Avast Free Antivirus

Avast Free Antivirus

Avast Free Antivirus works OK on AADServer. It might require a bit of customization.
Tested on Windows 10 x64 2004 (OS build 19041.207) (Test date Apr 2020)
Tested on Windows 7 x64 SP1 (Test date Mar 2018)
Tested on Windows 10 x64, updated with the latest Windows Patches (Test date Jul 2016)

Tested on Windows 10 x64 2004 (OS build 19041.207) (Test date Apr 2020)

Windows 10 x64 OS build 19041.207 installed
All available Windows 10 updates installed
Avast Free installed version 20.2.2401

We did customize Avast: not all options were installed:
Install AADS

Everything worked out smoothly. We have not encountered any problem.

When installing AADS, there is a short moment were Avast does a popup:

but no problems are detected:

Tested on Windows 7 x64 SP1 (Test date Mar 2018)

Avast Free Antivirus has changed (compared to Jul 2016...)

Unrequested installation of Google Chrome browser.
Default installation of Avast Free Antivirus works OK with AADS. No need to do any customization inside Avast Free Antivirus.

Tested on Windows 10 x64, updated with the latest Windows Patches (Test date Jul 2016)

Avast Free Antivirus can be used on an AADServer. However, there is 1 or 2 Avast settings that might need to be changed. The only problem we discovered when using Avast Free Antivirus on an AADServer, is that Domain Joining does not always work anymore. This seems to be caused by what Avast calls

Home Network Security, and / or
Secure DNS

Open the Avast user interface

Home Network Security

Disable the Home Network Security

Avast and DNS Servers

A stand-alone PC connected to the internet uses the DNS-server from the Internet provider, or DNS Servers from Google, OpenDNS, etc. However, in a company network with a Domain, it is usually the Domain Controller that acts as the DNS Server for all the Windows PCs in the office.

It seems that the Avast does "something" with the DNS-server settings on the AADServer. And because of this, it might be the reason why Domain Joining does not work anymore. Therefore,

If you do not experience any DNS issues, then Avast Home Network Security and Secure DNS does seem to work OK for you.
If you do experience DNS issues
- turn off Home Network Security, reboot, and try again.
- turn off Secure DNS, reboot, and try again

Note: we are not sure about Avast and the DNS problems. The Domain Joining-problem did occasionally happen and went away when disabling Home Network Security. Why it went away is unknown to us. We have unfortunately not been able to find detailed information on the Avast website about what Avast does do, or does not do, with DNS.

This FAQ describes how we setup a Test-Domain:

The network card in the AADServer has assigned as DNS-server, the IP Address of the PDC or BDC.

When Avast is installed, it is possible to ping the ip-address of the PDC and BDC, but occasionally it is not possible to ping the DNS-name and / or Netbios name of the PDC, BDC and Domain. Off course the PDC and BDC do know their own DNS and Netbios name. Therefore we do conclude that somehow Avast intercepts or interferes with DNS-requests.

HowTo Install AADS and Avast

Install Avast Anti Virus
Update Avast in any way that it can be updated. If Avast is not fully updated, it might happen that Avast updates itself while installing AADS, and such might cause trouble.
Temporarily stop Avast
Install AADServer.
Do Not yet reboot. First add the AADServer Program Files to the Exception list of Avast.
Reboot.

Temporarily stop Avast

It is required to temporarily stop Avast, such to be able to install AADServer. If Avast is not stopped, it might happen that Avast blocks AADSetup.

From here, after stopping temporarily Avast, install AADServer as usual.

Install AADServer

When AADS is installed, leave AADSetup as it is. Do not yet click on the Reboot button. First add AADServer to the Exception List of Avast.

Avast Exception List

While testing and installing Avast and AADServer, we have mixed results with Avast. Sometimes Avast does not give us any trouble; sometimes Avast decides to delete AADS program files. Because of this, It is recommended that the AADS program files are placed on the Avast Exception List, such to prevent that Avast stops and deletes AADS program files.

Add C:\Program Files\AADServer to the Avast Exception list

After adding C:\Program Files\AADServer to the Avast Exception list, reboot the Server:

Firewall

Avast Free Antivirus does not have its own Firewall settings. Therefore be sure to configure the Windows Firewall properly.