While I still really like Avast after having use many other programs, my main gripe was that when doing a scan and it found a virus, it just stopped dead with the big warning notice, until I dealt with it, before continuing the scan.
Somebody suggested putting the EICAR test virus in the root directory, which I did, and that solved it, although I still have to wait until the warning comes up, check not to show any more, and then I can leave the computer until it’s done.
Somebody else said the Pro version would permit me to choose to have the whole scan done without stopping, so I went ahead and bought a two-year subscription, instaled it, and got it running. I have read the Help files and users manual, and I cannot for the life of me find out how to do that.
What is more, I can’t seem to find much of anything that gives me more latitude in tweaking the thing. the Settings is exactly the same. I still use the Simple User Interface as it seems easier and am used to it, but now I wonder why the heck I paid all that for the Pro version.
Can anybody explain in words of two sylables or less?
On this page, you can specify what actions will be taken if the task finds a virus. The default setting is choose action. You can define more actions than just one, using the operators “…and…” and “…if failed, then…”.
Operator “…and…”. All the selected actions will be taken, in given order (left to right).
Operator “…if failed, then…”. avast! will try to take the first action listed; in case of success, all the others are ignored. However, if the action failed, avast! will try to perform the next action(s).
VIRUS ACTIONS:
Choose action. When a virus is found, the task is temporarily stopped and a window appears where you can choose the action to take. You can select the possible actions to be offered in this window by pressing the Interactive button.
Repair. avast! will try to repair the infected file. After this choice, the window describing the principle of repairing files is displayed. In this window, you can choose whether all the macros should be removed from Word 6 documents; when the virus is not identified exactly, all the macros from Word 6 documents are removed automatically. For Word97, Excel95 and Excel97 documents, all the macros will be removed by this choice. In the case of an executable file virus, avast! will try to remove it according to the information stored in Virus Recovery Database. Files with no records in Virus Recovery Database cannot be repaired! In the case of a boot virus, avast! will overwrite the diskette boot sector, thus eliminating the virus.
Move/Rename. Moves or renames infected file. You can specify the folder to move the file to.
Move to Chest. Infected file will be moved to the virus Chest.
Delete. Deletes infected file. You can select additional options of the deletion. The default setting is delete file(s) permanently, which means the file will be completely removed from your computer (hard disk, diskette, …) For this choice, you can further specify that the file will be deleted on the OS restart in case it is locked. It is a very useful setting, since it is impossible to immediately delete the file of a virus that is currently running. So, avast! will “remember” which file it is and delete it as soon as possible, which is at the next operating system start (i.e. before the virus is activated again). The option delete file(s) to recycle bin ensures that the file will not be physically removed, but moved to the recycle bin instead.
Stop. When the first virus body is found, the task is stopped; no action will be taken with the virus. [/i]
I’m afraid the Simple User Interface really can’t do that.
To achieve what you want, you have to use the Enhanced User Interface (well, you could also use the command-line scanner, but I guess that’s not exactly what you’re looking for) - create a new task there (e.g. as a copy of one of the predefined tasks), open its properties and modify the “Virus” page to configure the action to take when a virus is found.
If you clear the action box completely (using the “Delete last word” button), avast! won’t do anything when it finds a virus and just continues with the scan. When the scan has finished, you can deal with the detected files by selecting the corresponding results and using the right mouse buttom to bring up the context menu with the actions.
