When we are busy working, we may not have time to fully open the Avast software, navigate their UI, and run a scan manually. This takes extra time and is much more troublesome if we want to target specific files or folders for scanning.
Fortunately, Avast has provided us a convenient way to run a malware or virus scan directly from Windows Explorer by simply right-clicking the thing we want to scan and running a quick scan immediately.
However, some users have reported that this right-click scan option does not work for them. Obviously, this is a frustrating thing to have happen, as it’s such a convenient feature.
Today we’re going to walk you through how you can get this feature back up and running with minimal effort.
Why is Avast right click scan not working?
There are several things that can contribute to this feature not working. Sometimes it may be a case that a simple reboot is needed, or in some more severe cases, Avast may need to be reinstalled.
Avast is not up to date
One of the most common causes of this issue is due to Avast scan not being up to date. With Windows updating as frequently as it does, Avast scan also has to update things on their side, or there may be functionality glitches that will affect this feature.
Ensuring your Avast software is up to date should be your first port of call to fix the issue.
Changes made by Windows
Anytime a registry entry within Windows has been added or changed, as happens when Avast Premium Security is repaired, updated, or reinstalled, Windows should be rebooted. This may sound obvious, but because it feels inconsequential, it’s a very common step for users to overlook.
You’ll be surprised how often this fixes the issue!
Notifications are disabled
When we right-click scan something, we usually get nice feedback that the task is being performed and was completed successfully with a convenient desktop notification.
Sometimes this notification doesn’t appear, leading users to believe the targeted scan did not run. In many cases, the scan did take place, but there was no visual notification to tell us that, which gives us the impression of it not working.
It’s not until you open the full GUI and inspect the targeted scan that you can see evidence of this.
In this scenario, checking notifications are enabled can bring back that all-important visual feedback.
“Do not disturb” / Silent mode
Separately from Windows notifications, Avast also has its own internal silent mode that will prevent notifications from appearing to tell you about scan status and completion.
This can be very handy if you are busy working or playing games, but if you forgot you turned it on, it can lead to a lot of confusion.
We may need to adjust the silent mode settings, in this case, to ensure we are receiving the notifications we want.
Damaged files
As with most software that receives regular updates and directory additions, it’s quite easy for files or registry entries to become corrupted or damaged.
Fortunately, Avast offers a convenient repair option that allows us to scan the software and have it automatically fix any software-related file inconsistencies.
How to fix Avast right click scan not working
Fortunately, this is both a fairly common problem and relatively easy to solve. Follow the steps outlined in the next section in sequence to get this issue fixed.
Update Avast
Out of date antivirus software is the primary cause of the right-click scan not working, so it’s important we first get our Avast Antivirus software updated first.
To do this, follow these steps:
- Open the Avast software and navigate to Settings.
- Click the General tab at the top, then locate the Update tab.
- Here, you are given two options. The first is to update the virus definitions, and while this won’t be the cause of the right-click scan not working, we recommend updating this.
- Once that is complete, click “Check for updates” under “Application updates,” and give it time to scan for new updates.
If there is an update available for your Avast Antivirus software, it will download and install it automatically.
Reboot your computer
Once the software download is complete, as with any time a new piece of software or Windows registry entry has been changed, you will need to reboot your computer.
Turn on notifications
When we are not getting that visual feedback of the scan taking place, it can give the impression of it not working at all. If you navigate into the Avast software and see that the scan has been run, it may indicate that the Avast Antivirus notifications are turned off on the Windows client.
It’s also important that you receive notifications in case Avast Web Shield needs to notify you that files have been put into the virus chest, so you can then run a custom scan on the affected files.
To enable this using your search bar, type in “Notifications & actions settings” and open the menu. Scroll down a bit, and you will see a large list of installed software that may want to display notifications to you.
Ensure Avast Antivirus is switched on, and notifications should now appear when a scan has started and completed.
Avast “Do Not Disturb” mode
Avast’s silent mode works similarly to the Windows notification toggle, but we need to make sure it’s not turned on, or it will override the Windows notification and still prevent you from receiving notifications that the smart scan has finished.
Here’s how to turn Do Not Disturb mode off:
- Open Avast Antivirus and select the Performance tab.
- Click on Do Not Disturb Mode.
- Click the settings icon in the top right, indicated by the small gear icon.
- Ensure the relevant boxes are unticked to disable them. In particular, the “Silence Avast Notifications” option will need to be disabled in order for your to receive notifications.
Repair Avast
Once you are sure all the notification options are correctly enabled, if you are still experiencing the issue, it may indicate that there is a bug or glitch in the software, in which case repairing it might solve the issue.
Using your Windows search bar, type in “Add or remove programs” to open up the uninstall/reinstall control panel.
Navigate to the Avast software. Next to the “Uninstall” button should be a “Repair” button. Click this, and it will automatically smart scan and fix any issues with your files or installation.
Uninstall/reinstall Avast
Even though the repair option should be enough to fix this issue, some users have reported that it wasn’t until they did a full uninstall/reinstall of the software through the device manager that the notifications returned.
To do this, we recommend using an uninstaller like IObit Uninstaller that will help you to remove any residual files and Windows registry entries that want to hang around and affect the fresh installation.
Once it’s been fully removed, you can re-download and install the software as normal from the Avast Antivirus website. Make sure you reboot your PC before launching the software, and you should find the issue is fixed!
