Avast Premium Security

About this release

Avast Premium Security is the full suite rather than the free scanner, which means the protection is layered rather than a single engine. A real time shield watches files as they are opened, a behaviour monitor flags programs acting maliciously even when no signature matches, a firewall controls what talks to the network, and web and email filtering catch threats before they reach the disk.

The premium tier adds the modules that the free version leaves out, and this build has all of them switched on. Ransomware protection walls off your document folders so only trusted programs can change files in them, a real site checker guards against spoofed banking and shopping pages, and a sandbox lets a suspicious program run isolated from the rest of the machine.

Around the core engine there is the usual suite of maintenance and privacy tools, a network inspector that flags weak points on your local network, a data shredder for permanent deletion, and automatic scanning on a schedule you set. It runs on everything from Windows 7 through 11 in both architectures, and the interface is available in a long list of languages.

What it does

• Real time file shield with signature and behaviour based detection
• Two way firewall controlling inbound and outbound connections
• Ransomware protection walling off document folders from untrusted programs
• Web shield and real site checking against spoofed pages
• Email shield scanning attachments and links
• Sandbox for running suspicious programs in isolation
• Network inspector flagging weak points on the local network
• Data shredder for permanent file deletion
• Scheduled and on demand scanning with quarantine management
• Silent gaming mode that suppresses interruptions

Changes in this version

• Updated detection engine with a smaller definition footprint
• Improved behaviour monitor with fewer false positives
• Faster full system scan on machines with many files
• Reworked firewall rule interface
• Lower background resource use when idle

What the package contains

• Avast Premium Security offline installer for both architectures
• Current detection definition snapshot
• All interface languages
• Silent install script for unattended setup
• Readme with the install order written out step by step

Installation notes

Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.

1. Remove any other antivirus suite first, two real time shields will fight.
2. Disconnect from the network before you begin.
3. Extract the archive to any folder.
4. Run the installer and finish the wizard, declining any bundled extras.
5. Apply the included licensing step so the premium tier activates.
6. Open the application, confirm the premium state, then reconnect for definition updates.

System requirements

Things worth knowing

• Never run two real time security suites at once, uninstall the previous one completely first.
• Turn off automatic program updates if you want the activation state left exactly as installed.
• Add any activation or portable toolkits to the exclusion list or the shield will quarantine them on sight.

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Listing information

This entry is catalogued under Security & Privacy and carries the tags below. Language coverage is Multilingual, 45 interface languages, and the supported platform list is Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11. Version 26.7.11086 is the current catalogued build, last checked 2 days ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 3 years ago.