Scheduling scans with Avast is easy, as it turns out, if non-obvious. Launch Avast, then, non-intuitively, click Scan Now. Click Settings, then, buried on the left is an option called Scheduling.
I recommend doing a quick scan at least once a day and a full scan at least once a week. If you’re using Avast as a secondary scanner, be sure to have your primary scanner scheduled to perform scans too.
I was explaining this to someone this week, and he said, “Wait. You wrote a book about performance, and you’re saying run two antivirus engines?” Yes. There’s minimal, if any, performance penalty to having Avast as a second one, and you get better security. Get an SSD, and you can scan multiple times a day and probably not notice.
Scanning at least once a day with two different engines protects you if one scanner finds out about a threat before the other does. When you can’t get perfect defense, you layer it to at least get something better.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.