avast! automatic self diagnostics and repair

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I’ve been wondering about something for very long time, basically since v4.x and i don’t think i’ve asked about it yet…

avast! has a “Repair” feature that, from my observation fixes pretty much all problems encountered by users. But you have to always run it by yourself and that’s already an unnecessary step and hassle for casual users. Why doesn’t avast! diagnose itself on regular basis and apply automatically run Repair feature if required?

For example, avast! should self diagnose itself once every 24 hours, checking its integrity, if everything is working as it should, if there are any errors logged in the logs (program or update ones that could be repaired by this feature) and then run Repair feature silently in the background. If Repair feature gets launched repeatedly on a single system on every self diagnose check, automatically send a report/process dump to avast! Labs for inspection.

This way, local avast! installs will always be in top condition and in case of problems, avast! team will be informed, potentially making far less problem reports here on forums, more happy users and faster tracking of pesky problems that are harder to track because they get solved by Repair feature but should be fixed in general.

3/4 of features are already there so it shouldn’t be that difficult to make such functionality a reality. But i think it’s a crucial step in providing 100% operational protection. Because antivirus is only good if it’s running properly. And self diagnostics with automatic self repair are imo a steep in a good direction.

2

:o maybe would be a good feature… nevertheless, I feel little uncomfortable thinking about a security suite deciding to reinstall itself (or part) in background without user interaction … I see room for security breaches (e.g. remote uninstall cause by malicious sw) or problems (e.g. think about impact on registries or plugins )

… but surely it would be good to extend and improve the self monitoring and diagnostics capabilities!

3

Repair IS NOT the same as re-installation! What difference does it make if it’s automatic? Less need to worry if avast! got broken and you don’t even know it. But if it would diagnose itself regularly, there would never be such problems.

4

How about a “compromise” position: that avast perform a self-check once a day, and that, in the event it detects an issue, it advise the user of its findings, with prompts/offer to repair (or not).

5

And why wouldn’t user want to repair it (it’s not like you need a restart or anything)? Same as program updates that users constantly postpone until their AV is ridiculously outdated…