I have 4.8 home set to start with Windows, and the rotating globe shows it’s scanning when XP starts. But that’s for a brief period; what is it scanning for? It can’t be anti-virus, as that takes a relatively long time. I still must manually do an A-V scan when I think it’s time for one, correct? Spyware scan function runs concurrent with the A-V scan; does it run at any other time? Can the spyware scan be run independently of the A-V scan?
I know these aren’t the brightest of questions, but I’ve been using 4.8 for some time, and don’t know if I’m getting the full benefits of it, or understand it. Anything else I should be aware of, other than the specific questions?
Thanks from a not-a-newbe but not-an-oldie, by far.
One thing it does is it does an anti-virus and Anti-Spyware scan of your startup programs, It also does an Anti-rootkit scan. The spyware and Anti-rootkit scan is incorporated into the A/V scan and can’t be run separately.
Thank you, Marc57, for explaining what it checks upon starting up. Does 4.8 not check for viruses and spyware except when I manually run an A-V scan, or is it always checking for them in the background? If so, why run A-V scans? How often do you, by the way?
SpySweeper and SpyWareDoctor, between them, scan for spyware daily. Avast is my A-V program. (SpyWareDoctor also has A-V, which they claim can be run concurrently with Avast–something about “kernel”, but I think it best to keep it turned off. Agree?)
I have a related question about avast! 4.8. Avast! has 3 “scan levels” - quick, standard and thorough. Which threats (virus, spyware, rootkit) does it scan for at each level? I’ve run scans at both the “standard” and “thorough” levels and the difference in run time is remarkable - about 1 hour for standard vs over 2 1/2 hours for thorough. I want the benefits of the rootkit scan, but don’t want to suffer through the long scan time of a “thorough” scan if it’s not necessary.
I would recommend either running the thorough scan with Archives checked or the boot time scan for your first scan( when you first install Avast) or you suspect something is wrong. otherwise I would run a standard scan Without archives checked about every 2 Weeks.
As to Why run a scan, Yes Avast is checking in the background, But if something new that wasn’t in the virus database got on your system, then a later run with new virus defs. would pick it up.
The different sensitivity has nothing to do with which viruses/trojans/malware it scans for as it uses the same virus signatures for all scans. The difference in Quick, Standard and Thorough sensitivity is the files that it scans, some files are more prone to infection, like .exe, .dll, etc so all of those must be scanned. The Standard scan will look at more and the paranoid Thorough scan will scan all files, as you have found there is a huge difference in the types of sensitivity used across the scans, if you then add archives to the equation it gets even longer.
Archive (zip, rar, etc.) files are by their nature are inert, you need to extract the files and then you have to run them to be a threat. Long before that happens avast’s Standard Shield should have scanned them and before an executable is run that is scanned. Thorough is also by its design very thorough and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate.
I have only ever done a through scan with archives once shortly after installation just to ensure a clean start state, but with XP for example avast will do a boot-time scan after installation if you select it, this I believe will be quicker and reasonably effective. Like everything in life things are a compromise.
So there you have it in a nutshell.
The rootkit scan is incorporated in the Standard and Thorough scans but not the Quick scan. A rootkit scan is also carried out two minutes after your desktop is active on normal boots.
Thank you, Marc and David. Everything I asked to know, and more, conscisely.
You’re welcome.
You can add my thanks too. Your answer was exactly the information I was looking for. If only Alwil’s “official” support channel were this prompt and helpful!
You’re welcome, Glad to help.
This is an official support channel the “avast! support forums” the forums being paid for by Alwil and has a wealth of knowledge on it in the search function and sticky topics. It has good Alwil team interaction and support of some of the developers of avast (unusual in many a support forum I have visited), but there are many avast users who help to ensure that other avast users get the best out of avast.
There is also no differentiation of the support given on the forums for the Pro or Home versions unlike many free versions with no support or very limited support. If I had a question my first port of call would be the forums as the Internet never sleeps and someone is likely to be awake and on the forums that can help.