I am using Avast 5.0.545 on a Windows Vista Home Premium x64 system. When I boot to safe mode, run Avast and then try to execute a command (such as altering Avast settings) that requires my password, Avast does not properly recognize it – I can’t get past the password dialog. This does not happen after a normal boot (i.e., not in safe mode). Is this a bug, or could it be that Avast’s password recognition relies on a service that does not get started within safe mode in order to maintain some kind of self-protection?
that’s not a bug. Avast services don’t run in safe mode, just manual scans do, so all protected areas of Avast being unaccessible, there’s no reason and no mean to have your password recognized when entered. (if you find that you can access protected areas in safe mode, you’ll also find that any setting change won’t be retained, as a result of what I said)
I suppose that this would not be a problem except for the fact that one cannot then customize a manual scan that one might wish to run when in safe mode. One would have to customize the scan when normally booted (when one can enter the password to do so) and then reboot to safe mode to access the scan. Of course, this is a problem if booting normally is not working and one can only boot to safe mode.
If you’re considering to scan in Safe Mode, indeed, create a manual scanning won’t be the way with a password.
But can you schedule a boot time scanning and booting again?
I suppose that one could do this (if scheduling a boot time scan is not a password-protected activity), but it doesn’t address the issue of being unable to create/alter a custom scan in safe mode. I’m not certain that doing so is a necessity, but if I was having trouble in non-safe mode and booted to safe mode in order to try to investigate, it would be nice to be able to create a custom scan that might do more (e.g., scan all files, scan archives, etc.) than a boot-time scan.
