OK when i first installed avast 4.8 i had a choice to boot scan after installation, it took awhile to scan and everything was ok, how many times do you need to scan your pc, should i be doing a full disk scan everyday or is everything being taken care of when i see the icon rotating each time i use my pc.
Still getting used to avast
The boot-time scan isn’t a regular scan and can be selected for scheduling on the next boot (one off scan not repeated for every boot). It is normally used when you find a virus that can’t be dealt with in the normal running of windows when detected, this could be because it is in use or access is denied. The boot-time scan scanning before windows is up and running gets round those restrictions.
You needn’t do a daily scan, that is the whole purpose of the resident scanners to try and a) catch things before they get established b) to scan files before they are executed, that is indicated by the rotating avast icon.
So I would suggest a weekly scan is adequate.
Hi david
Ok thats good to know that the resident shield will take care of every scan, 
i was’nt sure
It takes care of most things, but you should be aware that isn’t detected today could be detected tomorrow (figuratively speaking) as new malware is constantly created and AVs constantly update their signatures. That is why it is worth doing periodic on-demand scans and I find a weekly scan with a sensitivity of Standard, without archives is sufficient for me.
You can choose to do the Thorough sensitivity (virtually all files on your system) scan with or without archives, this obviously takes much longer.
Ok that is what i will do then ;), whilst the scanning is running ive noticed that you can use the background option when it starts, can you also shut down the pc whilst scanning is in opperation who do i need to keep pc on,
TY
Which scan are you talking about ? the on-demand scan doesn’t have a background option, unless you are minimising the window to the system tray.
You can’t shut the pc down whilst the scan is in progress, not if you don’t want the scan to terminate. Or are you talking about having the computer shutdown after the scan is complete, if so bad news that isn’t available in the avast home version (I’m not even sure if it is available in the Pro version, I don’t have that).
You could use the screen saver option to scan your system in the background when the screen saver is running.
you could use the screen saver option to scan your system in the background when the screen saver is running
Hi Dave,
thats what i meant to say above
ok thanks just needed to be sure i will be doing a thorough scan tomorrow. 
Hi
I’ve now just come on to do a full thorough scan, pc has been updated ok, but noticed that the avast icon is not in rotation does that mean something, when i first start my pc everyday i usually see avast icon rotating in tray just checked in the appearance both icon boxs are ticked for animate.
Is it normal sometimes for the avast icon not to be rotating, just checked all my providers they are active.
Windows could be redistributing the resources and, indeed, the icon could stay not-swirling for a while. The most important is that the providers are on.
Ok thanks
At the moment i’m in the middle doing a thorough scan it states so far that
Tested files - 46266
Current scanner status - 13%
Does this take a long time to do, the scan was started at 12 noon today and it’s only 13% now,
so when the scanner finishes will it then say Current scanner status 100%
The SUI will change to show, how many files have been scanned, the amount of data scanned and the duration of the scan. So no 100% indication will remain. See image of a small test scan I ran whilst preparing this post.
After a very long time waiting the thorough scanning as finally ended after 11 hrs, :-X the results as followed
Number of scanned files/folder - 90507/6387
Run-Time of last scan 11.24.08
Number of infected files - 0
Total size of scanned files - 17.3GB
Well it could been alot worse 
Now you have got that out of the way:
I have only ever done a through scan with archives once shortly after installation just to ensure a clean start state, but with XP for example avast will do a boot-time scan after installation if you select it, this I believe will be quicker and reasonably effective. Like everything in life things are a compromise.
Archive (zip, rar, etc.) files are by their nature are inert, you need to extract the files and then you have to run them to be a threat. Long before that happens avast’s Standard Shield should have scanned them and before an executable is run that is scanned. Thorough is also by its design very thorough and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate. You will also notice that it is a lot quicker.
Thorough is also by its design very thorough and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate. You will also notice that it is a lot quicker.
Hi Dave
thats what i wanted to ask you above, now that i have done the full scanner i will just do shorter scan from now on, i did do the boot scan as requested after the installation of 4.8
but how long does a standard scan take to do, i know it depends on the capacity of files but in general.
It will differ from system to system, depends on, The amount of executable files and files at risk of infection on your system, CPU, RAM and if you happen to continue working on your system ?
Effectively the only way to see is to try it when next do an on-demand scan (weekly as I suggested). So I can’t even make a guess, there is also the Quick scan option which would be the as its name implies be the quickest, but that scan doesn’t do a rootkit scan. Whilst the standard and thorough scans do a rootkit scan as a part of the on-demand scan (the rootkit scan should take seconds rather than minutes, so shouldn’t impact in the overall duration).
there is also the Quick scan option which would be the as its name implies be the quickest, but that scan doesn’t do a rootkit scan. Whilst the standard and thorough scans do a rootkit scan as a part of the on-demand scan (the rootkit scan should take seconds rather than minutes, so shouldn’t impact in the overall duration).
Ok great, i think it would be better doing the standard scan that does rootkit scan, thanks again for the info
You’re welcome.