Well, things haven't been getting any better in the world of scheduled scans over here.
From the "Scan_local disks.txt" log file:
* avast! Report
* This file is generated automatically
*Task 'Scan: local disks' used
* Started on Friday, August 15, 2008 1:00:17 AM
* VPS: 080814-0, 08/14/2008
Infected files: 0
Total files: 76686
Total folders: 6252
Total size: 25.7 GB
* Task stopped: Friday, August 15, 2008 3:14:07 AM
* Run-time was 2 hour(s), 13 minute(s), 50 second(s)
*
* avast! Report
* This file is generated automatically
*Task 'Scan: local disks' used
* Started on Friday, August 22, 2008 1:00:16 AM
* VPS: 080821-0, 08/21/2008
Infected files: 0
Total files: 51488
Total folders: 5495
Total size: 11.4 GB
* Task stopped: Friday, August 22, 2008 9:17:35 AM Note: I manually ended this task at 60% completion.
* Run-time was 8 hour(s), 17 minute(s), 19 second(s)There was no significant difference in my system's run-time environment for those two scans. I did not update or patch the OS or update any apps. The only difference here is the VPS version.
And, all of a sudden, without warning, another weirdness has been happening.
From a "____.txt" log file:
* avast! Report
* This file is generated automatically
** Task '? ? ? ?' used
* Started on Saturday, August 16, 2008 2:06:28 PM
* VPS: 080816-0, 08/16/2008
Infected files: 0
Total files: 147
Total folders: 12
Total size: 21.3 MB
* Task stopped: Saturday, August 16, 2008 2:06:36 PM
* Run-time was 8 second(s)
*
* avast! Report
* This file is generated automatically
* Task '? ? ? ?' used
* Started on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 1:00:06 AM
* VPS: 080818-0, 08/18/2008
Infected files: 0
Total files: 147
Total folders: 12
Total size: 21.3 MB
* Task stopped: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 1:00:16 AM
* Run-time was 10 second(s) (The "task used" is actually four consecutive question marks which I have here space padded to suppress the smilie icon.)
If you paid me a zillion bucks, I couldn't come up with that on my own. I hope I can figure out how to get it to go away. There is no "? ? ? ?" present in the avast! task listing.
The official response from avast! support is:
"The speed may vary with VPS (virus database) file. Also if there is some another program running in background the scanning speed may be affected."
So, a database can make the difference between a two hour scan and a fifteen hour scan.
And:
"We have no massive reports on avast issues under Win XP."
I think this a subtle way of them telling me there's nothing wrong with avast and maybe I should stop sending them examples of the issues I experience. I could also interpret that to mean there are massive reports on avast issues under Vista.
While I am satisfied with my purchase at its price point (and I'm not sure what other anti-virus I would rather run than avast!) I am certain that scheduled scan does not amount to a viable feature over the Home version. Fortunately, other features and the Enhanced User Interface are still worth the move up to Pro.
I think I'm just going to forget about using scheduled scans. :'(