I press " To create immediately " - within one hour of nothing occurs. Why?
VRDB generator will only work when your screensaver appears or when your computer is idle (it can be any screensaver). What I do, I set my screensaver so that it will appear one minute when the computer is not doing anything so that it can be taken care of. 
Fixer, I’m not sure if you are absolutely right… ??? I’m using “Create VRDB now!” option and as i press it it starts immediately… You are right about screensaver and idle modes, but it’s for automatic VRDB generation.
Really? I wasn’t aware of this…hmm cause normally I had to idle my computer to get the VRDB generator to run. Thanks for telling me this soon. ;D
Just try sometimes to run it manually. I usually do this then there is a new program installed on my PC or something is updated (for eg. MS Security Patches). In this way I keep my VRDB up to date with my system. ;D
I’ve had no problems with either manual (“create now”) or auto updates of the VRDB – I use when-idle for the latter, since with very rare exceptions it’s quite happy to accept no keyboard/mouse input as “idle”.
The last time I did a manual update was simply to reset the 3-week interval. That default 21 days is right down to the minute, so it will normally run at the same time of the same day of the week. I discovered it was generating right in the middle of heavy disk activity (my regular weekly disk cleanup), so I also did a manual update a few days later to shift the day and time at which the regular updates get done.
I only ever use the manual ‘Generate VRDB Now’ option as part of my regular system maintenance. Once you click the generate VRDB now you should see the avast ‘i’ icon spinning on the system tray.
Can you see this?
If not then for some reason it isn’t working, try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, avast! Anti-Virus, Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow. You need to be on-line to do this.
If you can see it spinning it is working, the first scan usually takes a little time, this depends on your system specs, cpu, ram, files that will be scanned, etc. So there isn’t a hard and fast time, my VRDB takes about 6 minutes.
MikeBc da wrote:
I've had no problems with either manual ("create now") or auto updates of the VRDB -- I use when-idle for the latter, since with very rare exceptions it's quite happy to accept no keyboard/mouse input as "idle".The last time I did a manual update was simply to reset the 3-week interval. That default 21 days is right down to the minute, so it will normally run at the same time of the same day of the week. I discovered it was generating right in the middle of heavy disk activity (my regular weekly disk cleanup), so I also did a manual update a few days later to shift the day and time at which the regular updates get done.
Can anyone explain what is meant by the 3-week interval setting for "manual (“create now”) (see above)
Quote: “The last time I did a manual update was simply to reset the 3-week interval. That default 21 days is right down to the minute”
Does this mean that you can set the VRDB to run every 3 weeks or any other time ? If this is true then does this run at those intervals regardless of activity ro if screen saver is running or not.
If this is true it would seem to be the best way to use the VRDB data base generate program.
I understand it creates different versions each time it is run. Is there a way to delete these older versions after it gets to the point there are quite a few?
I’m not sure what this means quote: “so I also did a manual update a few days later to shift the day and time at which the regular updates get done.” (see above)
Does this mean that a “manual update” changes the “regular update intervals”, in other words the 21 day wait till next time to run will be from the last update ?
Thanks in advance
Does this mean that you can set the VRDB to run every 3 weeks or any other time ? If this is true then does this run at those intervals regardless of activity ro if screen saver is running or not.Whilst I not sure if this is down to the minute but every three weeks (21 days) if you have one of the auto generate options set, Generate when Idle, Generate on Screensaver, then it will run. This is not regardless of what is running but with regard to the condition of the system either being idle or the screensaver is running.
It only keeps three copies.
Check the screen in the Simple User Interface it will tell you when the vrdb scan was last run, this information must be stored and I believe this date is used as the start point for checking if the 21 days have elapsed.
Thanks David… that helps
If you set it for generate when idle, what happens if it is running and you start using you PC. Does it stop or continue to run and could this cause a problem backing up certain files ?
If you set it to generate with screen saver and also have the Virus Scanner set to scan with screen saver could there be an issue there every 21 days when both might run at the same time ?
Also if you have the generate with screen saver is there any problem if you have a password set on you screen saver ? Will the VRDB generation keep the user from logging into the password for instance ?
Thanks in advance. ;D
Sorry if my wording was unclear – wouldn’t be the first time, by a long shot. :-[
The default interval between auto-updates of the VRDB is 3 weeks, if you’re set to auto-update. See Technical’s excellent thread about avast’s INI if you want to change that interval.
If you do a manual (“generate now”) update in between auto-updates, that restarts the 3-week interval. All I was trying to do was shift the auto-updates to a more convenient day and time when I knew I wouldn’t be as active on the computer and could easily sit and wait for them to complete.
I have used the “Create VRDB Now” option and since there was no visual or progress bar of any kind I could only tell that it was running as a result of the hard drive light activity.
I didn’t think to look to see if the Avast system tray icon happened to be spinning. After reading more in this forum I now know that this is the way I can tell if it is running. It seems like I would have noticed this since I was looking for any signs as to whether it was running or not but maybe I missed the spinning ball.
It took approx 23 minutes by calculating when I started the process and the time that shows in the Avast Startup window when it was created. Possibly it will take less time next time as some have said it probably would. I’ll look for the spinning ball next time. ;D
Now I’d like to know where I can see where this file is and the size of the file ?
Also where is the menu to set the options as far as running the VRDB automatically. I know I can have it set for either the screen saver or “when idle”. Possibly the setting for the screen saver are in the Avast Screen saver file ? It seems like there should be a place in the Avast AV program to check the settings and status of the program.
Thanks in advance
Open Avast main programme - select menu -select virus chest - select system files and voila there they be file names and transfer (copy) dates…
To generate right click the Avast icon - select VRDB - select generate now and you should see a spinning i icon
Lakrsrool, there is topic for VRDB into FAQ in my signature.
Also, there is a VRDB section into Settings in my signature.
Can you read a little and post your doubts after that?
Some questions were already answered…