hi, i would prefer to run the program only when i want. is there a way to turn off it automatically coming up after starting windows ? i deleted the avast startup folder in the documents and settings, which usually takes care of any program automatically starting. but avast still starts up without it. i am running xp pro. thanks.
You must set the two avast services to run manually:
Start Menu > Administrative Tools > Services
Find the two services, right click them, choose Properties and change the startup method.
Remember, you won’t be protected! (you are disabling the on-access scanning) 
You can disable the resident protection by moving the slide to the left when in the simple user interface. But this is NOT recommended. Doing this is like putting a lock on your front door and never using it. Avast is real easy on system resources. I strongly recommend not to disable it.
Just out of curiousity. Why do you want to disable the protection of your system?
hi technical,
this did not work. first i changed it to manual, and then for the heck of it, i disabled it. neither way kept the program from loading. these guys are really persistent !! LOL. something tells the computer to start the program up, so i know it can be UN-STARTED. any other thoughts ?
hi artras,
i downloaded several spyware programs, as well as several anti-virus programs. i am finding that they tend to look for different things, so what i plan to do is run each probably once a month or so, when they will also have updates as well.
i may end up keeping one of the anti-virus programs resident in memory, but if i make the decision to do so, first i will have to choose which one i prefer.
If you want to use antivirus only when you want,than try BitDefender Free Edition which is free and it lacks Real-time scanner. You can also use any On-Line antivirus from my webpage). But i don’t understand why do you wan’t to use such antivirus!? Whole point of On-Access (Real-Time) protection is that it blocks viruses at entry point. When you are already infected,its usually too late and you have to clean the whole mess which takes time. avast!'s On-Access module prevents your computer from even being infected in first place,so you don’t have to worry about what’s gonna happen next. As someone before said avast! has a very minimal impact on the systems performance,so i recmmend that you use at least On-Access protection with Normal Sensitivity for providers.
I too, like the others can’t understand why you would want to do this even after your explanation. Surely if you want to try something out to see if you can get on with it, you don’t then hack it to bits, how can you possibly evaluate it fully? Try it for a few weeks in full and then make your decision.
If you are still hell bent on crippling a great product, you will have to disable the startup entries (untick them). windows start>run> and type msconfig and click on the Startup tag.
Untick the Avast entries, names start with ash (you wil also see the path leading to the Avast directory), you should untick them, you can go back later and tick them when you eventually come back to your sences and enable them.
If you want so, uninstall avast… 
But, as RejZoR said, why will you do this? 
Hi DavidR, that worked. thanks.
Hi Technical, i do not want to uninstall a product necessarily.
hello everyone,
we all have different philosophies when it comes to our computers. i believe that the user controls the computer, not the other way around. the operating system needs to load its files, in order to make the system run.
but any program that i download, i want to choose how to run it. i do not want it to dictate to me that it is gonna run no matter what. thanks to you guys, i now know how to do this when i have a program that is being persistent.
if i had wanted to run avast on an ongoing basis, i would not have been able to, because i had previously downloaded avg and antivir. avast was telling me it could not run all its options because of this.
now i can choose which, if any, anti-virus program i want to run. and what i may choose today is not necessarily the same as what i may choose tomorrow. if i have found anything at all about pcs, it is that change is inevitable.
for example, i have spybot on my system. but it has not had an update now for a couple of months. these programs become somewhat useless if they stop keeping up with the current weeds, i mean spyware - LOL. so while i may have once thought it was a great program, there may come a time in the future when i do not use it much.
it was never my intention to test a product in a crippled mode. i was not gonna test it at all, if it came with strings attached. in real life, few people would be willing to do this. it is like a woman asking me to love her, and at the same time threatening to kill me, if i don’t - hardly conducive to a loving relationship. i want to choose or not to choose to love her, with no strings attached - the only true way of knowing.
hi RejZoR ,
your page is great. i already have mozilla firefox and opera, along with avant, as the 3 browsers that i use on my system.
spywareblaster is great, because it attempts to prevent the spyware from getting on the computer in the first place. i also have spybot and adaware. i recently had downloaded “perfect process” - i am not sure i like it, but it did give me a toggle switch to turn off its automatic loading, so i may give it a try in the future. i have several others that are not on your page.
i did download bitdefender last night. so far, it has taken the longest to run of all these programs. i am not sure if it is less efficient, or that it just simply checks for more items. it did find 1 virus with regards to some microsoft setting, and it deleted it. i will probably have about 20 or so of these types of programs on my computer. if i run 1 a week, then i am constantly looking at my computer with a different set of eyes, and by the time i run it again, i will also have some updates to download.
it is likely that i will choose to run one of the anti-virus programs as my main guy. since you obviously have a lot of experience, do you have any suggestions on which one you think is best, and a couple of reasons why you feel this way ?
thanks again to everyone for all their help. “i’m getting smarter every day” (for those of you who are not familiar, my little change to a song by chicago - LOL). have a nice day.
Hmmm … gymeejet, I think you are … “flurtin’ with disaster!”
(another music referrence) ;D
gymeejet,
Setting your anti-virus program up to NOT start when the system starts is as silly as sitting in front of the computer and not turning it on because you know that the operating system is going to start when the computer is started???
An operating system with out protection is a disaster waiting to happen.
But, you might enjoy starting from scratch very often?? ???
There are 2 programs that any computer which uses the internet must have.
- A good anti-virus program like Avast!
- A good firewall program like Outpost.
But, it’s your computer and your headache when things go wrong so you put on your system what ever you like.
Have a nice one. 