[Mahnrut]

When I was browsing on a web site a message came up saying that 3 trojan horse viruses had been found and I needed to download a file. I didn't as it did not seem to be associated with Avast. I then ran a boot scan with avast and when I came back the scan had finished and closed the program so I assume there was no problem although it would be good to be able to check the results (where is the option for this please I couldn't find it). Also in looking further into Avast myself (someone else installed it) I realize that it does not allow you to schedule regular scans but instead scans at each startup and in real time I assume when you are on the internet or get mail etc. Our computer button often does not work (we have had 2 professionals look at it and no-one knows why this happens) so we keep the computer on all the time and I am wondering whether I should manually run scans each day because of this. Thanks for any help in understanding this antivirus system which is very different from Norton and other ones we have had.

[blues_harp28]

Hi and welcome.
Is this the free version of Avast?
If Yes, I do not think it allows you to schedule regular scans.

As long as Avast runs in Realtime and you manually do a scan, say once every two weeks.
All should be Ok.
You can if you want to..stop it running a boot scan at startup.
Also make sure you update Avast definition files each day.

Check.
http://free.avg.com/ww.faq.num-1236

Also d/load these Spyware programs.
http://www.superantispyware.com
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

D/load>check for updates>scan your Pc.

[Mahnrut]

Thanks very much for the information. Since windows never shuts down (we don't turn the computer off I assume it doesn't "run a scan at startup". One of the icons in the taskbar says On-Access Scanner 7 providers total, 6 running. What does that all mean please? I assume that is the real-time scanning system as that ball turns when I open anything. But why 6 out of 7. These questions may seem elementary but I like to understand what is happening on installed programs! Thanks

[Byteman]

Look in Avast - Right click the "A" icon and select "Start Avast...."

Then you will see a memory area scan window...you can click to Stop that scan.... Next, the user guide opens, just minimize that as you might want to read it later......next, the Avast window opens, it resembles a Media player (don;t ask me why....)

Top left- hold mouse cursor on up pointing arrow "Menu" appears, click "Schedule boot time scan" and then "Schedule" if you want to turn off the boot time scan. You can re-enable that by redoing the process...you will see.

Close up what you have open for Avast.....then double click the "A"

to bring up the "On-Access scanner" window and, you have to click on "Details" over on the left, you can turn off the features you don't want to run......all these features are the "7" things you see when you hold the mouse cursor in the tray and it says "6 out of 7" etc. You can see as you turn one or more off, it tells you a lesser number "out of 7".... try it.

Why "6" ? If you are like me, we do not have Outlook Express being scanned as it is not set up with an account for email.....I use Gmail and pull mail from my ISP.

The program is adjustable, you see....if you dont want it to check certain things it won't but is it worth risking? No, right, leave them all running- you aren't going to remember in time to turn things back on.

[Mahnrut]

Thanks Byteman I appreciate your time and things are a lot clearer now. When you say schedule a boot scan I gather it means do one there and then as when I went to that menu option I got a message that to do a scan Windows had to restart. So to recheck you cannot do an advance schedule for a scan?.

Also I could see the 6 features when clicking on the A but could not see how to remove any of them. I can highlight each one but right clicking does not give a delete option for example. Hopefully these are my last questions. Thanks

[Byteman]

Hi,

When you click on one you want to turn off on the left side, look over on right side, see the "Terminate" button? That turns off that specific feature-

There is also a 5 item list available by right clicking the "A" there are two that you can use....Stop provider and Pause provider, each has a list of things you can.

When you select to turn one item off, you also will see in that window a box to check to make the change permanent...."persistent" is what they call it. I would be careful with that as it can be cumbersome to turn them back on.

Read Help for Avast, it is the quickest way to learn

Do that by right clicking the "A" and select "Start Avast Antivirus" the first window with text comes up, that is the guide for Avast.

Explains in there how to use less features..., but I would not advise doing that.

When you are supposed to "Turn off or disable your antivirus program temporarily" as when installing heavier software.....Windows Service Pack 3, for example.....when you are asked to do that, for Avast what I do is use the bottom item in the right click on "A" which is "Stop on access protection". That turns them all off.... you have to turn the program back "On" when you are done.

[Mahnrut]

Very clear. Thanks again for your help and I will read the guide although it is in a funny place.

[Byteman]

I know! I thought it was a media player that popped up first time I started it up....and the Help guide comes up, even though you may have not wanted it to.... oh well at least there is one.

[Gizzy]

I don't care for that media player skin so when I used it a little over a year ago I turned off the skin,

instead of me typing the instructions here's a link on how to turn off the skin in case anyone else would rather avast without the special skins...
http://forums.spybot.info/blog.php?b=24

[Byteman]

Hey Gizzy that is great news!

I'm shedding the default Avast skin pronto. Thank you!

[Byteman]

Mahnrut

See Gizzy's post to get rid of the Avast appearance and change it to look like a standard program....

I forgot to help you with the boot up scan- that by nature would only start when you restart, or start up the computer.

It can accomplish things I guess that the ordinary in Windows scan might not be able to. But, I would not set it to do a bootup scan at each startup.

If you are wanting to schedule a type of scan at a certain time, that is done within Windows...as a scheduled task or by settings in Avast. The free version is different than the Pro but it can be done, at least it says it can, I don't have it that way....I prefer to do a scan when I have time to be around and check on it.

Here is a good but long thread in Avast forums that shows you how to set up a Scheduled scan, but not a bootup scan. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?boa...;threadid=3796

[Mahnrut]

Thanks Byteman and Gizzy

I took off the skin - much better but on right clicking the a and opening avast antivirus I first get a memory test (which i can stop) and also one the main screen under date of last scan it says not done yet when I did one the other day.

[Byteman]

The memory test is normal, and I always stop it, too if nothing has alerted about any malware.....

Did you do a full scan and did it complete all the way?

[Mahnrut]

I got a virus message when browsing and didn't know if it was avast so started a scan. I saw that it was 94% done and went away and when I came back there was nothing on the screen indicating it had finished so I started looking to see if there was a place for history like in programs like norton so started wondering how this program really worked (someone else had set it up). So to answer your question there was never a screen saying a scan had been done and these are the results. Should there have been?

Thanks again.

[Byteman]

There may be something logged or also, in the Virus Chest

Start Avast go to Tools>Log viewer

But, in this case no I don't think it would record what you did as a full scan.

Avast sounds like a siren when it alerts you,,,,,,