NEW avast! Home and Pro beta Released.

avast! is getting beter and better.

Anyway here is the complete list of new features:


Added the new "Web Shield" resident provider for on-access scanning of HTTP traffic. Under NT-based systems, it should work automatically. On Win9x, you have to tell your browser to use HTTP proxy 127.0.0.1 on port 12080.

Added NNTP (Usenet News) scanner to the Internet Mail provider. Under NT-based systems, it works transparently; under Win9x, the Mail Protection Wizard will help you set up the account (Outlook Express only).

Added new unpacker for Outlook Express archives (.dbx files)
Fixed crashing of the program when it found a boot/MBR virus
The updater should now work with the default proxy settings even if IE is set to the "Work Offline" mode

Avast now distinguishes between various malware categories and reports them differently.

Greatly optimized memory footprint of the avast processes (especially ashServ.exe)

Added support for long license keys (8-digit customer number)

The Explorer Extension scanner should now work even under 64-bit Windows

Under 64-bit Windows, the scan of the SYSTEM32 directory now works correctly

Fixed the problem with very slow start of the avast on-access scanner service on certain Windows 2000 configurations with MS Outlook installed

Fixed some problems in the GZIP unpacker

Fixed problems related with on-access scanning of named pipes (Windows NT/2000/XP Standard Shield)

Hyperlinks in configuration property sheets now finally have correct background color

Attempt to fix sound-related problems under Win9x

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=10676.0

Thanks Vlk.



tECHNODROME

 

If you're wondering why there is no changes after applying patch...
There has been a small server problem. It will be fixed in few minutes (one or two )
Vlk is working on it

 

I'm waiting...

 

It's fixed for quiet some time now. Vlk was very fast
First check of the beta looks very promising. I just love it

 

Probably very important thing for many users,this new beta features much lower memory footprint than avast! 4.5.561. I hope things will improve even further in final release.

 

IMPORTANT:
For the users that use Outpost Firewall, do NOT try this beta version!!!

 

Has anything been done to improve detection ?

 

Detection is as it is now. And honestly it's not bad at all. If you want to improve detection you have to add lots of signatures or make radical changes to the detection engine itself. Thats not the case here.
Oh,well Web Shield does protect you from exploited JPEG files before they even enter your browser. Thats probably one of detection enhancement in latest avast! beta (in terms of detection). Btw Web Shield is not limited to scanning JPEGs only

 

Well I ve got Mcafee Personal Firewall and I had the same experience as you had.So I uninstalled it.

 

It seems that they have problems with the majors firewall's...

I'm waiting for a solution

 

So am I.Hope we ll get the solution soon.cheers

 

Well it's not exactly avast!'s fault that firewalls do not respond to it.
Web Shield component asks for connection,many firewalls actually detect it but they don't ask the user (like nothing attempted to connect to net).

 

There's a problem with LooknStop (on my computer). Before I upgrade from 4.5.561, I think I'll wait until AVAST gets the firewall situation fixed. If there's a problem with one firewall, maybe it's a situation with the firewall. When AVAST has a problem with a lot of firewalls, I think it's an AVAST problem.

Anyway, if you have LnS, you might have problems using the Internet.

 

This is my point of view since I started to test this beta version...

Others doesn't think like this...

 

I use Kerio 2.1.5 without any problems at all, Web Shield works great.

 

Yeah,thats the point of beta testing anyway,but if program just requests connection (doesn't matter what kind) firewall should respond.
Sygate for example adds Web Shield component to its list of programs with Ask attribute,but it never ask user about it.
Anyway,lets wait and see what will be done regarding this issue.

 

That's another reason I love that firewall. I've never seen it conflict with anything.

So is "Web Shield" Avast's version of Nod32's IMON? I wonder what AV's have this feature now.

I usually recommend/install AVG for friends that could use a free AV because I find Avast to be a little heavy. I'll definitely give this new release a look though -- I'm so glad to see that some AV vendors are working on improving resource-usage now.

 

I had some issues with this Beta on a AthlonXP 2000+, it obviously had some issue with a drive or something, it would constantly reboot, over and over again, I never was able to find out what it was because as soon as I would get to the login screen, it would reboot and I had auto-rebooting off, wierd. I guess I will wait to try it again until a new release. If someone at the compan wants a list of software installed at that point I can try to come up with the best idea, since I usually keep it the same most of the time. I went and re-imaged back to a earlier image with no av installed McAfee 8.0i again and everything went back to normal. I liked the feel of avast! too, oh well that is why they call them betas.

 

Remember, you can get at least the same overall protection even with the former version of Avast and Ewido as you can get with NOD32 and Ewido, when you buy the licence to Ewido. By this choice, you need to buy only one licence, the Ewido one, instead of two licences. All these, according to my own tests.

Best regards,
Firefighter!

 

likuidkewl, what OS are you using? If it's XP, I'd need the dump files to analyse the problem. By default, these are the 64K files found in the \windows\minidump folder.

My email address is vlk at avast dot com.

Oh, I see, you've already reimaged the disk so you don't have them anymore... Too bad...


Thanks anyways
Vlk

 

Vlk,

When virus (or whatever) detected, is “Abort connection” the only option available in the Web Shield? What about Delete , Clean etc.?


tECHNODROME

 

Sorry VLK, I had auto-reboot off too that is what threw me for a loop as to why it was rebooting, I had an Idea it might be the Ximeta NDAS drivers, because it has done that with other AV's if that helps out.

 

Abort Connection is the only reasonable action at this moment. That's because of the stream characteristics of the scan (in most times, we're able to detect the virus way before it's downloaded in its entirety (some exceptions exist, of course, such as packed contents).

BTW Delete - what should that do, in your opinion?


Cheers
Vlk

 

likuidkewl, was the latest official build of avast (4.5.561) working OK on your machine? (so it's really something new in the beta that was causing the trouble).

Thanks
Vlk

 

LOL.
Sorry I meant Block. After you hit Abort Connection the whole site is blocked and not only infected file.

Is there possibility to block infected files only (you know in case you still wanna browse that web site or in case of a false positive).


tECHNODROME