Information please

[waitforme]

 ;)Hi all!

I'm not very familiar with AV-programs. The only one I've previously used is Norman. Since its license has expired I thought it was time to try something new. Today I installed Avast and ran it for the first time.
I set it to scanning everything but archives on a total of 290GB disc space. Only exception: Azureus, which I continued to run.
I'm used to beeing able to do almost anything at all while scanning, without a hitch.
The scan took almost 3 hours and the cpu ran at 54C.

Is this normal?
Also I tried to find a log but couldn't. I settings I've moved the slider all the way up to alerts, thinking that would log everything. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[DavidR]

The total disk space is irrelevant but the total data being scanned is, which you didn't mention ?
You don't mention anything about the spec of your system either, CPU, RAM, this contributes to the duration ?

You also probably choose the Thorough scan ?
This will scan every file on your system with the exception of archives which you excluded, so it could take a long time.

The home version (?) doesn't retain scan information after you close the Simple User Interface. Moving the slider all the way up to alerts would actually reduce logging as it is everything above the slider that is logged. But, that logging doesn't relate to scanned data information, just if there were any errors, etc. in a scan.

[waitforme]

To David: Thank you for a very quick reply and your time. Of course specs help, sorry for that lapse:

amd 64 x2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
2GB ram
running XP pro sp2
Tot amount of data appr. 205GB

With my old program I usually scanned the same + archives in a third of the time.
That isn't really a big deal as long as I know about it I can just set the scans to when I'm not using the pc. What worries me more is the high cpu temp it's a rise of more than 10 degrees.

And yes its the home version (I guess you can tell I'm not very used to asking help on forums). I'll move the slider back down then  .

[DavidR]

Ah now we get to the real question, comparison, I don't know what Norman scanned or its sensitivity so it is almost impossible to draw a direct comparison.

Right there is a beta build (4.8.1178) currently which is addressing a slowdown in the on-access scan from the update from 4.7.1098 to 4.8.1169 I say my on-demand scans increase and there has been a lengthy debate on it in the forums.

That now seems to have been resolved in the current beta build, where my on-access scans are now almost the same as the 4.7 ones, there is a little more going on in the 4.8 scans in the form of an anti-rootkit scan. So that will add a little to the overhead but will also add to the overall protection, it is a balance.

Archive (zip, rar, 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.

[Lisandro]

I set it to scanning everything but archives on a total of 290GB disc space.
The scan took almost 3 hours and the cpu ran at 54C.
Is this normal?

Most probably... although, without scanning archives it could be, sometimes, faster.

Also I tried to find a log but couldn't. I settings I've moved the slider all the way up to alerts, thinking that would log everything. Maybe I'm wrong?

Move slider to the bottom (debug) and you'll log the most verbose way.

[alanrf]

The disk space in use on my system is 523Gb (5 physical drives).  My weekly scheduled avast scan takes 34 minutes and includes almost all of my C: drive and another partition that contains software files.

I use the Home edition of avast and I schedule a weekly scan using ashquick.exe.  Despite its name ashquick performs a thorough scan with archives. 

With careful use of the on demand scan exclusion list I have excluded large amounts of that data from needing to be included in the scan.  Especially I exclude the files that avast does not understand, the large  compressed files of my imaging software (Acronis True Image), the message files of my Thunderbird mail client and images, videos etc. 

My friends here who provide excellent advice on avast would expect me to make very clear that using the exclusion option of the on demand scanners in avast needs to be thought about and care taken not to exclude any path or file type that could be a route for allowing malware to escape detection by avast.

My access to the internet and file downloading could probably be best described as "not adventurous" so you habits there should also be taken into account in making these decisions on what requires regular scanning. 

I have been using avast for about 4 years now - and I have yet to find a virus on my system (that I had not deliberately placed there myself for testing purposes).