avast! 7.0 released!

I had 5 months left on my subscription to avast, but didn't blink about uninstalling it...after BSOD's during upgrade, slow boot times, not being able to use System Restore, etc., I figured my peace of mind was worth the lost money. IF it worked properly, it is beautiful. But, I would rather have a plain anti-virus that works properly than just being able to look at all the bells and whistles that cause problems. For now, I have uninstalled avast and reverted back to Microsoft Security Essentials. It is much less stressful and everything seems to be back under my control - System Restore, no BSOD's and faster boot time. I just wish they hadn't rushed Version 7 out and kept Version 6, which was working well for me. They just lost a paying customer with this version.

 

For the record what OS? Were you running v6 before and did you upgrade over v6? If so did you try uninstalling and then doing a clean install? Did you have any other anti-malware software running along with it?

It sounds like you don't want to revisit this, but it could be helpful for others to know what your circumstances were.

 

Thank you for posting those links JRViejo. I visited those before but it is only now that I notice something. The license agreement displayed if I click on the license file link in the setup program of avast 7 is different from the license agreement at that website second link. The one displayed by setup contains no information about privacy, the one at the website does contain information about privacy (and things which are specific to use of the software). Something similar appears to apply to avast 6. I started to re-install avast 6, and it displays a license agreement with nothing about privacy. However, in the directory where I have avast 6 installed there is another license agreement that does address privacy issues (specific to the use of the software).

Looking at this http://files.avast.com/files/legal/eula-avast-consumer.pdf with PDF dates of Feb 22, 2011 and scrolling down to the section 8 on privacy, I see some disturbing collection practices (which is not surprising since these types of documents are meant to be broad). An important thing would be what qualifies as "potentially infected"?

What is different about some of these new cloud based anti-malware tools, including avast 7 as far as I can tell, is that they collect and report information about local files in order to weigh the odds those files carry malware. IOW, reporting takes place before the "contains malware" decision is made rather than after.

Has anyone here tried to look at the reporting in this version of avast 7? If it is over HTTPS (?) then it would be more difficult but IIRC there are some tools which allow you to create your own MITM and snoop that traffic. I'm not sure those tools can be used against the avast program though.

 

Good morning, neighbor. New Mexico here. Went to college in Stillwater a long, long time ago.

I had several good days with avast, and the BSODs returned last night after about 20 minutes of listening to music on YouTube and watching for illegal aliens on blueservo. I think both use media player.

I'm seriously considering either MSE or AVG free. The couple of percent difference between security essentials and Avast is almost negligible and Sandboxie easily makes up that difference. And AVG free is very light on my wife's computer, and it caught a couple of mail viruses just recently.

Realistically, blue screens while playing Marty Robbins isn't that big a deal, but it's annoying and it shouldn't be happening. The problem has been around since avast 5, according to searches I've done while looking for a remedy.

*edit* Your mention of System Restore caused me to check. You're right. All my system restore points are gone prior to when Avast 7 was installed. That doesn't make me a happy camper.

 

Hi all


Hi all,

I'm glad to announce the availability of avast! 7 R2 beta candidate (build 7.0.1412)

Feel free to download it here
http://files.avast.com/files/avast7r2beta/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/files/avast7r2beta/avast_pro_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/files/avast7r2beta/avast_internet_security_setup.exe

Fixed issues (from 7.0.1407)
- Autosandbox BSODs
- Too much activity of File System Shield
- UI crashes
- Show Installation Completed window just once
- Problem with not running Mail shield
- Incorrect marking emails as a SPAM
- Slowdown of system after fresh installation
- And some security & user improvements

Again, thank you for your feedback about version 7.0.1407 and sorry for any inconvenience with that version.

How to install it
Just run the setup executable (links above). This version can be installed on top of your existing avast installation (7.x, 6.x).

Known issues
- incompatible with Win 8 Consumer Preview(will be fixed soon)

Any feedback is appreciated!

Many thanks,
Pavel

See here

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94790.0

 

I think you're right Victek. A clean uninstall with the Alwil cleaning tool would have given the new Avast! a clean install. Maybe that would have eliminated the problems.

 

I am running Windows 7 64x - and have been for 2 years now. I did clean uninstall and reinstall of avast. Originally, I had avast 6 Internet Security installed running fine, and did automatic upgrade to version 7, problems began immediately. I have had Malwarbytes and SuperAntispyware running for the entire time I have had any avast installed, with no problem until avast 7. Hope that explains my setup. I tried my best to solve the situation and do it properly. BSOD's and no System Restore just made me very uneasy.

 

It should be noted that many people are losing all of their settings after installing this beta, amongst other problems. And given the fact that this "beta candidate" seems to be addressing a number of problems reported with v. 7, it seems rather obvious that v. 7 was offered as a full release when, in fact, it was still in the beta-testing phase.

 

I installed it, mainly as a last resort to see if it would resolve the blue screen problem when using Win media player. Haven't checked that yet.

The install went well, and this version seems even a bit lighter on this system than .1407.

I'm running xp pro sp3. All settings were retained. No loss of anything here.

 

What is more likely is problems surfaced after the release of what was believed to be a stable build. It's not uncommon when programs come out of beta for there to be some unexpected bumps. The rule used to be don't download X.0 software, wait for X.1 instead. As early adopters we should know this and not be surprised.

 

That's one way to look at it.

 

If you want to avoid frequent disappointment.

 

Avast doing fine so far, with my BSOD problem. I spent roughly 45 minutes on Youtube and other media and no blue screen. Prior to this latest version, I could make it 15 to 20 minutes.

As an aside, found some great old American Civil War songs.

 

Actually, after reading about the most recent problems with Avast 7 (the previous update problem apparently has returned once again, and the "solution" is to install a beta version over the current full release), I'd say the best way to avoid frequent disappointments is simply to avoid Avast 7. But hey...that's just me.

 

I would agree and go one better., Would it not make more sense that instead of just avoiding Avast 7, you just, say, avoid Avast.

 

Given their "Emperor's New Clothes" (i.e. Problems? WHAT problems?!!!) response(s), I think you very well might be right. Agnitum's Outpost Security Suite is lookin pretty good right about now.

 

I think that with any software upgrade there will be some folks who will have problems, probably because of their Computers peculiarities. So far I have nothing but good luck with Avast!, but at some time in the future an upgrade might not gel in my set up.

 

Avast free keeps coming up as pro and won't update, several tries of removal, and re-installs haven't fixed the problem, used both Avast uninstall and fix tools in every safe mode available, in Win 7 premium 64 bit...finally just calling it quits. Not even going to try it in my main machine, maybe version 8.

 

This set of issues goes beyond just a few glitches here and there with a new update. First of all, the supposed initial update/upgrade problem has once again resurfaced, even though it was alleged to have been just a problem with a file in that initial update package. But beyond that, there are TONS of issues with this release, NOT just the problems with the upgrade/update. I've never seen anything quite like this before. Sure, a glitch here and there on some quirky machine is expected, because not all variables can be accounted for in beta testing. But this thing is just a total cluster ****.

Second, there has been a concerted effort on the part of Avast to do its best to keep users from going back to the last working version. It refuses to post a link to that version on its home page, and in its main forum and elsewhere users are being discouraged from going back. That's a very odd approach. In fact, it goes against the grain of almost every software manufacturer and Windows OS itself. It's always been a standard that if a driver update mucks up the system, the option to roll back to the previous driver is one of the main, most logical options. Windows itself has an option of "Revert to last working configuration". And many software manufacturers -- freeware and paid software -- list the history on their site, with links to previous versions. This current nonsense going on with Avast is very different than that approach, and it's very unsettling as well. Why in the world would they be more concerned about directing/forcing people to accept v. 7, rather than making sure that customers who are unhappy with THEIR goofs in the current version, who WERE happy with v. 6, have a viable alternative. Posters have to repeatedly ask for links to the older version, and it's NEVER provided by either Avast or its group of senior posters. It's always from someone ELSE who had a crappy experience with v. 7 who helps out.

(Read the third post from the guy who has 60,000 posts -- "NO Downgrade is never the solution".) I call BS. It is when there are THIS many problems with the "update".):

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94696.0

Third, the insistence on making the Google Chrome additional install upon the upgrade an opt-out, vs an opt-in, with some instances being reported of Chrome installing without either enough time to un-check the box, or NO option to un-check the box, is unsettling. Chrome has a number of issues regarding how it uses its data, and for a company that is selling malware protection to link itself to a product that a number of people do not want on their systems at all, raises ethical questions about their intent.

Fourth, some of the latest "features" on v. 7 have raised questions themselves about what their real purpose is (i.e. is the purpose to foster useability, or it the purpose to foster information gathering ability?)

When one looks at the totality of what's been happening over the past week or two, the issues and questions surrounding Avast go way beyond just the normal types of glitches that can be expected from an update/upgrade.

I've also noticed that legitimately critical posts about the problem(s) are magically disappearing from the forum, and even when the posts themselves are not removed, the posters are being attacked. (i.e. "You probably don't know how to do the update properly", "You probably aren't familiar enough with the way the program is supposed to work", etc.)

There's an old adage that says: when it looks like a dog, and it barks like a dog...it's a dog. There is something very fishy going on with Avast, and all I can say is: Adios.

 

@skbaltimore

Another common theme on the avast forums is 'clean install.' We need to remove all traces of the previous avast and install fresh.

That's all well and good for most of us but what about the average user, some of whom don't even know you CAN uninstall software. Should anybody think that isn't true, it is.

These average users think when (name your choice) expires, they just get something else and install it. Then, when conflicts develop they take it to their local computer guru, spend a few bucks, and it's fixed.

If these people download a flawed version of avast and experience even some of the problems I'm seeing on the avast board, the last thing they're going to want to read is, 'you need to do a fresh install.' I can speak for a couple of computer owners I know who will immediately ask, "What does that mean?"

Then there are those who do know how to uninstall, but don't realize that parts and pieces are left over. They go to add/remove, uninstall and the program is supposed to all be gone. They just want their computer to work, and they expect a software to work when they download it.

 

And let's not even get into the whole matter that the update was so screwed up, you couldn't even do a normal uninstall through add/remove. You had to download a special utility, boot in safe mode, and then do the uninstall. And then, if you were successful and were able to reinstall either the new or the old version, you lost all your settings, since v. 6 doesn't have the option to save the settings like v. 7.

And then there was the matter of unwanted Chrome installation. Even when you "successfully" uninstall it, it tends to leave stuff behind. So you really need to uninstall it with a robust uninstaller, not the one that comes in Windows.

So any way you look at it, this thing was a mess. And rather than helping the situation, Avast compounded an already bad situation, and made it much much worse.

 

I've only installed the free v7 and I agree that while needing to "opt out" (instead of optionally opting in) is objectionable it's also typical. Apparently they need the revenue and it doesn't feel like too much to deal with in exchange for a free product. If they're doing this with the paid versions that would be a problem. By the way, I've installed Avast Free a number of times and I've always seen the check-boxes to opt out of installing Chrome - it has never installed automatically on its own.

As to how Chrome uses data, it has been a fact from the beginning that Google offers products in exchange for data collection and targeted ads. I understand why you object to it, but is that news?

Can you say more about this? What makes you feel that the features in the cloud are anything other than security enhancing services? Is this something that you feel is problematic only with Avast or more generally a problem in security software?

I thought it was a "duck". You know, walks like a duck, talks like a duck

 

It's not really the cloud features that caught my eye; it was the "not connected with any Avast! account". I inquired as to what, if any benefit, having an Avast! account brought, other than giving Avast! more information, and no one could really give any substantial reason for the facet of the program.

And since you seem more than willing to defend whatever it is that they do, knock yourself out. I'll never put another Avast program on any of my machines.

 

i have had more bsod's with cust's computers than i ever have with avast in the last week. hopefully this will all be sorted out soon!! i do agree on the privacy things. i leave it up to the cust if they want a user account or not. personally i never fill things like that out. not sure i think they are "collecting" or not though. but i turn off all things normally that send info out to any company and i dislike when they do