Viruses

[garymac221]

Hello all..I am a computer boob... I downloaded avast! and ran the scan.  It showed I have 29 virus/worms on my computer.  I run windows 98 SE.  My question is.. once all 29 problems have been put into the chest ...should they be deleted, or left alone in the chest?

Also..a second question: while the scan is running..is there any way to automatically put the virus/worms into the chest...it seems that I have to sit and monitor the progress of the scan...when it finds a problem...it stops scanning until I "tell" it what to do with the file.  Thanks...Gary

[NickGolovko]

I think there is no need to store all those files in the chest. Basically the chest is for saving files which may be detected by false.

For the second question - when you receive the first virus alert, you may check there an option that the action you choose will be applied for all other alerts in this session.

[DavidR]

You have done the right thing, 'first do no harm' don't delete, send virus to the chest and investigate.

There is no rush to delete anything from the chest, a protected area where it can do no harm. Anything that you send to the chest you should leave there for a few weeks. If after that time you have suffered no adverse effects from moving these to the chest, scan them again (inside the chest) and if they are still detected as viruses, delete them.

Choose No Action and tick the don't show this again and it will continue to the end of the scan and present a list of infected files requiring action, you can select the action 'send to chest' the safest 'first do no harm'.

As NickGolovko said this is only for the current scan and not future scans.

[JKingGrim]

Sorry, double post. Delete button?

[JKingGrim]

Hmmm... That is a little annoying that everytime I do a scan I have to sit in front of my computer everytime I do a scan and wait for it to find a virus? Who sits and watches virus scans for fun? I started a thorough scan the other night (just cause its my first one) and went to sleep only to wakeup and find out that the scan halted half an hour in because it found a trojan. By then its too late to let it continue. I want to use my computer. Is there any setting to make it just keep going and present me with a list when it completes? Why do I have to wait for it to find a threat everytime just to tell it to keep going? Am I the only one who thinks this is a terrible mistake?

Dont get me wrong. I love Avast and I am so happy to dump symantec. Thanks for the great program!

*edit* Ah, I see. Free version limitation.

[Lisandro]

Hmmm... That is a little annoying that everytime I do a scan I have to sit in front of my computer everytime I do a scan and wait for it to find a virus? Who sits and watches virus scans for fun?

Nobody... just buy the Professional version and you'll got it fully automated.
As you could see, it's available only in Professional version (see picture here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=13315.msg112285#msg112285).

Well, that's the way it is, I am afraid; you may call it a limitation of the Home Edition of avast!. In the Professional Edition, you can configure the task to perform automatic actions (or, don't do anything).
In the Home version, you may check the "Don't show again" checkbox in the Virus warning dialog - but only after the first virus has been found (because you won't see the virus dialog until then).

[DavidR]

Yes a limitation of the free program requiring interactive input, the programmers have to eat
Your only option is that outlined in my last post. This only lasts for that scan and isn't carried forward to subsequent scans.

Once you get over your first thorough scan the likelihood of viruses detected on subsequent scans is reduced as the resident scanners should hopefully catch it before it arrives on your HDD.

Archive (zip, etc.) files are by their nature are inert, you need to extract the files and then you have to run them to be a threat. Long before that happens avast's Standard Shield should have scanned them and before an executable is run that is scanned. Thorough is also by its design very thorough and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate.

I have only ever done a through scan with archives once shortly after installation just to ensure a clean start state, but with XP for example avast will do a boot-time scan after installation if you select it, this I believe will be quicker and reasonably effective. Like everything in life things are a compromise.

[JKingGrim]

Of course the devs must eat, and when I am a paid engineer and nolonger a college student I will definitely pay for it. 

A thorough scan just for the first time is what I had in mind though. Thanks for the replies!

[DavidR]

No problem, welcome to the forums.