This guide is out of date

Computer viruses poison life. They destroy files and entire partitions on disks. Slow down the system. They use it insidiously address book to send your copies to our friends and colleagues. There are many antivirus programs with a rich history of development and famous names of their creators. We're looking at a popular program called avast!. Like its "colleagues", avast! can scan your computer, find and remove viruses, protect the system from infection and automatically receive anti-virus database updates via the Internet.

Installing avast!

• Click on the icon avast! below to go to the developer's website.
• Select the “Free antivirus” option and click on the “Download” button.
• Creators avast! may be redirected to another Russian site, from where the program will be downloaded faster than from abroad. For example, on softportal.ru. We find there the link(s) to download the program, download the distribution file(.exe) and save it to disk.
• Launch the installer by double clicking.
• We follow the recommendations in the chapter Installing the program.
• After installing the program, you can remove the distribution package.

avast!

About the program

Main function: protecting your computer from viruses

License: free for non-commercial and personal use

Operating system: all versions of Windows

The version of the program used here: 6.0

Distribution volume: 92 MB

Possibilities

You shouldn't think that best antiviruses must definitely cost big money. Free avast! - a powerful means of combating “computer diseases”. The modern user will appreciate protection against penetration into the computer from the Internet and blocking of suspicious attachments in emails.

The user of an antivirus program should remember two things:

• New viruses are constantly emerging. Therefore, you need to keep your anti-virus database up to date. Avast! itself, automatically downloads database updates from the network, the main thing is not to interfere with it.
• Trying to run two or more antiviruses at the same time can lead to a serious conflict and freezing of the entire system. Before installing avast!, make sure that there is no other antivirus on your computer. If there is, it is better to remove it from the system (or at least disable it) before installing avast!.

Alternative programs for GNU Linux, Mac OS and Microsoft Windows

Except avast! There are other free antivirus programs for Microsoft Windows , For example:

If your budget allows you to purchase a commercial (paid) antivirus for Microsoft Windows, this might be a good option. Commercial antiviruses often offer more complete and advanced protection.

Although operating systems GNU Linux And MacOS are considered relatively virus-free, this danger should not be neglected. You never know when a killer virus for these operating systems will appear. In addition, you can end up (unintentionally, of course) spreading viruses, even if your own computer and not infected.

Today, alas, no free antiviral agents that could be wholeheartedly recommended for use in Linux And MacOS. There are, however, a few worthy commercial products, for example:

Installation and registration of avast!

Before installing the program, we recommend that you stop and remove other programs from the system. antivirus agents, if any are installed on your computer. Different antiviruses can conflict with each other and lead to various troubles, including system freezes.

• Let's launch installation file(.exe).
• Selecting the installation language. Leave "Russian" (default) and click "Next".
• Welcome window. For security reasons, we recommend unchecking the “Participate in the avast community!” box. Click "Next".

• Avast! Recommendations. If you do not have a browser installed Google Chrome, persistent developers of avast! They will advise you to download and install it. You do not want? Then select “No” and click “Next”.

• Installation process, the progress of which can be observed, and express scanning of the system (despite the “express”, it can last quite a long time). The Installation Complete window. You can click the "Done" button. A “branded” orange circle will appear in the lower right corner of the screen (system tray).

After installing avast! will remind you about registration.

How? Free program - and registration? Yes, this happens. Without registration you can use avast! 30 days. Registration is free, just like avast!. During the process you will need an Internet connection.

• Click on the orange avast icon! in the system tray (bottom right corner of the screen).

The main avast! window will appear, in which you will see the phrase “The program is awaiting registration, please register.”

Another colorful window with information where we are offered a paid version of the program.

Find the gray “Registration” button and click on it. Now we have the registration form:

• For reasons of privacy, we advise you to fill in only the required fields (name and e-mail address).
• Click on the “Register for a free license” button. This completes the registration procedure.

Now you can use the program without “reminders”, completely free, for a year. A year later, Avast! will ask you to re-register (also free).

Avast update!

You may ask why we started talking about updating it immediately after installing and registering the program? The fact is that updates are important for an antivirus like no other program. New viruses appear every day, and it is very important that your security system is aware of them.

Avast! automatically checks for updates. When a suitable update is detected, the program downloads and installs it. A window pops up in the lower right corner of the screen saying that the program has been updated.

Both program files and the anti-virus database are subject to regular updates (the creators of avast! call it the “virus scanning and detection module.”

If you want to update Avast! You can also do it manually.

• Click on the avast! in the lower right corner of the screen right click mice.
• In the "Update" menu, select "Program" (for program files) and/or "Virus scanning and detection module".

If the updates are major, you may need to restart your computer.

If you don't have a permanent good access to the Internet, you can block avast! attempts to automatically go online and download updates (although we do not recommend this).

• Click on the avast! in the lower right corner of the screen with the left mouse button. The main program window will open.
• At the top we find the menu and select “Program Settings”.

• In the left column, select "Updates".

• Both the program and the virus scanning and detection module offer three modes to choose from. Avast! It may automatically download updates, or ask you for permission, or do nothing. In the latter case, you will have to update the program and anti-virus database manually - perhaps not the worst option, just remember to do it regularly.

Finally, there is the option to download the update from the developer's website

This is useful when there is a need to update the antivirus on a computer where there is no Internet connection at all, or where its speed leaves much to be desired. The file can be downloaded where the speed is good, written to a disk or flash drive, transferred to the right computer(with avast installed!) and run the update (this is a regular .exe file).

Avast! looks something like this if both the program and the scanning module have been updated correctly (main program window, menu "Summary" - "Current Status".

Checking your computer for viruses

Even if the presence of a virus is not felt on the computer, this does not mean that the system is free of malicious code. Many viruses do not manifest themselves until certain conditions occur. Therefore, from time to time it is useful to run a disk scan for viruses.

Let's take a look at the main program window. (It can be called up by simply left-clicking on the avast! icon in the lower right corner of the screen).

On the left are large buttons vertical menu.

• Summary. Here you can find basic information about avast components! (including how recent they are) and avast! usage statistics to scan for viruses on your computer.
• Scan your computer. Different options for scanning your computer for viruses: right now, when you boot your computer, as well as the results of previous scans.
• Real time screens. From here you can start (or, conversely, disable) protection for various processes, for example, protecting email or browsing web pages.
• Additional protection. At this point you can enable and configure the “Sandbox” (sandbox) - this is how the developers of avast! they call the special area created by the program where avast! places programs that seem suspicious so that they do not cause damage to the computer's system files. In addition, here you can enable the module for viewing the reputation of WebRep websites and block specific sites.
• Service. Updating and registering the program has already been discussed in previous chapters, and we will talk about “Quarantine” a little later. In addition, here you can see information about the avast! program itself.

Let's try to scan your computer for viruses.

In the main window of the program, in the left menu, select “Scan computer” - “Scan”.

avast! offers four possibilities.

• Express scan. Recommended as the most quick way make sure that the main components of the system are not affected by viruses.
• Full scan. If you have the time and want to do a deep scan of all files, this option is for you.
• Scanning removable media. It is useful if you connect a flash drive to your computer, which cannot be said for certain that it is “clean”.
• Select a folder to scan. Full scan, but not the entire computer, but a separate folder. Convenient if you suspect that the virus is localized there.

For more information about each scan option, click the Learn More link.

There you can also configure scanning parameters (this option is more likely for advanced users).

To start express scanning, just click on the "Start" button.

Scanning will begin.

Upon completion of avast! will show how the scan went. If a threat is detected, the picture will look something like this:

Click on the "Show results" button

Other types of scanning are performed in the same way.

In the "Startup Scan" menu, you can enable virus scanning by clicking the "Schedule" button.

Every time you boot your computer, avast! will scan HDD(or disks) for viruses. Why is it important? In this case, avast! scans hard disks computer before loading most programs and even the drivers of the Microsoft Windows operating system itself. Viruses do not have time to get into RAM and activate, avast! ahead of them, which allows him to do his job more efficiently. If you suspect that a virus is “mastering” your computer, one of the usual recommendations for such cases is to run avast! in Scan at Startup mode.

What to do if avast! Found an infection on your computer?

If this happened in the "Scan at Boot" mode, you will have before your eyes blue screen with text (after all, graphic Windows interface not loaded yet). avast! will prompt you to delete, move, disinfect the infected file, or ignore the problem. (The latter option, however, can hardly be considered reasonable).

In other modes you will have the following choice:

• Treat. avast! will try to get rid of the malicious code in the infected file without any losses for you and the system. This doesn't always work, but it's worth a try.
• Move to quarantine. Do not delete, but isolate the infected file so that the virus cannot harm other system components (see below for more details).
• Delete. avast! simply deletes the infected file. This can be the simplest and most effective way to solve the problem - of course, if you are sure that the file is of no importance either to you or to the operating system.
• Do nothing.

A little more about quarantine. It may happen that a pest has “infiltrated” itself into one or another important file. It is not your plan to delete this file; on the contrary, it is very important, but it cannot be cured. For these cases, the authors of avast! and came up with "Quarantine". The program isolates the file from the system, preventing the virus from spreading and giving you the opportunity to think and decide what to do next. By the way, there are situations when even the best antivirus program misfires and mistakes a completely normal file for a virus (which, from the point of view of this program, demonstrates “suspicious behavior”). Careless deletion of such an “innocent” (but important for the system) file can be fraught with trouble. And you can always extract it from “Quarantine”.

In this example, avast! After a successful scan, he localized the virus and suggested options for further action.

Select "Move to Quarantine" and click the "Apply" button. avast! executes the command, although it does not produce any results. When you close the avast! persistently offers to enable scanning when starting the computer. You can see the file in “quarantine” if you select “Maintenance” - “Quarantine” in the main program window.

A quarantined virus file looks like this:

By right-clicking, you can perform various actions on the file, for example, delete, restore “as it was” (before Avast intervened!), save in another folder on the disk, etc.

Like any decent antivirus package, avast! includes not only a scanner (which runs periodically), but also a resident (permanently located in memory) anti-virus “screen”. This helps to constantly monitor the “health” of the computer and prevent viruses from entering the system.

To be precise, avast! There are several resident program modules, which the developers called “screens”. In the main program window they are listed in the "Live Screens" menu.

By clicking on the screen name in the menu, we get more detailed information about it on the right. Each screen can be turned on or off using the Start and Stop buttons.

There are eight screens in total:

• Screen file system. The main screen of avast! scans files as they open (in particular, programs at startup). In particular, it scans programs at their startup.
• Mail screen. Scans incoming (and at the same time outgoing) mail, including, of course, attachment files. Very useful if you use mail client, such as Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Web screen. Internet protection when browsing websites.
• P2P screen. Used for point-to-point or peer-to-peer programs. This is useful if you have applications running on your computer that exchange data directly over the network with other computers (for example, torrent clients).
• Internet chat screen. Useful if you use, for example, ICQ.
• Firewall. Defence from network attacks from the outside, for example, from a computer that (by hook or by crook) connected to your local network.
• Scenarios screen. Intercepts all scripts running on the system.
• Behavior screen. Detects unusual and suspicious behavior of programs (and draws the user's attention).

Most screens are customizable. To do this, click on the "Advanced settings" button in the corresponding screen window.

The example below shows sensitivity level settings for a web screen.

As you can see for yourself, avast! offers quite a lot of settings that are intended rather for an advanced user, and we leave them outside the scope of our guide. An inquisitive reader will figure them out without much difficulty: avast! offers not only hints next to each field and button, but also an intelligent help system in Russian. To access it, just press the F1 key on your keyboard or the question mark button in the program.

Sometimes the protection provided avast!, Comodo Firewall And Spybot turns out to be not enough. Despite our desperate efforts, malicious code still penetrates the system. Then we have to look for more effective ways.

Antivirus CD/DVD

Some antivirus manufacturers offer tools for creating special CD/DVDs. With their help, you can perform a “clean” (virus-free) boot of your computer and deal with infected hard drives. A CD/DVD can usually be downloaded as a single ISO file (called a "disc image"). ISO - universal format, he is “understood” different programs for working with CD/DVD. Using such a program, you can turn an ISO file into a bootable CD or DVD, which is necessary for fighting viruses.

The sequence of steps is as follows:

• Download a program that will help you deal with malicious code, like those described in our guide.
• Create a bootable antivirus CD or DVD. To create (sometimes they say “burning” a disk), you can use some kind of free program eg ImgBurn.
• Insert the disc into the drive of the infected computer.
• Turn off the computer (as usual). We disconnect it from the Internet - physically remove the wire or turn it off wifi adapter, depending on the method of connecting to the Internet.
• Turn on the computer and boot it from the CD/DVD.

Advice for advanced users. Your computer (depending on configuration) may have a boot sequence set to "hard drive first, then CD/DVD". In this case, the computer will always boot from the infected hard drive. To change the sequence to "CD/DVD first, then hard drive", you need to enter Computer BIOS and change the corresponding parameter. Entering the BIOS is most often done by pressing the Del key or another key at the very beginning of boot (when the first information appears on the black background of the screen). BIOS manufacturers prefer different interfaces, which are always displayed on English language. If you are not confident in your abilities, it is better to contact a knowledgeable person. ATTENTION! Erroneous BIOS settings may prevent your computer from booting properly!

Some very old computers may not be able to boot from CD/DVD at all. Then, unfortunately, the method described in this subsection cannot be applied. Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer such computers.

• We turn on the Internet connection and allow the antivirus program to download the latest updates.
• We scan your computer's hard drive(s) for viruses.

Here are some examples of "antivirus CDs":

After performing a clean boot, you can use other scanner programs:

• HijackThis and other tools from Trend Micro's Clean-up Tools.
• RootkitRevealer from Microsoft's Sysinternals kit.

To deal with malicious code for sure and completely, you can use several of these utilities in succession.

Reinstalling Microsoft Windows

The last resort against viruses (when other methods have already been tried) may be a complete reinstallation of the operating system. This is a relatively long process, but it allows you to “start from scratch.” If you do everything carefully (nothing is fundamentally difficult), you will not lose any of your working files. Reinstalling Windows only affects system files the operating system itself, and not user data.

It must be said that on some computers, reinstalling Windows helps “in one fell swoop” to solve other problems, for example, system overload with programs installed in the right place and in the wrong place, errors in the registry, etc. It turns out something like “spring cleaning”.

ATTENTION! Before you reinstall Windows, make sure you have everything on hand license keys And serial numbers to paid programs installed on the computer, as well as to the distribution of Windows itself. You should know that with full reinstalling Windows All installed programs will be deleted and will have to be installed again. Therefore, remember (write down) the settings of the most important programs.

The sequence of steps is as follows:

• We create a backup copy of user data (documents, spreadsheets, email files, etc.).
• We boot the computer with Windows distribution on CD/DVD.
• Install Windows following the instructions on the screen, formatting the system hard drive.
• We allow Windows to download and install the updates necessary for the operating system.
• Install avast! (or other antivirus program), let it download and install the updates it needs.
• We install (and, if necessary, update) other programs.
• Only after this do we connect the disk with the backup data to the computer. We scan it for viruses and other malicious code.
• Restoring data from a backup.

Questions and test

Questions

Question: I have a lot of files on my computer. Would it take too long to scan these files every time you boot your computer?

Answer: May be. Perhaps you should be content with scanning the entire system once at boot, and then disable this option and trust Avast!'s resident protection.

Question: Should you install two antiviruses (or more) on your computer to ensure more reliable protection?

Answer: Not worth it. Antivirus programs may conflict with each other. One of them may consider the behavior of the other suspicious or even dangerous, and the user will have problems. Use the program that you like best and that you trust.

Question: I heard that the antivirus... is better than avast!. This is true?

Answer: It happens that antivirus programs behave differently in critical situations. What one antivirus could not “cure” or even detect, another can, and vice versa. In general, modern advanced antivirus tools (such as avast!) cope with the vast majority of viruses with approximately equal success. If you don't like avast!, you can uninstall it and install another antivirus, even a commercial one, since such programs are usually inexpensive.

Mini test

1. Registration avast! allows you to work with the program for free for...

• 1 month
• 6 months
• 12 months
• 24 months

2. How to register the program?

• Fill out the form in the avast! program, and the program will do everything itself
• Fill out the form on the developer’s website and wait for the key by email
• Fill out the form on the developer’s website and copy the key from the screen
• Fill out the form at text file, send to the developer by email and wait for the key by email

3. We are faced with the task of updating the avast antivirus database! (virus scanning and detection module). Which statement is false?

• Avast! can automatically download updates itself
• The update can be done manually
• The update can be downloaded from the developer's website as a file
• Updates are only available with a new, fresh version of avast!

4. What is the purpose of “quarantine”?

• This is the virus database where avast! obtains information from scanning
• This is a "isolator" for files that avast! marked as infected
• This is an intermediate buffer into which the infected file is placed immediately before being deleted
• This is a harmless demo program that introduces the user to the symptoms of a computer virus infection

5. What kind of protection system do we call “resident”?

• Demo protection (demonstrates protection capabilities to familiarize yourself with the program)
• Protection that is permanently in memory and monitors the actions of viruses and suspicious programs
• Protection that is triggered when avast! in manual scanning mode
• "Deep" scanning of disks and files

6. Why in the avast! as many as eight “screens”?

• Each screen is designed to solve its own problem
• They provide different levels of protection.
• They are needed for avast compatibility! with other programs
• These are language modules (avast! interface in different languages)

7. While in the avast! resident protection settings, you can... (find the error)

• ...turn off all screens
• ...turn off one screen
• ...install new screen
• ...customize each screen individually

8. Find a feature that is not one of the main avast! features:

• Checking attachments in emails
• Securing ICQ connections
• Scanning boot sectors of floppy disks
• Spam filtering

Program Avast Antivirus offers a range of scans to protect your PC from malware. You can also create your own scan with the parameters you specify. More information about antivirus scans can be found in the sections listed below.

Selecting a scan type

Planning your scan

You can schedule the scan you want to start at a time convenient for you. To schedule a scan, follow these steps:

Create a custom scan

To create a custom scan, follow these steps:

You can use the tabs in the left panel to set advanced parameters for your scan. To get more detailed information see article below.

Your new scan will appear as a tile next to the item Set scan options. Click the trash can icon to delete a scan, the clock icon to go to scheduling settings, or the gear icon to open scan settings.

Processing scan results

Once the scan is launched, the results will display information about the problems found and possible ways their decisions.

Smart Scan

Smart Scan shows details of each issue and offers the option to fix it immediately by clicking the item Solve the problem of, or do it later by clicking Skip.

Antivirus scans

If Avast Antivirus scans find problems, you can use the drop-down menu to select what action the antivirus will take. The following actions are available.

• Auto: Attempt to fix the file. If unsuccessful, the file will be placed in Quarantine. If this action fails, it will be deleted.
• Delete: Permanently delete a file from your PC.
• To correct: Remove malicious code if only part of the file is infected. This action cannot be performed if all the code is malicious.
• Quarantine: sending the file to Quarantine, from where it cannot harm the system (recommended).
• Ignore: The contents and location of the file are not changed (not recommended).

If you don't want Avast to do anything right now, click Back to exit this screen. You can manage outstanding detected issues at any time by selecting Protection ▸ Antivirus ▸ Scan history.

Special cases

For incomplete scans in a column State An error message is displayed indicating the reason why the scan could not be completed. While there are many different reasons why a scan may not be able to complete, some of the most common options are listed below.

• Archive zashishen password.: You must enter a password to access the file. Some programs use password-protected archives to store their data, even if you have not set a password for them. Depending on the scanning settings, only the “external” file is scanned, the contents of the archive are not affected.
• Arhiv povrezhden.: The file may be damaged as a result of partial downloading or saving on your hard drive, or it may be a special type of archive.
• The process cannot access the file because it is occupied by another process: Another process (or program) is working on the file while scanning.
• This fail javljaetsja konteiynerom dlja raspakovki.: The file cannot be unpacked for malware scanning because it is too large. Unpacking large files creates too large a data array, which can make the system unstable or cause a crash.

Files stored in archives cannot harm the system before they are unpacked.

Changing scan settings

Although customizable settings are available for some types of antivirus scans, we recommend making changes only in the Custom Scan section. To set scan settings, follow these steps:

More information about scanning settings can be found in the articles below.

• Changing antivirus scan settings in Avast Antivirus

• Avast Ultimate 17.x
• Avast Premier 17.x
• Avast Internet Security 17.x
• Avast Pro Antivirus 17.x
• Avast Free Antivirus 17.x

• Microsoft Windows 10 Home/Pro/Enterprise/Education - 32 or 64 bit
• Microsoft Windows 8.1/Pro/Enterprise - 32 or 64 bit
• Microsoft Windows 8/Pro/Enterprise - 32 or 64 bit
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic / Home Premium / Professional / Enterprise / Ultimate - SP 1, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic / Home Premium / Business / Enterprise / Ultimate - SP 2, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional/Media Center Edition - SP 3 32-bit

Hello, dear readers of this blog:) I continue my series of articles about protecting your computer from various types threats, and in this article I will tell you about protecting your system from viruses using free antivirus Avast! Free.

The system must always be maintained in good condition. Just imagine what you earn on the Internet. And the computer’s hard drive stores important data for this income. At the same time, every minute of time that you devote to earning money is very important. And at one point, due to the fact that you do not follow basic security recommendations, your system becomes infected and becomes inoperable.

You will spend a lot of time reinstalling the system or restoring its functionality. And it also happens that important data will be destroyed or worse than that stolen by some virus spy. With all this, you temporarily stop making money on the Internet and jeopardize the safety of important data related to this matter. All this is only because, for example, no anti-virus protection was installed at all, or the anti-virus databases were outdated, or the operating system itself was not updated.

Also, everything would be much easier to restore if done regularly backups. Well, that’s right, a small digression from the main topic of the article in order to attract all readers (especially those new to computer literacy) to follow at least the minimum recommendations for the security of your computer :)

Let's move on to a full review of a free and very good alternative to Kaspersky - Avast antivirus! Free. The antivirus is completely free for non-commercial use and includes a large number of different protection components that block a wide variety of threats. At the same time, the antivirus does not heavily load the system; it has a very flexible setup and many additional bells and whistles :)

Now let's move on to the installation process of Avast antivirus.

Installing Avast antivirus! Free

First of all, before you start installing an antivirus product (any), you need to remove the one already installed on this moment on your system. Two simultaneously working antiviruses (namely, full-fledged complex antiviruses. There are also separate antispyware ones) - can conflict with each other and lead to system failures. Be sure to uninstall your current antivirus product before installing a new one.

So, let's start the installation:

It is most convenient to download an antivirus from the official website, since this way you will always download the latest version. Go to the site:

avast

On the website, go to the menu at the top “FOR HOME”, and then select the “Avast! Free Antivirus".

We scroll down the page approximately to the middle until we see a comparison of 3 versions of the antivirus and the “Download” button. We are interested in the free version of “BASIC Avast! Free Antivirus" and click on the "Download" button below it:

I would like to immediately answer a possible question: “But the comparison table shows that the free version is inferior and does not have many functions. Why put such a version then?”.

Now we are talking specifically about protection against viruses, spyware, Trojans and similar threats, and therefore let's look at what is missing in this free version according to the table:

All this will be missing in the free version. Now let's figure out what's what.

SafeZone– does not refer to virus protection, but rather refers to an additional component. To protect payments and everything else, it is enough to have a reliable antivirus + firewall + follow other recommended security measures when working on a computer. And to securely store passwords, business cards, and the like, use a special password manager, which is full of free ones. I talked about one of them in this article.

Automatic firewall. The one built into Avast does not deserve necessary trust, compared to the one that has gained popularity and has excellent protection - Comodo Firewall. I recommend installing it separately, and I promised to write an article about this :)

Spam protection. Again, for such protection it is enough to have everything that I wrote above, and there is no point in buying a paid version of the antivirus just for this function. As a last resort, you can use a separately installed anti-spammer.

Software Updater. Each installed program The computer already has its own update functions, so this tool is completely useless. And, especially since in free version Still, this tool is built in, but the only difference from the paid one is that it needs to be launched manually :) And in the paid version of the update third party programs go automatically. I think this is absolutely not important for us.

AccessAnywhere. To obtain full remote access, it is most convenient to use a separate free program - TeamViewer, which has everything required functions and even more. If readers are interested in this program, its operation and configuration, I will write a separate article on this topic :)

Data Shredder. Allows you to permanently (without the possibility of recovery) delete data using special algorithms. Again, a program designed for this can be installed separately, if necessary.

So we went through all the additional tools that are available only in the paid version of Avast antivirus and, I think, we were able to explain why paying for this makes absolutely no sense :)

Will open new page, and should start immediately automatic download antivirus installer on your computer. If the download does not start automatically (this depends on the browser and its settings), then start the download manually by clicking on the “click here” link:

The file will begin downloading to your computer in the folder you selected, or automatically in the folder specified in your browser settings.

To start the installation, run the just downloaded file "avast_free_antivirus_setup_online.exe".

The first Avast installer window will open. I recommend unchecking the “Yes, set Google Chrome as my default browser” and “Yes, install the panel Google tools For Internet Explorer" If necessary, you can install all this separately by downloading it for free from the Internet.

As for choosing the installation type, I recommend choosing “Custom Installation”. This allows you to fine-tune the antivirus installation. Click on this button:

In the next installer window, you are prompted to select a folder (path) to install the antivirus. I always leave the default path and recommend doing the same when installing any programs. Click the “Continue” button:

At the next installation stage, you are asked to choose which antivirus protection components, additional tools and languages ​​will be installed. We install all protection components (screens) without fail! This is the most important component in defense. I recommend leaving the tools as they are enabled by default (see image below), but it is better to disable the “Avast Gadget!” tool, which does not play an important role, but will get in the way and load the system. Choose languages ​​at your own discretion, but I left only Russian.

Click the “Continue” button after you have configured everything at this stage.

In the next window, we are once again notified about the settings we made during installation. Click the “Continue” button:

At the next stage, you just need to click the “Continue” button again and thereby we accept the terms of the license agreement:

The installation process will start. At this stage, no action is required from us:

After the installation is complete, click the “Finish” button and a quick system scan for viruses will be launched.

You can wait until the scan is completed, or you can interrupt it by clicking the Stop button. It's up to you:

At this point, all steps for installing Avast antivirus are completed, and it is ready to work. But I said that I would tell in articles how to configure antiviruses for maximum protection. Therefore, now let’s move on to analyzing the antivirus settings.

Setting up Avast antivirus! Free for maximum protection

If working window antivirus did not open immediately after installing it and doing a quick scan, then most likely you closed it. You can open it from the tray ( system area with icons where the system clock is located). To do this, double-click on the Avast icon with the left mouse button:

So, first, let's activate our free version:

Now let's go directly to the settings:

In the Avast window, open the “Settings” tab in the list on the left.

A new window will open, where there will be many more tabs, each of which we will go through. The “General” tab will immediately open. Let's look at the settings on this tab.

I recommend leaving the “Participate in the Avast Community” feature enabled. Some Avast usage data will be transmitted to Avast's servers, but you will also receive statistical information about site content, site rankings, and other information. Since our version is officially free, we are not afraid of any blocking and other things related to the fact that the program will send data to the antivirus servers :)

Scrolling down the page a little lower we will see the “Password” section. Here you can set a password for protection various functions programs. This can be done and even necessary for 2 reasons. 1st - protecting the antivirus settings and its operation in the event that another person besides you uses the computer. And the second reason, which in my opinion is even more important than the first, is password protection of the main functions of the program so that some types of viruses themselves cannot change or disable anything. Believe me, this happens in practice.

So, check the box “Protect Avast! Password" and indicate a simple password 2 times below. Below we open another additional section “Protected areas”. Here we are asked to choose: when accessing which areas of the program a password will be required. This is at your discretion, and depends on which of the 2 reasons you set the password or both :)

If you are protecting yourself with a password only from special smart viruses, then I recommend leaving the checkboxes as in the image above. That is, the password will be requested when accessing the main program settings, when enabling/disabling protection, and when working with threats that are in quarantine.

We go down even lower and see the “Maintenance” section. Here are the settings for storing reports, antivirus and quarantine logs. Everything is configured optimally here, but if you want to extend the lifespan of some reports, you can specify a larger number of days, as well as specify a different quarantine volume. I leave everything as it is:

If we go even lower, we will see the last function on this page - “ Backup settings". But it makes sense to use this when all the settings are done, so we’ll come back here later.

We’ve sorted out the first tab and now move on to the settings of the next tab “Active Protection”. In the window, check that all 3 protection screens are enabled, then click on the button with a gear icon opposite “File system screen” to go to its settings:

And here again many tabs await us :)

1. At this moment, the very first tab will be open - “Scanning while running”. In the window on the right, we simply check that all functions are active (all 3 checkboxes are checked):

   Move on to the next tab “Scan on Open”. For maximum protection, we enable two functions: “Scan documents when opened” and “Scan all files”:

   Enabling the latter function may affect the performance of your computer if your computer is weak. Not indicated on the official website system requirements Avast (at least, I wanted to find it to add to this article and didn’t find it), but from my own tests on different machines I can say for sure that these requirements are far from high and even today’s “weak” computers can cope.

   “Scan from” checkbox custom extensions" can be installed if you did not enable the "Scan all files" function. Then in a special window you can set the file extensions that the antivirus will scan.

   The next tab is “Scan on Write”. Here I recommend checking 4 boxes, as indicated in the image below. The “Scan files with custom extensions” item can again be enabled if for some reason you did not enable “Scan all files”.

   The “Do not scan files on remote shares” function is enabled because scanning folders and files on other PCs is no longer our responsibility and will greatly reduce performance if deleted folders there will be many, and various changes will be made there frequently.

   Since the “Do not scan files on removable media” function is disabled, when inserting flash drives and other media, it will be possible to immediately scan the files and this is very important! Simply because removable media often contains many different viruses if this media is connected to other computers. We will configure this in the next tab.

   “On-Connect Scan” tab. We check that both checkboxes are there, as in the image below. The first function will allow you to scan the connected media immediately to prevent infection of the system if the media itself is infected.

   The second function scans floppy disks. Although they can be said to be no longer used anywhere, you still shouldn’t turn off this function.

   Go to the “Exceptions” tab. Here we can set files, folders and extensions that the antivirus will not scan. I always clear all default exception files because in specified files there may still be malicious code and they may be subject to modification. Therefore, it is better to uncheck all the boxes in this window, and add, if necessary, only those files and folders that the antivirus mistakenly accepts as a threat, and you know for sure that these files do not pose a threat. Such files, for example, often include various activators for programs.

   "Advanced" tab. In the settings window, I recommend disabling the “Do not scan verified system DLL files” feature, which is enabled by default, since system files can become infected and need to be scanned periodically.

   We disable the “Use persistent caching” function, otherwise the antivirus will not scan files a second time (even after a reboot) that have already been scanned and turned out to be “clean”.

   Leave the “Use short-term caching” and “Optimize scanning when copying files” checkboxes.

   Let's move on to a very important tab - “Actions”. Here you can configure the behavior of the antivirus when detecting threats and suspicious files.

   The best option is to set Avast action values ​​in all 3 subsections (Virus, PUP, Suspicious file) as in the image below:

   Those. if a virus, suspicious file or potentially unwanted program (PUP) is detected, the antivirus will first ask you what to do with the detected object, and you can choose the action yourself. If for some reason it was unable to display a window with a choice of action, then the antivirus itself will try to select the most correct action on the object, and if this fails, it will definitely send the file to quarantine. In fact, the 1st action (Ask) can be said to be issued in 100% of cases, and we set the rest only as a safety net.

   Having set the actions in the “Virus” tab, we set the same in “PNP” and “Suspicious file”.

   Below in the “Options” section we leave both checkboxes enabled.

   In the “Processing infected archives” parameter, it is best to enable the second option – “Try to extract only the archived file; if that doesn’t work, delete the entire archive.” In this case, the infected archive will be deleted entirely if you confirm this action.

   Now let's go to the "Archivers" tab. This section allows you to mark those archive formats that Avast will open when scanning for viruses.

   Since I’m showing how to configure an antivirus for maximum protection, we simply check the “All archivers” checkbox:

   The penultimate tab is “Sensitivity”. She is also responsible for the degree of antivirus protection. We set the sensitivity to the “High” level, i.e. – mark all the stripes (see image below). We enable all the checkboxes in this window.

   On last tab“Report file” has nothing particularly important. Here you can set the settings for reports that are created after scanning. The default options here are quite optimal.

   At this point, the file system screen settings (this is a scan that is performed in real time) are completed. Click the “OK” button in this window.

As a result, we will return to the “Active Protection” tab and now proceed to setting up the next screen – “Mail Screen”. Open the setting by clicking on the same gear-shaped button:




1. We just need to configure the last screen – “Web Screen”. Let's start setting it up:

   
   

2. We move to the “Antivirus” tab and begin to look at the list of settings here.

   In the subsections “Reputation Services”, “Deepscreen”, “Enhanced Mode” the necessary parameters are already set by default and here it is best to leave everything unchanged. The Deepscreen function allows you to find out about the contents of an unknown file even before it is launched, and this increases security. There is no need to enable the enhanced mode, since we are already turning up the settings for maximum protection, and this function It is recommended for inexperienced users and you will not be able to configure it flexibly.

   Below on the same tab there will be a subsection “Exceptions”, in which you can add general exceptions for all the screens discussed above at once. I have already described why exceptions are needed above and add them only when absolutely necessary.

   Even lower will be the “Alerts” subsection, which will allow you to send notifications to someone by mail if a threat is detected on your computer. I’ve never used this function and I’m unlikely to use it, and for some reason I’m sure you will too :) Therefore, you don’t have to enter any addresses here.

   Well, in front of it is the subsection “Special types of scanning”. Let's linger here for a bit. We will not touch “Screen saver scanning”, since this function is optimally configured by default. This scanning is performed while the screen saver on the computer is turned on and is carried out unnoticed by the user. But the second type of scanning – “Scanning in Explorer” – is better configured. Click the “Settings” button next to the corresponding item:

   And again we see a row of tabs :)

   But I recommend going through them, because scanning in Explorer is often very convenient. It allows you to scan any folder or file by right-clicking on it and selecting “Scan”. This is the type of scanning we will now set up.

   
   

3. Now we continue checking the settings in the previous window. Let's go to the tab " Appearance" The settings here are in no way responsible for the security of the computer, but they can affect performance and convenience :) Let’s go through the settings from this tab.

   I recommend that you first disable the “Icon animation when scanning” option. In any case, animation requires, although not significantly, more system resources, despite the fact that there is no point in this option. I also always turn off sounds, no matter what antivirus I use. It’s up to everyone’s discretion, but it’s more convenient for me to simply receive text notifications than to constantly hear and be distracted by sound notifications.

   We go down through the settings in the same tab and see the “Activity Monitoring” subsection. This monitoring is responsible for displaying data on the protection status to you, and with the checkboxes below you can mark which components and parameters to take into account when displaying this data. If there is something wrong with one of the selected parameters/components, for example, disabled, then monitoring will issue a warning that the protection is not perfect. For example, the virus databases will become very out of date, and it will issue a warning about the status of the protection, since I have the “Virus definitions version” item checked.

   By default, everything is configured well here, so it’s better to leave everything like this:

   Even lower there is a subsection “Pop-up messages”, which is responsible for the duration of display of notification windows. I'm not adjusting anything here, but you can change the duration if you wish.

   Even lower is the “Welcome” subsection. There is absolutely no need for a checkmark here, and if there is one, feel free to remove it.

   In the “Scan Results” subsection, a checkmark is also not needed. After scanning, the results will be open anyway if there are any important points, for example - a threat has been detected.

   And finally, at the very bottom of this tab, in the last subsection “Community Features”, the “Show avast recommendation features!” function is enabled by default. It is better to leave it enabled so that additional options are available.

   The screenshot below shows the last 3 subsections with the necessary settings:

   Now move on to the next tab “Update”. Here we can manually update the virus databases by clicking the "Update" button under the "Virus Definitions" heading.

   Virus definitions are updated automatically. But when a new version of the antivirus itself is released, it will not be updated automatically. Therefore, once every 2 weeks, look at this section and click the “Update” button under the “Program” heading. If a new version exited, it will download and install.

   Here I recommend checking the box “My computer is always connected to the Internet.” Also here you can change the frequency of checking for virus database updates. The default is every 240 minutes, and I consider this a normal interval and do not change given value. In the proxy server settings, leave the " Direct connection(no proxy)". Only if you use a proxy server to access the Internet, then indicate the details of this server here by enabling the appropriate function.

   The next tab is “Registration”. There is nothing important for us here and I’m just showing it for your information :) Here you can see if your free license, as well as the number of days until its end. After graduation, you can get a new license again.

   Also on this page you can activate the paid version by clicking on the appropriate link if you suddenly purchased it.

   Next, go to the “Tools” tab. Here we will see additional free tools that are not related to the antivirus protection itself. These functions are useless and it is more convenient to use full-fledged separate programs, each designed for its own needs. Our task is simply to disable both of these tools :) Click the “Settings” button next to the “Software Updater” tool:

   In the new window, simply uncheck the box next to the “Software Updater” item, and then click “OK,” thereby returning to the previous window.

   This tool can check for new versions of everything installed on your computer software. But this only wastes resources, given that each installed program can already check for updates for itself.

   Now let's disable the use of "GrimeFighter":

   In the new window, uncheck the only checkbox at the top “Always test this computer for Grime”. Then click “OK” and go back:

   The Grime tool is used to clean the system of debris. To do this, it is best to use a separate utility, for example CCleaner, which will clean the registry and unnecessary files will delete and correct errors. By the way, if readers are interested in the topic of cleaning the system to increase performance and fix errors, then I can write an article on this topic :)

   But a similar tool built into Avast is completely stupid and does not have all the functions necessary for this.

   Finally, we move on to the last tab in this large settings window :) The tab is called “Troubleshooting”. Honestly, in my opinion, the developers translated this tab incorrectly, since I don’t see a single function here that would allow us to fix any problem :) Well, actually, let’s not quibble. In this tab, the most optimal and best in terms of maximum antivirus protection are the default settings. These are the settings I have in the screenshot below:

   Having set the settings, click the “OK” button and finally leave this largest window with the settings, and in general, these are all the settings! :)

Congratulations, real-time antivirus protection is set to the highest level of security! :) I agree, there are just a lot of settings in Avast. But this flexibility of settings and overall protection is what makes it one of the best free antivirus products.

Now it’s a small matter and all that remains is to talk about the options for manually scanning the system and their settings.

Manually scanning your computer for viruses using Avast antivirus! Free

Even though I mentioned it in a previous article (about Kaspersky Anti-Virus), I’ll repeat it just in case, since not all readers study every article on the blog. And it’s not at all difficult for me to repeat myself :)

Although the antivirus protects your computer in real time, some kind of infection can still accidentally penetrate your computer. And even more so, the protection, whatever one may say, is inferior to paid Kaspersky.

In this regard, it is necessary to regularly scan your computer for viruses manually. I do this weekly. My computer is efficient, and therefore I don’t even notice the full scanning process. I recommend at least once a month so as not to neglect the security of your system.

So, let's start with manual system scanning:

In the main window of Avast! go to the “Scanning” tab.

On the right we will see a drop-down list with scanning options, a link to settings and a launch button.

Of all the scanning options, we will consider only the 2 most important: “Full Scan” and “Scan at OS boot”.

Let's start by setting up a full scan:

This type of scan performs a thorough, in-depth check of your entire system, all local drives, and is what I use all the time.

To start a scan, you now just need to go to the “Scan” menu, select the “Full Scan” type and click the “Start” button.

This is what the running scanning process will look like:

We just have to wait for it to finish. And if for some reason you need to interrupt scanning, you can do this simply by pressing the “Stop” or “Pause” button (as indicated).

The second type of scanning I noted scans before the operating system starts. This type of scanning can be useful if for some reason the system has become infected with some unknown infection, and you cannot eliminate this threat using a regular manual full scan from the system. Then, most likely, the threat will be found during scanning when loading the OS.

Let's start setting up scanning during OS boot:

This completes the scan settings when loading the OS :) If you click “Start” in this type of scan, it will start the next time the system boots. Those. Just click “Start” and restart your computer.

Well, all the most important settings and functions of Avast antivirus have been sorted out! Free.

The remaining tabs are not so important that they need to be discussed in detail. For example, “Store” is only needed if you want to purchase some paid versions antivirus. In the “Tools” tab there are programs additional to the antivirus, for example, the previously mentioned “Software Updater”, “GrimeFighter” and so on. The “My Devices” tab makes sense only in the advanced version of the antivirus, since it implies remote access to other computers with Avast! antivirus, but this function is not available in our free version.

Tab – “Statistics” allows you to view statistics on scanned files; what percentage of infections, what percentage cured over different periods. But I don't use this function :)

Well, that’s actually all :) The article has already turned out to be huge, but I touched on the main thing - how to set up an antivirus for maximum protection :)

I will be glad to receive any comments :) That's all, I wish you all good luck in your endeavors! ;)

In this material we will get acquainted with the capabilities of one of the most popular free antivirus applications, avast! Free Antivirus 7 using effective methods counteraction computer threats and providing basic PC protection functions.

Introduction

Avast! Free Antivirus - the brainchild of Czech programmers - is already quite for a long time is popular among many users. In many ways, such a high interest in this product is explained by its free nature and fairly high efficiency and good functionality.

The current, seventh version of this antivirus solution, like previous ones, includes a file antivirus, antispyware and email scanner that can provide a basic level of protection against various types of malicious software.

Installation

Avast distribution! Free Antivirus 7 can be downloaded from the developer's website. The current version has a capacity of 97.6 MB.

Immediately after launching the installer, a window opens in which we have to select the type of installation - express installation with default parameters or custom installation. If some other antivirus is already installed on your computer, then a third item will appear offering to install avast! as a second line of defense.

By choosing the custom option, you can manually set the future location of the folder with the program, as well as independently determine the installed components and user interface languages, the number of which is truly impressive.

In the program configuration window you can select two standard options installations with a minimum or standard set of components, as well as select all necessary components on one's own. It is worth noting that by clicking on the items marked with a question mark (“avast Firewall!”, “SafeZone” and “Antispam Screen”), you will be redirected to an advertising web page with an offer to buy paid versions of this product: avast! Pro Antivirus or avast! Internet Security, since the free edition does not have these components.

Once the installation is complete, the antivirus will automatically begin performing an express scan of your system for malicious objects. You can cancel this procedure by clicking the “Cancel” button in the lower right corner of the window.

It’s worth saying a few words right away about the program’s uninstaller, which deserves special praise.

It allows you not only to remove the application, but also to update virus databases or program files to latest versions, add or remove any program components and interface languages, as well as restore avast settings! default.

Immediately after the first launch of the program, a welcome window will appear in which you will be reminded that you need to register the antivirus program within 30 days. To do this, you only need to enter your username and your email address, where a free license to use the application will be sent. In the future, it will be necessary to renew the protection period every year.

avast! Free Antivirus 7 registers itself with operating system Windows 7 as an antivirus and antispyware program. Confirmation of this can be obtained by opening the Security section in the Support Center.

This does not disable the Windows Network Firewall.

If real-time protection is disabled in the antivirus, Center Windows support produces a very discreet warning about this in the system tray. It is easy to miss compared to the standard warning that appears when the antivirus program on the system is completely disabled.

True, here the user can come to the aid of the proprietary avast! application icon, made in the shape of an orange ball and placed in the notification area immediately after installing the program. If antivirus protection fails or is disabled, a red cross appears in the notification icon to warn you of a problem. Just keep in mind that by default this icon is hidden, and you can only see it by clicking the arrow on the taskbar.

It is also worth noting that the window in the Help Center with a message about disabling anti-virus scanning is yellow, not red. But at this time the system is just as vulnerable as in the case of a complete absence of security applications on the computer.

In our opinion, this discreet behavior of the built-in Windows warning system may not be obvious to many users. So avast developers! It may be worth thinking about and reconsidering the interaction of this application with the Help Center by implementing standard warnings in it if important PC protection components are disabled.

User interface

Avast main window Free Antivirus 7 has retained the familiar format, familiar to some users from previous versions.

On the left there is a column with menu buttons, when clicked, a list of additional categories appears. To the right of it is a large panel showing information or options for selected menu items. At the top there are buttons for: logging in social media, obtaining various kinds of help information and calling up program settings.

Generally, GUI The program clearly displays many functional processes and looks very nice. It will not be difficult for even inexperienced users to understand it. It is enough to make a few mouse clicks on the menu buttons to understand what certain items are responsible for.

By default in avast! a tab with a characteristic name is activated, reflecting the current state of anti-virus protection, which is quite logical. If on the status panel, which has a rather impressive size, you see a green checkmark and the inscription “PROTECTED”, then this means that there is nothing to worry about - all protection systems and automatic updates are included, and the program and virus databases are up to date.

If one of the non-critical protection components is disabled or requires your attention, the wording of the message will change to “ATTENTION” and a yellow exclamation mark will appear on the left.

In this case, the “Fix” button will appear on the right, allowing you, without going into details of the problem, to change the status of the protection components and bring them to an optimal state. Surely this option should especially appeal to inexperienced users.

However, if you still want to know what the antivirus is complaining about, below the warning there is a detailed list that shows the status of its main components and which of them is the problem. Here you will also find links with which you can change the state of security elements that cause an alarm in the application. This method of regulating antivirus components is suitable for those people who deliberately make changes to the operation of certain program services.

There is a third option for notifying users when the message changes to “UNPROTECTED,” clearly indicating that the anti-virus shield is not currently working. Typically this occurs when real-time screens are disabled.

And here, to resume normal operation of the antivirus, just click on the “Fix” button or use the links in the list below.

Sometimes, in order to clean your computer of dangerous objects, you need to run the threat scan procedure from safe mode, which means that a normal antivirus should be capable of this. In our case, after booting the computer into safe mode with the support network drivers, avast! Free Antivirus 7 has launched successfully. At the same time, in the status field, the application informs users that it is running in safe mode and has limited functionality. As expected, the program retained the ability to launch selective scanning of any desired area on storage media. But real-time screens do not work here, but in principle this is not necessary.

In addition to the area showing the protection status located in the program window itself, avast! informs users about its actions using pop-up messages in the lower right corner of the screen, which are accompanied by audio comments.

All messages can be divided into four types:

• Informational (on a blue background) - display useful information about the actions of the program.
• About updates (on a green background) - inform about latest updates anti-virus databases and application files.
• Warnings (on an orange background) - notify you about important events that require the user's attention.
• Notifications (red background) - report problems and malicious threats.

For example, this is what a pop-up message about a successful virus database update looks like.

Also, Windows users Vista/7 will be able to monitor the status of antivirus protection using a desktop gadget.

In addition to showing the current general status, the gadget has links to the program window and update functions.

Functionality

By clicking the “Scan Computer” button, the user is presented with a wide range of options for starting a scan various media information to detect malicious objects.

Among them are quick scan system disk, in-depth system scan, scanning of removable media and a separately selected folder. For those who find this not enough, you can set a special type of scanning with your own settings.

You can also start the virus scanning process using context menu by right-clicking on any file, folder or drive and selecting “Scan”.

It is worth noting that avast! to search for infected objects, it uses not only anti-virus databases stored on your computer, but also cloud technologies, allowing the program to accept more right decisions by file reputation and receive information about the latest threats.

To check the status and settings of services running in the cloud, go to the “Services in the cloud” tab of the “Summary” menu item.

avast! Free Antivirus 7 has several real-time protection screens. They all track: files and programs on your PC, incoming email, visited websites on the Internet, downloaded peer-to-peer applications (P2P), downloading files from Internet messengers (ICQ, QiP and others), network activity and all scripts executed in the OS, as well as the system for suspicious behavior.

A summary of the operation of all existing screens in real time can be viewed by clicking on the “Protection Status” tab in the “Real Time Screens” menu item. By hovering your mouse over each screen icon, you can get additional information about its operation.

In order to go to the control window for a specific screen, you can click on its icon or select the corresponding menu item on the left.

As additional security features in the avast! are used:

• AutoSandbox function, which allows you to run suspicious programs in the sandbox;
• The WebRep module, which is an addition to browsers and is designed to provide additional protection;
• Remote assistance function;
• Blocking websites by URL.

It should be noted that, in general, the program has good functionality, especially considering its free distribution.

Threat scanning and detection

If any threats are detected, such as an infected file, avast! Free Antivirus 7 immediately notifies the user of this with a red pop-up window in the lower right corner of the screen, which clearly describes what happened.

By default, the malicious file is placed in quarantine - a special isolated folder, until you decide what to do with it next. If you consider the blocked file to be normal, then you can mark it as a “false alarm” and the antivirus will subsequently not pay any attention to it.

All program actions are stored in logs that each screen and scan operation has. Thus, you can always see the events that occurred and the results. In our example, malware locked the file system screen, so to see the details, just open its log. A link to it is located in the lower right corner of the “File System Screen” window (see the previous picture).

As you can see, the file system screen not only detected threats and warned us about it, but also independently took action to neutralize them. But keep in mind that if you initiated scanning of any folder, file, disk yourself or planned it in advance, then avast! will not take any actions automatically, but will wait for your decisions. These are the default program settings.

In order to deal with the threats found, you need to select the “Scan logs” item in the “Scan a computer” section, where the entire chronology of scans is stored.

To view the results of a particular scan, you must click on the “View results” button.

In the “Scan Results” window that opens, in the “Action” column, you can select one of four options for each specific threat: treat the infected file, move it to quarantine, delete it, or do nothing. You can also apply one action to all objects at once. After completing the selection, just click the “Apply” button.

If every time after a manual or scheduled scan you want the antivirus to apply a certain action automatically to the infected objects found, then for this you need to go to the settings various types scan, set the required parameters.

Here, it is worth noting one unpleasant moment. Antivirus solutions avast! they do not know how to treat infected files, which has been proven experimentally, and the presence of this item not only causes confusion, but also misleads many users.

True, due to the absence of attempts to treat infected objects, the program’s scanners work very quickly. Thus, a folder containing 11,200 malicious files, approximately 200 MB in size, was scanned by the application in just 52 seconds. For comparison, for some other antivirus solutions this procedure takes more than half an hour. At the same time, 11,069 infected files were deactivated and deleted. We must admit this is an excellent result.

Conclusion

Of course, antivirus avast program! Free Antivirus 7 deserves praise in many ways. Its interface, having a modern and visual design, is logical and concise, which allows even inexperienced users to easily find the necessary functions and information.

The application has reasonable settings and a default configuration, visually and clearly informs about the current state of protection, as well as important events, actions it takes and reactions to the detection of various types of threats.

Despite being free, avast! has good functionality, having in its arsenal not only several screens working in real time and tracking various actions user, but also additional funds are protected. At your service is a sandbox, browser add-ons, and a tool for blocking certain websites by their addresses.

It is impossible not to note the outstanding scanning speed and high percentage of detection of infected files, which the program demonstrated while scanning a test folder with malicious objects. The application settings system, which allows you to flexibly configure almost any of its components, left an equally pleasant impression.

Avast of course! Free Antivirus7 also has its drawbacks. Thus, the program has not yet learned how to treat infected files, although this function is stated in it. In any case, in our test archive, all detected threats were removed, although some other antivirus solutions managed to cure some of them. This feature can be very useful, for example, if an important document is infected, the deletion of which is unacceptable.

It is also worth noting the not so obvious behavior of the warning system when anti-virus protection is disabled. This can simply not be noticed, since the program does not display any warnings in this regard, although the appearance of a pop-up window here would be appropriate. Calmly responds to all disabled screens and Windows Support Center.

An unpleasant surprise was the fact that avast! allows you to completely disable real-time protection, even if you log into Windows system under standard account user. And although the program issues its own warning before this, it can be ignored by pressing the OK key. In our opinion, this opportunity should only be available to administrators. Especially if we are talking about a family computer with several users.

Ultimately, we can say that even without a firewall, anti-spam, parental controls and some other functions available in comprehensive antivirus products, today avast! Free Antivirus 7 is one of the best free solutions for basic protection of your computer.

Antivirus program avast! 6.0 includes a number standard types scans that are installed by default.

Express scan– performs a quick scan of the system drive on your computer (usually the C:\ drive). By default, only “dangerous” extensions are scanned, i.e. files with extensions such as “exe”, “com”, “bat”, etc. In this case, only parts of the file located at the beginning and end are scanned - that is, in places where viruses are usually found.

Full scan– more thorough scanning of everyone hard drives in system. Additionally, by default, all files are scanned based on their content - in other words, avast! “looks” into each file to determine its type and decide whether it should be scanned. This scans the entire file, and not just parts of the file located at the beginning and end - where viruses are usually found.

Scanning removable media– scanning all removable media connected to the computer, for example, USB drives (“flash drives”), external hard drives, etc. When scanning media from avast! will look for programs that automatically start when the device is connected (auto-run).

Select a folder to scan– this option allows you to scan only a specific folder or several folders.

To start one of the standard scans, click the “Start” button.

Additionally, you can schedule regular scans the right type or a one-time scan on the desired day and time - see the “Scheduling” page in the “Scan Settings” section.

You can further customize scans using other options on the Settings screens. You can also create a new scan with the desired parameters by clicking the “Set a specific scan type” button.