I ran a boot-scan and am detecting quite a few viruses, but it isn’t offering the prompt with the different options of what to do with the corrupted files. It simply completes the scan and then when I look in my scan history, it shows as no corrupt files being found.
Is this a virus problem, a technical issue, or a new characteristic of the free version?
Thanks in advance.
Note: Oddly enough, my computer did seem to start performing better after the scan, but I don’t know if I want to be so optimistic as to think that means the files were taken care of.
Boot-scan is used after a quick or full scan notifies you of malware detection and asks you to run the boot-scan. It should not be used as a first option, and if used, should only then be used with caution, as a file deleted here will be gone forever.
Boot-scan should stop when a file is detected and options as to what to do with that file should be presented. Always choose Quarantine, never choose delete.
Taken that the stop process on detection did not happen here?
I jumped right to boot scan because the full system scan didn’t seem to be doing its thing. I’ll give it another go. Perhaps now that my computer has sped up a tad it’ll do it’s thing.
Yes, you’re correct. The stop process on detection was not happening. The boot scan was acknowledging corrupt files but not stopping to give me a choice about how to handle the situation.
When you are performing quick,full,folder,removable media scan…
avast is not taking an automatic action when it detects virus,malware,etc on the files that you are talking about and this is not new and preconfigured when you install avast on your computer.
If you want to take avast! automatically fixed it while scanning is to go to avast!UI->go to Scan->go to all of them quick,full,folder,removable media scan,->settings of the scan ->go to actions and apply the protection click my screenshot for more details. This apply to quick,full,folder,removable media scan.
If you want to take avast! automatically fixed it while performing boot time scan is to go to avast!UI->go to boot time scan-click its settings-> and follow my screenshot for more details.
I ran a boot-scan and am detecting quite a few viruses, but it isn't offering the prompt with the different options of what to do [b]with the corrupted files. [/b]
Corrupt files are not detection(s)
avast is a antivirus program and will only take action on infected files, this is just a scan error message
Agreed. What avast! will call a corrupt file often is a compressed .zip, or similar file. It doesn’t know the password to open and then scan the file and it therefore says it is corrupted. File is not corrupted, avast! just cannot open it to scan and so reports the scan error.
A corrupted file reported by avast! in this instance is not a virus or malware file. A detected malware file will always have a name other than “corrupted file”.
Run boot-time scan only when asked to do so. Do not use as a primary scan. Since your reported files all seemed to be so-called corrupted files, there would be no automatic stop on detection/notification in boot scan. This is normal. No need to worry about this when you encounter it for the above reasons.
Best advice here is to set all automatic actions to “Ask” once you understand the above link: http://antivirus.about.com/b/2007/03/11/clean-quarantine-or-delete.htm Quarantine is your best option as you can restore the detected file later if it turns out it is a false-positive detection. A detected file placed in Quarantine can also be left there indefinitely. Using delete you cannot restore a file. Once deleted, it is gone.
Thanks a lot for all the clarification, everyone. I completed my full-time scan and no viruses were found. My computer seems to be running better, but I did install an update as well. Come to think of it, I do recall some, if not all, those files being .zip, so that makes sense now.
I understand my settings better and made sure boot scan is set to ask. Appreciate you spelling it out for me on the quarantine vs deletion. I knew how quarantine worked but wasn’t sure at which point I should be deleting, so it’s good to know that I can leave it in quarantine indefinitely.
