virus programs

hi everyone
i have a question.I have avast virus scanner on my other computer and i done a scan from aol--computer check and it reports i dont have a virus program or it isnt working.but when i scan the registry its there and also when i do tests at pc pitstop avast is in the running programs.so how do i check and see if its running or not? id hate to think i dont have any virus protection at all.on this computer i have norton and i know it works because i get live updates all the time.does anyone know of a better freeware virus scanner than avast or should i just purchase norton for it too. thanks in advance for help
Rita

 

Helo, Rita!

I'm not that famliar with Avast, but most AV scanners have an icon in the system tray that indicates that it's up and running. If you know the name of the application (Avast.exe maybe??) you can press ctrl-alt-del and see if the process is running. Sooner or later someone more familar with Avast will show up and address this part of your question.

If you decide to upgrade to a more powerful tool, I suggest NOD32 by Eset. It's very fast and reliable. And they have great user support on THIS forum. I like it better than Norton and McAffee, which I have used in the past.

Good luck!


Edit: By the way, Eset has a 30-day trial of NOD32 waiting for you !!

 

Hi Daisey
thank you so much--i will definetly check this out
Rita

 

Your welcome.

P.S. Pretty avatar.

 

You can go to http://www.eicar.com and download eicar.com test file. This is NOT virus and it will not harm your PC in any way. The purpose of eicar.com is to see if your antivirus product works or not.

After you download eicar.com, try to execute it. I am sure avast! window will pop up.


tECHNODROME

 

I am not familiar with this AOL-Computer Check-up - http://www.aol.co.uk/aol9/upgrade/

but if the avast icon is in the system tray and present under running processes in Task manager then you are probably okay.

A number of these computer check programs do not detect an AV program. For example, Tuneup Utilities 2004 informs me that I have 'no AV program on my computer' and the present beta XP SP2 RC2 Security Centre identifies very few AV's at the present time. So it is probably the AOL-Computer Check's error.

As Technodrome pointed out you can check whether your AV is present and working by trying out the eicar file.

Avast is a very good AV and well worth keeping.

 

dear ritaann, the EICAR check is the standard check. don't believe others.

 

Hi everyone
i just logged back on just now and got the messages and i am going to shut down this computer and get on the other one and do the test.ill post and let know what the results are
thanks everyone
Rita

 

the virus scanner picked it up immediately so now i know it works thank you all for the help and info
thanks
Rita