So I just..

[Neferium]

So I just installed Avast! Professional etc. I have a few questions.

my previous antivirus was Mcafee, but it stopped working after I reformatted. Using 64xbit XP.

____

So how does Avast work? Is there a schedule option or do I have to manually scan my computer couple times a week?

Do I check for updates myself or it does it, itself and notify me when there are new ones?

[Vladimyr]

avast! default install settings are good. You don't have to do anything.

But there are plenty of scanning options and much more here. http://files.avast.com/files/manuals/user-manual-pro-eng.pdf

e.g. page 52 "Working with the Enhanced User Interface"

[Lisandro]

You can schedule "Tasks" in the Professional version.
Open avast, go to Tasks folder, create a copy for instance of the Disk Drives, open its properties and configure it.
The updates are automatic, ask for or manual, you can choose on Update settings.

[Neferium]

is Avast Professional also a anti spyware? if no recommend one please? Thanks for help so far.

[Tarq57]

Avast AV is also accredited as an antispyware. http://www.westcoastlabs.com/checkmark/productList/checkmarkTestResult/?productID=315&techGroupID=32&from=tg
Additional demand scanners that are highly regarded are MBAM http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and Superantispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
These two are often particularly good with trojans and rogue products.

Never hurts to have a second opinion or different cleaner available. Tell the truth, though, I really haven't had to use mine in anger on the machine that has Avast installed. (I'm sure having a firewall and hosts file etc helps a bit, too.)

[Lisandro]

is Avast Professional also a anti spyware?

Yes.
Other for on-demand, MBAM and Super like Tarq57 said.

[Neferium]

Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, do not support 64x bit XP as far as I have seen.

Malwarebytes
Support for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista (32-bit only).

and google'd about SAS which said it does not support it in a troubleshoot forums.

[Tarq57]

Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, do not support 64x bit XP as far as I have seen.

My apologies; you are quite right.
Unfortunately there aren't so many applications around for 64bit Windows.
SpywareTerminator http://www.spywareterminator.com/legal/system-requirements.aspx works, but not in realtime, on 64bit systems. Or so they say. To my mind it is not in the same league, but is another antispyware scanner. I would highly recommend not installing the toolbar nor the Clam AV component. (The toolbar comes with a module called WSG.)
If you are intermediate/advanced, and especially if you read Russian, AVZ antiviral toolkit is considered a powerful antimalware tool. Not for the faint hearted, though. I'd be very cautious about removing any item flagged as suspicious by this program.http://z-oleg.com/secur/avz/download.php
Some elements of this will not work on 64bit Windows, notably the guard, and the boot-clean module. (If I read Russian I'd be able to explain this better.)
It is possible Spybot S&D may work, at least in part, on your system.http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
I could not find any info on the system requirements section to indicate that it is limited to 32bit OS versions.

Hope that helps a bit. (No pun intended)

[Mr.Agent]

You can alway try to use Avast 4.8 Pro (Anti virus),Threat Fire(trojan,spyware,etc etc),Online Armor Free(firewall),WOT(Web of Trust),Windows Defender(for slow performance and pop ups + anti spyware)

I think this kit sound good but if you say its not then free feel to reply

PS : Check out if its work for 64 bits xp i didnt watched that so

[Tarq57]

Mr Agent,
Apart from Avast, the only one of that list that may work on 64bit Windows is Windows Defender.
Like so many sites, the requirements section doesn't specify. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
WOT is something else completely. Akin to SiteAdvisor, a BHO.

[Neferium]

I have had previous experience with spybot so I will try that out thanks

[Tarq57]

Hi Neferium,
thought you may be interested in this post at Wilders. About your exact question.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=236293