Avast is Missing Context Menu for Individual or Groups of Files?

[northd_tech]

I'm posting this to see/clarify if anyone knows of a shell script or workaround for the apparent lack of a 'Right Click' Context Menu to "scan with avast" for single or groups of files from the avastgui.

I did find a workaround that will do single or groups of files though using the command line avast. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory that has the file(s) to be virus scanned, then execute the following command with appropriate wildcards:

Example 1

avast ./*.html

Virus scans all .html files in the current subdirectory- this is the output that I got when running it in my Documents directory for testing (and all the .html files scanned clean):

#
# Statistics:
#
# scanned files: 37
# scanned directories: 0
# infected files: 0
# total file size: 1.9 MB
# virus database: 111022-1 22.10.2011
# test elapsed: 0s 451ms
#

Example 2

avast C*.exe

Scans all .exe files that start with a Capital 'C' in the current directory.

Example 3

avast foobar.zip

Scans the single .zip file "foobar.zip."

Of course, a simple avast with no parameters will scan your Home directory by default.

Also, the most current version of Avast for Linux that I found (1.4.0) was at the link below (and I just gksu nautilus copied the files into the appropriate locations in /bin/, /lib/avast4workstation/, and /usr/share/... for the manual pages/documents (which I'm still trying to straighten out). My 64-bit Lucid Lynx 10.04.3 LTS did NOT like the 32-bit i386.deb file when I briefly attempted to install Avast Antivirus that way (since no 64-bit Avast could be found anywhere, and I'm not too impressed with ClamAV/ClamTk).

Lastest avast4 workstation - test it :)
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=45237.0

I hope this helps someone, and if a PERL guru wants to attempt scripting a 'context menu' of sorts to scan single (or maybe selectable groups also) files, that would be greatly appreciated- my scripting skills are very rusty...

For reference, here is the output of the Avast help command switch:

avast -h

Usage: avast [OPTION...] <areaname...>
avast v1.4.0 -- command-line virus scanner

Options:
-_, --console Application will be working in STDIN/STDOUT mode
-a, --testall Test all of the files (default)
-b, --blockdevices Scan block devices
-c, --testfull Scan entire files
-d, --directory Scan only directory content, no subdirectoires
-i, --ignoretype Ignore virus sets
-n, --nostats No virus check statistics
-p, --continue=1234 Automatic action with infected file:
1:delete, 2: (not supported), 3:repair, 4:stop
-r, --report=[*]file Create report file, '*' for OK results
-t, --archivetype[=ZGBTIJRXOQHFVKPYD6UCWAN] Scan archives: Z:ZIP(default),
G:GZ(default), B:BZIP2(default), T:TAR(default),
I:MIME, J:ARJ, R:RAR, X:Exec(default), O:ZOO,
Q:ARC, H:LHA, F:TNEF, V:CPIO, K:CHM, P:RPM,
Y:ISO, D: DBX, 6:SIS, U:OLE(default), C:CAB,
E:ACE, 1:INSTALL(default), W:WINEXEC(default),
A:All, N:None
-v, --viruslist=mask Show list of all specific viruses
-h, --help Give this help list
--usage Give a short usage message
-V, --version Print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional
for any corresponding short options.

[northd_tech]

Apparently, there has been a "scan with Avast" context request since about July 2008. Here is a relevant thread at the Avast forum:

Avast Mac "Scan this file with avast" context
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=37295.0

Hopefully, this will be addressed in the LONG-awaited Avast 5 (1.5.0) Linux version.

[northd_tech]

If you are getting an error message involving "Avast! Error: An error occurred in avast! engine: Invalid argument" when trying to start the avastgui or the command line avast, see post #63 here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...7&postcount=63