Author Topic: A couple of beginner's questions  (Read 10274 times)

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trigan

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A couple of beginner's questions
« on: May 17, 2008, 12:36:04 PM »

I downloaded AVAST! Version 4.8 Home Edition build 4.8.1169 only a few days ago.

I have Windows 98, ZoneLabs Free Firewall 5.5.062, Dialup Internet connection, GenuineIntel PII 350 MHz, 256 MB ram, Firefox Internet browser Version 2.0.0.14

1.   Is there a setting that will automatically make the computer shut down after a virus scan is completed as AVG free anti virus software has ? If not, is it possible for me to scan my hard drive and work on a document or access my Googlemail at the same time while the scanning is taking place ?

2.   In Avast on-access scanner window, there are 6 resident providers which are :

instant messaging
P2P shield
Outlook/Exchange
internet mail
web shield
standard shield

I never use instant messaging and I only use Yahoo and Google internet Mail programs.
Is it okay to deactivate the resident providers for instant messaging and outlook/exchange ? How do I deactivate these 2 providers permanently please ?

Thank you.


avatar2005

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2008, 01:10:19 PM »
Hi & welcome to the forums!

1.a) No unfortunatelly automatic shutdown isn't possible now (but it maybe available later)
1.b) Yes, you are free to work on your pC while the scanning is performed

For the second question: go to add/remove programs, check the option  to uninstall Avast, then choose change and uncheck the resident protection, you don't want to use.

BTW: the current version of Avast is 4.8.1201, so you can update freely.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2008, 01:15:18 PM »
1.   Is there a setting that will automatically make the computer shut down after a virus scan is completed as AVG free anti virus software has ? If not, is it possible for me to scan my hard drive and work on a document or access my Googlemail at the same time while the scanning is taking place ?
It's present only in the Professional version. Sorry.

2.   In Avast on-access scanner window, there are 6 resident providers which are :
Is it okay to deactivate the resident providers for instant messaging and outlook/exchange ? How do I deactivate these 2 providers permanently please ?
You can disable and check for 'persist' the changes. Or you can uninstall the providers like avatar said.

Welcome to avast forums. Feel free to come back any time you need help or just to change experiences 8)
The best things in life are free.

trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2008, 02:00:07 PM »
Thank you Avatar and Tech for your excellent support.

Since I would like to avoid having a fatal exception taking place, can I go ahead with the Add / Remove Programs procedure, while avast! programs are still running on my Windows 98 computer ?

Will Internet Mail provider also check mail that I send or receive through Google Mail or Yahoo Mail ?

Is version 1201 compatible with Windows 98 ?

How can I "update freely " to version 1201 ?

Thank you.

avatar2005

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2008, 03:18:05 PM »


How can I "update freely " to version 1201 ?

Thank you.


It is absolutely safe to perform add/remove ptocedure,as for email, I don't use Yahoo Mail, so I don't know about that, but Avast mail provider can't use the SSL connection used by Gmail, so you need to use Stunnel in combination with Avast to perform a Gmail mail check, (try to search on this forum, as it was discussed many times) ,but anyway Avast Standart Shield will check any file arrived to your HDD. & yes Avast ver 1201 is compatible with Windows 98, to perform an update you need to right mouse click on "a" ball icon in the tray -> Updating ->Program Update.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2008, 03:20:19 PM by avatar2005 »

Offline Bluesman

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2008, 03:20:08 PM »
Will Internet Mail provider also check mail that I send or receive through Google Mail or Yahoo Mail ?

The Internet Mail provider is not scanning web mail (when you read and answer mail with your webbrowser), that provider is for mail programs, like Thunderbird and Outlook Express (when you sending and receiving mail thru POP3)
« Last Edit: May 17, 2008, 03:25:37 PM by Bluesman »
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squeekster

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2008, 04:41:54 PM »

The Internet Mail provider is not scanning web mail (when you read and answer mail with your webbrowser), that provider is for mail programs, like Thunderbird and Outlook Express (when you sending and receiving mail thru POP3)
I seem to remember reading that Avast doesn't scan Thunderbird emails for some reason.  If it does, how would I know?  I put a check mark in the boxes to add a message but there never is a message.  If it makes a difference, I use Thunderbird with Gmail set up as POP3.

trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2008, 06:37:03 PM »
Thank you all for your replies. I have read as many posts as I could regarding Stunnel. Here are my comments.

The reason I only use Google Mail and Yahoo! Mail is because in the event of computer breakdown or if I need to travel, I can still easily access my email from a public access computer.

This is why I do not have any Email client programs that use POP3 and SMTP ports.
I do have Microsoft Office 2000 (9.0.2720) and I suppose I could install the MS Outlook Email program in MS Office and then proceed with Stunnel. Will Stunnel work with MS Outlook of the version that I have ?

Can you tell me what difference installing Microsoft Outlook and Stunnel will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive for viruses etc. when I open my emails ?
Will it be worth all the trouble ?

Thank you.


Offline DavidR

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2008, 08:13:53 PM »
If you are using MS Outlook (not express) and the avast Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in, then you don't need STunnel as the plug-in works within the MS Outlook client. So it can scan the gmail or secure content.
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trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2008, 09:13:56 PM »
DavidR wrote :
Quote
  If you are using MS Outlook (not express) and the avast Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in, then you don't need STunnel as the plug-in works within the MS Outlook client. So it can scan the gmail or secure content.
DavidR 

Thank you DavidR. Oh, that is wonderful news !!
So all I have to do is install MS Outlook. Yes, but can you tell me what difference using Microsoft Outlook in conjunction with the Avast Outlook Provider will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive when I open my Google Mail emails ?

Avatar2005 wrote :
Quote
For the second question: go to add/remove programs, check the option  to uninstall Avast, then choose change and uncheck the resident protection, you don't want to use.

For the past few hours, I have attempted to follow the Add Remove Programs procedure.
I click on the Avast Antivirus program in the list click on Add/Remove tab. The Avast options come up. There are four of them. CHANGE, UNINSTALL, UPDATE, REPAIR with CHANGE being highlighted. I click on Next and each time after I do this, the same message comes up which is :

nvast virus setup cannot be started.
nvast virus is running an automatic update.
Please wait until it finishes and run Setup again.

I even ran the msconfig program in Windows 98 and unticked the three Avast programs that automatically open upon startup. I then restarted the computer and the same message came up as above.

Can you please tell me what to do ?



Offline DavidR

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #10 on: May 17, 2008, 10:10:40 PM »
Prevention is better than cure, e.g. catch it before it gets into your system/pst file. The Standard Shield would have to extract an infected email from the pst file and that could result in corruption or the loss of the pst file not something you really want.

I don't know why the selection of Change and clicking next isn't working for you, but, that really is the icing on the cake to remove completely the components. The bit about the auto update is obviously a clue but it shouldn't last very long, try to do the Change again. Before doing so do the three finger salute (press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys together, once), this should show running tasks, look for avast.setup in the list, if there don't try to change, if not there proceed.

If you still cant get it to work - You can just Terminate them within the on-access scanner window (left click the avast icon). Select the avast provider you want to terminate from the left side of the window (if you don't see that click the Details... >> button). Now click the Terminate button for the provider and answer Yes to the question about persisting the changes (otherwise it would be back after your next boot).
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2008, 01:02:38 AM »
Thank you for your detailed reply, David.
With all three avast programs not opening automatically, and after I pressed CTRL ALT DEL and not seeing any avast program there, the same thing happened. I did the same thing again and this time, I decided to select the REPAIR option. And the same message window saying that "navast virus is running an automatic update" came up again.
There was a tab on the window called VIEW LOG and so I decided to make a copy of the log and saved it as a text file called LogReport.txt
May I send it to you directly to  your email address ?

I do not want to use the on-access scanner window method yet since I would like to investigate what is wrong here and clearly something is. Thank you.


Offline DavidR

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2008, 01:36:30 AM »
Make sure you are disconnected from the internet (what is your connection method, dial-up, broadband ?), that would kill any auto update, but it would take some while before it fails through your terminating the connection.

Terminating those avast providers you don't use as I described earlier looks like it would be your easiest option (it is permanent doing it as I said by answering Yes to the question), so do that first and if at some point you can get Change to work you can use it to uninstall them, as I said that really is the icing on the cake, termination is fine they won't be running.

The Outlook/Exchange shouldn't be running (unless you enabled it) unless you have MS Outlook (not express) installed. Personally I would not only leave the Internet Mail provider enabled but set the sensitivity to High as some malware has its own very small email program and it may alert you to a problem if email is being sent from your system by an undetected or hidden. The Instant Messenger isn't a problem terminating if you don't have any IM applications.

My problem is it is many years since I used win98 so I don't know what might be displayed in the Ctrl+Alt-Delete window, e.ge if avast.setup would be reported in the same way it does with Task Manager in winXP.

----
All issues relating to avast problems have to be through the forums I'm afraid, I'm just an avast user like yourself. It also doesn't help anyone else who might be viewing this topic now or in the future if they are attempting the same thing.
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trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2008, 04:24:33 PM »
Thank you for your detailed reply, David.
I have emailed the text file to Avast! Technical Support and sincerely hope that they will be able to figure out what is wrong.

But I am not optimistic. So far I have sent them three questions and all they said was to upgrade to 1201 which I have done. I first made a Ghost image file of my Windows partitions and then followed their unexpected instructions to install 1201 which were as follows :

1. Uninstall the current version
 (Use Add/Remove Programs from Control Panels)
2. Restart PC
3. Delete ALWIL Software folder from Program Files
4. Download the latest version of avast program
  from: http://www.avast.com/eng/programs.html
5. Install the new version.
6. Restart PC

When I installed the 1201 version it gave me a fatal exception. And I could not find a way to bring up a simple user interface instead of the fancy skin appearance. So I decided to revert back to the Avast version I downloaded in the first place.


trigan

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Re: A couple of beginner's questions
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2008, 06:42:38 PM »
Hi DavidR,

Thanks again for your helpful comments.

In answer to my question of what difference installing Microsoft Outlook (to work in conjunction with the Avast Outlook provider), will make in view of the fact that Avast Standard Shield provider will check any files arriving in my hard drive when I open my Google Mail and Yahoo! Mail emails, you told me that :

" Prevention is better than cure, e.g. catch it before it gets into your system/pst file. The Standard Shield would have to extract an infected email from the pst file and that could result in corruption or the loss of the pst file which is not something you really want. "

So I installed Microsoft Outlook 2000 and configured it. And after searching hard for the password my ISP had given me years ago, among other required data, I subsequently found that Google only supports Outlook 2002 onwards. And Yahoo! Mail probably does not support Outlook 2000 either.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=12103

But after thinking about it, I have reached this insight. If you or others agree with it, others may benefit and save themselves the trouble of using Stunnel or having to forward their Google or Yahoo emails to Outlook or other email clients for scanning for viruses.

I have been using Norton Ghost program for years and it has saved me from untold damage that some downloads and other programs have caused to my computer. It does this by being able to make a perfect copy of your Windows partitions or drives, which is called a Ghost image file. I safely store that image file in a second or slave hard drive.

So suppose a virus in a Google email. I open up the email and the virus is detected by the Avast Standard Shield provider. And let us suppose that in the process half a dozen pst files are corrupted or lost.

As far as I am aware, dumping the Ghost image file will erase all that damage and restore the computer exactly as it was before the email was opened. If anyone thinks I am wrong here, please let them tell me.
Thank you.