avast 5 config

It seems that avast 5 free version only scans files on execution. For example I downloaded eicar zip file to desktop and to my surprise avast did not scan it - only when I selected the file and scanned it manually it was detected. Is it possible to change the settings so that avast detects the file when it is downloaded/ saved to computer?

Thanks

 

Yeah, it's possible

File System Shield - Expert Settings - Scan when writing
File System Shield - Expert Settings - Packers

Is it a good idea? Definitely not performance wise.

 

Antivir does that by default I believe - scan on reading and writing. And although there is a slight performance hit when compared to avast!, its nothing major. I wonder what sort of a hit does an avast! protected sytem takes with this option enabled. Gonna add this to my weekend diagnosis list.

 

Nonw, since Avast free has superb caching mechanism (omitting files scanned earlier)

 

Do you have web-shield enabled? I ask this because web-shield is by default set to unpack and scan zip files among other packers, and it should have caught it, without giving any chance for the file system shield to engage. Though its true that if such a file would have come from an external source like a thumb drive, web shield would have played no role.

 

yes i have webshield enabled with both webshield and file system shield set to high heuristics and set to scan all packers. Depite these measures avast still fails to scan eicar zip file on desktop until I manually scan the file myself.

 

Enabling full unpacking of archives in the on-access scanner is not a good idea. Do you want the scanner to unpack your 4GB ISO images as soon as you touch them? Hardly.

Otherwise, avast by default (of course) scans files on execute, on read and on write. Just doesn't unpack archive files.

 

But i dont understand why it would take up more memory escpecially when avira has this feature enabled and it doesnt seem to take up so much RAM.

 

That's what MSE is doing. Highly idiotic and useless. Once i've downloaded FEAR Combar game, a 2,5GB EXE installer. And my Core i7 920 with 6GB was halt to a crawl because of it. Now imagine doing that on a dual core with 2GB of RAM...

 

Come on RejZor stop bragging .

Thanks.

 

The only place I have it scan for packers is in the Full Scan, and Windows Explorer scan (i.e. the "right click scan"). I make it a point to do the latter scan after downloading an archive, before unpacking it. If you discipline yourself to do so it's much more economical that way, as having it scan archives (especially large ones) while they're downloading can (and usually does) slow it down substantially. On the other hand it takes just seconds to right click and scan it afterward, and any malware cannot execute until you've extracted the files anyway.

 

I'll have a better system soon.