Big Sur and Avast Premium Protection app

Do not install any third party apps that claim to protect, clean, boost performance, etc. They are not needed, use system resources while providing no benefit, and they may cause problems.

macOS - Security - Apple

Set up your Mac to be secure - Apple Support

Protect your Mac from malware - Apple Support

Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.   

Boot into Safe Mode by booting with the Shift key held down and run Find Any File to search for any files with the application's name  and the developer's name in the file name.  For Avast software you'd do the following search(es): 

1 - Name contains avast

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  

Then reboot normally, run Etrecheck and peruse the report for any Avast items.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Regarding Avast Premium Security specifically, I've recently migrated from a much older iMac (mid-2011) to the new M1 Mac Mini and can neither launch Avast to use it nor otherwise to uninstall it.

Other than the built in "uninstall" function, I can't find a way to either reinstall (it fails since Avast is already installed) or to uninstall it without having Avast running.

When I launch Avast, nothing happens. It doesn't appear anywhere and system monitor doesn't show it running.

I'm okay with uninstalling it and simply not using it--the subscription is about to end and I'm not sure it's really worth it anyway (we no longer use Windows machines).

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

In order to uninstall avast then you can either use their built-in uninstall function or manually remove it by:

First, Revoke all of the apps permissions in System Preferences>Privacy and security.

Next, Make sure the avast app is quit and isn’t running.

Finally, Move the avast app and any files related to it to the trash and then empty the trash.

Please note; Whichever way you decide to uninstall avast security you will be required to enter a admin username and/or password at some point.

Cheers and stay Safe