I downloaded AVAST! Version 4.8 Home Edition build 4.8.1169 only a few days ago.
I have Windows 98, ZoneLabs Free Firewall 5.5.062, Dialup Internet connection, GenuineIntel PII 350 MHz, 256 MB ram, Firefox Internet browser Version 2.0.0.14
Is there a setting that will automatically make the computer shut down after a virus scan is completed as AVG free anti virus software has ? If not, is it possible for me to scan my hard drive and work on a document or access my Googlemail at the same time while the scanning is taking place ?
In Avast on-access scanner window, there are 6 resident providers which are :
instant messaging
P2P shield
Outlook/Exchange
internet mail
web shield
standard shield
I never use instant messaging and I only use Yahoo and Google internet Mail programs.
Is it okay to deactivate the resident providers for instant messaging and outlook/exchange ? How do I deactivate these 2 providers permanently please ?
1.a) No unfortunatelly automatic shutdown isn’t possible now (but it maybe available later)
1.b) Yes, you are free to work on your pC while the scanning is performed
For the second question: go to add/remove programs, check the option to uninstall Avast, then choose change and uncheck the resident protection, you don’t want to use.
BTW: the current version of Avast is 4.8.1201, so you can update freely.
Thank you Avatar and Tech for your excellent support.
Since I would like to avoid having a fatal exception taking place, can I go ahead with the Add / Remove Programs procedure, while avast! programs are still running on my Windows 98 computer ?
Will Internet Mail provider also check mail that I send or receive through Google Mail or Yahoo Mail ?
It is absolutely safe to perform add/remove ptocedure,as for email, I don’t use Yahoo Mail, so I don’t know about that, but Avast mail provider can’t use the SSL connection used by Gmail, so you need to use Stunnel in combination with Avast to perform a Gmail mail check, (try to search on this forum, as it was discussed many times) ,but anyway Avast Standart Shield will check any file arrived to your HDD. & yes Avast ver 1201 is compatible with Windows 98, to perform an update you need to right mouse click on “a” ball icon in the tray → Updating ->Program Update.
The Internet Mail provider is not scanning web mail (when you read and answer mail with your webbrowser), that provider is for mail programs, like Thunderbird and Outlook Express (when you sending and receiving mail thru POP3)
I seem to remember reading that Avast doesn’t scan Thunderbird emails for some reason. If it does, how would I know? I put a check mark in the boxes to add a message but there never is a message. If it makes a difference, I use Thunderbird with Gmail set up as POP3.
Thank you all for your replies. I have read as many posts as I could regarding Stunnel. Here are my comments.
The reason I only use Google Mail and Yahoo! Mail is because in the event of computer breakdown or if I need to travel, I can still easily access my email from a public access computer.
This is why I do not have any Email client programs that use POP3 and SMTP ports.
I do have Microsoft Office 2000 (9.0.2720) and I suppose I could install the MS Outlook Email program in MS Office and then proceed with Stunnel. Will Stunnel work with MS Outlook of the version that I have ?
Can you tell me what difference installing Microsoft Outlook and Stunnel will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive for viruses etc. when I open my emails ?
Will it be worth all the trouble ?
If you are using MS Outlook (not express) and the avast Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in, then you don’t need STunnel as the plug-in works within the MS Outlook client. So it can scan the gmail or secure content.
If you are using MS Outlook (not express) and the avast Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in, then you don't need STunnel as the plug-in works within the MS Outlook client. So it can scan the gmail or secure content.
DavidR
Thank you DavidR. Oh, that is wonderful news !!
So all I have to do is install MS Outlook. Yes, but can you tell me what difference using Microsoft Outlook in conjunction with the Avast Outlook Provider will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive when I open my Google Mail emails ?
Avatar2005 wrote :
For the second question: go to add/remove programs, check the option to uninstall Avast, then choose change and uncheck the resident protection, you don't want to use.
For the past few hours, I have attempted to follow the Add Remove Programs procedure.
I click on the Avast Antivirus program in the list click on Add/Remove tab. The Avast options come up. There are four of them. CHANGE, UNINSTALL, UPDATE, REPAIR with CHANGE being highlighted. I click on Next and each time after I do this, the same message comes up which is :
nvast virus setup cannot be started.
nvast virus is running an automatic update.
Please wait until it finishes and run Setup again.
I even ran the msconfig program in Windows 98 and unticked the three Avast programs that automatically open upon startup. I then restarted the computer and the same message came up as above.
Prevention is better than cure, e.g. catch it before it gets into your system/pst file. The Standard Shield would have to extract an infected email from the pst file and that could result in corruption or the loss of the pst file not something you really want.
I don’t know why the selection of Change and clicking next isn’t working for you, but, that really is the icing on the cake to remove completely the components. The bit about the auto update is obviously a clue but it shouldn’t last very long, try to do the Change again. Before doing so do the three finger salute (press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys together, once), this should show running tasks, look for avast.setup in the list, if there don’t try to change, if not there proceed.
If you still cant get it to work - You can just Terminate them within the on-access scanner window (left click the avast icon). Select the avast provider you want to terminate from the left side of the window (if you don’t see that click the Details… >> button). Now click the Terminate button for the provider and answer Yes to the question about persisting the changes (otherwise it would be back after your next boot).
Thank you for your detailed reply, David.
With all three avast programs not opening automatically, and after I pressed CTRL ALT DEL and not seeing any avast program there, the same thing happened. I did the same thing again and this time, I decided to select the REPAIR option. And the same message window saying that “navast virus is running an automatic update” came up again.
There was a tab on the window called VIEW LOG and so I decided to make a copy of the log and saved it as a text file called LogReport.txt
May I send it to you directly to your email address ?
I do not want to use the on-access scanner window method yet since I would like to investigate what is wrong here and clearly something is. Thank you.
Make sure you are disconnected from the internet (what is your connection method, dial-up, broadband ?), that would kill any auto update, but it would take some while before it fails through your terminating the connection.
Terminating those avast providers you don’t use as I described earlier looks like it would be your easiest option (it is permanent doing it as I said by answering Yes to the question), so do that first and if at some point you can get Change to work you can use it to uninstall them, as I said that really is the icing on the cake, termination is fine they won’t be running.
The Outlook/Exchange shouldn’t be running (unless you enabled it) unless you have MS Outlook (not express) installed. Personally I would not only leave the Internet Mail provider enabled but set the sensitivity to High as some malware has its own very small email program and it may alert you to a problem if email is being sent from your system by an undetected or hidden. The Instant Messenger isn’t a problem terminating if you don’t have any IM applications.
My problem is it is many years since I used win98 so I don’t know what might be displayed in the Ctrl+Alt-Delete window, e.ge if avast.setup would be reported in the same way it does with Task Manager in winXP.
All issues relating to avast problems have to be through the forums I’m afraid, I’m just an avast user like yourself. It also doesn’t help anyone else who might be viewing this topic now or in the future if they are attempting the same thing.
Thank you for your detailed reply, David.
I have emailed the text file to Avast! Technical Support and sincerely hope that they will be able to figure out what is wrong.
But I am not optimistic. So far I have sent them three questions and all they said was to upgrade to 1201 which I have done. I first made a Ghost image file of my Windows partitions and then followed their unexpected instructions to install 1201 which were as follows :
Uninstall the current version
(Use Add/Remove Programs from Control Panels)
When I installed the 1201 version it gave me a fatal exception. And I could not find a way to bring up a simple user interface instead of the fancy skin appearance. So I decided to revert back to the Avast version I downloaded in the first place.
In answer to my question of what difference installing Microsoft Outlook (to work in conjunction with the Avast Outlook provider), will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive when I open my Google Mail and Yahoo! Mail emails, you told me that :
" Prevention is better than cure, e.g. catch it before it gets into your system/pst file. The Standard Shield would have to extract an infected email from the pst file and that could result in corruption or the loss of the pst file which is not something you really want. "
So I installed Microsoft Outlook 2000 and configured it. And after searching hard for the password my ISP had given me years ago, among other required data, I subsequently found that Google only supports Outlook 2002 onwards. And Yahoo! Mail probably does not support Outlook 2000 either.
But after thinking about it, I have reached this insight. If you or others agree with it, others may benefit and save themselves the trouble of using Stunnel or having to forward their Google or Yahoo emails to Outlook or other email clients for scanning for viruses.
I have been using Norton Ghost program for years and it has saved me from untold damage that some downloads and other programs have caused to my computer. It does this by being able to make a perfect copy of your Windows partitions or drives, which is called a Ghost image file. I safely store that image file in a second or slave hard drive.
So suppose a virus in a Google email. I open up the email and the virus is detected by the Avast Standard Shield provider. And let us suppose that in the process half a dozen pst files are corrupted or lost.
As far as I am aware, dumping the Ghost image file will erase all that damage and restore the computer exactly as it was before the email was opened. If anyone thinks I am wrong here, please let them tell me.
Thank you.
Shame about your copy of Outlook isn’t recent enough, it would have been very convenient.
STunnel by all accounts isn’t too hard to set-up and there are a few topics to help. Though if you are only using webmail, viewed through your browser and you don’t use an other email client, that really isn’t an issue as there is nothing to download through STunnel as you have the chicken and egg problem. Outlook 2000 doesn’t need Tunnel, but Outlook 2000 isn’t supported by gmail or yahoo.
I also us a disk imaging tool, Drive Image 7.1 before it to got bought out by Symantec. I do a weekly image of the partitions on my master HDD and save the copies on my slave drive, it is also possible to burn them to DVD. But I don’t know if I would like to use that as a primary means of protection. Though even this isn’t necessary as and gmail and yahoo don’t support Outlook 2000 so you wouldn’t be downloading email through outlook 2000.
Something not to forget in this matter is that your gmail is also scanned at source, that does reduce the risk but wouldn’t eliminate it. For that what you are suggesting would work up to a point.
The only thing you say that I do not understand is :
“But I don’t know if I would like to use that ( make image files of Windows partitions ) as a primary means of protection.”
Can you give me your reasons as to why you say this ?
Even in the worst scenario where a virus downloaded from the internet ends up erasing my entire master drive, I could still quite easily restore it exactly as it was in under an hour so long as the partitions remain intact.
Simply because there is the delay from the image being made to the restoration of a .pst file (this is after all why you were suggesting the ghost image), which is a volatile file that can change on an hourly basis.
It isn’t how long it takes to restore but how long since the ghost image and as I mentioned if you are doing more frequent incremental images rather than something like a weekly or longer interval ‘Full’ image.
It is I would say using a sledge hammer to crack a nut, when you could create a batch file or use a back-up program to do regular hourly backups of volatile files like .pst, .doc, your bookmarks, etc. All of which is a bit of a moot point if you can’t use Outlook for your gmail/yahoo email as there would be no .pst file to be infected/scanned/corrupted, etc.
Remember we were talking of using this for the protection of .pst files nothing else mentioned about other scenarios.
Oh I see. You were talking about making image files as protection with regard.pst files which Outlook program creates and nothing else.
I am not going to bother use Microsoft Outlook 2000 at all but stick to Google and Yahoo Mail.
That being the case, there is not going to be any .pst file to be infected / scanned / corrupted as you said.
I am just wary about what you said earlier on keeping the Internet Mail Avast provider on high sensitivity just in case some undetected or hidden malaware in my hard drive ( e.g. I forget to scan my hard driver with my Avast AV program ) in the future has its own very small email program and uses it to send email from my computer.
So I think I better keep that Internet Mail provider on high sensitivity even though it is going to slow down my antiquated computer.
Regarding Microsoft Outlook 2000 which is now installed and configured on my computer, would it be better to leave it or should I now uninstall it ?
You also wrote earlier :
Something not to forget in this matter is that your gmail is also scanned at source, that does reduce the risk but wouldn’t eliminate it.
It is still a bit hazy to me how reading my Google Emails on Firefox can infect my hard drive ? Can you explain this to me please ? After all, the emails in my Google account are stored on another computer, aren’t they ?
Thank you again.
When you read your Web based email in your browser the body of the email is downloaded to the browser on your system to either display it (if it is plain text) or to execute the html code that most of our emails are made of these days. The execution of the html code takes place on your system and the html code can tell the browser to go out an bring in more pieces of code and images etc. from other servers on the Internet.
The webshield will be scanning all this activity as it proceeds to display your email.
The greater threat is when you choose to download to your system and attachments that come with the email message. If you do you should be sure to have avast scan them (or use an download manager add-on for Firefox that allows you to have avast automatically scan any files you download).