How do I know if avast is running?

[myrrh]

I just installed avast 4.8 and when I right click on the "a" ball, one of the choices is "Start avast! Antivirus" which leads me to believe it is not running. If I choose "Start avast! Antivirus," it runs the test of memory and startup. Then the Simple user interface appears. I've run a scan, but nothing tells me that I have real-time AV protection.

[.: L' arc :.]

 Move your cursor over the avast tray icon and wait till a tooltip appears telling you something like "... 6 providers" running. In that way, you'll know that on-acess shields are active.

[spg SCOTT]

Hi myrrh,

Here is a way of testing if your real time protection is enabled:

http://www.eicar.org/download/eicar.com

When you click this link, it should produce an alert.

More info on the anti-virus test file can be found here, if you want to have a read

http://eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm

-Scott-

[norel]

"Start avast! Antivirus" is a little misleading now that you mention it. I've never thought about it but I can see how it might be confusing.

Besides the ways already mentioned, the icon itself is another way. In Program Settings>Appearance, "Animate icon when scanning" should be checked and then the icon rotates when something is scanned.

[spg SCOTT]

"Start avast! Antivirus" is a little misleading now that you mention it. I've never thought about it but I can see how it might be confusing.
...

Yes, maybe it should refer to the SUI, like:

'Start Simple User Interface'

It may be like this in avast5, I don't know, I'm not testing it.

[SimonG]

Sorry, you don't say if you're running XP or Vista.  Here are the obvious ones from my XP & Vista boxes (both have Pro running).

Open Task Manager (right click in bottom right corner near time)
In Vista:
   On Processes tab you should see:
      ashDisp.exe
   On Services tab you should see:
      avast! Antivirus
      avast! Mail Scanner
      avast! Web Scanner

In XP:
   On processes tab you should see:
      ashDisp.exe
      ashWebSv.exe
      ashMailSv.exe
      ashServ.exe
      ashUpdSv.exe

Hope this helps,
Simon