Scanning With Avast!

[christoher2405]

I downloaded and installed the latest version (4. of Avast! antivirus home (free edition) on Monday, and something in the help guide confused me.

I assumed that running a Thorough Scan on all local disks would check for all malware known to Avast!, but read this in the help system:

avast! Virus Cleaner is a tool that will remove selected viruses from your computer. While avast! itself is able to detect and delete almost all known viruses, avast! Virus Cleaner can handle only a small selection of the most common ones. The list can be displayed (in the avast! Virus Cleaner tool) by clicking on the "About" button. 

So when I run a Thorough Scan, am I using the "virus cleaner" database or the full Avast! database? If it is the former, how do I scan with the full database?

Thanks in advance.

[FreewheelinFrank]

All the scanning options use the full database.

A useful post here:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=37343.msg312741#msg312741

[christoher2405]

Thanks very much. It is now my understanding that the Virus Cleaner is a seperate piece of software, is that true?

[FreewheelinFrank]

Yes, but it's my understanding that those virus cleaning routines are also incorporated into avast! anti-virus. I'm sure this has been discussed on the forum, so a search should bring up some information from the horses' mouths.

[DavidR]

The virus cleaner is also a stand alone cleaner for a specific number of true virus or worm infections. Should the normal avast scans find infections that the avast virus cleaner can 'clean' e.g. restore the file to its original uninfected state, then I believe that it can run the cleaner.

See http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-virus-cleaner.html