After Downloading the File from http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html the install was simple. Simply click the install and it does the rest, asking a few Questions about boot-time scan and directory info. The boot-time scan allows a user to instigate scanning before a virus is activated, in the case that a virus is suspected to be active on your computer already.
Avast can be use for 60 days without registering it. After that you must register an account with your email address (they won’t spam you) and get the home license key free for a year. http://www.avast.com/i_kat_207.php?lang=ENG
Observation:
When starting Avast it does a memory test to see if there any viruses currently running in any aplications.
Avast's Main Screen.
Avast will let you scan a whole disks or selected folders and can also scan removable media.
So far Avast has not detected any viruses here, but ive seen it detect them on other systems and it prompty Quarentines them for inspection later in the Virus Chest, so the files can either be repaired or deleated.
Updates for the Avast program and Virus database can either be done automaticly or manualy, most of the time they do not require rebooting after unless theres a major change to the core.
The Network Shield & Boot-Time Scan are only available on NT-based systems (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003).
Like most AV programs Avast can scan for viruses hidden in Compressed files & Alternate data streams on NTFS volumes. Supported Compressed files are ARJ, ZIP, MIME, MAPI, DBX, RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, BZIP2, ZOO, ACE, ARC, LHA/LHX, TNEF, CPIO, CHM, RPM, ISO, 7ZIP, SIS. PKLite, Diet, UPX, ASPack, PeShield, FSG, MEW etc.
