Avast! Scanning Modes
Avast! Anti-Virus provides several scanning modes, each suited to scanning your computer at different times using different methods.
Scheduled Scanning
This is the most common scanning method. Avast! users will be able to schedule scanning and customize what to be scanned on their computer through the user interface. You may for example choose to schedule scanning daily, hourly, or weekly.
Boot Time Scanning
Boot-time scanning allows Avast! to scan your computer before the operating system even loads which means a virus or malware will not be able to load and distrupt your system while it is scanning.
Wake Up Scanning
While your computer is sleeping or hibernating, you can set Avast! to automatically wake up and start scanning your computer during these idle times. When Avast! is done, your computer is put back to sleep.
Intelligent Scanner
In order to provide faster scan times, Avast! optimizes the scan by intelligently reducing the number of files scanned by using a whitelist of files that are safe. Files that have already been identified as safe are no longer scanned again unless they have been changed or modified.