Behavior Shield

 

Behavior Shield is an additional layer of Antivirus active protection. It monitors all processes on the device in real time for suspicious behavior that may indicate the presence of malicious code. Behavior Shield works by detecting and blocking suspicious files based on their similarity to other known threats, even if the files are not yet added to the virus definitions database.

Behavior Shield is available for Windows workstations only.

Configuring Behavior Shield Settings

To define which action the shield should perform upon detecting a suspicious program:

1. Open the Policies page
2. Click the desired policy to open its Detail drawer
3. Select the Settings tab, then Antivirus
4. Expand the Behavior Shield section (under Antivirus Protection)
5. Choose between:
   • Always ask: Behavior Shield asks what you want to do with a detected threat before any action is taken.
   • Automatically move detected threats to the Quarantine: Threats that behave similarly to known threats listed on the Avast virus definitions database are moved to Quarantine.
   • Automatically move known threats to the Quarantine (enabled by default): Threats that are listed on the Avast virus definitions database are moved to Quarantine, unknown threats will be asked.

Adding Behavior Shield Exclusions

If needed, you can add exclusions to the Behavior Shield scans through the Antivirus Exclusions settings of a selected policy. This can speed up the scans and prevent false-positive detections.

For more information on standard and component-specific exclusions, see Configuring Antivirus Exclusions.

FAQ