Click
Last but not least is the Video Downloader, again a pre-installed built-in plugin. It makes it super easy to download videos to your computer from popular servers like YouTube or Vimeo. Mostly in the MP4 format.
Avast SafeZone Browser – Downloading Video From YouTube via Video Downloader
To download video simple hover over it and the orange download icon will appear (see the screenshot above). Simply click on it and video will start downloading on your computer so you can play it anytime later, even when you are offline.
Avast SafeZone Browser Review & Test Conclusion
We definitely find Avast SafeZone browser powerful, fast and secure. Pay Mode is the biggest advantage and technically it makes the browser really the most secure one on the market. It lacks some customization like custom plugins, but that makes it even more secured. It’s a perfect choice for common Internet users. And if you like Opera, you will definitely love SafeZone.
Additional Notes
Avast Mac Security Free
For measuring the browser performance we have used following tests: Peacekeeper, Browsermark, Octane 2.0 and Dromaeo. All of them are testing browser performance and speed using various methods like re-sizing 2D/3D objects using CSS, executing JavaScripts, GPU and DOM tests. All tests were performed on the same computer running on Windows 7 Professional x64 with CPU Intel Core i7 @ 2.70GHz and 8 GB RAM.
Trying to get rid of SafeZone Browser? Check out our guide ‘How to Uninstall/Remove Avast SafeZone Browser‘.
Sometimes Avast Antivirus may be blocking you from running a program or accessing a web page, which you know is totally safe. Usually, it’s because of the low application occurrence within the Avast community. Therefore, Avast can’t properly tell if the program is safe or not, and will try to protect you.
Also, Avast detects so-called ‘Potentially Unwanted Programs‘, which are actually wanted in some cases, and so-called ‘False-Positives‘, which means the program is safe but Avast’s detection is wrong. Unfortunately this often happens with popular games and services like League of Legends (LoL), Steam, GoG Galaxy, Minecraft, uTorrent, BitTorrent, Windows Update, Google, Java, Chrome and other launchers which are being often updated. Usually the false-positive detection lasts only a few hours, but can be very annoying.
Quick Summary
- Make sure the blocked file or webpage is not malicous by testing it at www.virustotal.com
- Add it as exception by going to Avast user interface » Settings » General » Exclusions
- Confirm by clicking OK
Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below.
When Avast blocks something, you will always get a pop-up notification informing you about the threat.
Solution/Fix for the Invalid Certificate Issue Caused by the HTTPS Scan
Recently a lot of Avast users (especially the ones running Windows XP) are experienced an issue when Avast has been blocking several major websites because of the invalid cloudflaressl.com certificate. The full message on the pop-up is ‘Avast Web Shield has blocked access to this page because the following certificate is invalid: [name of the certificate]‘.
Avast Security For Mac
To fix this try one of the following actions:
- Disable HTTPS scanning by going to settings » Active Protection » Web Shield » Customize » Main settings » Un-check ‘Enable HTTPS scanning‘ and restart your computer
Disabling HTTPS Scanning in Avast 2018 Web Shield Settings
Solution/Fix When Avast is Blocking Internet Connection Completely
Sometimes Avast may even block completely the Internet access so user is not able to visit any website. If this happens to you, try one of the following actions:
- Repair your Avast installation by going to Programs » Uninstall a program » Avast » select Repair and restart your computer
- Disable HTTPS scanning by going to settings » Active Protection » Web Shield » Customize » Main settings » Un-check ‘Enable HTTPS scanning‘ and restart your computer
Solution/Fix When Avast is Blocking Specific Website, Program or Game
There are two ways to unblock any program or website from Avast blocking. Please note, you should do it only if you are 100% sure the blocked file is safe for you and your computer. Even if you own the blocked site, doesn’t mean it wasn’t hacked and injected with dangerous malware. For checking the program/file with other Antivirus vendors, you can use online detection at VirusTotal.
1. Add Blocked Program or Website to Exclusion List (Whitelist) to Unblock it
Using the exceptions in Avast you can simply add any file or URL to the list of exclusions and exclude it from scanning and shield protection, therefore also from blocking. For more information about adding exceptions, check our full guide ‘How to Add File/Website Exception into Avast Antivirus 2018‘.
Adding File/Folder/Program/Website URL Exception into Avast 2018
2. Temporarily Turn Off Avast Protection
If you want install or run a program but it’s being blocked by Avast you can simply turn off Avast shields for a short period of time. For more information about turning off Avast or it’s shields, check our full guide ‘How to Turn Off (Pause, Disable) Shields in Avast Antivirus 2018‘.
Temporarily Disabling Avast Protection from the Windows Tray
3. Report a False Positive Detection to Avast
We also strongly suggest to report the detection you believe is a false positive directly to Avast team. They will look into it and eventually confirm the reported file, software, or website is clean.
Link to report is included on every in-product pop-up displayed when the harmful webpage or file is blocked. Just click on ‘Report the file as a false positive‘.
Avast Web Shield Has Blocked a Harmful Webpage or File Pop-up
Then you need to fill-in following simple form. In the additional info you can add a link from VirusTotal scan. Don’t forget to check the option ‘I know what I’m doing‘ and click on ‘Submit‘.
Avast In-product Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites
Alternatively you can use the official web form for reporting false positive detection.
Official Avast Web Form for Reporting False Positive Detection of Files or Websites
Additional Notes
Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2019 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.
Avast Security For Mac Review
Steps are relevant for all Windows versions – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update).
Avast Free Antivirus For Mac
Managing exceptions or turning off Avast protection may leave your computer at risk.