Confused About Command Line Scanner (ashCmd.exe)

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I’ve never had such a problem getting a command line scanner to work. I can’t figure out how to get ashCmd.exe to scan a simple ZIP archive, such as the EICAR ZIP archive test file.

I’ve tried /T=A, variations of the –archivetype parameter, and everything else I can think of. I’ve tried explicitly pointing to the ZIP file, and using wildcards. I either get errors that prevent ashCmd.exe from scanning at all, or it scans and doesn’t find the EICAR test virus!

One of the things I ultimately want to get working with ashCmd.exe is Firefox with the Download Statusbar extension.

2

The reason you never had such a problem getting a command line scanner to work is because you did not choose the right program - but you could have asked.

The program I have long used (with great success) with the “Download Statusbar” extension in Firefox is ashQuick.exe.

3

I could have asked…what? Which program to use with Download Statusbar? OK, but I can’t get ashCmd.exe to scan the EICAR ZIP archive even when it has been saved to disk already–and that’s a problem, since I want to use ashCmd.exe along with Windows Task Scheduler. This is why I only mentioned Download Statusbar as an afterthought.

The help file says that “[ashQuick.exe] is usually used to scan files from the local context menu, e.g. from Explorer. In other cases, it is better to use avast! or ashCmd.”

So, thank you, but my original problem with ashCmd.exe remains.

4

Make sure to use the /a command line switch. Otherwise, only files with given extensions will be scanned.

Usually, one uses a command line like this:

ashCmd.exe /a /c /t=A

which will produce ANSI-graphics output, or, for a plain command-line output, something like

ashCmd.exe /a /c /t=A /_

Hope this helps,
Vlk

5

Thank you, that works. However, the source of the problem, now that I realize what it was, is quite annoying!

I had been using upper case parameters:

ashCmd.exe /A /C /T=A

And, depending on what parameters are used, that results in either a scan that doesn’t do what is intended, or errors like this:

Unknown parameters: /A /C /T=A

The annoying thing is that the help file presents the parameters in upper case, and it does not mention case sensitivity. (Yes, the example is shown in lower case, but the parameters themselves are shown in upper case.)

6

Vlk, shouldn’t this be warned or corrected on help files?

7

The parameters shown in the help file should be shown in lower case, and a prominent note should be added (to the top of the help text) that the parameters are case-sensitive. Sorry for just pontificating it this way, but I just can’t see it any other way! :slight_smile:

8

The case-sensitiveness wasn’t the intention - but nobody noticed that until now.
The ashCmd.exe command-line arguments will be case-insensitive in the next program update.