I would like to disable avast resident scanner and avast itself during startup..

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
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I have a question, this is regarding about the background resident scan of Avast free anti-virus, I would like to disable the resident background scanner of Avast and Avast itself. I tried to use a startup disabler program which disables items on the msconfig startup tab. But the problem is Avast also has entries on the “services” tab of msconfig (services.msc) namely “avast Antivirus” and “avast iAVS4 Control Service” which I think (maybe) still runs on the background (because whenever I connect to the net my firewall detects avast sending info) The question is do I have to disable the entries on the services tab to ensure that avast resident scanner and avast antivirus itself is not runnning 100%? or is it ok to just disable the entry on the startup tab?

And one more thing, if ever I disabled the entries on the services tab, will avast anti-virus functions still the same (and work 100%) when I perform a thourough scan? Because Im planning on using avast scanner to scan my system once in a while…

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You can go to
Start Menu > Administrative Tools > Services
Pick up the two avast services and choose Properties.
Set the services to Disabled

Well, I think not. You will need to start avast! services manually to run a scan and set the services to Manual.

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This would effectively leave you unprotected, which sort of begs the question, why would you want to do this?

If you can let us know the reason, then perhaps we can be of more help and offer a suggestion.

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Battousai1
Welcome to the forum.

Im planning on using avast scanner to scan my system once in a while..
If you use the internet, it takes 20 minutes to infect a system if you don't have an up-to-date System, AV program and a good Firewall. Scanning your system once in a while will mean that you can expect to format your hard drive and re-install your operating system quite often. The choice is yours. ???
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If you use the internet, it takes 20 minutes to infect a system

I beg to differ with your time line. Several infections will be able to do their work long before 20 minutes. Sasser among them. No system should be on the internet without adequate protection, both for the
user and other users. You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem

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What he ment to say is that on average it takes 20 minutes, and that is true. It depend ofcourse on several things. Like is there just a new fast spreading malware out there? How many people are online? How many of them have their security setup correct? etc etc.

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Hi! sorry for the late reply… :slight_smile: my reasons are simple, first (correct me if Im wrong) it is not advisable to run two or more anti-virus resident scanner at the same time… second the other anti-virus Im using is password locked (I cant uninstall nor unload, but I can disable the startup) by the administrators who installed me original licensed copy from my school (this is Trend OfficeScan “CORPORATE EDITION” built specifically for server-client setting) third I prefer to just use one resident scanner which is Trend’s OfficeScan instead (eventhough I think this AV is not that good…) and fourth Im thinking (correct me if Im wrong) having two or more anti-virus installed and use them all on separate scanning routine is not bad.

I would also like to ask, if it is “OK” to turn the avast entries on the services tab of the msconfig (services.msc) to manual? What would be the effect? I tested avast and run it while the services entries are manual, avast succesfully detected eicar virus test file… what about other effects of turning the services entries to manual? ???

Thanks for the replies! :slight_smile:

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First: if I’m not wrong, you won’t be able to update. Run the service manually if this occur. Maybe the service is just needed for automatic update. If this is true, never, mind let the service manual but do not forget to manual update avast.

Second: if the services are manual, you must ‘start’ them to use on-access protection. I could be wrong as I never thought doing this with avast. How did it detect eicar virus: on-demand (manual scanning) or on-access (downloading the file for instance)?

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Why not just use 1 anti virus application on your system and use a online scanner as backup? Much easier and just as efficient.

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In my case, I use avast! Pro as on-access.
BitDefender and AntiVir (both free version) as backup scanners ;D

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I know, I wont be able to “automatically” update but I will update manually.

What do you mean “Start” them manually, do you mean that the entries on the services.msc if set to manual you need to start it there too? or entries on the services.msc will be turned on whenever the aplplication is opened?

Avast detected eicar via manual scanning… I scanned the folder…

First: if I'm not wrong, you won't be able to update. Run the service manually if this occur. Maybe the service is just needed for automatic update. If this is true, never, mind let the service manual but do not forget to manual update avast.

can anyone confirm what is the entries of avast on the services.msc for? :slight_smile:

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I’ve just not test, that’s all. Some applications, for instance, BitDefender free, if you set the services to manual, even trying to open the GUI it won’t works or updates. It needs the services running, i.e., go to Services tools and click ‘start’. Maybe avast is different and does not requires aswUpdSv.exe to be running. I did not test this.

Sure (path is omitted):
“C:\ … \ashServ.exe”: avast! Antivirus
“C:\ … \aswUpdSv.exe”: avast! iAVS4 Control Service
“C:\ … \ashMaiSv.exe” /service: avast! Mail Scanner

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whats the ashServ.exe do? is that the entry to run the main application? or the entry to run the resident scanner? the avast iAVS4 is for the updates right?

But Im still thinking if there is an effect on the main scanner of avast if I set the services entries to manual.

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ashServ.exe is the Resident (on-access) scanner.
aswUpdSv.exe is the Update service.
ashMaiSv.exe is the Mail protection service.
ashDisp.exe is the blue icon on the system tray.

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One last thing, so what will be a better thing to do if I want to disable avast to run at startup and just use avast for scanning once in a while? Do I have to also set the services entry to manual or just disable only the startup entry (msconfig startup entry only) and leave the services entries? cause Im skeptical on avast taking resources on the background (I read that avast takes 40MB of memory space when running in the background) and I want to be sure that any part of avast is not running.

and is the resident scanner of avast a separate entity with the main of avast?

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Battousai1
I don’t know where your getting your facts from but, these are the Memory Requrements for each of the Avast services:
ashDisp.exe 2,344K
ashUpdSv.exe 508k
ashServ.exe 9,084K
ashMaiSv.exe 3,036k

Now if you add all 4 together, it’s about 15,000K which isn’t any where near the 40Meg your quoting.
Maybe you where thinking about a different AV program??? ;D

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I got my infos from antivirus roundup reviews on schadentech’s website…

So what will be a better thing to do if I want to disable avast to run at startup and just use avast for scanning once in a while? Do I have to also set the services entry to manual or just disable only the startup entry (msconfig startup entry only) and leave the services entries?

and is the resident scanner of avast a separate entity with the main of avast?

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I got my infos from antivirus roundup reviews on schadentech's website..
Well now you have it directly from an avast! user and a proud avast Pro user. Sorry but I can't help you in dissecting a perfectly good AV program. Instead of crippling avast, why not just use an online scanner as a backup. ???
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Services to manual and without startup entries.

What do you call ‘main’ of avast?

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