How to schedule automatic scans with free version of Avast! on Vista

UPDATE: This post has been rendered moot. Avast now has a scheduler built in! The post will be kept here for those of you who have not upgraded to the latest version.

Avast! Home Edition is a free antivirus program. You can read more about it on the Wikipedia entry. The free version can be used for 60 days, afterward, you are required to register and are given a license key. This license key is good for a little over a year.

At first, Avast!’s registration requirement deterred me from using it. However, when one of my computers became infected with malware, I became aware of the limitations of relying on AVG Free. I then began looking into other options. I found that Avast! Home is one of the best free antivirus programs out there. After the malware incident, the registration/licensing requirement became trivial.

One of the downsides of using Avast! Home edition, however, is it does not include a scheduler. There is a solution, however, that relys on Windows Task Scheduler.

For Windows XP users

I would follow the instructions from this post.

For Vista and Windows 7 users

The following instructions are based on those found on http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=44935.0 and have been tested on Vista Home Premium and Windows 7  Home Premium.

1. Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
2. Under “Actions” on the right, select “Create Basic Task”
3. Named it “Avast daily scan”
4. Selected “Daily” when prompted “When do you want the task to start?”
5. Choose a time
6. Selected “Start a program” when prompted “What action do you want the task to perform?”
7. Under “Program/script” browse to C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4 (or whatever folder in which you installed avast!)
8. Click (or double-click) on the file ashQuick.exe
9. Under “Add arguments (optional):”C:\” (with quotes included)
10. Check the box for “Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish”
11. Under “General” tab, check the box for “Run with highest privileges”
12. Under “Settings” tab, check the box for “Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed”
13. To test this task, from the Task Scheduler window, highlight the task and choose “Run” from under “Actions” on the right. If there is a problem, it is most likely in the scan path (missing quotes or something like that.) This can be edited by highlighting the task > right-click and select “Properties” > clicking “Edit” under the “Actions” tab.

Were these instructions were useful? Is something missing? Does this not work with other versions of Vista or Win 7? Comment and share below!