Avast For Mac Firewall

Although Firewall is extremely important feature, which prevents you from hacker attacks, sometimes you may need to turn it off or pause for some reason, typically when it’s blocking access to some application you trust. Or if you have any other 3rd party Firewall (e.g. Comodo Free Firewall). We definitely do not recommend using Windows Firewall over Avast Firewall.

How to Disable Avast on Mac If you are a Mac user, you can disable Avast on Mac by following the steps below. Step 1: Start typing “Avast” in search box and then open “Avast Security” from it. Avast firewall may be very good, but I need to disable it and restore Windows Firewall. I’m running Win7 Home Premium which falsely reports “no internet connection” with Avast Firewall running. The process for disabling Avast Firewall is a huge pain, but it’s part of the problem for which I can find no other solution.

Avast firewall free download - Avast Free Mac Security, Avast Passwords, Avast SecureLine VPN, and many more programs.

Firewall is only part of the Avast top tier products – Avast Internet Security, and Avast Premier. It’s not available in the free version.

Disabling Firewall is extremely easy but we recommend doing so only when your computer is not connected to the Internet, so you will stay out of the potential hackers. Basically you have two options how to disable it – a) disable all Avast shields (which includes Web Shield, File System Shield, Mail Shield, Antispam, and Firewall), or b) disable only the Firewall component.

OUR TIP If you want to disable Avast because it’s blocking program or website you trust, we suggest to use the Avast Exceptions/White-list instead.

Since option a) is covered already in this article, we will show you step-by-step how to turn off only Firewall.

Quick Summary

Open your Avast and go to Protection » Firewall
Switch to OFF state and select for how long you want to disable it
Confirm by clicking Yes if dialog appears

Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below

1. Open the Avast Interface

Go to your Avast interface by double-clicking on the orange icon in the Windows system tray. Or you can find Avast in the Windows Start » Programs » Avast.

Once you’re in you should see following message in the status area ‘Firewall is active‘. Click on ‘active‘ which will open following page. Alternatively you can go to ‘Tools‘ » ‘Firewall‘.

2. Disable or Pause Avast Firewall

In the middle of the page, below the Firewall status ‘Firewall is on‘, click on the switcher to OFF state. You have four options – a) Stop for 10 minutes; b) Stop for 1 hour; c) Stop until your next restart; d) Stop indefinitely. It’s up to you which one you will select. If the confirm dialog will appear click on ‘Yes‘.

Disabling/Pausing Firewall in Avast 2017

Alternatively you can also disable Firewall from settings » ‘Components‘ » ‘Firewall‘ and changing the switcher from ON to OFF state.

3. Avast Firewall is Disabled

If you have done everything according to our guide, your Avast status should change to yellow color with the warning message ‘Firewall is turned off‘.

Avast Antivirus 2017 Status Screen – Firewall is Disabled

To turn it back on, simply click on the ‘TURN ON‘ button or do the same steps as you did for turning it off.

If you want to leave Firewall disabled permanently you can remove it from the status monitoring by clicking on ‘IGNORE‘ button. Then your Avast will be ‘green’ again with no warning, even though Firewall will still be disabled.

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.

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 Firewall Review

Turning off Avast firewall may leave your computer at risk.

Once in a while, you’ll probably need to turn off your Avast Antivirus, or just pause some of its shields. Usually, because you want to install some other party security software like a firewall, or because Avast is blocking your favorite website or application.

Avast

OUR TIP If you want to disable Avast because it’s blocking program or website you trust, we suggest using the Avast Exceptions/White-list instead.

Here’s the quick step-by-step guide on how to turn off/disable Avast 2019 – completely or temporarily. Steps are applicable to all Avast antivirus products (Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, or Avast Premier).

Quick Summary

Right-click on the Avast orange icon in the Windows system tray
Select Avast shields control and select for how long you want to disable it
Confirm by clicking Yes on the dialog

Read more detailed steps and other options including screenshots below

1. Turn Off/Disable Avast Completely (All Shields)

Turning off all Avast shields basically means completely turning off the whole Avast Antivirus active protection. So be sure you know what you’re doing, although it’s actually quite simple.

Step #1 – Just navigate to the Windows taskbar and find the orange Avast icon. By default it is hidden in some Windows systems, so click on the top arrow if you don’t see it. Once you find the icon, perform a right-click on it, look for the option ‘Avast shields control‘, and select one of the options there – disable for a) 10 minutes; b) 1 hour; c) until computer restart; d) permanently.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely via Windows System Tray

Step #2 – Whatever option you will choose, Avast will ask you for a confirmation, which you have to confirm by selecting ‘Yes‘. And that’s it, Avast and all its shields should be disabled/paused for whatever time period you have selected.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely – Action Confirmation

Step #3 – If you want to make sure Avast is really disabled, just open its main window. It should be red and saying ‘All antivirus shields are off‘. To re-enable it again, click on the green button ‘RESOLVE‘, and it should turn green with the message ‘You’re protected‘.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Completely – User Interface

2. Turn Off/Disable Avast Temporarily (Specific Shield(s))

Besides turning off all shields at once, Avast also offers an option to temporarily turn off/pause any specific shield. Again, be sure you know what and why you’re doing it.

Step #1 – If so, then open the main Avast user interface, and go to Protection » Core Shields. Alternatively, you can go to Settings (in the bottom left corner in the main Avast interface) » ‘Components’ (or ‘Active Protection‘ in the older version). There you will see all Avast shields (File System Shield, Behavior Shield, Mail Shield, Web Shield) listed.

Disabling Avast Antivirus 2019 Specific Shields – Shields Overview

Just find the one you want to disable and click on the switcher. Once you click on it, you will see four options – stop the shield for a) 10 minutes; b) 1 hour; c) until computer restart; d) permanently. Just select the period you want and click on it.

Step #2 – If the shield has been successfully disabled, you should see the switch change to ‘OFF‘ and the main window should be yellow with the message ‘File Shield is now off‘. To re-enable it again, simply click on the green ‘Turn on‘ button, and it should turn green with the message ‘You’re protected‘.

Avast Antivirus 2019 File Shield Turned Off

3. Uninstall Avast Antivirus Completely

If none of these steps solved your problem, then you can consider uninstalling Avast Antivirus completely. Although we strongly discourage it, as Avast is the best free Antivirus available.

If you’re sure you want to do it, follow our step-by-step guide ‘How to Uninstall/Remove Avast Antivirus 2019‘ or download the simple removal tool called Avast Uninstall Utility.

Additional Notes

Steps are relevant for all Windows versions – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update).

Turning off Avast protection may leave your computer at risk.