Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: eager to learn on November 08, 2009, 03:07:04 AM
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Hi there,
Is is possible with avast home to scan one file at a time?
I just downloaded an .exe file from what should be a safe site but just to be extra safe I wanted to scan that file before I open it and install by scanning with with avast.
Can I scan just that file now that it's on my hard drive?
In the future, is there a way to scan an. exe file *before* I download the file?
Thank you so much.
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Right click on the file then click on the file
Scan "The name of the file"
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In the future, is there a way to scan an. exe file *before* I download the file?
No, but unless the file is encrypted prior to downloading, the webshield should alert to known infected content on a webpage.
Zipped files can be scanned after downloading. Many zipped files are scan-able, those with an unusual compression algorithm may not be.
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If you have the download statusbar addon in firefox or download accelerator plus, you can adjust the settings to make avast automatically scan your downloads.
just direct the ashquick.exe to the virus scanning option.
This is for avast 4.8 version. I don't about avast 5 beta because I haven't tried it.
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Hi RZ,
Thanks so much for sharing that tip.
May I ask - where do I download the download statusbar addon in firefox?
Where would I download accelerator plus?
How exactly do I direct the ashquick.exe to the virus scanning option?
Does ashquick.exe come bundled in with accelerator plus?
Thank you so much.
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Hi shiw liang,
Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Please frogive my follow up, but when I highlight the .exe file and right click I see where I can scan with SuperAntiSpyware but Avast is not listed in the drop down menu.
Once I have the exe. file highlighted by right clicking I'm not sure what the next steps are to then scan that file with avast home 4.8 which I have.
Thank you again for all your help and patience.
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ashquick.exe is an avast executable you can use to scan downloaded files. You must point to it from within the options in your download manager, whatever it is. This option doesn't exist yet in avast 5 (no equivalent to ashquick...might come in the future).
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Hello eager to learn,
firefox addons needs firefox to be open until the download is complete. instead you can use a download manager.
Instead of DAP(I personally hate it), you can get : either fdm from freedownloadmanager.org or orbit downloader from orbitdownloader.com .
ashquick.exe is avast quick scan executable. which is called when you try to scan a file manually, is the one which shiw liang posted earlier ( right click on file > click scan file.)
you can use some parameters with the download manager so that as soon as the file download is complete, ashquick.exe will be called and hence the file be scanned.
nmb
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Hi nmb,
So, am I correct in understanding that I can not scan that .exe file by itself until I download fdm or orbit downloader to download any files and then download ashquick.exe?
I'm not sure where ashquick.exe is? Or is it already part of avast home 4.8 and I have to find it on my hard drive?
When I highlight the .exe file the drop down menu has the antispyware listed but not avast or ashquick.exe.
I may be a tad confused.
Thanks so much.
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Hello eager to learn,
ashquick.exe is on your hdd. it was copied to avast data folder when you installed avast!. so no need to download ashquick.exe from anywhere else.
ashquick.exe can be found in the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4 folder (if you had installed with default options).
you can scan with avast scanner manually be invoking ashquick.exe. that invoking is done when you right click on a file and select scan somefile.exe.(how to scan manually? - see pic.)
nmb
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Hi nmb,
Sorry to tax your patience but I found that ashquick.exe on my hard drive. I right clicked it and saw that I could scan with is in the drop down but when I clicked it nothing seemed to happen.
Am I supposed to get a prompt about which file I want scanned?
I'm not sure how to make it scan just one file after I've highlighted ashquick.exe and see Scan with ashquick.exe.
Since I already have ashquick.exe on my hard drive, then what do I need with a download manager?
Thanks so much for your help.
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Hello eager to learn,
yes, you will get a prompt when you select "scan file.exe" from the right click context menu. but for how much time the prompt remains on your screen(monitor) depends on the size of the file.
let say that we have a 0.5 MB file and a 25 MB file.
using common sense, the time required to scan 0.5 MB file and 25 Mb file are different.
the 0.5 MB file can be scanned in, say, 1/4 th of a second and 25 MB file scan be scanned in 30 seconds. as you can see, and sense, 1/4 th of a second is too less and hence you wont be able to see the prompt. it comes and goes in a matter of less than a second.
but 30 seconds is more and hence you can see the prompt of ashquick.exe.
(do it yourself : try scanning a huge file, say a 50 MB or a 100MB file (if its huge enough ;)) and observe that you can see the prompt.)
Download mangers are those which help in unattended download management of data(as the name says).
for the user convenience, the coder who has written the code of the software will include many options.
since the files you are downloading "might be" malicious, you have to be given a chance to automatically invoke a antivirus scanner. after all it is for unattended download management and hence for user convenience.
so coders who suspects this need of a user of his software, will add an option to invoke a antivirus scanner.
In the download managers I suggested to you earlier, you can do this by simply adding a command line in the settings. but that changes with the download manager. if you use fdm(free download manger) it will be different and for orbit downloader will also be different.
nmb
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I've used FDM it seem to be able to continue more download that DAP can't but DAP says that it downloads 300%more quicker is that true?
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Hi nmb,
When I highlight ashquick.exe, then the menu drops down and there's the scan with avast there I click it and in a blink it shows me the avast logo, etc and that's it.
It never prompts me for which file to scan - including the .exe file I downloaded that I'd like to scan.
Does this mean that ashquick.exe has scanned my entire hard drive, including the .exe file I downloaded that I'd like to scan, in just a blink of a second? I've got a 160 GB hard drive and I can't imagine it could scan the whole hard drive in a blink.
Is that possible?
I thought the way it would operate is that I would choose ashquick.exe and then it would prompt me which file I'd like to scan and then I could browse to that file and click Scan Now and then it would scan that file and then finish with a message like "File Scan Complete - No Malware found."
Regarding the download manager, is its purpose to invoke ashquick.exe and execute it as I click "Download Now" for any file from a Web site I'm downloading?
So, would the process be as such - I surf to a Web site, locate the the file I want to download, then somehow summon fdm or orbit downloader (which Ive already donated and installed) and then click some key function in fdm or orbit downloader which then invokes ashquick.exe and then avast would begin scanning that file being downloaded?
Once you download and extract the files for fdm or orbit downloader does that program automatically appear on my Firefox ToolBar or how do I summon it to activate it's downloading function?
Thanks so much for your help.
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Don't worry your hard disk compacity is 160GB or its memory usage is 160GB?
I think it can't be using 160GB, I think it will can the total memory occupied in your hard disk!
Eh meaning it scans all the files in your hard disk,it don't scans free space also^^
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hello eager to learn,
ashquick.exe doesn't work as you think.
say that you have a folder on desktop named as eager.
inside the folder let us put a 100 MB file named as setup.exe.
now, if you have to scan the 100 MB file, you have to get into the folder and left click the file once. then right click while being on the same file and select the "scan setup.exe"
now we will see what happens when you do that:
1) windows just pings ashquick.exe with the message "file name, say, desktop\eager\setup.exe."
2) ashquick.exe scans only the file it has been asked to scan that is setup.exe. hence it doesn't scan whole hard disk.
you if click ashquick.exe then it will not give you prompt asking which files to scan for. if you want that kind of a prompt then you have to do this : right click avast! tray icon > start avast! antivirus > select the folders to be scanned and click scan.
if you want a result of a scan for the scans you invoked using ashquick.exe then do this : right click avast! tray icon > program settings > check show results of explorer extension.
you cant actually scan file when you click start download button on a page. it will be scanned after the file is downloaded.
when the download manager(dm) is used to download, you can put the command line in the settings of the dm and so ashquick.exe is automatically called as soon as the file is downloaded. you don't have to press any button in order to invoke scan from the download manager.
yes, both fdm and orbit dm's have an option to be directly invoked from the browser so that the file to be downloaded will automatically sit in the queue of the dm.
summary:
1) ashquick.exe is only an explorer extension of the avast scanner. it can be invoked by right clicking a file and selecting scan file.
2) it will scan only the file from which it was invoked.
3) it doesn't scan whole drive unless you select a drive, right click and select "scan drive:\"
4) file scan complete- no malware found can be opted via the settings as indicated.
5) you don't have to click anything if you have asked a dm to invoke ashquick.exe after download is complete since it will automatically do that.
6) download managers does install plugins in web browser so that when you click download button on a site, it will automatically show an option to add the file to download queue.
nmb
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Hi nmb,
I think we're getting closer to me understating how this all works.
I click on the avast tray icon, it opens to avast, I click Start avast anitvirus and it opens to that large graphic that looks like a radio dial in your car. I can then click Start Scan and choose Folders but it just opens to folders. I don't see where I can select a file and not just a folder.
If I click on the folder it doesn't open to the file I downloaded.
How would I select just a file not an entire folder to scan?
So, now I've clicked program settings > and checked the show results of explorer extension.
Is there anything else I must do to scan and get results of that scan for just one file and not a folder?
Does this mean from now on when I visit a Web site and click Download Now that ashquick.exe will automatically start scanning the file being downloaded?
And then give me a prompt that the file has been scanned and is clean?
Or is that where this download manager applies?
So, that if I don't use a download manager I have to scan the new downloaded file only after ti's already on my hard drive and may be unleashing it's malware, is that correct?
Presuming that's correct, then in order to scan a downloaded file *before* it gets to my hard drive I must have download and install a download manager?
And somehow write some command into that download manager to invoke the ashquick.exe as the file is being downloaded, is that correct?
My goal is to scan a file before it ends up on my hard drive. Once it's on my hard drive all sorts of nefarious things can happen even without opening the downloaded file.
You mentioned that download manager does install plugins in web browser so that when you click download button on a site, it will automatically show an option to add the file to download queue.
So, I visit the download manager Web site where fdm or orbit downloader are located. I click Download Now and they download to my hard drive to a folder I've specified. Then, I click on that download manager program to install and they extract their files on to my hard drive.
How do I get that download program I just downloaded into Firefox so that when I go visit a site where I want to download a file that download manager appears in some drop down menu that I can then choose and it will invoke ashquick.exe?
Do these download manager programs explain step-by-step what and how I type some words into some command line somewhere so that ashquick.exe will be invoked and start scanning as soon as I click Download Now for a file on a Web site?
Or does that download manager program tell you which Firefox plug-in you then need to download also to invoke ashquick.exe?
This all begs the question that while you're downloading the download manager to invoke ashquick.exe you're not able to apply ashquick.exe so the download manager could be corrupted and you could be installing malware with the download manager.
Thanks for all your help with this complicated process.
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hello eager to learn,
you have not even got a single point I wanted to convey. may be it is because I didn't explain properly or you didn't understand properly because you are completely new to computers.
nmb
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How do I get that download program I just downloaded into Firefox so that when I go visit a site where I want to download a file that download manager appears in some drop down menu that I can then choose and it will invoke ashquick.exe?
read my previous post here again: once fdm is installed, you must go into fdm options and tweak them...you'll find everything there.
This all begs the question that while you're downloading the download manager to invoke ashquick.exe you're not able to apply ashquick.exe so the download manager could be corrupted and you could be installing malware with the download manager.
;D ;D ;D are you for real ??? :D (are you Scan's brother ??? ... never mind ::) )
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To scan a single file inside a folder :
1 - double left click the folder to open it.
2 - hover your cursor of the file you want to scan with avast.
3 - right click the file once to get the menu.
4 - look for the "a" ball in the menu. Beside it will be something to this effect ... Scan (your file name here).
5 - left click once on Scan (your file name here).
6 - two small windows should open giving you the information you seek.
I hope this helps you to understand what the others are posting about scanning a file inside a folder.
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Hi Charley O,
Your post was very helpful That worked well.
Perhaps, you can enlighten me as to scanning while downloading a file with one of the download managers?
Is there a particular download manager program you've used where you can share step-by-step, as you aptly did with scanning a single file, which might guide me about scanning a file as I'm downloading with Firefox 3.0.15?
Thanks so much for all your help and patience.
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You are welcome, eager, and I am happy that helped you.
I can not be of much help with the downloading since I only use the download manager that comes inside Opera 10. I rely on avast's providers/shields to detect anything malicious after the download is complete.
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<snip>
Is there a particular download manager program you've used where you can share step-by-step, as you aptly did with scanning a single file, which might guide me about scanning a file as I'm downloading with Firefox 3.0.15?
<snip>
Firstly, you should update firefox as the current version is 3.5.5.
Secondly, the firefox download function in 3.5 says it has the AV scan the downloaded file, but it doesn't work with many AVs at all avast being one.
There is no link pre scanner in avast, you can add various add-ons to firefox to use to right ckick on a link and have something like the DrWeb link scanner scan the file. This however isn't 100% by some way so there is no guarantees.
If the download is done in your browser using HTTP protocol over port 80 then the web shield should scan the download whilst it is downloaded before it is finally saved to your hard disk.
Many download managers work with firefox and I use Orbit downloader. Most download managers have an option to have your AV scan the downloaded file, you must enter the full path to the antivirus file that does the scanning, which is: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe.
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Hi DavidR,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.
If I download and install Orbit downloader can you please explain step-by-step, as Charley O did for me with applying avast to scan a file at a time, how I would make Orbit downloader work with avast in scanning a file as it was downloading?
Once I've downloaded and extracted the files in Orbit downloader, thereby installing it on my hard drive, what steps would I need to then take to ensure that Orbit downloader would then work in conjunction with avast to scan a file as it was being downloaded?
That would be very helpful and I would be very appreciative.
Thank you so much.
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You need to look in the Orbit Options, run the program, Tools, Preferences, Anti-Virus section, check the Use virus scanner to scan downloads and paste the path I gave in my last post.
Orbit doesn't have avast scan whilst downloading, it calls ashQuick.exe to scan the file on completion.