Avast Emergency Updater ?

JoeN:

EmUpdate is used (according to AVAST) to deploy patches for fixes that are an immediate problem. For example they released a bad virus update at one point (forget how long ago) and needed to immediately issue a fix for it. This is what inspired the EmUpdate service... they basically keep that service enabled on all machines running Avast, and if they need to use it, they can deploy patches or updates even when the user has updates set to manual. This is not such a bad thing if their bad virus update is going to crash your machine... they don't want ppl who have AVAST set to manual update to miss out on the fix and have their computer screwed as a result.

Other side of the coin: they used this feature about a year ago (give or take) to automatically update people with the newest version of Avast, IF those people were using an older version of a certain range that Avast was retiring. IOW, they no longer could provide virus updates to these very old versions, and instead of letting people know they were going to have to update, Avast took it on themselves to use their nifty EmUdate feature that no one knew about at that time, to update all those machines.

Not only did they update the machines, but they installed ALL Avast modules and enabled all features, even if the existing installation had only the File shield installed and enabled.

This caused an uproar and a giant problem for many for a multitude of reasons:

1. the new Avast had a completely differently designed GUI, so people couldn't even figure out how to get into it and disable all the crap that was installed and enabled by default.

2. "Grime Fighter" and "Program Updater" are a nightmare and unwanted by anyone with any sense, even over and above all the other Avast bloat. Now take those modules along with all the others and run them all at once on some old XP networks with 2GB RAM and slow CPUs and you get entire networks grinding to a halt, crashing and burning. It caused admin/IT nightmares with untold hours and down-company-time while people scrambled to figure out what the hell happened. This is to say nothing of people's personal machines that were suddenly slammed with the Avast EmUpdate.

As a result of the fallout there was an outcry on the Avast forum. But if you have ever been there, you know what a joy it is. (Yes, that's sarcasm.) While I was not personally affected b/c I was using v7 and they 'retired' versions 4 and 5 at that time, I fought on the Avast forum with a few others against the tide of fanboys to tell them they need to let users know when a version will be expiring so people can update themselves, ahead of time, when it's convenient, and install/enable the modules they want.

We got nothing but BS from the fanboys and even the mods. I (for one) personally emailed two CEOs of AVAST about it. I have since stopped using AVAST, but I did notice before I uninstalled v7 there was a new notice on the GUI that it would be expiring this November. So someone listened.

In the interim, when I was still using it, to avoid any "EmUpdates" I did the following:


Stop Emergency Update from running (AvastEmUpdate.exe)
*****************************************************
1. Disable self-protection in AVAST GUI settings.
2. Rename or del the AvastEmUpdate.exe file in AVAST folder.
3. Make txt file "AvastEmUpdate.exe" set to Read Only.
4. Stop Emergency Update from running in Autonruns.
5. Add AvastEmUpdate.exe to FW rules as a blocked file.

Now, you might not want to do that because if you do and they issue a bad virus update or something, you won't get the benefit of the fix. But I did not want to take the chance I was going to wake up one day with the new version and all that crap installed and enabled.

Up to you.

I would personally suggest using Sandboxie and an OD scanner instead, and kicking all real-time scanners to the curb. Good luck.