Avast Free Antivirus raises the bar on security with real-time protection, intelligent threat-detection, and added security for your network, passwords, and browser. Easy to install and easy to use, no other free antivirus comes close. For a boot time scan you can use these Avira AntiVir Rescue System,AVG Rescue CD,Dr. Web LiveCD-LiveUSB burn to cd/usb and boot from one and scan the system with out the OS running the trouble with this is Avira AntiVir Rescue System,AVG Rescue CD,Dr. Web LiveCD-LiveUSB come out all. For scans where a virus was detected you can click Detailed Report for more information. A new window appears with details of viruses detected: The Result column informs if an action has been taken. If no action has been taken, expand the drop-down menu in the Action column to choose an option. How long does the computer to boot into Windows desktop while the Avira or Avast is installed How does the computer perform in various areas (CPU, Graphics, Memory and Disk operations) while the Avira or Avast is installed. I've upgraded to 10.6 and expected some software to have bugs or not work until there upgraded, but avast! On my mac has a really annoying one. Every time I boot up it loads up the avast! Panel thing with SCAN NOW, SCAN volume buttons etc. Hello, please help disinfect computer. Disabled system restore on all drives, ran mbam and avast on safe mode. Ran boot scan and avast detected a general trojan but was unable to remove threat. Ran mbam again in normal mode. Not sure if threat was removed.
Although Avast antivirus is one of the lightest on system resources which was confirmed in various independent tests, you can make it even more faster by adjusting a few settings. Some users also reported Avast is actually slowing down their computer or Internet connection. This guide will tell you how to increase/boost your system (Windows) performance and startup time with Avast antivirus 2017 installed.
These simple tips will decrease the boot-time and increase the performance of your computer running on Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP. No matter what Avast solution you are using (Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus, Internet Security or Premier).
1. Improve Your Computer Startup (Boot) Time by Loading Avast After Windows Services
Can A Avast Boot Scan For Pc Work On Mac
This is a perfect solution if your computer (Windows) is starting very slow. By loading Avast services after system services you will basically turn on Avast after everything else in Windows is loaded. That will speed-up the Windows boot time but on the other hand there are also security risks because your system won’t be fully protected for a few seconds.
1.1 If you still want to try this just open your main interface and go to settings (last item in the left menu). Find menu item ‘Troubleshooting‘ and there is an option ‘Load Avast services only after loading other system services‘. By default it’s un-checked, so you have to just check it.
Speeding-up Computer Startup with Avast 2017 – Loading Avast After System Services
1.2 We suggest to test if this change got any notable impact on your computer boot time. If not, it’s better and more secure, to leave this option un-checked. Interesting is that this change doesn’t affect the protection status as the one below (you will still have a green one). But it’s definitely more dangerous in terms of security.
2. Improve Performance of Your Computer by Postponing Background Updates
Most of the Avast users know this story. When you need to turn on your computer and want to just quickly check something online. But what happens, Avast antivirus starts downloading the latest virus database update on background and everything seems to take ‘ages’. This can also happen when you are playing your favorite game and every FPS (frame per second) counts. Luckily there is a simple way how to disable these ‘startup’ updates and increase the performance of your computer after startup.
2.1 Open the main program interface and go to settings (last item in the left menu). There look for section ‘Update‘ and expand ‘Settings‘ in ‘VIRUS DEFINITIONS‘ tab. There are settings of how would you like your Avast to download the virus definitions – a) automatically; b) ask when available; c) manually.
Speeding-up Windows Start-up with Avast 2017 – Disabling Automatic Virus Definitions Update
2.2 By default option a) is selected which is causing the inconvenient background updates. So we suggest to choose option b) and have full control over when the update will be downloaded. You can keep streaming updates enabled, as they are very small and doesn’t slow your computer at all.
Every time the new virus definitions update will be available, you will get a following pop-up notification. To update the database simply click on ‘Update now‘. We definitely recommend to update your virus definitions as soon as possible.
Speeding-up Windows Start-up with Avast 2015 – New Virus Definitions Available Pop-up
2.3 However you have to note there is a low security risk related to this as you won’t always have the latest virus definitions in your Avast antivirus. Also it will change the green background on the main window to the yellow one as shown on the image below. Now your computer should run much faster after start-up. To turn on automatic updated simply click on ‘Turn on‘.
2.4 If you don’t like the ‘ATTENTION’ message on yellow background, you can adjust the settings and make it ‘YOU ARE PROTECTED’ again. Even if you have automatic virus definitions updates turned off and/or outdated virus definitions. Simply click on ‘IGNORE’ below the warning message and you shouldn’t see it again.
3. Other Performance and Speed Up Tips
3.1 Opt-out from Avast community and data sharing by going to settings » ‘General‘ » ‘Privacy‘ » un-check ‘Participate in the Avast community‘ and ‘Participate in data sharing‘. This means Avast won’t collect any data or information about your online behavior.
3.2 If you are not using any desktop e-mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird, feel free to disable the Mail Shield completely as it doesn’t work with online mails like Gmail or Yahoo!. Go to settings » ‘Components‘ » switch Mail Shield to ‘OFF‘ state by click on the switch and selecting ‘Stop permanently‘. Alternatively you can remove the whole Mail Shiled component from your computer (see 3.5).
3.3 Disable Software Update, Browser Cleanup and Cleanup background scans and pop-ups by going to settings » ‘Components’ » ‘Customize‘ and un-check ‘Enable Software Updater‘ for Software Update; ‘Check my browsers regularly for toolbars with bad user rating‘ for Browser Cleanup; ‘Always test this computer for performance issues‘ for Cleanup.
3.4Disable Remote Assistance, unless you are regularly using it of course. Go to settings » ‘Tools‘ » and change the switch for Remote Assistance to ‘OFF‘ state. Then go to ‘Troubleshooting‘ » and un-check ‘Allow remote control of this computer‘.
Removing Unused Avast 2017 Components and Tools to Increase Computer Performance and Speed Up
3.5Remove any Avast tool/component you are not using. Go to Programs in Windows » Uninstall or change programs » select Avast and click on ‘Change‘. Once the Avast setup window will appear click on ‘Change‘ and un-check component you would like to remove. If you are looking for the pure Avast antivirus protection, you can basically deselect everything besides the shields and even a Mail Shield if you are not using desktop e-mail client.
3.6 Invest $20 a year and buy Avast Cleanup. Our last tip is actually not free, but we still believe it’s worthy. Avast Cleanup is the PC optimization and speed up tool which will keep your computer in a great shape by optimizing the system settings, cleaning the useless file and apps, and fixing registry issues.
Additional Notes
Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2019 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.
Steps are relevant for all Windows versions – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update).
- Pros
Boot-time scan cleans malware before Windows boots. Very good at blocking malicious URLs and downloads. Finds and fixes unpatched vulnerabilities. Automatically sandboxes suspicious programs. Can remove unwanted browser toolbars. Built-in remote assistance.
- Cons
Installation on infested systems required hours of support. Boot-time scan may require user interaction. So-so phishing protection. Test results decent, but not great.
- Bottom Line
Besides antivirus protection, avast! Free Antivirus 8 offers patch management, Web reputation, and more. However, its test scores are merely good, not great.
The advent of Windows 8 is having a profound effect on user interface design. Hyperlinks and small buttons are out; big, touch-friendly panels are in. Avast! Free Antivirus 8 is the latest of many antivirus products to exhibit a Windows 8 redesign, along with some interesting new bonus features.
- $0.00
- $39.99
- $39.95
- $39.99
- $39.99
- $49.99
- $23.40
- $39.95
- $0.00
The biggest panel in the updated main window displays overall security status. It's not just color-coded red and green—a happy or unhappy face emphasizes the message. You will find that not all of the other panels actually function in the free edition. Clicking on the Firewall or SafeZone (sandbox) panel brings up an offer to 'Activate' the feature by purchasing avast!'s security suite.
For a complete view of avast!'s commercial offerings, click the Market tab. Here you can purchase a variety of security tools for PC, Android, and Mac. This is also the place to sign up for a free credit alert service.
Some Installation Challenges
The product installed without incident on most of my malware-infested test systems. Ransomware on one system completely blocked access to the desktop, even in Safe Mode. Tech support advised opening Task Manager and killing a specific process. Doing so didn't bring back the desktop, but it allowed me to install avast! and run a full scan, which wiped out the ransomware.
On another test system, malware actively killed avast!'s installer and its associated process. After a few back-and-forth emails, the agent suggested remote assistance. After verifying that remote assistance would be available to any user, I agreed.
We couldn't use the Remote Assistance feature built into avast!, since the product could not install, but a third-party remote tool did the job. Even so, the malware repeatedly deleted the remote control tool, the avast! installer, and various other tools that the support agent brought to bear on the problem. It took the agent a couple hours of intense work to get avast! properly installed on this system.
Avast Boot Scan For Windows 7
Rating the Install Experience
For some years, I've scored antivirus products on their ability to remove malware in general and separately on their ability to remove malware that uses rootkit techniques to hide malicious activities. My latest malware collection doesn't include enough rootkit samples to reasonably report a separate rootkit score, so I've turned my thoughts to another facet of antivirus competence.
There's a wide variation in the way antivirus products handle cleaning up malware-infested systems. Quite a few examples of modern malware actively fight back against installation of security software, or prevent successful scanning. I've devised a rating system to reflect how well products handle this kind of resistance.
If the product installs and runs without incident on all my test systems, it gets five stars. If malware does manage to cause trouble, but the installer works around it, that's still good for five stars.
Quite a few vendors offer secondary cleanup tools to handle installation problems. These may come in the form of a rescue CD, a command-line no-install scanner, or a threat-specific cleanup tool. If the use of such ancillary tools allowed all my installations to complete successfully, that's worth four stars.
Sometimes the only recourse is to let tech support remote-control the affected system, to diagnose and actively fix whatever problem is preventing the antivirus from installing or running correctly. This can be very effective, but it's also intrusive, requiring significant attention from the user. If completing the test requires remote-control support, or a very lengthy series of email exchanges, I'll award three stars.
The Best 2012 Security Suites
The Best Antivirus for 2012
Security Product Guide
Security Watch
When remote-control support takes hours, it becomes a real time-waster for the user. You can't necessarily walk away and let the tech do the work. You'll frequently have to reboot the system, or supply specific information, or resume the connection. If getting any of my test systems working takes over an hour, I knock the score down to two stars.
In some cases, even with all the help tech support can offer, the product just never does install or scan correctly. If a product simply can't function on any one of my test systems, it's down to one star. And yet, that's not the lowest possible rating. Sometimes the cleanup process renders a system totally unusable. Perhaps it won't boot at all, or the keyboard doesn't work, or it can no longer connect to the Internet. If tech support can't solve this kind of collateral damage, if running the product effectively 'killed' a test system, that product gets zero stars.
On this basis, avast! takes two stars for installation, because I had to spend over an hour with a support agent performing remote-control tech support.
Bottom Line: Besides antivirus protection, avast! Free Antivirus 8 offers patch management, Web reputation, and more. However, its test scores are merely good, not great.
- $69.99
- $59.99
- $0.00
- $0.00