As you can see I’m new here, and to Avast. I got it on the recommendations of others after my McAfee subscription expired and so far so good.
I just have a quick question though… I installed the Home Edition on Sunday and all was well, did a boot-time scan and nothing was found. Ran a scan through Windows too and all was ok.
But…
How do I know I’m protected and it’s doing what it should when it should…? I know it probably sounds like a silly question.
I can see the On-Access icon rotating every now and again in the icon tray and the Virus Database has spoken to me a couple of times advising that it’s up to date… Is that how I know…? How do I know if I’m not protected…?
Is there an idiots guide somewhere around that explains what all the terms mean…?
Hi F1Boy, welcome to the forums.
From your description, it si behaving as it should. The icon rotates; the database updates, all is good.
Avast is very configurable (probably too much so for the average user, but this is one aspect that makes it very appealing to intermediate/advanced users) but works just fine “out of the box”.
The help files are good. Could always be better, but a good place to follow up from the Online FAQ’s.
To know for sure you are protected, left click on the tray icon (the rotating blue ball.)
You’ll see a list of “providers” appear, in a GUI as pictured below. Under “standard shield” (pictured) is a scan count. Last file scanned, number of files scanned, infected count, etc. If the scanned count increases during each computer session, you know it’s doing it’s job.
Each provider is a sort of module, dedicated to particular tasks. If you enter the name of each provider in the help file, you’ll get more info about what they do. If you don’t use a particular program provided for in these modules, the specific module can be terminated. (For example, I don’t use MS Outlook, so I’ve disabled that one.)
To see the detection at work, you can go to a test site, and try to download a fake virus. Here is such a site. Read the stuff, try and download any of the files about halfway down the page, the webshield will block it.
Pause the webshield, you’ll be able to download one. (I suggest the “.com” one, because it is an executable, shich Avast will scan on read/write by default.) Put it on the desktop. Now try to run it, or rename it. The standard shield will activate. (Don’t forget to resume the webshield.) The file you’ve downloaded can be left in the chest, or deleted; it’s harmless.
Those are some general category answers. Hope they help.
Anything you want talked about specifically?
Just an accident of timing. I live in the Antipodes, and we are 12hr ahead of your standard time. I replied ages ago, before you posted the question. There seems to be some blockage in the internet. ;D
I think you covered what I needed to know.