What should I do instead of a boot-time scan?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello,

I have a 64 bits system, so I can’t run a boot-time scan with Avast!. Fortunately, I haven’t any problem with viruses yet, but I’ve read I should run a boot-time scan if my computer is infected by a virus.

So, what may I do instead a boot-time scan if my computer has an infection which needs to be resolved through a boot-time scan?

And also, viruses designed for 32 bits systems can infect 64 bits systems?

Thanks for reply.

2

The boot-scan feature is unavailable on Windows 9x and 64bits (yet).
Boot-time scanner is only available on 32bit WinNT/2000/XP/Vista.
It will be available on next July, with avast 5.

As far I know, yes.

3

Your only other option is to boot into safe mode, and launch avast (desktop icon or ashAvast.exe file) and run a scan from safe mode where there is a restricted number of application running (including some malware) so should be able to over come some problems that occur in normal mode.

Since 32bit applications can run on 64bit OS, so too would 32bit malware.