[cap299]

I have AVG free anti-virus running on Windows XP. On most days, when it does the auto complete test, the scan runs for hours and only looks at a few thousand objects (even after 8 hours, it's still scanning. I have it set to power off after the test finishes). Other times it has run for 2 hours and looked at 90k+ objects. What gives? I can't leave my laptop on all day everyday, but I feel like it may be missing something if shut it off after only a couple of hours. I posted on AVG site and got no response.

I have an old laptop, with 256k ram, could this be why it's so slow?

Thanks

[Nesjemannen]

1. AVG do not give support for their free-tools. You have to buy it.

2. 256mb (mb not k, then you wouldn't been able to open XP....) Ram.... If you use several programs at once, then yes - That may be the reason. ( I use 300mb, just at startup!)

[cap299]

Thanks for the reply (of course I meant mb not k, sorry.....brain freeze!!!). If that is the case, I wonder if I am better off uninstalling this until I get a faster computer and just running my anti-spyware scans and using firewall. They seem to catch a lot of the same things as AVG. Today, it has been scanning for 6 hours and scanned 1200 objects. At this rate, it will take a week to get through a single scan.

[blues_harp28]

Hi if you run your system without an Anti-virus program you risk your system shutting down for good.
Try running Avg in safe mode where less applications are running at the same time.

I have an old 98se that I sometimes use it has 256Mb of Ram and Avg run ok on it.

[calvin-c]

IIRC even AVG free has a system monitor function-does that run OK? If so then the scan is backup in case someone shuts down the monitor for some reason (maybe to install new software). That being the case, and only after a complete scan shows the PC is clean, I'd change the scan to maybe once a month (depending on how confident you are that the monitor doesn't get shut down). Or run it periodically in safe mode like Blues_Harp suggested.

[cap299]

IIRC even AVG free has a system monitor function-does that run OK?

When you say monitor, do you mean the Resident Shield? Sorry, but I've only had AVG for 2 weeks so I am still trying to figure out how it works. In the control center, there is a green checkmark by Resident Shield and it says it is fully functional.

As far as the test scheduler, you can only schedule a daily Complete Test, it says you have to buy the AVG pro version to customize the test. However, I set it to do something called a System Area Test and it completed it in only 11 minutes!!! However, this test can't be scheduled daily on the free version. Is this System test good enough? Today, the Complete Test scanned for over 8 hours and still only did 1400+ objects!!

Thanks!

[calvin-c]

I don't remember the term AVG uses, but Resident Shield sounds right. (I don't have access to a machine with AVG on it right now or I'd check to be certain.)

IMO the System Area test is good enough for daily scans, but you really should do a complete scan periodically-just doesn't need to be daily unless you're shut down Resident Shield frequently. As I said, I don't have access to a machine with AVG on it right now-is it possible to run the Complete Test from a command line? If so then you could schedule it via Windows Task Scheduler. Otherwise all I can suggest is either letting it run daily or running it manually. And I've always felt that running av protection manually is like relying on abstinence to prevent pregnancy. It works if you stick to it religiously, but most people don't.

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by Nesjemannen

2. 256mb (mb not k, then you wouldn't been able to open XP....) Ram.... If you use several programs at once, then yes - That may be the reason. ( I use 300mb, just at startup!)

256MB
8 bits(b)=1byte(B)
M=1000
m=1/1000
300mb, three tenths of a bit, wouldn't open anything.

[Nesjemannen]

Lol, My mistake ( I didn't think it would matter if I wrote with small letters )... :P

[RootbeaR]

No problem.

I just find it easier when everyone is speaking the same language.

[calvin-c]

For memory & hard drive size, it probably doesn't-but it's a poor habit to develop because in other areas (communications, especially) it does. (Also note that hard drive size is measured in two ways-both using the MB/GB abbreviation but coming up with different values for the same 'size'. If it seems like that difference is important then you probably ought to express the size in actual bytes, e.g. 300,000,000,000B rather than 300GB (which, if using what I consider the correct definition of gigabyte, is 322,122,547,200B.)