Avira Support Forum

I've noticed in the last few weeks a several second delay when clicking on a zip archives (longer for zip archives with more files). During this 5-10 second period, my mouse and Windows Explorer freeze. In addition, after several hours, I notice a significant drag in my overall usage. Currently, Avguard.exe is using up the following:

Task manager mem usage = 368k

Results from Process Explorer:

Virtual size = 113,480k
Private Bytes = 77,704k

My Avguard. settings are as follows:



I also have the heuristics set to high.


I've read another post where it was recommended that archive scanning should be turned off for Avguard. Shouldn't an AV program be scanning archives?

Hello Derek!

Quoted

Shouldn't an AV program be scanning archives?

Which one? An on-demand scan should scan archives, yes. I assume you are aware the Guard is AntiVir's on-access scanner ('background' scanner or 'real-time protection' in other AVs). Malware contained in archives is not directly harmful - it needs to be extracted (and executed) first... So while you may find some 'extra' security in scanning archives if you like, it's not an absolute must.

This is what AntiVir's program help (F1) has to say:

Quoted

Configuration :: Guard
Scan
Archives

Scan archive
If this option is enabled, then archives will be scanned. Compressed files are scanned, then decompressed and scanned again. This option is deactivated by default. Additional settings are available for restricting the scanning of archives and for setting the recursion depth of the scanning. This is recommended if you activate the archive scan.

Note
This option is deactivated by default, since the process puts heavy demands on the computer's performance. It is generally recommended that archives be checked using an on-demand scan.

Regards, NiteHawk

First of all, you are correct in assuming I'm only referring to Avguarding on access scanner for archives.

Thanks for replying. From your post, I gather the general consensus is turn off Avguard archive scanning. Is it normal that for my system to temporarily freeze or drag as soon as I mouseclip an archive file?

If downloading a zipped archive (i.e., VLC (the media player from videolan.org). will Antivir premium scan the file if archive scanning is off? If not, it woud be nice if there were an archives option to
just scan when downloading and not when selecting the file via Windows Explorer. That would probably involve tagging the files in a manner that Kaspersky used to, and I'm not in favor of that.

Is there any way to set up an automatic on-demand scan whenever a new archive is downloaded or created, if I turn off Avguard's archive scan?

Hi Derek!

Quoted

Is it normal that for my system to temporarily freeze or drag as soon as I mouseclip an archive file?

Well, that highly depends on the archive itself (large archive, high compression ratio, nested, ...) and your system's overall throughput (e.g. CPU power and usage). We had some people reporting major issues with Java and JAR files. One thing's for sure: there is a performance penalty for accessing archives when activating this option (as the help file states), how much depends on your particular system.

Quoted

If downloading a zipped archive (i.e., VLC (the media player from videolan.org). will Antivir premium scan the file if archive scanning is off?

No, it won't. However, if anything gets extracted from the archive and written to disk (even temporarily), the Guard will perform it's normal on-access scan on it. You could also scan any given archive easily by using AntiVir's shell extension (right-click, "Scan selected files with AntiVir").

Quoted

Is there any way to set up an automatic on-demand scan whenever a new archive is downloaded or created, if I turn off Avguard's archive scan?

It depends on your programs. Many browsers, messengers, download managers, etc. will allow you (sometimes with the help of add-ons) to setup a program to run automatically on downloaded files - this option often is specifically designed to run anti-virus software. For configuring AntiVir, please see http://www.avira.com/en/support/kbdetails.php?id=229...

Regards, NiteHawk