Beginner's question - do I need to 'start avast anitvirus'?

Hi all. I’m a bit confused by the menu options which appear when I right click the Avast icon. One of them says ‘start Avast anit-virus’. I clicked this assuming it would, er, start the program running, but the menu option seems to stay there regardless. Does it appear whether or not Avast is actually running?

Two more quick questions. I use Gmail for all my email, having given up on Outlook Express type mail clients ages ago. Will Avast automatically scan attachments which I download using Gmail’s browser based interface? Lastly, I gather that Avast includes a firewall - is the protection it provides sufficiently good that I don’t need to run another firewall? I’m using Comodo at present.

Any help with the above would be much appreciated - many thanks!

avast is running (resident protection) if there is a blue ‘a’ icon on the system tray, rotating.
You can ‘start’ avast antivirus for on-demand scannings by the Start menu or right clicking the ‘a’ icon and choose that option.

If you use WebShield (of avast), yes, it will.

avast is just an antivirus, not a firewall. Stay with Comodo 8)

Stay with Comodo
how true tech ;D any news on avast!firewall that's in the works ???

http://i13.tinypic.com/4pdnayp.gif

Many thanks for the reply and advice, Tech.

You’re welcome.