The latest program update changed behavior of Avast. It was that the scheduled scans were performed in the background without shoving anything in my face to announce the scan was running. The latest program update now shoves a popup over the system tray telling me that the scan that scheduled to run is now running. Oh joy … not!
I want the scheduled scan to run in the BACKGROUND. That means nothing gets pushed into my face announcing that, gee, that background job is running.
UPDATE
I found the Settings → Popups option. This is a new feature, so new that Avast hasn’t yet bothered to update the help files so I can see just exactly what type of popups are included in Info, Update, and Alert categories. I figure to leave the Alert popups enabled. I have no idea what are the Info popups since there is no help on this feature to describe any popup category. I have to guess that the popup blurting about a scheduled scan in progress is one of those Info popups. Hopefully the Update popup setting is for both definition and program updates; however, I don’t want to see popups for definition updates but I do want to see popups for PROGRAM updates. Apparently I don’t get a choice so now I’ll have disable Update popups and have to remember to occasionally go check for updates manually to see if there is a program update. I also have to guess that setting the display time to zero will eliminate the popup (and not show it and immediately close it).
There were many requests for this function so that they were aware when a scan was running, so they wouldn’t shutdown the system or undertake some other CPU/RAM intensive task.
It was only introduced in avast 5.1 so yes, it looks like the are playing catch-up in the help files and the various translations, though English would be one of the first to be completed.
So because some users ask for a feature then it means all users get stuck with it? I have the following configuration for the popup settings:
Duration of information popups = 0 seconds
Duration of update popups = 0 seconds
Duration of alert popups = 20 seconds
I have to guess that disabling a category of popups means setting its duration to 0 (i.e., it has no duration). Yet today I still got the quickscan popup shoved in my face. I have to guess that alert popups include those that tell me there is a suspicious file or web page and I do want to know about those. I do NOT want to see any of the others.
Either the popup settings are not being honored or there is really no way to turn them off. If Avast thinks my monitor has suddenly become their property to shove anything they want in my face then the solution to eliminate the distraction is find something else that isn’t so rude.
It would be good a configuration like “-1” to avoid completely the popups.
The firewall popups aren’t being controlled so easy.
Why?
avast was never known as being a popuper application…
Hmm, I had not thought of a zero popup time as meaning infinite in duration. That is, maybe setting the value to zero means there is no timeout on the popup so it remains up forever. That sucks and means the minimum possible setting would be 1 second which means the popup still displays.
Rather than using special values, like -1, to mean disabling the feature, a simple checkbox should be placed alongside each popup to indicate whether or not it is enabled or disabled. If unchecked, the feature is disabled no matter what value is configured for the timeout duration. Only if checked would the popup appear and for the specified time interval (with zero having the special meaning of never timing out).
I don’t like nagware even if it is considered minimal by others. I don’t use Sandboxie because its freeware version devolves into nagware (as I recall, on every start of it) after the month trial period has elapsed. Great program but trollish marketing behavior. I’m trialing the freeware version of Process Lasso (again for the 3rd time) but if, as its FAQ state, it devolves into nagware then it gets removed from my host. If the popups cannot be controlled which result in devolving this otherwise fine AV product into nagware then it, too, gets removed from my host.
avast is not a nagware.
These popups do not claim to upgrade to paid version.
But, after all, they’re popup and that could borrow people.
A enable/disable option would be good.
Nags are nags. Could be the nag tries to lure users into buying a payware version. Could be the nag is some religious announcement, like trying to get converts to Christianity or Muslim or other faith. Could be the nag is to donate to them or to their favorite charity. If you prefer to limit the definition of nagware to only those programs that solicit money then use a different term, like annoyanceware or intrusiveware.
Haven’t a clue what you mean by “borrow people”.
Remember that 0.1 is a minor version, and 0.x.889 would be even a more trivial update. Minor and trivial updates should NOT be altering the behavior already established for the major version.
It doesn’t appear that anyone responding here knows how to disable the popups which have now just shown up in this latest program update. Therefore I’ve submitted a trouble ticket to Avast and will report back what they say.
How can it possibly be a nag, when the same pop-ups and settings apply in the paid versions.
Avasts version update numbering scheme is far removed from others and in many instances a .1 incitement would in many other such applications be consider a full 1.0 increment. The last three digits being a build number, which you will no doubt have noticed carries forward from the 5.0 version build numbering, e.g. the last 5.0 version being build 5.0.677.
When I first started using avast in March 2004 I think it was on version 4.3 and it took nearly six years before it got to version 5.0 and boy were there some major changes during that time frame.
I guess you haven’t tried setting avast to Silent/Gaming mode in which case I don’t think you will get any pop-ups. Now I don’t know if applies to the newly added scheduled scan notification, you can try and see.
Another option is to set your scheduled scan to a time that you aren’t going to be at your computer (so you don’t see any notification), but it is still going to be on and set it to ‘Wake up the system to start the scan (if in sleep mode).’
I guess you haven't tried setting avast to Silent/Gaming mode in which case I don't think you will get any pop-ups. Now I don't know if applies to the newly added scheduled scan notification, you can try and see.
The problem I see there is that I [b]do [/b] want to see the alert popups which are presumably notices about malware or suspicious behavior. Also, these popups aren't just interfering with me playing games in fullscreen mode. I might be recording a video (to record how to duplicate a problem or to create a tutorial) where only some of the screen is getting captured. It all gets trashed when the popup shows up and corrupts the display with its superfluous dialog.
Another option is to set your scheduled scan to a time that you aren't going to be at your computer (so you don't see any notification), but it is still going to be on and set it to 'Wake up the system to start the scan (if in sleep mode).'
No such time exists. My hours are highly irregular. I can be on the computer at any time of the day. That's why it would be considerate if either Avast included an option to delay the scans until the computer was idle some minimum number of minutes or let me schedule the scans in Task Scheduler which gives me a [b]lot [/b] more options than Avast ever has.
Until and if Avast replies to my submitted ticket, and until and if Avast lets users decide how invasive is their product in shoving popups on the screen, I will have to disable all scheduled scans. This leaves me with only the on-access (real-time) scanning for protection. The scan is a non-critical function since it only discovers quiescent malware (i.e., files that got dropped into your file system while, say, the antivirus was disabled or before it was capable of detecting the malware by a signature).
Have you tried a “screen Saver” scan? Or from the UI click “settings”, click “silent/gaming” then make your selection.
No need to make it difficult. If you haven’t noticed down in the bottom right corner is a “?”. Use this for help or more info.
What good is a scan during the screen saver when the screen saver rarely activates? Perhaps you leave your computer for extended periods of time. I’m on mine at all hours of the day at irregular times (partly due to my severe insomnia). It takes time to complete a full deep scan and even if the screen saver activated then it is unlikely the scan will complete (and subsequent scans don’t resume from where the prior scan left off). Yes, you (not me) could set the screen saver to an extremely short timeout hoping to catch a couple times a month when it would remain active long enough to complete a scan; however, my screen saver is set to timeout after an hour (and even that may eventually get increased or disabled) because often I am right next to it but busy on another host or with other tasks but then need to be monitoring compiles, edits, or other tasks currently in-progress on this host. Just because I’m not using the keyboard or mouse attached to this host doesn’t mean that I’m not using its monitor to watch something.
So your cure is for me to obviate ALL popups by going into silent mode. That also means that I won’t be told when I visit malicious web pages or a retrieved file is infected. In that case, why even bother running an antivirus program if I’m not told about the security invasion for which this product was designed? Users don’t need to see the info and update popups for the product to properly function. They DO need to see the alert popups regarding malicious pages or behavior or suspicious files; otherwise, there’s no point in wasting the disk space and CPU cycles on a completely quiescent program. And, no, I will never let any security product make my decisions for me. I will NOT have Avast automatically quarantine or delete anything. It must ask me what I want to do but I only need to make those decisions for the alert popups.
Have YOU read the product’s help on just what the silent mode does? Have YOU tested if the popup for a scheduled scan is among those that will NOT display when in silent mode? And do YOU know if the alert popups still appear when in silent mode?
Since when did informational popups become critical to the behavior of any program? Their informational! While not actually described, there are Info, Update, and Alert popup categories. Update popups are also just info, too. I’ve been using anti-virus and other security programs for many decades (yeah, I’m that old). Since when is an update anything that has to interrupt a user’s use of their host? So Info and Update popups are the same thing: informational popups. And in which popup category would popups for the scheduled scans get classified? It certainly isn’t an alert popup.
I mentioned the popup config settings and we got focused there. Those settings may have nothing to do with the dialog window that appears when a scheduled scan begins. I’ve set the popup timeouts to zero seconds and still the dialog (popup) appears for the scheduled scan. So those popup settings may have no effect on displaying the window for the scheduled scan. Seeing the dialog appear for a scheduled scan may have nothing to do with popups. There is no definition of what popups are included in each category to know if scheduled scans is included in any one of them. It’s a new config setting that isn’t yet in the help and the config pane for them doesn’t describe what is included in each popup category. The new popup settings may be a wild goose chase and instead Avast changed the behavior of scheduled scans to now show a dialog when they begin and which isn’t considered a popup.
Yep, that is the annoyance of which I queried. It interferes with my use of my computer in that its display will show up when I’m recording the screen as in when creating a tutorial or recording how to replicate a problem. This popup is brand new as of the last program update. I had 5.1 some lesser build before and there were no popups for scheduled scans. This is a new annoyance. There is no user-configurable option in defining a scheduled scan to choose if this dialog appears or not. It does not appear affected by the Popups settings under Preferences.
Tech’s response is to completely kill off the scheduled scans to eliminate the popups. Well, that is what I was forced to do. Is it an elegant solution or preferred behavior? Definitely not! I didn’t waste my time defining the scheduled task and determining when it can be best executed to avoid conflicts with other scheduled tasks only to get annoyed by a worthless popup. After all, why would the popup be of value? I suspect most users scheduled the scan for when they are NOT at their computer so this popup is worthless. If the user is at their computer and using it, they should have a choice of whether or not this popup will appear.
This popup smacks of adware where they desparately want to shove something in your face to advertise “Hey, lookie, you’re using our product and isn’t it so grand that we have to announce to you at any possible opportunity.” Somehow I suspect the developers are reeling from a stupid decision forced on them by the marketing folks.
There is nothing to stop you putting avast into silent/gaming mode temporarily before starting that you don’t want your scheduled scan or other avast notifications, to be displayed (auto updates, etc.) and re-enable it after you are done.
Elegant, desirable, preferred behaviour, perhaps not all we are trying to do is suggest a workaround. This one is possibly less onerous to your killing the scheduled scans.
My understanding is that silent/gaming mode won’t show the alert popups. You know, the ones that show you’ve visited a site with malicious code, a download that is infected, a program making a change that gets caught by Defense+, etc.
I don’t understand why it is so hard for users to see that plastering useless dialogs on the screen is rude. Do you really appreciate someone throwing a semi-transparanet cloth tarp out their back car window while you’re driving on the highway to have it land on your windshield even if it only partially covered the windshield and it was a bright day so you could see through it? Would you like anyone to slap a sticker on your car even if was removable after some amount of time? Users have been so drilled into seeing crap plastered on their screen that they’ve begun to forget that it is their property.
Yeah, it’s free. That’s not an excuse to be rude. Yeah, I can look elsewhere. Guess what I’m doing now?
Since this forum is monitored, perhaps Avast will listen to your feedback and for the next release they may put something on the pop-up as to how to disable or minimize the pop-up for situations like your (and others). I thank you for your feedback.
Yes it does, but I’m not saying to set it permanently but temporarily when you don’t want interruptions. As you may already have noticed the shields have pre-set and customisable actions upon detection so you can still have avast take action behind the scenes. Defence+ has nothing to do with avast and as such won’t be constrained by the ‘avast’ silent/gaming mode, strange that.
I guess you didn’t read or ignored this in my last post:
Elegant, desirable, preferred behaviour, perhaps not all we are trying to do is suggest a workaround. This one is possibly less onerous to your killing the scheduled scans.
We are trying to help you do what you want within the constraints of the existing program settings, we are avast users trying to help other avast users.
We have given alternatives and it is up to you to choose what to do, as it seems no matter what we say you won’t be happy you keep going back to the same thing that single pop-up notification of scheduled scan in progress.
