Avast Settings>Antivirus w/o Active Protection

[J. L.]

Hello, I have decided to install Avast without Active Protection to use it as an on-demand scanner. Then I noticed these still existent settings in Antivirus: Reputation Services, DeepScreen, and Hardened Mode.

Are they still in effect without any Shields running? Do I have to disable them as well? Is there a way to test them just out of curiosity?

Thanks. Fully patched Windows 7 64-bit SP1. Latest stable of avast! Free Antivirus.

[Pondus]

Hello, I have decided to install Avast without Active Protection to use it as an on-demand scanner.

why .... do you have another AV installed?
if so there are better options.......

[J. L.]

Hello, I have decided to install Avast without Active Protection to use it as an on-demand scanner.

why .... do you have another AV installed?
if so there are better options.......

Does that matter? Some people prefer none at real-time.

[essexboy]

Avast is designed to run in real time and cannot really be used as a standby.  Too many drivers need to be loaded at boot

[Pondus]

and if you install it with another AV then there will be conflict.    http://blog.kaspersky.com/multiple-antivirus-programs-bad-idea/

if you want a extra scanner, use Malwarebytes.  www.malwarebytes.org

[J. L.]

I don't care if it isn't fully on-demand, I like having many scanners. Haven't noticed any performance decrease either. Why is there custom install if it "cannot be used as a standby"?

Sigh, I'm more of a practical person than theoretical. Please don't give me the same old generalization repeated far too many times. For example, I've installed Avira as on-demand for years without problems.

Who doesn't use MBAM. What about HMP, EEK, CCE, etc.? I know all the alternatives, being a co-author of Probably the Best Free Security List in the World.

Seriously, can someone just answer the questions?

[essexboy]

As I said it is not designed to be an on demand scanner, to function properly all drivers must be loaded at boot.  They did try to enable a standby function a few months back but it proved to be very hard to get it to function properly so it was dropped.  Avira was designed as a second opinion scanner initially and has worked that way ever since   

The custom install is for the additional components that you may not need like Mail shield, browser protection, secure line etc,  but not the core functions

[J. L.]

Well, I'll have to see about the difference between true standby and Avast. I do notice the drivers being loaded, but have yet to see any apparent compatibility issues yet. I also notice that AvastUi.exe is needed for a context menu scan, which can be disabled.

Yet they're for (some of) the core functions as well for some reason? I just want to know why Antivirus isn't affected in the settings without Active Protection. I have a feeling they're just remnants, but if those components are still working, Avast is more real-time than I thought.

[essexboy]

Avast sets all its hooks as soon as the system boots so that it can follow all reads and writes that the system does, which is why it is a poor second opinion  system,  as without those it is crippled

[J. L.]

To be honest, I was trying out Panda Cloud and seeing if Avast can just be an on-demand scanner, since they don't provide one. In the end, I didn't like things like AvastUI running in the background just to scan sometimes, and all the setup I had to do just to cripple it. Might've seen a few other bugs and performance quirks as well.

It could've worked out, but back to Avast real-time and Panda Cloud out. Now I'm trying Panda Cloud Cleaner again, it seems to have not failed this time.