General Questions Regarding Avast! Free Antivirus

[Dalewyn]

A humble and hearty greeting to the Avast! community here. If I may be allowed, I've come here to ask a few questions regarding Avast! Free Antivirus, version 5.

First, my relevant system specs:
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.66GHz, no hyperthreading
RAM: 512MB DDR
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3

Beforehand, please note I've installed a copy of Avast! Free Antivirus on a test machine with specs similar to the above to see what it is like.

To make things easier for all of us, I'll be concise as to my questions:

1. How much RAM on average does the entirety of Avast! Free Antivirus use? I have noticed that on boot it's sitting somewhere around 30MB, and jumping to around 60MB after having ran a full scan. The system requirements specify 128MB. Is what I've seen (30~60MB RAM usage) the norm?

2. I've noticed that avast.setup, which I've learned has something to do with updates, takes up quite a lot of CPU processing power when it runs occasionally. Is this normal? How often does this process run? Will it prove detrimental to system performance in the long-run? Are there any other CPU spikes I should be aware of?

3. In the event I don't like Avast! Free Antivirus for whatever reason, how easy is it to completely uninstall the software?

4. Is there anything I should be aware of in regards to Avast! Free Antivirus?

I've had a dislike for antivirus software in general as they, mostly unavoidably to varying degrees, negatively impact system performance due to their resource footprint and their very nature. If, however, Avast! is not obtrusive and has a relatively small footprint, I'm tempted to give it a shot.

I hope to have a swell time here, and I give my thanks in advance. :)

[Light Archangel]

Hello and Welcome to the forums my friend, I'll answer your questions based on my Experience in a old PC with Pentium III and 256 MB de RAM 

1. How much RAM on average does the entirety of Avast! Free Antivirus use? I have noticed that on boot it's sitting somewhere around 30MB, and jumping to around 60MB after having ran a full scan. The system requirements specify 128MB. Is what I've seen (30~60MB RAM usage) the norm?

In a Full Scan uses an Average on my machine of 50MB
Otherwise the Average memory usage is 15MB

2. I've noticed that avast.setup, which I've learned has something to do with updates, takes up quite a lot of CPU processing power when it runs occasionally. Is this normal? How often does this process run? Will it prove detrimental to system performance in the long-run? Are there any other CPU spikes I should be aware of?

Is normal
The process runs when an update is available
And will slow your PC a little bit.

3. In the event I don't like Avast! Free Antivirus for whatever reason, how easy is it to completely uninstall the software?

You can use the uninstall utility that can be found in www.avast.com
Is easy to use, and there are the instructions.

4. Is there anything I should be aware of in regards to Avast! Free Antivirus?

No, the only thing is that you're using the best free antivirus! 

If you have another doubt, we're here to help.


Regards

[Gargamel360]

Just to add to that, you can regulate how often Avast! checks for updates, or just go fully manual update.  Of course, the longer you make it wait, the less safe it is, but the option is there if you want it.

[Dalewyn]

It's good to know that Avast! has a relatively small RAM footprint (50~60MB at the most, it seems). There is nothing worse than having my computer slowed down not by viruses but by an antivirus software, and that does not seem to be cause for worry here. Hopefully.

I'm guessing the system requirement of 128MB RAM is taking into account a lot of headroom, because I'll be honest: I had second thoughts when I thought I'd have to use ~120MB out of 512MB total just for an antivirus.

[SafeSurf]

Welcome to the forum Dalewyn.

To add to the other posts, you had wanted to know how easy it was to uninstall the software.  It is very easy and does so very cleanly, unlike many other products out there.  This is the link and instructions on how to do it should you ever need it:

1. Download the Avast Uninstall Utility (aswClear5.exe) http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility and save it to your HDD.
2. Disconnect from the Internet at this time.
3. Uninstall Avast through "Add/Remove Programs" through Control Panel. 
4. Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 repeatedly) and run the Avast Uninstall Tool.
5. Reboot.


I am sure you will be very happy with Avast.  Please feel free to ask any questions or browse around the different forum areas to learn.  We are here 24/7 for your convenience.  Thank you. 

[Dalewyn]

I give my utmost thanks for the helpful answers I've received here. Avast! has a great community. :)

I'm going to see how Avast! fares on the testbed for a week or two, mainly to see how it does in terms of system performance and resource usage, before I decide on whether I want to install it on my main computer proper.

Speaking of testbeds, a question regarding Avast! Free Antivirus's license has crossed my mind. Assuming my main computer and my testbed, which is actually a secondary computer I use for keeping backups, are both used for personal, non-commercial purposes, am I allowed to use the free version on both? Or is it a "1 installation per person" deal? :\

[Light Archangel]

am I allowed to use the free version on both?

Yes, the license agreemente says:
"It's Free only for personal, and non-commercial purposes"

If You will use the product in your home, Then it's OK  

Regards

[Dalewyn]

I apologize in advance if I wasn't allowed to bump this topic. I thought it better to partake this topic a bit more rather than create a new one.

I've been having a pretty swell time with Avast. Finally installed it on my main computer and I really like how lightweight it is with the system resource usage! The RAM spike from the automatic updates is a small nuisance, but I can live with that.

I have a few questions now that I've taken a deeper look into Avast, if I may ask them. :)

1. I use µTorrent on a daily basis. I noticed in Avast's P2P Shield setting that µTorrent was specifically unchecked by default. What is the reason? Is there any incompatibility issues between Avast and µTorrent I should know of?

2. Given the File System Shield, Web Shield, and the Network Shield, the P2P Shield seems to be redundant to my untrained eye. What's the purpose behind it? Is redundancy one of its points? :O

3. If I come across a false positive that I want to ignore, for good reason, is it possible? I've looked at some of the topics here and the (apparent?) lack of an ignore option seems to create quite a stir whenever it's mentioned.

4. Would a Quick Scan suffice for an initial scan? I realize I should run the Full Scan, but I noticed that the constant reading of data off the HDDs caused by the scan tends to heat the HDDs up to levels I don't feel comfortable with (around 54 degrees fahrenheit). I have 2 HDDs installed next to each other, so heat is a bit of an issue if it's going to linger there for too long. I should probably get a fan or something to cool it off more. :P

I also have a question not related to the above, if I may ask it:
* I've read a couple times in some topics here that ClamWin is a nice second opinion AV to have alongside Avast. Would it also serve as a nice, (very) lightweight, primary AV for a particularly old VAIO laptop (Pentium II 400mhz, 128MB RAM) that I have? Installing Avast on it will probably end on a very hilarious note, no matter how awesome Avast is. :)

I sincerely give my utmost thanks to the people behind Avast. As far as I've seen, it's an awesome piece of AV software and I plan on sticking with it. On an unrelated note, the Avast blog here was a very interesting read!

[Gargamel360]

1: Yeah, last I checked they didn't play nice.  Tiny little file took forever, pc got bogged down.  I think I recall it being said it has something to do with the way Utorrent dl's and re-assembles the file.  I can't test it currently, as I have the P2P shield uninstalled, but maybe it has changed, last I checked was around April.

2: Redundant, no.  Redundancy is repetition of the same, Avast! shields are layers of different protection.  Web shield guards the attack point of your browser by acting as a proxy. Things you browse get re-directed through it, scanned, and scrapped if flagged. 
Network shield is a url blocker "on steroids".  Filesystem shield is the "backbone" of Avast!, its last line of defense.  I assume you know the pro's&cons of P2P, so the P2P shield's value should speak for itself.  So, no redundancy, only multiple layers of protection that work together, not against each other.

3: Yes, Avast! does have exclusions lists, for both regular on-demand scans, and active defense.  The "stir" comes most often when someone who is trying to download something, it gets flagged, and in response they want to know how to turn Avast! off.  This triggers a knee-jerk response from users here.  There is a recommended protocol to follow before such decisions are ok'd, uploading it here first>>http://www.virustotal.com/, for example.  Most users dont seem to like these hoops to jump through, much like people dont like following doctors orders.  There are more issues to this also, but this is getting long, I'll leave them be.  But again, yes, Avast! has exclusions, they are there for you to use as you wish.

4. Unless you think you are infected, a quickscan should be fine(imo). Turn on both "transient" and "persistent cache" to greatly speed up scan time, once the cache is populated (after a couple scans), this could help lessen the amount of time your HDD runs hard.  The first scan or two might take longer, but the scans after the cache's are full are lightning quick.

ClamWin is on-demand only, so yes, it is light. I personally would not browse web in said laptop+clamwin, but aging hardware can demand drastic measures, I suppose.