choicesmade
@optonline.net
|  AntiVir Free Questions
I just uninstalled AVG 7.5 and went with AntiVir Personal Free Edition due to AVG ending support and updates soon, and the not so great reviews of AVG 8.0.
I've searched the forums, faq, google, etc, but still cannot find (or comprehend) some information I need. In the day I've had AntiVir, everything seems to be working smoothly and I have no complaints. However, the following is what I'm having trouble finding:
1) I see in the options that that it automatically checks for updates every 24 hours. Is keeping that option sufficient, and if not, how do I set it so it checks more frequently for updates?
2) What are the recommended settings for a full, thorough, manual scan? Is there anything I should check to make sure it scans everything on the computer that's not in the default settings?
3) When I ran my first two scans, everything came back "clean" on the report, but it listed 6 "warnings". What does 6 warnings mean on the report? Is there anything I can do about that, or it's not a big deal?
Please note I have Windows Vista Home Premium and I'm more of a beginner in programs than anything else.
Thank you so much in advance for your help. It's really appreciated. |
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FiOS Dan
Premium
join:2001-07-06
Redondo Beach, CA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| I am at work and AntiVir is installed on one of my home rigs, so right now I can only help with your first question. In the free version, you can not set automatic updates to a frequency greater than once-every-24 hours. However, I do recommend that you instead use the option to specify a time for the updates and go with the equivalent of 6 am CET. FE I have mine set to update at 9 pm here in CA. If you set it to the equivalent of daytime in Europe, you may find the update process slow and in fact it may occasionally even time out on you.
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Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
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Trel
Good Evening
Premium
join:2002-10-08
Hillsborough, NJ | reply to choicesmade
As far as the warnings, there are certain files that cannot be scanned. pagefile.sys and hiberfile.sys are two I know of on WinXP (probably both of those in Vista too), there's possibly more.
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/chown -R us:us /yourbase |
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BandHeight
join:2004-08-30
Portland, TX
| reply to choicesmade
Regarding updates: it is true that the free version has its native scheduler crippled so that it can only check for updates once per 24-hour period.
However, this does not prevent you from using another external scheduler to launch the updater. I use a cron scheduler to launch the updater every 4 hours, and I never have issues or worries about which time of the day is currently the best time to check for updates. |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
| reply to choicesmade
Click on Administration on the left on main GUI screen.
On the drop down menu, click on Scheduler. Doubleclick on Daily Update so you can see at what hour the update runs.
Then click on the upper left most icon "insert new job". Follow the instructions and select "update" for the job, then select "daily", then put in the hour for the update (choosing 12 hour difference from the Daily Update so that you will get updates every 12 hours. This assumes that you have your computer running 24/7 but if you shut down your computer at night then choose an hour that works for you and is not too close to the hour for the Daily Update (which you cannot change). Then select the display mode, maximized, minimized or silent. I like minimized.
You can edit this new job by highlighting it and then right clicking and choosing edit if you want to change something. You can also delete it if you want. You can make as many New Jobs as you want. So, you can have the free version check every hour for updates but since Avira usually updates 3-5 times every 24 hours (less on Sat and Sun) there really is no point in having it check every hour. I have the Premium version on my main machine and the free version on two virtual machines. I have the free version checking for updates every 12 hours.
For a full manual scan of everything use the Last Complete System Scan on the main page of the GUI. It is normal to see some warnings as no AV scanner can scan the paging file or the hibernation file or a few others and Avira is just reporting this to you. You can post that part of the log here and we can see if there is something it is warning about that is important and is not the routine things it cannot scan. There has been discussion in the Avira forum regarding the use of the word "warning" in this instance. Remember this is a German product and the word "warning" in German does not carry the connotation that it does in English so some English speaking users have suggested to Avira that, in the future, they might use a more benign word for the English translation.
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"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason |
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choicesmade
@optonline.net
| Thank you so much to everyone for their answers. They were all very helpful and really appreciated.
This is my log regarding the warnings. I hope I didn't include way too much, but I'm not sure what is important and what's not. Are those warnings normal? Thank you in advance.
Avira AntiVir Personal
Report file date: Friday, August 08, 2008 11:46
Scanning for 1542139 virus strains and unwanted programs.
Licensed to: Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
Serial number:
Platform: Windows Vista
Windows version: (plain) [6.0.6000]
Boot mode: Normally booted
Username: SYSTEM
Computer name: PC
Version information:
BUILD.DAT : 8.1.0.326 16933 Bytes 7/11/2008 12:57:00
AVSCAN.EXE : 8.1.4.7 315649 Bytes 6/26/2008 14:57:53
AVSCAN.DLL : 8.1.4.0 40705 Bytes 5/26/2008 13:56:40
LUKE.DLL : 8.1.4.5 164097 Bytes 6/12/2008 18:44:19
LUKERES.DLL : 8.1.4.0 12033 Bytes 5/26/2008 13:58:52
ANTIVIR0.VDF : 6.40.0.0 11030528 Bytes 7/18/2007 16:33:34
ANTIVIR1.VDF : 7.0.5.1 8182784 Bytes 6/24/2008 19:54:15
ANTIVIR2.VDF : 7.0.5.207 2316800 Bytes 8/4/2008 21:34:11
ANTIVIR3.VDF : 7.0.5.234 160256 Bytes 8/8/2008 14:30:27
Engineversion : 8.1.1.19
AEVDF.DLL : 8.1.0.5 102772 Bytes 7/9/2008 14:46:50
AESCRIPT.DLL : 8.1.0.63 311673 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:18
AESCN.DLL : 8.1.0.23 119156 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:17
AERDL.DLL : 8.1.0.20 418165 Bytes 7/9/2008 14:46:50
AEPACK.DLL : 8.1.2.1 364917 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:17
AEOFFICE.DLL : 8.1.0.21 192891 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:16
AEHEUR.DLL : 8.1.0.47 1368437 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:15
AEHELP.DLL : 8.1.0.15 115063 Bytes 7/9/2008 14:46:50
AEGEN.DLL : 8.1.0.35 315764 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:14
AEEMU.DLL : 8.1.0.7 430452 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:14
AECORE.DLL : 8.1.1.8 172406 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:13
AEBB.DLL : 8.1.0.1 53617 Bytes 4/24/2008 14:50:42
AVWINLL.DLL : 1.0.0.12 15105 Bytes 7/9/2008 14:40:05
AVPREF.DLL : 8.0.2.0 38657 Bytes 5/16/2008 15:28:01
AVREP.DLL : 8.0.0.2 98344 Bytes 8/7/2008 21:34:13
AVREG.DLL : 8.0.0.1 33537 Bytes 5/9/2008 17:26:40
AVARKT.DLL : 1.0.0.23 307457 Bytes 2/12/2008 14:29:23
AVEVTLOG.DLL : 8.0.0.16 119041 Bytes 6/12/2008 18:27:49
SQLITE3.DLL : 3.3.17.1 339968 Bytes 1/22/2008 23:28:02
SMTPLIB.DLL : 1.2.0.23 28929 Bytes 6/12/2008 18:49:40
NETNT.DLL : 8.0.0.1 7937 Bytes 1/25/2008 18:05:10
RCIMAGE.DLL : 8.0.0.51 2371841 Bytes 6/12/2008 19:48:07
RCTEXT.DLL : 8.0.52.0 86273 Bytes 6/27/2008 19:34:37
Configuration settings for the scan:
Jobname..........................: Complete system scan
Configuration file...............: c:\program files\avira\antivir personaledition classic\sysscan.avp
Logging..........................: low
Primary action...................: interactive
Secondary action.................: ignore
Scan master boot sector..........: on
Scan boot sector.................: on
Boot sectors.....................: C:, D:,
Process scan.....................: on
Scan registry....................: on
Search for rootkits..............: off
Scan all files...................: All files
Scan archives....................: on
Recursion depth..................: 20
Smart extensions.................: on
Macro heuristic..................: on
File heuristic...................: medium
Start of the scan: Friday, August 08, 2008 11:46
The scan of running processes will be started
Scan process 'avscan.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'avcenter.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'SearchFilterHost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'SearchProtocolHost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'infocard.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'AcroRd32.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'ieuser.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'kbd.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'HPHC_Service.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'mobsync.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'ehmsas.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'ehtray.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'rundll32.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'avgnt.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'schtasks.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'rundll32.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'hpwuSchd2.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'RtHDVCpl.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'OSD.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'hpsysdrv.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'MSASCui.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'taskeng.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'WUDFHost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'XAudio.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'SearchIndexer.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'LSSrvc.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'avguard.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'explorer.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'taskeng.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'dwm.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'sched.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'spoolsv.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'SLsvc.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'audiodg.exe' - '0' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'svchost.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'winlogon.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'lsm.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'lsass.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'services.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'csrss.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'wininit.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'csrss.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
Scan process 'smss.exe' - '1' Module(s) have been scanned
53 processes with 53 modules were scanned
Starting master boot sector scan:
Master boot sector HD0
[INFO] No virus was found!
Master boot sector HD1
[INFO] No virus was found!
[WARNING] System error [21]: The device is not ready.
[INFO] Please restart the search with Administrator rights
Master boot sector HD2
[INFO] No virus was found!
[WARNING] System error [21]: The device is not ready.
[INFO] Please restart the search with Administrator rights
Master boot sector HD3
[INFO] No virus was found!
[WARNING] System error [21]: The device is not ready.
[INFO] Please restart the search with Administrator rights
Master boot sector HD4
[INFO] No virus was found!
[WARNING] System error [21]: The device is not ready.
[INFO] Please restart the search with Administrator rights
Start scanning boot sectors:
Boot sector 'C:\'
[INFO] No virus was found!
Boot sector 'D:\'
[INFO] No virus was found!
Starting to scan the registry.
The registry was scanned ( '44' files ).
Starting the file scan:
Begin scan in 'C:\'
C:\hiberfil.sys
[WARNING] The file could not be opened!
C:\pagefile.sys
[WARNING] The file could not be opened!
Begin scan in 'D:\'
End of the scan: Friday, August 08, 2008 12:11
Used time: 25:02 Minute(s)
The scan has been done completely.
13106 Scanning directories
330199 Files were scanned
0 viruses and/or unwanted programs were found
0 Files were classified as suspicious:
0 files were deleted
0 files were repaired
0 files were moved to quarantine
0 files were renamed
2 Files cannot be scanned
330197 Files not concerned
2152 Archives were scanned
6 Warnings
0 Notes |
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MMo99
@co.uk
| reply to choicesmade
I am thinking of switching to Avira Antivir but reading through all the stuff on their web-page, it is not clear to me whether it provides the same range of protection as AVG8 - for example when I am downloading e-mails, AVG scans each for viruses - does Antivir do this?
Also does it check for malware and spyware etc as well as viruses?
Thanks |
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Trel
Good Evening
Premium
join:2002-10-08
Hillsborough, NJ
| The free version does not scan emails as they come in.
I personally don't like it and had turned it off in AVG (which I used before switching to a new one) so I wouldn't be objective in whether or not it's really important.
I also use IMAP for my email so I don't actually download emails to my computer. |
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FiOS Dan
Premium
join:2001-07-06
Redondo Beach, CA | reply to MMo99
An email scanner is redundant and unnecessary. An AV with a resident scanner will still stop the nasty before it executes.
--
Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
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