Avast WEBforum

Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: remoted on June 09, 2007, 06:38:16 PM

Title: Memory Test
Post by: remoted on June 09, 2007, 06:38:16 PM
I only have one small gripe with Avast, otherwise it works fine. I'd like to know if it's possible to turn off the automatic Memory Test after each download? That's all.  Thanks,  Ted
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: tsilo on June 09, 2007, 07:59:52 PM
Right click on Avast! tray icon, click Program Settings, unchek test memory during application start-up :)
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on June 09, 2007, 09:26:01 PM
I only have one small gripe with Avast, otherwise it works fine. I'd like to know if it's possible to turn off the automatic Memory Test after each download? That's all.  Thanks,  Ted

Avast doesn't check the memory after a download only the file that is being downloaded, what makes you think it is ?

Can you expand on what it is you are doing, How are you downloading, downloader, browser, P2P, Instant Messaging, etc. and what is it your downloading ?

avast will check memory when you start the Simple User Interface and tsilo indicates how to stop that.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: remoted on June 28, 2007, 05:44:29 PM
Well. That was simple enough. I just unchecked it and it doesn't check the memory any more.
Thanks a bunch. I should have thought of that myself.
  I'm a bit red faced about this.
Thanks again.    Ted
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on June 28, 2007, 06:05:31 PM
I wouldn't be embarrassed if what you checked 'test memory during application start-up' then this has absolutely nothing to do with downloads, only checking the memory before the simple user interface starts.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: nweissma on June 30, 2007, 04:01:29 AM

Quote
Avast doesn't check the memory after a download only the file that is being downloaded, what makes you think it is ? avast will check memory when you start the Simple User Interface


please explain what the avast "memory test" is.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on June 30, 2007, 04:08:46 AM
When you want to do an on-demand scan you launch the Simple User Interface. Before that starts it scans all programs, files, etc. that are loaded into your system memory (RAM).

If it finds a virus in the memory it will suggest that you do a boot-time scan (before windows starts and loads files into memory).

If there was something in memory then it would still be there when you ran the on-demand scan, that may be hiding other malware, that would make the scan of less worth.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: nweissma on June 30, 2007, 05:25:12 AM
Quote
If it finds a virus in the memory it will suggest that you do a boot-time scan (before windows starts and loads files into memory).

please elaborate on "boot-time scan." what is it, and how do i enact it?
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Rick F on June 30, 2007, 05:46:31 AM
Well, I'm not David, but...

If a 'boot-time scan' is selected, it runs first after you reboot and before a lot of other stuff is loaded.

Quote
(From the help menu) Schedule Boot-Time Scan. Displays a dialog allowing you to schedule virus scanning before the operating system start. You can remove the virus before its activation this way, because almost all viruses start along with the operating system. During this test, avast! creates a report file named aswboot.txt in C:\Program Files\ALWIL Software\Avast4\Data\Report. This function is available on Windows NT, 2000 and XP only.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: nweissma on June 30, 2007, 06:37:29 AM
Quote
avast will check memory when you start the Simple User Interface and tsilo indicates how to stop that.

for what reasons would i not want the memory check?
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Lisandro on June 30, 2007, 02:16:19 PM
for what reasons would i not want the memory check?
If you open the avast antivirus program many times, you need to wait for a memory scanning when, actually, your computer is clean. So, to get access to the program quickly, maybe you could disable it, like me 8)
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on June 30, 2007, 03:23:38 PM
Quote
avast will check memory when you start the Simple User Interface and tsilo indicates how to stop that.

for what reasons would i not want the memory check?

Personally I wouldn't stop it before I ran an on-demand scan.
If I want to access the avast antivirus program many times (and I do for reference and usually to help others on the forums), I created a desktop short cut to launch the simple user interface directly (C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashSimpl.exe) no memory check.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Rick F on June 30, 2007, 03:47:20 PM
Quote
for what reasons would i not want the memory check?

It's good to check memory first because if a virus is active on your computer, it will probably be in the computer's memory.  If avast didn't check memory first, and it found a virus on your HDD, the virus in memory could re-infect your HDD.  One of the worst viruses in history (The CIH or Chernobyl virus) worked this way. If avast detects a virus in memory, it will suggest that you do a 'boot time' scan so that your memory will be cleaned out when you reboot -- and then do a scan.

I wouldn't disable memory scanning myself.  I feel it's important. It doesn't take that long.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Lisandro on June 30, 2007, 08:54:43 PM
I wouldn't disable memory scanning myself.  I feel it's important. It doesn't take that long.
I don't think this is necessary if you do NOT disable the on-access (resident) scanning for nothing...
But I'll think about doing what David said (create a direct link to the GUI).
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Caryl on July 02, 2007, 02:35:08 PM

Quote
If a 'boot-time scan' is selected, it runs first after you reboot and before a lot of other stuff is loaded.


I know you can stop the boot scan by pressing esc, but is it possible to program it so it does not start at all?

I am using the home version of avast! and Windows XP Home Edition.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on July 02, 2007, 02:59:38 PM
It doesn't start unless you schedule it.

It is a one time operation, you select it, on the next restart the boot-time scan is done and it doesn't happen next boot.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Lisandro on July 03, 2007, 05:18:53 AM
but is it possible to program it so it does not start at all?
But is it starting at every boot ??? Or just once?
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Caryl on July 03, 2007, 06:36:16 PM
Quote
But is it starting at every boot  Or just once?

Thanks to both David R and Tech for their responses to my question. The answer to Tech's question is that the scan was starting at every boot, and then suddenly it stopped. I do not know what, if anything, I did to cause this, but I am pleased about it!
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: DavidR on July 03, 2007, 06:44:53 PM
No problem, welcome to the forums.

That is most strange, all I can thing of is if you kept stopping it then it didn't complete, so the next time you restart it would try the boot-time scan again, this is speculation on my part.

If you happen to have scheduled a boot-time scan and you don't want it to run, I believe if you go in again to schedule a boot-time scan it will ask if you want to cancel the one scheduled.
Title: Re: Memory Test
Post by: Lisandro on July 03, 2007, 07:19:04 PM
The scan was starting at every boot
If this happens again, just ask and we can give you some help on troubleshooting.
For sure, boot time scanning is not thought to be run at every boot...