Win 7.
Hello.
I use Avast Free (for Virus Protection) and Malwarebytes Free Anti Malware (for Malware Protection).
Q: Does Avast Free provide Anti Malware Protection as well, making Malwarebytes Free Anti Malware overkill ‘or’ is it better to have ‘separate’ Anti-Malware software (such as Malwarebytes Free Anti Malware?).
The antivirus is an all encompassing thing, which would include malware.
There are those that asked about installing the on-access version of malwarebytes and the recommendation was only to run malwarebytes as an on-demand scanner (active element can be disabled) as the two active elements could conflict.
As for Anti-Spyware I think this is incorporated into many antivirus applications.
Personally I have never gone for a seperate anti-spyware program and have survived on Avast Antivirus Free for almost 21 years.
To be clear then, would you state that Avast Free ‘includes’ Anti Virus’ and’ Anti Malware ‘and’ Anti Spyware Protection. As a result, installing Malwarebytes Free Anti Malware would be considered overkill?
Also (and with respect to Malwarebytes Free Anti Malware), I can confirm that there is no ‘Active’ Protection that can be disabled (the free version only offers manual definition updates and On-Demand Scanning)
Avast doesn’t categorise them into groups like this, so not working for Avast I wouldn’t state this.
Just looking at many posts where someone is reporting an Avast Alert, they aren’t specifically Virus definitions. I would say that the majority wouldn’t fall into this anti-virus classification.
Typically the Web Shield shows lots of detection that wouldn’t be classed as the stereotypical Virus definition.
One from today.
As backstory, I wanted to share ‘why’ I asked this question.
Up until today, a relative, using Win 7, had been using Microsoft Security Essentials as the primary Anti-Virus Software.
However, the virus definitions were showing’ out-of-date’ but they kept ‘failing’ when ‘Update’ was clicked.
Further, although an On-Demand scan was carried out, the results were not displayed.
As a result, MSE no longer supports Win 7 (which is why Avast was installed).
After running an Avast On-Demand Scan, it found 2 malware photo files in a ‘Photo folder,’ which were likely ‘false positives’ (since they were personal photos that were transferred from a digital camera). Nonetheless, they were placed in ‘Quarantine’ then deleted.
Just for ‘piece of mind,’ a 2nd scan was run but no further ‘malware’ was found.
*Why do you think ‘personal photos’ were detected as false positives?
You would need to provide the error message that accompanied those malware detetections to give a clue as to the reason for detection.
I hope you had backups of those photos.
You could test those files at Virus Total, or other checking service, to determine if they actually are clean or have somehow picked up some malware.
If determined as clean, you could then submit them to Avast for their consideration.as false-positives.
Note: I am not an Avast team member, just another user.
Q: The fact that 2 photo files were ‘detected’ as malware, quarantined, deleted, and a 2nd scan was run (without any further issues being detected), likely means the matter is closed, correct?
A:
Since Avast Antivirus provides On-Access Scanning, I was told that it is ‘overkill’ to either run a full virus scan (randomly once a month) or to ‘schedule’ a monthly full virus scan.
However, if, upon installing Avast, I had not run a FVS immediately, the ‘infected photo files’ would not have been detected.
Q: As a result (and ‘again’) I ask, is it ‘wise’ to schedule a monthly FVS for this very reason? If not, what is the most ‘optimal’ preventative measure?
A:
It is a good idea to do a full scan after you instal an antivirus product to give reassurance of a clean slate from the start. After that, the real-time protection shields should provide protection from anything new.
You could run a scan for peace of mind thereafter if you feel the need, or more important if you think something is wrong with the system.
That’s my view, others may say different.
Rocksteady:
Thank you for providing your perspective.
To be clear about 2 points:
Q: Since a manual full scan was run post Avast Anti-Virus installation, 2 photo files were ‘detected’ as malware, quarantined, deleted, and a 2nd manual full scan was run (without any further issues being detected) likely means the issue was resolved, correct?
A:
Q: Regarding ‘peace-of-mind periodic manual full scans and/or scheduled monthly scans,’ do you perform either of them ‘or’ (and as you stated) do you trust the real time protection shields to do their job?
A:
A: Yes
Yes, only manual full scan, but very infrequently, as I trust the real-time shields which have proven effective over time.
Good enough for me! Thx.
