What is happening with the icon?

[roatan4us]

I am totally new to Avast! anti virus. I have downloaded the program, I have registrered it and inserted the key according to instructions. I read that the icon in the tray is "waiting for something" if it is gray, and active if it is blue.

Mine is gray and the letter "a" is spinning around every so often. When I click on it I get this:

(hopefully the screen shot shows, if not, then I have to learn how to post a Picture in this forum as well)

How do I know when it is updating and what does it look like? Why is the icon not turning blue?

[DavidR]

There are many shades of Blue, it isn't a Royal blue and there is a 3D shading effect which makes it look more of a blue grey. The colour is also dependent on the monitor, graphics card and background colour, however, yours probably looks a lot like mine and there is nothing wrong. The important thing is the rotation indicates it is working.

I also suggest in the image you posted, you click the Details... >> button for a better presentation of the on-access providers screen.

[roatan4us]

Here is another screen shot. Does it run/scan all the time? It has never stopped since I installed it last night. The "a" in the icon, is sitting off to the right, is that how it should look. Is the spinning my only indication that it works? Or is there a way I can look and see a date that tells me that it has updated?
(like all other virus programs I have had)

[DavidR]

You aren't capturing the avast system tray icon, see my attached image for what is should look like. Can you see the images you posted, they don't show the system tray icon.

avast is a resident on-access scanner, that means as files are opened, avast intercepts and scans the file before opening. So your avast ' a ' icon should only rotate when it is physically scanning.

What are you doing at the time when it is rotating/spinning ?

[BJ_GeOrgE]

it seems ok...but it would be nice if u can post a pic of ur tray icon(so i can see the colour of avast icon)..it seems ok though..in the first pic u posted,avast resident protection seems to work as it shows the "last scanned",the "scanned count" etc..

[Lisandro]

Is the spinning my only indication that it works?

Click on the Standard Shield provider at left and then you'll see the file being scanned at right.
Your avast is active and working.

Or is there a way I can look and see a date that tells me that it has updated?

Yes. Just configure the update settings to see a panel when avast is updated.
Manually, you can go to the 'About' dialog (right click the 'a' blue icon).

[roatan4us]

Here is the tray icon.


I am not doing anything in particular when it spins, it just starts on its own.

How do I know the program is doing daily updates?

[Lisandro]

I am not doing anything in particular when it spins, it just starts on its own.

The default behavior is to spin when scanning.
If you click 'Settings' in my signature you'll find more info about avast configurations.

How do I know the program is doing daily updates?

Right click the 'a' blue icon > Program Settings > Update (Basic)
Set to Automatic
The updates are released when necessary, sometimes even more than one per day, sometimes there is not an update in a particular day.

[Spiritsongs]

   Hi Roatan :

     If you have not already done so, would recommend you read the info at
     www.avast.com/eng/faq-avast-4-home-professional.html  ; especially the
     bottom 4 "categories" . Your screen shot indicates you have 2 Avast icons
     in your System Tray; the one on the left is the "Virus Recovery DataBase",
     commonly known as the "VRDB", and it is recommended you "generate" it,
     and once done, it will, by default", re-generate itself every 21 days. There
     is also an "option" to "merge" the 2 Icons into one, which many of us
     have done.

[DavidR]

Here is the tray icon.


I am not doing anything in particular when it spins, it just starts on its own.

How do I know the program is doing daily updates?

The icon never just spins on its own, there is some ativity on your system and that activity causes avast to scan that activity, this in turn causes the icon to spin.

You can temporarily enable 'Show detailed info on performed actions' in the Standard Shield, Customize, Advanced, see image. Let us know what is being scanned (some general examples).



The Web Shield and Internet Mail providers also can have this option applied should this not reveal what is being scanned.

It depends on your Program Settings, Update (Basic), the default is Automatic and you should be informed in a pop-up at the bottom right of the screen that an update has occurred.

[roatan4us]

I am going to do some more reading tonight, but tell me something. Does the run time go forever?
It has been running since installation last night. It is on 18 hours and going....?

[DavidR]

It entirely depends on what it is scanning, do as I suggested and enable the Show detailed info on performed actions. Either that or open the on-access protection control, select the Standard Shield and see what is being scanned, then check the Web Shield and Internet Mail providers and see what is being scanned.

What other programs do you have running in the background ?
Are you connected to the internet 24/7 ?
If so break the connection and see if that has any effect.

[Lisandro]

I am going to do some more reading tonight, but tell me something. Does the run time go forever?
It has been running since installation last night. It is on 18 hours and going....?

David is right... it depends...
But 18 hours seems a lot, something is different or wrong! :'(

[roatan4us]

Ok, this is what I got so far:

                       Last Scanned:       Last infected:           Scanned Count:         Infected Count:
Network:                   -                            -                        0                                0
Outlook/Explorer:  Waiting for subsystem to start
PSP Shield:               -                              -                       0                                  0
Web Shield:     http://forum.avast.com           -                      483                               0
Standard Shield:   C:\xml_topic[1].js            -                        1972                             0

I have checked the box for "Show detailed information on performed actions" but I don't see any more info. I don't have any other programs than explorer running right now. It is still running, going on 23 hours now. Yes, I do have DSL, online all the time. Have not tried to disconnect yet.

[roatan4us]

I am getting these quick windows that pop-up that says:

Avast! On-Access Scanner Message - didn't use to get them.

It lists one or more files that have been or are being scanned. But they go away so quick, and I don't know how to retrieve the information again, or how to read it. Don't mean a whole lot to me.