does avast ever push out 'emergency' updates for auto-update users?

I’m wanting to turn off my auto-update since I’m on an older system with Win XP SP3 (1.6 ghz, 1gb RAM) and I can notice the auto-updater every single time, especially if I’m watching a dvd. The movie will stutter and lag very noticeably and it slows down all other apps as well. I have to sit back and wait for the update to finish and it’s getting inconvenient.

I want to turn off the auto-updater but I’m wondering if I would ever miss a pushed update? I plan to update manually once or twice a day, every 7 or so hours that I am online after I first get on for the day - similar to the auto-updater. Would I be at any additional risk if I did so?

open avast > top right corner > settings > updates > details > ( change how many minutes between update check )

avast usually release 2 updates a day http://www.avast.com/en-eu/virus-update-history-2010

Thanks. How about the questions I asked? Do they ever push an update to execute before the scheduler is due for one? Will I be at any risk if I update manually, as long as I do updates once or twice a day?

There are no PUSH updates in version 5.0 anymore (used to be in v4.8). They are planning so called “Quantum updates”, where avast! will download micro signature updates every 10 minutes or so.
This feature is supposedly planned for version 5.1 which will arrive later this year (hopefully).
Oh, it will only be available to Professional/Internet Security users.

"Quantum updates"

Hm. First time that I’ve heard that.

Sweet, can’t wait fir 5.1 ;D

Hello zeroality and welcome to the forum. :slight_smile:

You can also go to the GUI > Settings > Updates > and change the Engine and Virus Definition Update to “Ask When Update is Available.” In the meantime, you can still force a Manual Update yourself. You just need to remember to do this to keep yourself up to date.

Your other option is to change the time interval for getting your updates as mentioned in the post by Pondus.

To answer your question: Avast usually does 2 updates a day, but on a rare occasion will release a third. So you should be fine doing 2 updates a day. Please let us know if we can provide any other assistance to you. Thank you.

you don`t have to update twice a day to get all updates if that is what you mean…?
if there have been 10 updates since you did the last one, when you then do the next one avast will find and download what it need.
But with the amount of malware discovered every day i recomend a daily update as minimum

Under Settings>Updates>details there is no time setting. Only how long between updates ie 240 minutes.

Quantum updates are discontinued. From Vlk in the Evangelists’ Corner Café :

No, the development of this is discontinued and will be replaced by the cloud features. (exp. Jan 2011)

Greetz, Red.

yes…240 min is every 4hour (time between update checks)
so if you want once a day you increase the amount of minutes to…1440… ( i have never tried it )

Well, i feel out of the loop a bit since i was not monitoring that specific thread. I see that fall 2010 will be quite interesting. Followed by the Jan 2011. The tech advancement will be incredible and i’m hoping for good results. Especially about the cloud tech and hopefully also behavior shield 64bit support along with more “sensors” in it to identify also casual malware, not just exploits.

Yep I agree, it will be quite interesting :slight_smile:

Not to forget the new functions/options in the firewall and in the sandbox ( especially in the sandbox :wink: ).

Greetz, Red.

Why does the summer in Europe make everything boring for the rest of the world? ;D

Because in the summer we are enjoying beachlife, the sun and the girls, and don’t bother about anything else ;D ( Damn, we need the Off-Topic board back )

Greetz, Red.

I recently set my avast! 5 to manual updates. Didn’t like the time it took to boot up each morning. Plus, I guess I like to be in control. ::slight_smile:

I always do a manual check for updates several times a day.

So, change the ini files to delay the updates (on booting). You would be able to keep the automatic updates and don’t have avast updating in the boot time.

zeroality,

Did your question get answered? I know a few people got a little off topic here, but we want to answer your questions. Thank you.

Can you tell us where to change it? (file name and field)

Just change (or add) AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds value into the [InetWD] section of avast5.ini file.
You could set the number of seconds to wait before attempting to update. The default is 30 but it may not be enough in some DSL systems. In this case, you can try increasing this e.g. to 60 (1 minute). That should be enough.