To configure your installation of Avast Free Antivirus, we recommend you do the following.
- Open Avast, at the top right click Menu, and on the slide-out click Settings.
- On the General tab, click Notifications.
- Scroll down to the Pop-up section, and select Limited mode.
- Click the Protection tab.
- On the Smart Scan tab, IF Auto-continue Smart Scan is checked, UNcheck it.
- Under Automated Smart Scan Scheduling, set the drop down to Run Manually (because in our opinion, this scan is primarily aimed at getting you to buy their paid products).
- Click the Virus Scans tab.
- On this page, you should see the following four tabs: Full Virus Scan, Targeted Scan, Explorer Scan, and Boot-Time Scan. Make sure that the following options are selected.
Full Virus Scan- Notify me about potentially unwanted programs
- Scan for Tools
- Follow file system links during scan
- Scan only common installers
- Scan all files
- Fix automatically
- All hard disks
- All removable media
- Rootkits
- UEFI BIOS
- Startup programs and modules loaded in memory
Targeted Scan
- Notify me about potentially unwanted programs
- Scan for Tools
- Follow file system links during scan
- Scan all archives
- Scan all files
- Fix automatically
Explorer Scan
- Notify me about potentially unwanted programs
- Scan for Tools
- Follow file system links during scan
- Scan all archives
- Scan all files
- Fix automatically
Boot-Time Scan
- Notify me about potentially unwanted programs
- Scan for Tools
- Unpack archive files
- System drive
- Auto start programs
- Fix automatically
- Other default settings should be fine, so click Close at the top left of the settings screen.
- Now on the left under Status, click Protection, then Virus Scans.
- On that screen, click the Custom Scans tab.
- A Quick Scan is there but not scheduled. To set the scan’s parameters and schedule, hover your mouse over that line, click the 3 dots at the far right end, and select Edit.
- Under Scheduling, click the dropdown, select Daily, and under Start Time, set the time you’d like the Quick Scan to run. You’ll want this to be a time when you’re not normally using the machine.
- Click Show Advanced Settings, and make sure the following options are selected.
- Notify me about potentially unwanted programs
- Scan for Tools
- Follow file system links during scan
- Scan only common installers
- Name extension-based types (fast)
- Fix automatically
- Click Save
- You should now be back on the Custom Scans screen, and it should show the Quick Scan as running at the time you just specified.
- Now to schedule a periodic, full system scan, click the green Create a Custom Scan button.
- In the Scan Name box, give the scan a name like Full System Scan.
- For Scan Type, set the drop down to Full Virus Scan.
- For Scheduling, set the Frequency to Weekly.
- Choose the day you’d like the full scan to run. We suggest a day you use your computer less often, such as Sat or Sun.
- Choose the Start Time. Make sure it’s at least an hour after the start time of your Quick Scan.
- Click Save (Advanced Settings should already be in place).
That should be it. Your Avast Free should not be protecting your computer in real time AND configured to automatically run periodic quick and full system scans. PLEASE NOTE: If you run regular backups, you’ll want to try and schedule your virus scans so that they do not overlap your backups.