Greetings. I am a recent convert to Avast! having come to the free version for a trial from another company. I downloaded Avast 4.8 onl two computers (both on the same network) Friday. Everything seemed fine and both computers showed the spinning A icon in the tray on Friday and Saturday. Today, I am noticing that neither computer has the icon spinning. Is that normal? I though the rotating icon indicated that Avast was up and running. I read where sometimes the icons stop when the CPU is overworked but that is not the case in these computers as one is not running but one program open and the other two. These are programs that I was operating on Friday and Saturday and the icon was spinning. Should I be worried?
Which was your old antivirus and how did you uninstall it?
What other security based software do you have that might block new startup entries, e.g. Spybot S&D (TeaTimer), AdAware (AdWatch), SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor (StartUpGuard), PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc.?
Is ashServ.exe running in background? This is the antivirus (resident). The icon is another thing (ashdisp.exe).
Re Tech’s mention of ashServ.exe - What avast processes are running in Task Manager, they begin with ash or asw, see image ?
I used McAfree and used their uninstall to remove it. Afterward, I ran CCleaner to remove any residue of it from the registry. I am not running any other security based software. Do I need additional protection while running Avast? I see ashDisp.exe, ashWebSv.exe, ashMaiSV.exe, ashServ.exe, and aswUpSv.exe running.
Check the option Animate the icon when scanning is checked (it is by default) in the Appearance tab of Program Settings.
It is checked.
OK, try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select ‘avast! Anti-Virus,’ click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.
As far as other programs go having an on-demand anti-spy/malware application is no bad thing as it specialises in that area, my signature shows a couple.
- SUPERantispyware On-Demand only in free version.
- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.
I ran the repair on both computers and rebooted. The larger computer’s icon (Vista, 6 GB RAM, dual core quad CPU) never started spinning. The smaller computer (XP, 2GB RAM, 3.4 ghz CPU, started to spin on boot up, sputtered several times, then stopped. I’m starting to get a bit worried here. If I understand the purpose of the rotation, it would appear that I am un-protected and perhaps even being hacked. Any more suggestions? By the way, I will add the other programs after I figure this one out. THanks for the help.
But if you don’t do anything, the antivirus won’t scan anything and the rotation stops.
I won’t even worry about that. If ashServ.exe is running, if Windows Security Center is showing avast as the antivirus, if you left click the ‘a’ blue icon (and details button) to see what Standard Shield is scanning… well, everything is working.
Just a suggestion. Maybe the spinning occured because the VRDB was being built. Once built, the Avast icon will not spin as often. Some of my clients have fallen into this trap after a new install.
No. There isn’t a correlation… the VRDB is only the ‘i’ icon. If it is merged, the ‘a’ does not react with the VRDB generation.
Of course, you are correct. Mea culpa.
Never mind
OK. Was my first understanding wrong? The icon should not spin unless Avast is doing something, like a scan. If the icon is just sitting there, that is normal? If so, many thanks.
You’re right. That’s it
Essentially does nothing until you open/modify/execute files then avast will scan those files and the icon will rotate. So it is normal if you aren’t opening or running files, if oyu are then it should be rotating, but for a large amount of time it will be static.
Once you run the first VRDB scan the interval for VRDB scans is 21 days so you won’t see the ’ i’ rotate frequently, for that reason it is probably best to merge the two icons. When the 21 day interval is up the ’ i’ icon breaks out of the merge and will rotate whilst the generation is running, when complete the icon wil merge again.