Avast questions

[Louise]

Running Win XP Pro, SP1, Sygate Pro, a Linksys router and now, Avast
Pro.

After removing Norton AV, I then had Kaspersky mess up my internet
connectivity.

I uninstalled Kaspersky and installed F-Secure. A few times, after a
program hung and I had to shut down, F-Secure didn't load properly.
Considering this too risky, I uninstalled F-Secure

I have now installed a trial version of Avast Professional which seems
to be working very well and I have a few questions:

Avast says it checks for new virus definitions everytime you connect to
the internet. Since I have an always on connection (cable), I sometimes
don't reboot my machine, thereby reconnecting to the internet, for 2
days. Is there a way for Avast to check every few hours, or once a day,
regardless of whether I've reconnected to the internet?

The Professional version includes script blocking - the free home
version does not. It's my impression that script blocking is a good
thing to have - is this true or is it unnecessary? What are the
benefits of the Pro version?

Avast also runs the VDRB generator, "virus recovery database". Is this
worth the resources it takes or should I turn it off?

TIA

Louise

 

[What's in a Name?]

Running Win XP Pro, SP1, Sygate Pro, a Linksys router and now, Avast
Pro.

After removing Norton AV, I then had Kaspersky mess up my internet
connectivity.

I uninstalled Kaspersky and installed F-Secure. A few times, after a
program hung and I had to shut down, F-Secure didn't load properly.
Considering this too risky, I uninstalled F-Secure

I have now installed a trial version of Avast Professional which seems
to be working very well and I have a few questions:

Avast says it checks for new virus definitions everytime you connect to
the internet. Since I have an always on connection (cable), I sometimes
don't reboot my machine, thereby reconnecting to the internet, for 2
days. Is there a way for Avast to check every few hours, or once a day,
regardless of whether I've reconnected to the internet?

The Professional version includes script blocking - the free home
version does not. It's my impression that script blocking is a good
thing to have - is this true or is it unnecessary? What are the
benefits of the Pro version?

Avast also runs the VDRB generator, "virus recovery database". Is this
worth the resources it takes or should I turn it off?

TIA

Louise

I believe it checks every day if not more often.You can set the VDRB to
generate during idle times. It is a database so that cleaning can be
performed. Script blocking will help prevent infections.Avast has very a
good forum to ask questions. http://forum.avast.com/
-max

 

[optikl]

Running Win XP Pro, SP1, Sygate Pro, a Linksys router and now, Avast
Pro.

After removing Norton AV, I then had Kaspersky mess up my internet
connectivity.

I uninstalled Kaspersky and installed F-Secure. A few times, after a
program hung and I had to shut down, F-Secure didn't load properly.
Considering this too risky, I uninstalled F-Secure

I have now installed a trial version of Avast Professional which seems
to be working very well and I have a few questions:

Avast says it checks for new virus definitions everytime you connect to
the internet. Since I have an always on connection (cable), I sometimes
don't reboot my machine, thereby reconnecting to the internet, for 2
days. Is there a way for Avast to check every few hours, or once a day,
regardless of whether I've reconnected to the internet?

The Professional version includes script blocking - the free home
version does not. It's my impression that script blocking is a good
thing to have - is this true or is it unnecessary? What are the
benefits of the Pro version?

Louise, if you're running a Mozilla based browser and don't allow
programs to install themselves, script blocking really isn't necessary.

Avast also runs the VDRB generator, "virus recovery database". Is this
worth the resources it takes or should I turn it off?

Depends. How likely are you to need it? Have you ever been infected?

 

[Ernie B.]

Avast says it checks for new virus definitions everytime you connect to
the internet. Since I have an always on connection (cable), I sometimes
don't reboot my machine, thereby reconnecting to the internet, for 2
days. Is there a way for Avast to check every few hours, or once a day,
regardless of whether I've reconnected to the internet?

From Avast help:
"3) How does the update service work?
At first, avast! tries to detect if the computer is connected to the
Internet - it sends a packet to one of our servers and waits for
reply. If the packet is received, avast! "knows" that the computer is
connected and the update may begin. If there's no reply to the packet
sent, avast! will try to ping the server again every 40 seconds.
If the ping is successful, avast! connects to our server and checks
if there's a new update available. If there is, avast! will download
and install it. If not, avast! will wait for 4 hours and then try to
connect and check for updates again.
In short: avast! checks for connection to the Internet every 40
seconds and looks for new updates every 4 hours. "

 

[Louise]

From Avast help:
"3) How does the update service work?
At first, avast! tries to detect if the computer is connected to the
Internet - it sends a packet to one of our servers and waits for
reply. If the packet is received, avast! "knows" that the computer is
connected and the update may begin. If there's no reply to the packet
sent, avast! will try to ping the server again every 40 seconds.
If the ping is successful, avast! connects to our server and checks
if there's a new update available. If there is, avast! will download
and install it. If not, avast! will wait for 4 hours and then try to
connect and check for updates again.
In short: avast! checks for connection to the Internet every 40
seconds and looks for new updates every 4 hours. "

Thanks a lot. This makes me even happier with Avast than I already have
been over the last few days.

Louise

 

[JonMaC]

Thanks a lot. This makes me even happier with Avast than I already have
been over the last few days.

Louise

Indeed - I use AVAST free edition at home & v.happy with it over AVG 7 &
other pay products. So much so that recommend to friends & family for all
home PC's.
Others have beaten me to answer your questions.
JonMaC

 

[Cat_in_awe]

I have now installed a trial version of Avast Professional which seems
to be working very well and I have a few questions:

Avast says it checks for new virus definitions everytime you connect
to the internet. Since I have an always on connection (cable), I
sometimes don't reboot my machine, thereby reconnecting to the
internet, for 2 days. Is there a way for Avast to check every few
hours, or once a day, regardless of whether I've reconnected to the
internet?

If you use dial-up it checks every time you reconnect to the internet, (it
queries the modem to figure this out). However, if you are always connected
to the internet, it will checks every 40 seconds while you are connected,
and if it successfully finds the Avast server and sees no new definitions to
update, it then waits 4 hours before checking again. This should work
seamlessly if you leave your machine on for days or shut it off
periodically. There is a switch under the program settings / connection
options for 'I am always connected to the internet'. Check that one.

The Professional version includes script blocking - the free home
version does not. It's my impression that script blocking is a good
thing to have - is this true or is it unnecessary? What are the
benefits of the Pro version?

You can block scripts through your browser as well. I've found the free
version to be sufficient.

Avast also runs the VDRB generator, "virus recovery database". Is
this worth the resources it takes or should I turn it off?

It only recompiles this database every two weeks or so, and you can set it
to only do it when the machine is idle. This database can be very useful if
you actually get infected somehow and some system files become corrupted.
It only takes 10-20 minutes to do this at most.

BTW, I've used Avast for several years now (free version) and have been very
impressed. Well written.