avast and checking for internet connection

[Mr Wheatley]

I USE AVAST ON MY HOME COMPUTER AND LOVE IT. i INSTALLED IT ON MY LAPTOP AND I connect up using wireless or LAN when at home. Is there anyway to make avast check for an internet connection? If i set as dial up it never does anything and when i check LAN it pops up no connection everytime I open and start computer. I guess I am lazy, but I don't always keep up with manual updates.

[DavidR]

avast does check to see if you have an internet connection, I'm on dial-up and avast can't connect it has to have a running connection. avast Home isn't a network/server version but a stand alone AV.

I don't know how being on a LAN would effect this as each PC on the LAN needs its own avast installation and if another PC on the system established a connection I don't know if avast would detect this on other PCs that could share that connection. If it did detect the connection and every copy of avast tried to use the connection to update I have no idea what might happen.

It is essential to keep your AV up to date as an out of date AV is almost worse than no AV as it lulls you into a false sense of security, you need to set aside time to do this perhaps as a part of your regular weekly system maintenance

[Mr Wheatley]

I have Avast installed separately on both computers, It just doesn't check for a connection for LAN, only when you open the dialer does it seem to check for internet. Is avast suppose to check periodically for internet? or just when the dial up program runs?

[DavidR]

It does both I believe, If you indicate in the Update (Connections) I only connect to the Internet using a dial-up modem, then I believe it waits, on mine within a very short time of my establishing a connection (well under a minute) it checks for updates. If you have broadband and indicate My computer is permanently connected to the Internet it will check fairly soon after you boot and periodically (every 4 hours) if you remain connected.

In Update (Basic) what options have you chosen, me not wanting automatic updates on dial-up if I it is likely to conflict with what limited connection speed I have it set to Ask when an update is available.

[alanrf]

If you tell avast to look for a dialup connection it will do just that, wait until you have made a dialup connection.  On your laptop it appears that you never make a dialup connection so avast never sees one. 

avast, by default, waits thirty seconds after startup to try to use a LAN connection (wireless is just LAN connection really) to look for updates. 

Is there something that delays your LAN/wireless Internet availability - like a need to logon to your service provider?  If so, then we can offer a suggestion to delay avast from going out to look for updates a little longer to give time for your laptop to establish the Internet connection. 

[Mr Wheatley]

I guess my main complaint is when I set it to LAN it checks everytime I use the laptop. There is a lot of times I am not using internet when using laptop. I get the red screen, It is more of a nuisance than anything. I can live with the red screen to keep my avast up to date, but would like the option, and loss of memory, for it to check for internet connection periodically all the time, running in the background.

[alanrf]

If you tell avast you are on a LAN then it believes you and assumes that network connectivity is available. 

I do not think that many folks run a system these days on a "sometimes on" network so I am not surprised that avast does not have that option. 

However, it seems that the main irritant for you is the red error popup when avast fails to get connected.  avast gives you the option to turn off the error popup. 

Right click on the avast systray icon >  Program Settings ... > Update (Basic) > Details > Uncheck "Show sliding box on error" > OK > OK

avast will still check for an update every 4 hours by default and, if the network is available it will download the update/advise you an update is available based on the update settings you have on your laptop.

[Mr Wheatley]

Thank you!
I like that option!