There isn't a 7.0.1483 version and there never will be
I told my laptop to update, and when it looked like it was downloading an installer, combined with my experience with "new and improved" Win 8 versions of programs I've tested, I wanted to cancel. Since this is just a backup computer, I didn't mind if it got messed up and forced a reboot in the middle of the update. When Windows came back up, it said I was all updated with 7.0.1483
I installed again on another computer to change it from MSE, and ran the updater without interrupting it. When it finished, it told me to reboot, and I had 8.0.1483. I'll have to try the reboot interrupt again and see if that works twice, or if I just got lucky - feel free to try it at your own risk and post any results here, though.
I've been messing with the new version and comparing its settings to 7. All in all, it's not NEARLY as bad as some other programs trying to make the Win 8 leap (Bit Defender, Comodo, etc), but it does still have bugs, and I don't like being abruptly switched to a new version of a program with a completely new layout without at least a head's-up like "Click here to install the latest Avast! 8" with a small text link to stay with 7 (kinda like how their custom installation link is set up).
Currently, I've run into the following issues:
- Crashed while registering
- Browser clean-up will not stop telling me that I need to complete manual steps
- Software updater fails to update Adobe Reader
- Extending the window tall enough to remove the scroll bar on the Scan Now page causes the Quick Scan option to clip halfway out of the viewable area
Also, maybe I'm missing it, but I cannot find Browser Protection - did these options get shuffled into other things?
Conclusion being that I'm a little miffed that they handled things this way (it's what made me dump Zone Alarm a long time ago), but I'm willing to give it a shot. Hopefully these bugs get worked out, and I'll just stick with what is an otherwise solid looking program.