forced update strikes again

[oldman]

Tonight another forced update occured. I've never had any luck with these updates or any program update, except for a beta. I ususally end up with the red x and no providers running. This time though, it was better. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the about avast interface. It opens minimized on the task bar, no actual interface.

No big deal. I'll do what I always do, reinstall.

I put off this update to try something. My compaq died (rip), so I dug around and found another old box. This one had a intel 600mhz with 386mb ram and xp pro sp1. I put avast on it. The version was quiet old, dated  may2006. It automatically up dated to 4.7-942 with no problems. Once I got the drivers for vid card etc that I needed for win98 se, I put my hard drive in the box and waited for this update to happen.

Since it was the same computer, with the only real difference being the os, I would say that xp handles program updates much better than win98se. This is just some info for other 98 users.

By the way I kept a copy of the set up log for the update, if it might be of any use. There was nothing in any of the other logs.

[DavidR]

The forced update as you call it, is required to use the latest VPS updates, after a certain point the VPS updates had to change and that change required a minimum program version (I can't recall which version) so this may be what is happening to you.

So in the long term it is going to happen again and again, so you may have to see if the versions of avast after that change will work for you. You can check out filehippo.com that keeps previous versions once you find what the cut-off point was for the new VPS update method.

Your May 2006 version is either, Version 4.7.844 dated May 31, 2006 or Version 4.7.827 dated April 28, 2006. So you are probably looking at a clean install of Version 4.7.892 dated
September 25, 2006 or later.

Version 4.7.938
January 14, 2007

    * fixed a problem with password-lock for resident protection settings
    * fixed very slow updating on Windows 95/98/ME

This was the previous released version to 4.7.942 and fixed some win98 issues, so that would probably be worth a try.

[oldman]

Hi DavidR

I was just posting as info to other 98 users that if a program update fails, it's not the end of the world. Avast still works fine on win 98 se.

The forced update as you call it, is required to use the latest VPS updates, after a certain point the VPS updates had to change and that change required a minimum program version (I can't recall which version) so this may be what is happening to you.

It was 4.7.892 that was required for the vps updates. I was using 4.7.892 with no problems.

I tried the xp vs 98 experiment out of curiousity, since I had the oppertunity to do both on the same computer. The xp update was from 4.7.844 to 4.7.942 with no problems. The 98se update was 4.7.892 to 4.7.942. The only problem was no about avast box.

So in the long term it is going to happen again and again, so you may have to see if the versions of avast after that change will work for you.

I've never been one to be the first kid on the block to have something new,    I ususally wait to see what problems others encounter. But there comes a point when you have no choice, however so far all the bugs are worked out by then. 

Again this was more for reassuance t oter that avast worke well on win98se and "won't mess up their computers" as they are fond of posting. 



 

[Vlk]

I can confirm that there was another forced update (this time to 4.7.942) last night...

Cheers
Vlk

[oldman]

Yep, that's the last one to get me 

But like I said, it's just a matter of doing a clean install if things don't go well. 

[k_e_moeller]

I have W98SE, home edition of Avast, and admit that I've ignored the last few update/nag screens.

Today my 'A' icon in the tooltray has a red international 'NO' symbol on it (I think, it's so tiny).

No providers are running, nor will they launch - the provider screen hangs.

So I reboot, right click and update Avast.  It takes 11 seconds to tell me I'm already updated, program version 4.7.942, VPS version 000714-3.  That's nice.  It still isn't running.

Sidebar - another topic suggested that a malicious virus/whatever may have deleted some Avast software and suggested a free scan from the Panda site.  Panda doesn't recognize Mozilla, so I dust off IE6.  However I'd locked down IE6 like a drum because of some past problems which led me to Avast.  But even enabling every single ActiveX selection in Security still leaves Panda unable to run its tool against my system, failing every time on ActiveX.  So I went there, didn't fly.

any advice on Avast?  I see 'reinstall' bandied about in this thread, does that mean UNinstall first using the Windows install/delete utility?

thanks !!

Karl

[oldman]

Hi

You've been bitten like me. An uninstall/reinstall should bo the trick.

1. Download the lastest version 4.7.942, either pro or home, I don't know which you have, save it to your desk top(easy to find)

http://avast.com/eng/programs.html

2. download the uninstall utility, same link as above

3. uninstall via add/rmove

4. reboot

5. run the uninstall utility, make sure c:\program files\alwilsoftware is in the white box

6. reboot

7. reinstall

note your mail and proxy settings should remain intact

Make sure you update as you will be behind a few vps

[Vlk]

Before you do the reinstall, it would be useful to ZIP the whole avast folder (C:\Program Files\ALWIL Software\Avast4) and upload it to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming (please note that you won't have READ access to the ftp site - just write).

Thanks
Vlk

[Vladimyr]

A word of assurance to the Avast faithful.
My only current 98SE machine smoothly achieved 4.7.942 status via "forced update" yesterday. Being a humble yet sturdy Cyrix Media GX 200 laptop, updates are always a little tardy but this time I noticed that avast.setup was running for a very very long time but never at more than 36% of CPU cycles, which allowed me to keep working.
Later as I complied with the reboot prompt, I pondered as to why it is that avast.setup can be configured to operate in such a user-friendly manner, yet it seems that Microsoft Update/Windows Defender et al cannot! Its'a strange world indeed...