What is Password Protection?
Password Protection is a paid feature available in Avast Premium Security that helps secure your passwords stored in your web browsers. If left unprotected, Passwords stored in web browsers may be vulnerable to malware and theft by unwanted applications. Password Protection allows you to choose which apps have access to your saved passwords.
How do I use Password Protection?
Password Protection automatically helps protect the passwords saved in your browsers. To ensure that the feature is enabled, follow the steps below:
- Open Avast Premium Security and go to Privacy ▸ Password Protection.
- Make sure the feature is turned on. If the feature is disabled, click the red (OFF) slider so that it changes to green (ON).
To learn more about how to use Password Protection, refer to the following article:
Which browsers are compatible with Password Protection?
Avast Password Protection supports the following browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Microsoft Edge
- Avast Secure Browser
How do I adjust Password Protection settings?
To adjust how Password Protection handles applications that attempt to access your browser passwords:
- Open Avast Premium Security and go to Privacy ▸ Password Protection.
- Click Settings (the gear icon) in the top right.
- Specify an action when unknown applications try to access saved passwords:
- Ask me to allow or block it (selected by default): You are asked to grant permission when an application tries to access your passwords.
- Silently block the app: Applications are automatically blocked without any notification. Blocked applications are added to the list of blocked apps.
To manage your blocked and allowed apps, click View allowed / blocked apps.
How do I manage blocked and allowed applications?
When you allow or deny an application access to passwords, the application is automatically added to your list of Blocked & Allowed apps. You can change your preferences at any time by following the steps below:
- Open Avast Premium Security and go to Privacy ▸ Password Protection.
- Click Block or allow app.
Click + Block app or + Allow app to add an application to either list. To remove an application from the list, click …
More options (three dots) next to the relevant application, and select Remove.
For more information about the Blocked & Allowed apps screen, refer to the following article:
Does Password Protection notify me if my passwords are compromised?
No. Password Protection helps prevent compromised passwords by protecting your saved passwords in web browsers from unknown apps. Hack Alerts, which is a feature available in Avast Premium Security and Avast Antivirus, can be used to notify you if your passwords are compromised. For more information about Hack Alerts, refer to the following page:
How can I protect my passwords from theft?
To help prevent compromised passwords:
- Use strong passwords, including capital letters, numbers, special characters, and phrases.
- Use a different password for every account. Email passwords are the most vulnerable to theft, so these should always be unique.
- Enable two-factor authentication where possible.
- Always keep Password Protection enabled in your Avast Premium Security application.
Further recommendations
For more information about using Password Protection, refer to the following article:
What is Password Protection?
Password Protection is a paid feature, available in Avast One Silver Device Protection and Avast One Gold, that helps secure your passwords stored in your web browsers. If left unprotected, Passwords stored in web browsers may be vulnerable to malware and theft by unwanted applications. Password Protection feature allows you to choose which apps have access to your saved passwords.
Which browsers are compatible with Password Protection?
Avast Password Protection supports the following browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Microsoft Edge
- Avast Secure Browser
To enable browser protection in the paid version of Avast One:
- Open Avast One and go to Explore ▸ Password Protection ▸ Protect Passwords.
- Make sure the feature is turned on. If the feature is disabled, click the red (OFF) slider so that it changes to green (ON).
To learn more about how to use Password Protection, refer to the following article:
How do I adjust Password Protection behavior?
To adjust how Password Protection handles applications that attempt to access your browser passwords:
- Open Avast One and go to Explore ▸ Password Protection ▸ Protect Passwords.
- Ensure that the Browser protection tab is selected.
- In the box labeled If a new app tries to access my browser passwords, click the down arrow, then select an action:
- Automatically block access: Applications are automatically blocked without any notification. Blocked applications are added to the list of blocked apps.
- Ask me to allow or block the first time (selected by default): You are asked to grant permission when an application tries to access your passwords.
You can change the status of blocked and allowed apps under App permissions.
How do I manage blocked and allowed applications?
When you allow or deny an application access to passwords, the application status is automatically added to the App permissions list. You can change your preferences at any time by following the steps below:
- Open Avast One and go to Explore ▸ Password Protection ▸ Protect Passwords.
- Ensure that the App permissions tab is selected.
- Click + Add application to add an application to the list. Newly added applications are automatically set to Blocked. Click the status button to switch the app from Allowed to Blocked or vice versa.
- To remove an application from the App permissions list, hover your mouse over the relevant application and click the X that appears.
For detailed instructions, refer to the following article:
Does Password Protection notify me if my passwords are compromised?
No. Password Protection helps prevent compromised passwords by protecting your saved passwords in web browsers from unknown apps. Dark Web Monitoring, which is another feature available in Avast One, can be used to notify you if your passwords are compromised. For more information about Dark Web Monitoring, refer to the following page:
How can I protect my passwords from theft?
To help prevent compromised passwords:
- Use strong passwords, including capital letters, numbers, special characters, and phrases.
- Use a different password for every account. Email passwords are the most vulnerable to theft, so these should always be unique.
- Enable two-factor authentication where possible.
- Always keep Password Protection and Dark Web Monitoring in your Avast One application.
Further recommendations
For more information about using Password Protection, refer to the following article:
- Avast Premium Security 24.x for Windows
- Avast One 24.x for Windows
- Microsoft Windows 11 Home / Pro / Enterprise / Education
- Microsoft Windows 10 Home / Pro / Enterprise / Education - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 8 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic / Home Premium / Professional / Enterprise / Ultimate - Service Pack 1 with Convenient Rollup Update, 32 / 64-bit
Updated on: 02/06/2022