I am using Avast 6 Free on a computer that is usually in sleep mode. I have an automatic complete scan on a regular basis and to wake up the computer if needed from sleep. I also have Avast configured to automatically check for updates every 1440 minutes (24 hours).
I note that on occasion (and I cannot quite figure it out), this computer is running when I think it should be asleep. From the previous discussion, it seems that Avast does NOT wake up the computer from sleep to perform an update. But I have Avast scheduled to perform a complete scan using the daily type basis and have set it to be launched at 8pm only on M, W, F, and Sat.
I now have a little program running that monitors the power transitions in the computer and I note that the computer is waking up at 7:58pm. However it is doing this on days when the scan is NOT supposed to be run! So I wonder… Does Avast have to wake up the computer to check to see if it should run the scan?
I cannot find any documentation on this. Does anyone know? Thanks
I don’t know the answer to your question, but let me say something that is somehow OT, and yet maybe even more important security - wise.
I see no correlation between the definitions update frequency, the type of use of the system, and the “daily” scan.
Since avast is a resident scanner, then, for the most part, avast is checking your system.
Since your system is idle several hours per day, and you seem to be not using “problematic” software nor visiting “problematic” sites (in accordance with the original desire to update avast only once a week), then I don’t see the point of “daily” scanning. Even once a week, for this particular relevant system, seems “too much” IMHO.
About the main question of this topic, you would need someone else to answer it.
I am not sure what you mean when you write “I see no correlation between the definitions update frequency, the type of use of the system, and the “daily” scan”.
I do agree that I may not need to scan this computer very often. But I see no harm in doing so.
I’ll give you an example, using a somehow opposite situation.
Say I visit some not - so - trustworthy web sites, I download every little theme, screensaver and game I come across, and I do this very frequently. In addition, for every download I get I simply run it, without scanning it, and I normally use my Windows administrator account, which has no password. UAC? Disabled of course. Say I don’t use a firewall (it bothers me with questions and it may affect my internet connection speed).
The probability to get infected in such situation is much higher. Do you think I should update my security tools much more frequently than once a week? Do you think it would be useful to run complete scans every night in this situation?
Now, in your real case my impression was that the particular system in question (not the hypothetical one I described above) is not heavily used, and the behaviour of its users is not like the one I just presented. If you are presenting the desire to update only once a week, I would assume that your system is used only on very trusted sites and so on. (To be clear, I personally think I would still update normally in such “trusted” system, and I would still use some common sense about the other security meassures anyway.)
For the same reason you are convinced that you don’t really need to update more frequently (than once a week) in your particular system / situation, then the daily scans shouldn’t be really needed if avast is working normally, in its active resident mode. If you feel the need to scan daily, then you should be feeling at least the same thing about the updates.
About not seeing no harm on a daily scan, I personally disagree. And, if you see no harm at all on a daily scan, then I would say that updating frequently (more than once a week) has much less negative impact than a daily scan.