How much disk does Virus Recovery Database take up

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

The idea of restoring a file to its original state (before being infected with a virus) sounds great.

However, I would think the Virus Recovery Database would be a sizeable file, and suck up a lot of CPU and disk.

How can I tell how big my Virus Recovery Database is on disk.

How do I know its not going to get bigger - i.e. if avast! is only building it when my screen saver is on, it might take quite a while for it to complete, growing in size all the time.

Thanks.

2

Some Mbytes (10 to 30 Mb for instance), depends on how many executables (Win32) you have in your system.
VRDB is NOT a backup. It just collects the info needed to restore SOME executables files in your computer.
File is on the \data\int folder and you can check its size :slight_smile:

3

The VRDB as Tech mentions isn’t a backup for all files, primarily for system and executable files, as far as using CPU that only happens when it is generated, the default duration is every three weeks. It retains three versions, so it will only grow in size to a theoretical maximum depending on the quantity of files covered on your system.

I suggest a browse of the avast help file, Healing, VRDB.

avast! creates an integrity database, i.e. it stores information about the actual state of the files, doing it three versions back for each file. The database creation/maintenance is performed either when the computer is idle, or when the screen-saver is running (any screen-saver, not only the avast! one). This database, once it is created, is updated each three weeks (this value may be changed by editing avast4.ini). If any file is infected by a virus, it is possible to repair it, i.e. turn it to its original state. If there are multiple versions of the file in the database, you can choose which version you want to restore.

I never use a screen saver I just go into standby, so with VRDB set to screen saver it will never generate. I prefer to use the Generate Now option every two weeks as part of my regular system maintenance. That way it runs when I want it to (quiet period) and is usually don in a little over 8 minutes on my system.