How Do I Check If Avast Definitions Updated Today?

since the monitor power button switch wasn't working, I had to force it to shut down the computer by pressing the hard drive box one. (I think it's called tower.) How can I check if the Avast definitions installed automatically? I think I forced my computer to shut down by pressing on that power button in the middle when Avast def. was installing automatically. What should I do? I'm worried what if the Avast won't going to automatically update it anymore since I forced my computer to shut down?

 

What happens when you restart the comp, is Avast functional? No error messages? If all ok, then there is no reason why Avast will not reassert itself and autoupdate when next scheduled.

 

Maybe you can throw eicar.com at it for some peace of mind.

If I remember correctly Avast shows when was it last updated or the virus signature file. Just wait and see if it changes.

 

Eicar would be detected by generic signatures..... so it's pointless since the OP wants to make sure avast! is fully up-to-date...

 

Open the avast! interface and click on the Maintenance tab.

 

I right clicked on the Avast icon and then updated the new definitions that way. I have been having it as automatic, but it wasn't doing it automatically last time. Do you think it should still work and do it automatically even though earlier I holded the power button on the hard drive box to turn it off in the middle when avast was installing automatically? It wont going to affect anything? I was just having problem with my monitor since the monitor power switch did not turn on for some reason.

 

Check the settings (Settings/Updates) to see if it is still configured to update automatically. Click on the Details drop-down menu below that setting to view the Auto-update interval. If these settings look right, then simply do as advised above, and check the program's status to see if it is actually up to date. Attempting to manually update will also tell you if it is up to date.

 

The easiest way is to simply compare VPS version from the avast! interface with this list:
http://www.avast.com/en-eu/virus-update-history

They might be slightly off, but in general they update the webpage very quickly after they publish VPS update, so it should be a good source to check if you're up to date. Though i wouldn't worry about it. If the update is not correctly installed it will either re-download it or re-apply it when possible again. So even if you hard reset it during updating, it will try to do an update again on its own when you start the system next time. These days such programs need to have failsafe mechanisms.

 

Update #'s are in the format of YYMMDD-#, where YY is two didgit year, MM is two digit month, DD is two digit day and finally # is release # for that day ( where you start at zero). For example, 101007-2 would be October 7th, 2010 and the 3rd (-0, -1, -2) update for that day.