Author Topic: unwanted background scans  (Read 3237 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

REDACTED

  • Guest
unwanted background scans
« on: January 10, 2015, 01:41:27 PM »
Hi All

Can anyone advise why Avast seems to be doing unwanted scans of my hard drives even though i have turned off all scheduling?

Does not seem to happen all the time but every now and then i get a session of messages popping up that Avast has found a suspicious file on my various hard drives and wants to know what i want to do with it.
Stop scanning and leave them alone is what i want.  I did not ask Avast to go searching for malicious stuff so why is this unwanted action occurring.  The stupid program does not even offer a selection choice to do nothing and leave the file alone.

Avast and its meddling intrusiveness is starting to annoy me and maybe it is time to look for an alternative but what else it there to choose from?

cheers

Offline mchain

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Ultra Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 5564
  • Spartan Warrior
Re: unwanted background scans
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2015, 02:41:58 PM »
Scheduled scanning would be at the time you choose.

On access real-time scanning is different.  This type of scanning only scans files or executables when you or your system runs or open them.  Next time this happens, have a look at the file path of the reported suspicious file and track it back to the program you may be running at the time if you can.  An example of this would be when you open an archived file you've stored on an external hard drive or usb flash drive.

To do that, either screen capture the avast pop-up dialog box, or right-click the avast icon in the system tray and select "Show last popup message" and write it down.  The type of malware category is important.  The full file directory path is also important.

Find that file and upload it to Virus Total dot com and scan it with 56 virus scanning engines and report back.  Include a link to the virus total web page when you do so:  https://www.virustotal.com/

Doing so may answer your question whether your file is in fact malicious or not.
Windows 10 Home 64-bit 22H2 Avast Premier Security version 24.1.6099 (build 24.1.88821.762)  UI version 1.0.797
 UI version 1.0.788.  Windows 11 Home 23H2 - Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Avast Premier Security version 24.2.6105 (build 24.1.8918.827) UI version 1.0.801

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88900
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: unwanted background scans
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2015, 02:43:45 PM »
Avast being a resident antivirus, only scans activity, it doesn't start its own scanning or scans.

So there has to be something that is accessing your files or possibly running in the background which triggers avast to scan. What other programs are running when this happens ?

I don't know if you have the Windows Indexing function enabled, that could possibly have such an affect.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

REDACTED

  • Guest
Re: unwanted background scans
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2015, 01:02:43 AM »
DavidR & mchain

Thanks for your replies.  Appreciated.

Avast prompting me about suss files occurs randomly and fortunately, infrequently.

I have 'scan when executing' turned on.
I have 'scan when opening' & 'scan when writing' turned off.

The files Avast flags as suss have nothing to do with any program or activity i am doing at the time.  I get warnings even if the PC is on but idle.

I have a backup program (Create Synchronicity) that is scheduled to copy files from one HDD to another.  The backups are scheduled for later in the day (9-12pm) and there is a 'catch-up' backup set if the scheduled backup is missed.

I have Windows Indexing turned off.  I have a search program (Everything) which indexes files (when it does this??). 

However, i have manually initiated a backup and a file index of both the above mentioned programs and they have never set Avast off while i wait for them to complete their activity.  With my Avast setting and the fact that manual operation of the two programs does not trigger Avast, it sort of leads me to think Avast is doing its own thing un-asked.

Is there a way to not have Avast 'scan' a file when it is simply being indexed or read/write?
If not, what would be an acceptable solution for me is to have the option in the Avast pop-up window to simply ignore the file this time and in future unless it is called upon by an executing file.  I would rather not have to manually go into Avast to exclude a particular file(s) unless i choose to pre-empt it.

Once again, thanks for your input.

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88900
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: unwanted background scans
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2015, 01:40:23 AM »
That's the problem as I said avast is a resident on-access scanner - it doesn't do its own thing.

I suspect that the point you mentioned is a strong contender:
Quote from: wolftam_
I have a backup program (Create Synchronicity) that is scheduled to copy files from one HDD to another.  The backups are scheduled for later in the day (9-12pm) and there is a 'catch-up' backup set if the scheduled backup is missed.

Whilst you have disabled 'Scan documents when opening' - you need to read the rest of the notes on that option as it relates to MS Office documents and all other OLE files. So this would still result in non MS Documents being scanned.

As an avast user not an avast team member, I'm at a loss as to what to suggest as there is no setting to switch off something that isn't/doesn't have an option in the UI.

Unfortunately I don't see any of this on my XP Pro or Win7 systems - I have pretty much the avast default scan settings - windows indexing is off on both systems. I also have Everything on my win7 system, but it is on default settings. Just found it is an old version and updating now to see if anything changes.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security