Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: writerguy on March 02, 2004, 12:21:38 AM
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I gave up on NAV after it missed 6 viruses on my hard drive.
I tested BitDefender 7 and it won't work well with my wireless home network.
I installed avast! 4 Pro yesterday and everything seems to work OK. BUT -- I tried to scan all the files on my hard drive and it scanned a total of about 190,000. With NAV, the full scan was something around 560,000. And the full scan with BitDefender scanned over 1,000,000.
Why the big differences?? How can I get avast to scan ALL the files on my hard drive?
Thanks,
Gary Speer ("writerguy")
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Did you do the scan with archive scanning enabled?
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To be honest -- I'm having a hard time figuring out how to set which files I'm supposed to be scanning.
I thought I had selected all of the "Packers" under the "task" for scanning all local drives?
Is that the setting I needed? I have to say the avast skin/interface looks very nice, but I'm not having a lot of luck figuring out the settings and how to set them? Sorry.
Gary Speer
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Hi Gary,
Can this help you?
(http://users.pandora.be/eborght/Elwyn/archive_scanning.jpg)
;) Eric
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I thought I had selected all of the "Packers" under the "task" for scanning all local drives? Is that the setting I needed?
Yes (this is the setting for the Enhanced User Interface, Professional version).
I have to say the avast skin/interface looks very nice, but I'm not having a lot of luck figuring out the settings and how to set them? Sorry.
For the Simple User Interface (skin or Home version) you have to run a Thorough scan and check the option 'Scan archive files'.
Wellcome to forums.
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For the Simple User Interface (skin or Home version) you have to run a Thorough scan and check the option 'Scan archive files'.
Wellcome to forums.
Technical my friend! this is one of the great things you do...put things into terms even I can understand ;D
and I really do appreciate it...
thank you!
cojo
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For the Simple User Interface (skin or Home version) you have to run a Thorough scan and check the option 'Scan archive files'.
Wellcome to forums.
Technical my friend! this is one of the great things you do...put things into terms even I can understand ;D
and I really do appreciate it...
thank you!
cojo
Cojo, you always give me hope! We need hope these days: somebody understands me! :D
Now, I hope writerguy understands too... :)
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;D
Well, I thought when I was using the enhanced interface that I had checked archives -- but maybe not.
I switched to the simpler enterface, set the options to "Thorough" scan and checked to scan archives.
Worked fine. Only one question: The report I got said there were a number of files unable to scan, because they were "password protected." Turns out most of them were Norton SystemWorks "protected" files in the recycler. Got rid of those.
Why won't avast scan "protected" files? Is that a problem?
BTW -- Thanks to all for welcoming me to the forum. I love this product already and expect to purchase avast Pro in the next couple of weeks. So I'll probably be hanging around here from time to time.
(Hi, Eric. Good to see you from the PocoMail forums ;D)
And while I'm mentioning PocoMail: I figured out how to run PocoMail with Popfile spam software AND avast Pro. Seems to be a great combination for us email freaks. :)
Gary Speer
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Why won't avast scan "protected" files? Is that a problem?
Yes, it is. To unpack all files from the password-protected archive we need one detal: password ;). We can't do anything than skip such archives.
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Thats why password protected archives are good for transporting viral files :)
Each password protected archive could be brute-forced and scanned after password found,but this procedure takes time and lots of CPU time. And why the hell would you need such function ;)
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I've heard that some of the latest viruses (was it some variant of Beagle or Netsky?) actually sends itself in a passport-protected ZIP add tells the password in the message body. Ie. if the user is devoted enough, he/she can extract the virus and run it (provided there's no file-system based on-access scanner installed on his/her machine).
Interesting idea :)
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Yes, latest Beagle variants really spread themselves as password-protected ZIP files - and append the (random) archive password to the message (so that the user can extract it).
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So that the user can extract it.
If he/she is stupid I suppose ;D
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So that the user can extract it.
If he/she is stupid I suppose ;D
;D hey! are you talking about me???...just joking!
cojo
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Technical wrote: If he/she is stupid I suppose
??? You would be supprised, how stupid some people can be!
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??? You would be supprised, how stupid some people can be!
"This is a swedish virus. Please forward this message to all your friends. Afterwards delete all the files on your harddisk. Thank you."
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"This is a swedish virus. Please forward this message to all your friends. Afterwards delete all the files on your harddisk. Thank you."
Uh, OK. I did all that, now what?? Hello??? Can anybody hear me? Why is this screen all blue? OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D
Gary Speer
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Hi Lars-Erik, Hi Gary,
;D Some jokes are fine, but in reality it happens all to often.
Out of ignorance and stupidity they open every attachment which gets into their inbox.
Afterwards it supprises them that their computer got infected, because they didn't have the good sense to install a virusscanner as well as a firewall.
Students are worse in exchanging software without scanning it.
Some spammers already send you viruses. >:( Totally unacceptable.
Gary, I'm really glad of having Avast Pro instead of NAV and using PocoMail instead of MS. In addition I also have Sygate Pro, so this all together gives me a 99% protection.
;) Till later, Eric
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Computer company people are no better. I work in a large software company and there are ALWAYS someone that manages to open an infected attachment (and one is enough). Luckily the virus scanners get 99.9% nowadays, but from time to time a new virus gets passed, and then...
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I work in a large software company and there are ALWAYS someone that manages to open an infected attachment (and one is enough).
Could it be that many of us are sort of morbidly fascinated by the whole idea of
email attachments/virus infections? Sort of like car wrecks and train wrecks -- you know it's tragedy, but it's hard not to look. ???
Gary Speer
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I work in a large software company and there are ALWAYS someone that manages to open an infected attachment (and one is enough).
It also happens at my work. Today someone opened a dangerous attachment and IT needed 3 hours to put everything back to normal.
Could it be that many of us are sort of morbidly fascinated by the whole idea of email attachments/virus infections? Sort of like car wrecks and train wrecks -- you know it's tragedy, but it's hard not to look. ???
Gary, from day one that I worked with a computer I've always been fascinated with the security aspect. Through this all I'm now the most asked person in my department for helping them out with software & hardware problems. It takes some load off from IT.
I still like to help people to the best of my ability, as you found out.
;D Not morbidly fascinated, but close.
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;D Not morbidly fascinated, but close.
;D Yeah, I'm sort of the same way. I have soooo many things I'm supposed to be doing most days trying to make a living (??) doing freelance writing and affiliate marketing. But instead I struggle to limit the time I spend online doing antivirus, email, spam related things, etc.
Ah, well. My wife is very understanding, very supportive, and so far we're making it.
Gary Speer
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Yeah, the one time my company was infected (with the LoveLetter), it was ~literally~ because ONE guy decided he "wanted to see what would happen". >:(
He was a computer-literate guy, too - he knew what was going to happen.
We lost a lot of graphics files on the server because of that. Amazingly enough, he didn't even get in trouble hardly. (This was before our big IT upgrade came along).
Amazing what people will do.