So I just installed Avast! Professional etc. I have a few questions.
my previous antivirus was Mcafee, but it stopped working after I reformatted. Using 64xbit XP.
So how does Avast work? Is there a schedule option or do I have to manually scan my computer couple times a week?
Do I check for updates myself or it does it, itself and notify me when there are new ones?
avast! default install settings are good. You don’t have to do anything. 
But there are plenty of scanning options and much more here. http://files.avast.com/files/manuals/user-manual-pro-eng.pdf
e.g. page 52 “Working with the Enhanced User Interface”
You can schedule “Tasks” in the Professional version.
Open avast, go to Tasks folder, create a copy for instance of the Disk Drives, open its properties and configure it.
The updates are automatic, ask for or manual, you can choose on Update settings.
is Avast Professional also a anti spyware? if no recommend one please? Thanks for help so far.
Avast AV is also accredited as an antispyware. http://www.westcoastlabs.com/checkmark/productList/checkmarkTestResult/?productID=315&techGroupID=32&from=tg
Additional demand scanners that are highly regarded are MBAM http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and Superantispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
These two are often particularly good with trojans and rogue products.
Never hurts to have a second opinion or different cleaner available. Tell the truth, though, I really haven’t had to use mine in anger on the machine that has Avast installed. (I’m sure having a firewall and hosts file etc helps a bit, too.)
Yes.
Other for on-demand, MBAM and Super like Tarq57 said.
Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, do not support 64x bit XP as far as I have seen.
Malwarebytes
Support for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista (32-bit only).
and google’d about SAS which said it does not support it in a troubleshoot forums.
Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, do not support 64x bit XP as far as I have seen.My apologies; you are quite right. Unfortunately there aren't so many applications around for 64bit Windows. SpywareTerminator http://www.spywareterminator.com/legal/system-requirements.aspx works, but not in realtime, on 64bit systems. Or so they say. To my mind it is not in the same league, but is another antispyware scanner. I would highly recommend [b]not[/b] installing the toolbar nor the Clam AV component. (The toolbar comes with a module called WSG.) If you are intermediate/advanced, and especially if you read Russian, AVZ antiviral toolkit is considered a powerful antimalware tool. Not for the faint hearted, though. I'd be very cautious about removing any item flagged as suspicious by this program.http://z-oleg.com/secur/avz/download.php Some elements of this will not work on 64bit Windows, notably the guard, and the boot-clean module. (If I read Russian I'd be able to explain this better.) It is possible Spybot S&D may work, at least in part, on your system.http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html I could not find any info on the system requirements section to indicate that it is limited to 32bit OS versions.
Hope that helps a bit. (No pun intended)
You can alway try to use Avast 4.8 Pro (Anti virus),Threat Fire(trojan,spyware,etc etc),Online Armor Free(firewall),WOT(Web of Trust),Windows Defender(for slow performance and pop ups + anti spyware)
I think this kit sound good but if you say its not then free feel to reply
PS : Check out if its work for 64 bits xp i didnt watched that so
Mr Agent,
Apart from Avast, the only one of that list that may work on 64bit Windows is Windows Defender.
Like so many sites, the requirements section doesn’t specify. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
WOT is something else completely. Akin to SiteAdvisor, a BHO.
I have had previous experience with spybot so I will try that out thanks
Hi Neferium,
thought you may be interested in this post at Wilders. About your exact question.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=236293