How to save Avast 5 settings?

[Straydog]

Every time that for any reason we have to make a new computer installation it is always a big loss of time configuring. To shorten that loss I have learned how to at least save the settings for as many programs as I can. Some have them in files, most in the registry, so that instead of losing hours configuring every program little by little, one by one, I just inject the saved configurations.

Avast has a lot of configurations to do, including the different scanning modes, and all this takes a very long time to do. Could someone please tell me where I can save all configurations from? I've searched these forums, but could find nothing about, and I am sure most people will find this useful. I have Windows 7. Will all the configurations be in the following registry key, or are they somewhere else?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ALWIL Software\Avast\5.0

The information will be most welcome.

[DavidR]

Save the .ini files.

C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\avast5.ini and there are other .ini files for any of the Shields that you might have tweaked.

That is as best that you can do - You would have to disable the avast self-defence module to replace existing ini files when you reinstall/install. You would probably have to restart avast or the shields to get them to use the new ini files, probably easiest to reboot once you have done it.

[Straydog]

Thanks for the tips.

So there are no settings on that reg key? Pity. I had already looked for the .ini files, but avast5.ini it just isn't there. However, I had already found other .ini files, but they don't look like having configuration settings. They are:

• \defs\aswdefs.ini      (contains only [Definitions] Latest=10062501)
• \defs\10062501\def.ini      (contains these sections: [FileID], [FileTypes], [PackTypes], [IniRecords], [Scanner] and [Info])
• \Setup\Components.ini      (contains setup instructions in many languages)
• \Setup\setup.ini      (clearly setup settings with groups for the files, and alike).

I am sorry if I didn't say it before, but this was as far as I could get, hence my post. It looks like the configuration settings are kept hidden somewhere else. That is what I can't find.

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

As far as I'm aware no settings as such are stored in registry.

The C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\ may well be a hidden folder so you would need to have hidden files and folders displayed, I absolutely hate that default option on windows.

Those other locations are in the avast5 installation folder not to ones where the other ini files are located.
None of those ini files you mentioned are user configurable.

[Straydog]

Thank you for your reply with further information.

The C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\ may well be a hidden folder so you would need to have hidden files and folders displayed, I absolutely hate that default option on windows.

Right, so do I, it is completely dumb like the new Libraries, the failed searches on them, the display behaviour on the left column of the explorer, etc. (Just have a look here, where you can also find some cures.) Therefore, the very first thing I do with a new installation is to end up with all hidden stuff on my computer. They only hide information about what is going on from our knowledge. Futile and hopeless.

I could not find the mentioned avast5.ini file because I am stupid. Instead of looking where you told me I searched under "Program Files...", but as you insisted I understood it should exist somewhere else, so I searched everywhere in the computer and finally found it exactly where you told me. I apologise for being so dull and giving you additional work.

It is a 16,1 KB (in my case) containing many settings, as well as task names corresponding to some registry value names in the key I mentioned on my first post (e.g.: Task1={EC4ECEDA-3E3B-4027-ABFE-29A5122D64D6}. Most other keys have data stored, but those either have no data or have a @ character only, but now I can try and find more if it exists. Then I can save the .ini file any key with the settings for a later usage. Bad things happen with all computers and we have to prevent. Lately, the mother board failed and spoiled not the system disk, which would have been of lesser importance, but unfortunately my backup hard disk.

If it were not for your insisting on the avast5.ini file I wouldn't have come to any conclusion, but now I can go ahead by myself thanks to your very useful help.

Thank you very much for everything.

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

Whilst a lot of stuff in the various .ini files will be defaults where you have made changes/customisations in the avastUI or the Shields, then that should be reflected in the .ini files.

Yes, bad things can happen with computers and I have found that using drive imaging software, takes the pain out of restoring an exact copy of your partition/s from your last image (Weekly in my case). That and daily backups of volatile data files (which I guess you could add the .ini file too).

[Straydog]

I'm back just to say today I am not receiving notifications on replies. I received yesterday and I didt'n change anything on my profile since registration.

By the way, DavidR, There are 10 .ini files in all. they are too many to look inside unless really necessary, so I just saved them in another drive.

For many years I have done all that was necessary to avoid losing important data and my personal files (not the operating system itself). Since after Windows 98 my OSs have failed lots of times; that has given me much work rebuilding them from scratch (from formatting) but I never lost anything else. However, it seems that nothing is enough. Uploading everything takes ages, even with DSL, making it unusable. Even saving everything on a second drive (or third, as in my case) is not 100% sure. As it happened to me that was exactly the drive that the motherboard failure destroyed. It is not so obvious that a motherboard is failing when the only symptom is destroying always the same disk and only that one. So we think it is unlucky and keep changing the nearly brand new drive under guaranty until we stop believing it is just unluckiness. After so many repeated and for that reason also unexpected failures we have to lose something.

Thanks again.

[DavidR]

The email notification on replies should be the same, though I never use them, but check out the "Show new replies to your posts." link that is on all pages in the forum theme that I use (Babylon) it is also in other forum themes including the default one I believe.

I only have 6 .ini files in the location I gave and it is those that are what I would say are user related, so I'm not sure what ones you are talking about (avast Pro and avast Internet Security applications would have more though).

[Straydog]

This is the list of the .ini files I have at C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5
AntiSpamShield.ini
avast5.ini
BehaviorShield.ini
EmailShield.ini
FileSystemShield.ini
Firewall.ini
IMShield.ini
NetworkShield.ini
P2PShield.ini
ScriptShield.ini
WebShield.ini

I didn't look inside, except for the avast5.ini, as I said before because I just wanted to save them, what I did, but their names tell us what they are.

[DavidR]

Yes that looks correct for the AIS version with more shields, I also remember that I uninstalled the P2P and IM Shields as I don't use any of those applications (so that would be two less on my original image)...

Not too much point in looking inside, if you do make any Shield setting changes then it should be reflected in the .ini files so periodically backing them up will ensure any recent changes you make are saved.

[Straydog]

Not too much point in looking inside, if you do make any Shield setting changes then it should be reflected in the .ini files so periodically backing them up will ensure any recent changes you make are saved.

You are reading my mind. I use Cobian Backup to upload settings on a schedule to my site.

Thanks for your help, which allowed me to do the same with the AV settings.

[DavidR]

No problem, glad I could help.

A belated welcome to the forums.