Using the Virus Chest in Avast Antivirus

The Virus Chest is a safe place in Avast Antivirus for storing potentially harmful files and completely isolating them from the rest of your operating system. Files inside the Virus Chest cannot be accessed or run by any outside processes, software applications, or viruses.

Refer to the sections in this article for instructions to work with files in the Virus Chest.

Access the Virus Chest

To access the Virus Chest:

1. Open the Avast user interface, then go to Protection ▸ Virus Chest.

OR

2. Right-click the Avast icon in your system tray and select Virus Chest.

Move files to the Virus Chest

Avast Antivirus automatically moves malicious files to the Virus Chest if they cannot be repaired (threats which cannot be repaired or moved are automatically deleted). You can customize the default actions in the individual settings for each antivirus scan or shield. For more information, refer to the following articles:

• Adjusting settings for Avast Antivirus scans
• Adjusting settings for Avast Antivirus shields

To manually move a file into the Virus Chest, follow these steps from within the Virus Chest:

1. Click Add File....
2. Locate the file you want to move to the Virus Chest ('sample.exe' in the example below) and click Open. The file appears on the Virus Chest screen.

Restore files from the Virus Chest

To return a file to its original location:

1. Tick the box next to the relevant file or files in Virus Chest.
2. Click the downward facing arrow next to the Delete button and select Restore from the context menu.
3. Click Close in the confirmation dialog that appears.

Submit files from the Virus Chest to the Avast Threat Lab

You can send files to the Avast Threat Labs for further analysis. We recommend you send the following file types:

• Potential malware: files that Avast has not flagged as malware, but you believe may be malicious.
• False positive: files that Avast has identified as malware, but you believe may be clean.

To send files to the Avast Threat Labs:

1. Tick the box next to the relevant file or files in Virus Chest.
2. Click the downward facing arrow next to the Delete button and select Send for analysis from the context menu.
3. In the form that appears, tick the relevant box and provide any details related to your issue, then click Send.\
4. Click Close in the confirmation dialog that appears.

Delete files from the Virus Chest

To permanently delete files from the Virus Chest:

1. Tick the box next to the relevant file or files in Virus Chest.
2. Click the Delete button at the bottom of the Virus Chest screen.
3. Click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears.

Manage Virus Chest settings

By default, the Virus Chest is allocated a maximum space of 256 MB, and 16 MB is the maximum size of any individual file that can be sent from the Virus Chest. Follow these steps to change the space allocation:

1. Open the Avast user interface.
2. Go to Settings ▸ General, then click Maintenance.
3. Scroll down to the Virus Chest section and type your preferred values.
4. Click OK to save your changes.