Is it useful to run SmartScan manually once a week?

[James Newbie]

or does Avast automatically run the equivalent (or better) of SmartScan?

(aside from seeing the list of performance issues, as I have the free version)

[DavidR]

Personally I don't feel the need to do any on-demand scan when you have an on-access resident antivirus.

Whilst the Smart Scan is different as it runs scans from multiple different components, its value depends on what additional components you have installed.

I run avast free on a very minimal installation, File/Mail/Web/Behaviour Shields and Software Updater, so the Smart Scan isn't going to be scanning very much anyway.

[James Newbie]

Thank you, David. This is informative and useful. I hadn't realized Smart Scan is so configurable. Thanks.

[DavidR]

You're welcome.