Old scan jobs vanished from the view!

[REDACTED]

Hello Everybody!

After upgrading to current Avast Free Antivirus (AFA) 2015.10.0.2208 a number of weeks ago (or may be even earlier) I noticed recently that there is no access in the GUI to the scan jobs I defined, even though the jobs are still being performed according to the schedule and the results reported.

I've lost a lot time combing through various windows, tabs, options, setting etc trying to find the list of those jobs becasue I need to adjust them, but without success.

Do I have to define my scanning jobs from scratch?

How do I stop the old jobs from being performed now?

Do I need to reinstall the AFA?

What's worse this concerns two machines.

This is very frustrating and quite unprofessional I must say to block user control of the execution of the program without any notice, any trace.

Please help!

[Eddy]

Open the UI > click scan > they are listed there.

[DavidR]

From the avastUI > Scan > Scan for viruses image1 attached - this opens up the scan section so that you can select the Scan you wish to edit (image2) - once selected click the Settings and you can remove the Scheduling.

You can create a shortcut to this Scan section by changing one of the tiles by clicking the little menu icon (also see image1).

[REDACTED]

Ok, now I see it! 

There are on the pull-down list at the top right area.

I guess I was confused because I want to recreate  the situation when I had a full and a couple of quick scans performed weekly - it used to be quite easy to define, as far as I remember.

Now I need to manually set all the settings for each individual quick scan by borrowing them from the built-in quick scan definition. I presume there is no easy way to copy such jobs?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[DavidR]

It does take a little digging to get there but with the shortcut created, pretty easy.

Once you have things as you want in the scans, there isn't a specific way of copying the individual scan settings - but most would also be saved in the avast5.ini file [Scanner] heading but that just gives the various task IDs. You would have to scroll down to those Task ID numbers, e.g. [{5083E447-D74C-46F1-9131-31B7F1C37858}]. So not so easy or you could save the avast5.ini file.

Or you could backup the avast settings - AvastUI > Settings > General - scroll down and click Back up settings option. Another window appears and you can select what to backup - whilst this mentions Scan/Task definitions, I'm not exactly sure if this would include the on-demand settings.

In all honesty on-demand scans are much depreciated:
- With a resident on-access antivirus like avast, the need for frequent on-demand scans is much depreciated. For the most part the on-demand scan is going to be scanning files that would be otherwise be dormant or inert. If they were active files then the on-access file system shield would be scanning them before being created, modified, opened or executed.

I had previously had avast set to do a scheduled weekly Quick scan, set at a time and day that I know the computer will be on - but now I don't schedule that either.

[REDACTED]

Thanks again for your valuable advice.
1) Quite recently a quick scan found on my machine 3 threats, i.e. in Firefox Win32  Malware-gen: SafetyNutHlpFF*.dll
2) I just looked before coming here at the backup mechanism and thought about such way of copying jobs

There is a few of questions I'd like to ask but spreading them over several forum topics seems too much hassle so I'll try here:
1) I cannot copy to clipboard information from the detailed history report - is there a way?
2) I am not sure were to look for the logs, did not find any related setting (only about clearing logs)?
3) How to receive notifications about replies to my posts here, or subscribe to some threads (email, RSS, the link at the bottom seems to be just general)?

Cheers!

[REDACTED]

I just saw the "Notify"button at the bottom, too many things going on in my head, sorry... 

[DavidR]

1. What history report ?

2. Generally they are in the C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Avast\report or C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Avast\log location, that rather depends on what you are looking for.

3. The forum default should (or used to be) that you were notified on replies to topics. You can also click the Notify button at the top and bottom of the topic pages. This isn't General but topic specific. EDIT: I see you have now found that, forums dead slow at the moment, that's me for the night 12:22am here.

[REDACTED]

1. I mean Scan History - I had to type the threat names from the report into my previous message. I tried to right click on the row with the threat info, and just the CTLR+C combination but no success

2. I delete ProgramData folders since they seem not related to Avast - too bad the logs are not in usual locations like "Documents&Settings" "ApplicationData"

3. I meant the RSS link

  One more question - is it possible to make the AVAST jobs visible in the Windows XP "Scheduled Tasks" lists?

Many thanks !

[DavidR]

I still don't know what you mean by Scan History - to me it seems you are mixing two things together as you are talking about copying from a report (which you also say doesn't exist because you have deleted the location). So I'm somewhat confused (easily done) as to what it is that you are doing. A wild guess are you trying to copy from the avast User Interface - if so there is no function to copy from the screen.

The "Documents&Settings" folder is related to older OSes XP (though it may be there, it generally isn't accessible) - the ProgramData folder is its equivalent location in later OSes. That is where my avast logs/reports are on my win7 system. I don't know if that isn't a protected location, in some OSes (You haven't said what you are using) and may also be protected by the avast self-defence module.

I don't believe the forums have RSS functionality built in - I'm not aware of it and don't have any link for it. Personally I don't think RSS is real that useful in a forum like this, with the number of topics/posts in multiple sub-forums and multiple languages you would persistently be getting notified.

Not sure what job it is you speak of, but if it is the emergency update check - it is a hidden task.

[REDACTED]

1. "A wild guess are you trying to copy from the avast User Interface - if so there is no function to copy from the screen."

This is exactly what I meant - I cannot copy from the scan report details screen, which needlessly forces me to manually type in any relevant info about the program operation on this forum. I am not sure why such basic functionality is not provided, usually it's just a property setting in the GUI object (at least in the standard Win API)?

2. "I don't believe the forums have RSS functionality built in - I'm not aware of it and don't have any link for it. "

The RSS link is at the bottom, in the middle of this page. RSS configured dynamically to provide only what's in a forum user particular interest would be very useful.  What's weird - I still have not received any notification about replays to this thread in my email even though I clicked on "Notify" right before posting info about me overlooking that option. Since then it shows "Unnotify" at the top and at the bottom of the topic page.

3.  "it is the emergency update check - it is a hidden task"

It's not hidden on my "Scheduled Tasks" list, and I would like to see all the scan jobs I defined in AVAST also there! That  would make organizing the scheduling of various maintenance jobs on my system much easier.

4. Indeed I have two XP SP3 systems and see absolutely no reason why to migrate to newer Win versions. It so happens that other programs also leave some info in the ProgramData that I assumed to be not important. I did not expect AVAST to leave any trace there on a XP machine.

Once again - thanks a bunch for your input!

[DavidR]

1. As an avast user like yourself, I can't say why things aren't available in the UI that may be possible in other programs. My only guess is that the way the UI is programmed using something other than a standard API - previously flash was used for a more dynamic display.

2. I have never noticed the RSS link at the  the bottom of the page and I also don't use the Notify button. Nor does my profile settings - Modify Profile > Notifications > 'Turn notification on when you post or reply to a topic' set to receive them, if you can access this area try turning that on. Why the Notification button isn't working for you I don't know (you could check to see if it isn't getting trapped as spam).

My preferred option is to click on the 'Show new replies to your posts.' option at the top of every page.

3. The emergency update task certainly used to be hidden - looking in XP Scheduled Tasks, it is empty now. However, I can see it using WinPatrol Plus I can see it, to me that is hidden. As far as I'm aware, the scans aren't run by the task scheduler, so I don't see why they would be put there.

4. For your XP systems the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\report is where the raw text logs are - presumably the date placed in the Scan Logs UI from here - so you should be able to see scan data

[REDACTED]

I've found both the profile section for notifications (I am puzzled why I missed it) and the AVAST reports stored  on my XP system, just where you pointed them.

I thought AVAST uses XP Task Scheduler in some hidden way, but if not that's ok too.

That's pretty much all I wanted to know now - I appreciate your help very much!

[DavidR]

You're welcome.