Configuring and Running Boot-Time Scans

 

Device scans are a key component to the Antivirus protection of your devices. The more often your users download files from the web or install software, the more often you should perform scans. The more often you perform scans, the more likely you will catch malicious threats before they do damage to your devices and networks.

Boot-Time Scan is used for performing a scan during system startup before any malware is launched, improving the chances of detecting and removing malware before it can do any harm.

This scan type can currently be run on Windows devices only.

 

To configure and run an immediate, one-time Boot-Time Scan:

1. Open the Devices page
2. Do one of the following:
   • For a single device, click the actions menu (three dots) next to it, then hover over the Scan option
   • For multiple devices, tick the checkboxes next to them, then hover over the Scan option above the device list
3. Select Advanced Antivirus Scans

4. In the drawer that opens, choose Boot-Time Scan
5. Configure the following settings: 
   • Task name (read-only): Name the task (or leave the automatically generated name).
   • Windows locations to scan: Define the locations to be scanned by either typing their paths manually or choosing from the available preset locations in the drop-down menu:
     • All hard disks
     • System disk
     • Auto-start programs
     • Auto-start programs (all users)
   • Restart device now: Choose whether to immediately restart the device in order to perform the scan (if you leave this checkbox unticked, the scan will run the next time the device boots up).
   • Notify users with a message before the restart: Enter a message to be displayed to the end user(s) notifying them the device will restart shortly (or leave the automatically generated message).
   • Specify when the above message will be displayed: Select how long before the restart the message will be displayed:
     • 1 minute
     • 10 minutes
     • 30 minutes
     • 1 hour
   • Heuristics: Select the heuristics sensitivity (with higher sensitivity, Antivirus is more likely to detect malware, but also more likely to make false-positive detections that incorrectly identify files as malware):
     • Off
     • Low
     • Normal
     • High
   • PUP and suspicious files: Choose whether to scan for Potentially Unwanted Programs and other suspicious files.
   • Unpack archive files: Choose whether to unpack archive file types during scanning (the scan may be slower but more extensive).
   • When a threat is found: Choose what action Avast will take when a threat is detected:
     • Clean Automatically
     • Move to Quarantine (see Resolving Threats to learn how to handle quarantined detections)
     • Repair
     • Delete
     • No Action
   • Cancel the scan on the workstation: Choose whether the scan can be canceled on the end device while it is running.
6. Click Start Scan Now

Note that the task will only run when the selected devices are turned on and connected to the network.

Additional Options and Settings

Viewing Scan Details and Stopping Scans

You can access your scans' details and stop previously created scan tasks via the Tasks tab of a device's Detail drawer. For more information, see Managing Tasks.