How to Enable the AutoSandbox in Avast Free Antivirus

The AutoSandbox is a feature of Avast’s free antivirus software that relates to malicious programs. Any program that is thought by Avast to be malicious will be placed into the AutoSandbox as it tries to start on your machine. Avast will then closely monitor that program and prevent it from doing any damage to your system. The AutoSandbox mode can be a great benefit and will help prevent you from accidentally launching a program that turns out to be a computer virus. You can enable the AutoSandbox in Avast by selecting a very specific option.

Step 1

Open the main Avast program window and select the button labeled “Additional Protection” from the column on the left side of the screen. The two options immediately below this button will be labeled “AutoSandbox” and “Site Blocking.” Click one time on the option reading “AutoSandbox” to continue.

Step 2

Click the button labeled “Settings” from the window on screen. A new window relating only to the settings of the AutoSandbox feature will open on your monitor.

Step 3

Check the box labeled “Enable AutoSandbox” to enable sandbox protection on your computer. If you would like the Avast program to alert you when a piece of software is about to enter the sandbox protection mode, click the “AutoSandbox mode” drop down menu and select the option reading “Ask.” If you would like Avast to automatically run all suspicious software through this level of protection, click the “AutoSandbox mode” drop down menu and click “Auto.”

Step 4

Make any selections you want in the section of the screen labeled “Reasons for AutoSandboxing.” These selections will affect the types of programs that enter into this heightened level of protection. You can choose from selections like “Suspicious context,” “The file origin is suspicious,” “Static analysis finds the file suspicious” and more.

Step 5

If you have a program that you don’t want Avast to run in AutoSandbox mode, enter that program into the section at the bottom of the screen. Click the button labeled “Add” and choose the program’s shortcut icon from your hard drive. Adding a program to this section may be necessary if you know a particular piece of software is legitimate but Avast keeps flagging it as dangerous anyway.