Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: BJReplay on May 04, 2008, 06:05:23 AM
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Tried 4.8 - hangs (outlook, logon (Vista), web pages). Tried the beta (4.8.1187) - hangs (outlook, logon, web pages).
4.8 was not ready for release, judging by my issues and all the others in this forum.
Despite the well meaning help from the evangelists (e.g. what other outlook add-ins), the simple fact is that for me (and a lot of other people), avast has worked really well for many previous versions, but 4.8 is a show-stopper. Yes, we may have things that are conflicting with 4.8, but they didn't conflict with 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 - you get the picture.
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Oh dear,
sorry for the experience you have had. I do not want to downplay the real problems you have encountered but ...
Not one of the users I support (on Vista and XP systems) has experienced a moment of problems since upgrading to avast 4.8. I can't even find a problem on one of my incredibly old Windows Me systems.
Given the rather large number of millions of avast users ... the problems reported in this forum ... while never to be underestimated ... are not indicative of the experience of the whole avast community.
I hope that the avast team can overcome the concerns that are causing you problems ..in the meantime if you want to try to work with those of us in this forum ready and willing to assist we are here.
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Have you tried disabling Self-Defense protection? This feature was mostly responsible for all the issues so far. Give it a try and report.
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Nope, it's uninstalled, and not going back until there's a new version, and I've got time to waste.
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Hi BJReply!
Its your decision if you downgrade or not, but i have an other guess of what could cause your problems:
Avast! 4.8 somehow causes problems on systems where an other antivirus was installed. It somehow is more sensible than the other versions were...
So if you had an other AV I would give it a try to completely remove the other AV (with the help of this forum) and try the 4.8 version again!
Your decision ;)
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I agree with BJ Replay
I have followed the instructions to the letter for the clean install etc. (Again and again)
I get to put the login password in and as the startup items (MSCONFIG items) are running after about 30 seconds it hangs (Again)
If I boot to safe mode and disable Self Defence, Root Kit scan and Start Services after others it still hangs (Again!!)
If I stop the avast services and boot, it comes up everytime...
I have tried to persevere with 4.8 but I starting to lose confidence. This particular machine running XP had 4.7 installed originally, so it has been working with Avast on for a couple of months without issue. Nothing new has been installed.
We purchase/recommend a lot of Avast products for our clients and for this particular client we convinced them to move away from McAfee and they have 20 machines we have to install Avast later this month when their current AV contract expires....or maybe not.
The user of the this laptop has now been without his laptop for over a week, as he roams and doesn't want to use his laptop without an AV product running.
ik
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Tried 4.8 - hangs (outlook, logon (Vista), web pages). Tried the beta (4.8.1187) - hangs (outlook, logon, web pages).
BJ... it's a pity... I haven't (thanks God) your bad experience with 4.8.
Maybe we (and Alwil team) could troubleshoot. Seems you're experiencing conflicts: maybe the firewall, old antivirus installation, other security program...
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Alwil doesn't seem to have extensive prerelease test teams compared with other gigantic anti-virus companies. For end-users, I think this is a trade-off to the free version, which widens the denominator of the users, and that Alwil encourages them to give the team feedbacks. As an Avast! Free user, I try to give feedbacks as many as possible but I find myself on the lucky side when it comes to troubles. However, if someone has a problem, probably, it would be wise of him/her to give a chance to Alwil team to tackle with it since it may improve the quality of their product.
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In repsonse to the various questions & suggestions:
- Disable Self-Protection Module - I tried this on another PC, but with no noticeable improvement. I have since downgraded that PC to 4.7, turned off automatic program updates, and now have a happy user (wife) :)
- Other AV Installs - no. I've loved using and recommending avast for years now, and with each new PC, I install the OS then install avast. Even PCs that come with an OS pre-installed (e.g. Dell, for example) with trialware, I start from scratch with a new OS install so I have a clean, crap-ware free base.
- Firewalls - I run Sunbelt Kerio Free edition on Windows XP machines, and Windows Firewall (such that it is) and Windows Defender (default settings) on Vista machines. Kerio hasn't changed in a long time (perhaps more than a year for the free edition) since Sunbelt aquired it. Again, I've been running this combination with avast 4.7 and earlier editions for a long time without issues.
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- Disable Self-Protection Module - I tried this on another PC, but with no noticeable improvement. I have since downgraded that PC to 4.7, turned off automatic program updates, and now have a happy user (wife) :)
Version 4.8 adds much more things than only the self-protection module...
I see no reason for downgrade.
Alwil doesn't seem to have extensive prerelease test teams compared with other gigantic anti-virus companies.
Beta tests are, generally, restricted to forum users.
I don't think this gigantic anti-virus companies are releasing antivirus versions more than once a year.
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Version 4.8 adds much more things than only the self-protection module...
I think you've missed the point. I don't care one way or the other about the self-protection module. All I care about is a PC that I can use. 4.8 rendered several PCs unusable - not necessarily as bad as they wouldn't boot, but 5 minutes wait for an e-mail to be displayed in outlook, or a web page to display is unusable.
Perhaps all the other things added in 4.8 are the problem, and why I'm not the only one posting in these forums with problems with 4.8 that we haven't had with 4.7.
I see no reason for downgrade.
I downgraded to 4.7 because:
- I like using avast, and I find it's protection generally very good, with few false positives, and these are generally fairly quickly fixed, and
- I don't like running without AV, and
- I, and the people I support (e.g. my family & friends) found 4.8 slowed their PC so much that running norton anti-virus would have seemed like a supersonic jet compared to avast running like a tractor, and finally
- downgrading to 4.7 was the quickest way of keeping me and them protected.
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I said:
Not one of the users I support (on Vista and XP systems) has experienced a moment of problems since upgrading to avast 4.8. I can't even find a problem on one of my incredibly old Windows Me systems.
Interesting that not one of the users I support has a problem and every one of the users you support:
found 4.8 slowed their PC so much that running norton anti-virus would have seemed like a supersonic jet compared to avast running like a tractor
Assuming we are both being truthful then there is clearly a significant difference in the way we advise our users to run their systems that must be generating this difference.
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I don't care one way or the other about the self-protection module. All I care about is a PC that I can use.
Until you get a Bagle infection... then you will lose your avast installation and the PC will be infected...
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Assuming we are both being truthful then there is clearly a significant difference in the way we advise our users to run their systems that must be generating this difference.
OK, here's an example:
- New PC (HP something - don't know off the top of my head).
- Boot from Windows XP SP2 CD
- Delete all HD Partitions
- Create New Partition
- Install XP
- Go to Windows Update, install all updates.
- Rinse & Repeat until no more updates
- Turn on Microsoft Update
- Install Office 2007
- Go to Windows Update, install all updates.
- Rinse & Repeat until no more updates
- Install Avast (Default Settings)
- Install Sunbelt Kerio Firewall (Default Settings)
- Install Acrobat Reader, Flash Player
- Set Avast to Internet Connection Always On, Auto-Update
That's it. You can't get much more standard than that. The only problem on this PC was simply exceedingly slow to load web pages - or an eventual 408/409 (server too busy response). Turning off web filtering fixed that problem. So did downgrading to 4.7.
No other anti-virus installed ever before. No viruses / spy-ware / old versions / conflicting versions / firewalls.
Maybe it is my ISP (which is common to all my PCs) and perhaps their transparent web proxy is causing issues for Avast's web filter - I don't know. All I know is 4.7 works, 4.8 doesn't.
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I don't care one way or the other about the self-protection module. All I care about is a PC that I can use.
Until you get a Bagle infection... then you will lose your avast installation and the PC will be infected...
wat's a bagel infection? LOL
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I don't know why 4.8 would be any different to 4.7 in this regard but does anyone else who is not seeing BJReplay's problem have the same configuration?
BJReplay
Who is the ISP?
Can you connect by dial-up (maybe to a different ISP?) and see if the delay is still there?
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Maybe it is my ISP (which is common to all my PCs) and perhaps their transparent web proxy is causing issues for Avast's web filter - I don't know. All I know is 4.7 works, 4.8 doesn't.
I can well believe that as a likely key difference - and as you say - common to these systems.
Some other users did report issues that appeared to be related to the avast web filter. Having multiple filters for port 80 is not very common (and does not occur for the folks I support). The avast team report that they have made changes in this area in the current beta program. We have confirmation from one user who reported the problem fixed - the other threads have not been updated by their original posters.
So, there is a good chance that the current beta release may well address this problem for you and your folks. If you prefer to wait for the production release before checking it out again then the avast team have indicated that they expect the refresh made available today to be the last of this beta program before the new production release.
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BJReplay
Who is the ISP?
Can you connect by dial-up (maybe to a different ISP?) and see if the delay is still there?
Optusnet (Cable).
Tried the beta (1187) - same symptoms.
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Bagle malware is an infection that destroys the avast executables and corrupts its installation, make avast (antivirus) unusable. You need to use 3rd party programs to get rid of it.
Search the forum for Bagle and you'll find a lot of info and problems.
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One that tries to kill your AV so it can do its dirty work unmolested and which can be a pain to remove, obviously because you haven't got an active AV. Any other AVs and tols that you try to download and install are also likely to suffer the same fate, so not a nice experience. I suggest you do a search for beagle or bagle in the viruses and worms forums for some light reading ;D
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Bagle malware is an infection that destroys the avast executables and corrupts its installation, make avast (antivirus) unusable. You need to use 3rd party programs to get rid of it.
Search the forum for Bagle and you'll find a lot of info and problems.
oh, thanks ;)
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BJReplay
Who is the ISP?
Can you connect by dial-up (maybe to a different ISP?) and see if the delay is still there?
Optusnet (Cable).
Tried the beta (1187) - same symptoms.
Well I have the same ISP as you but not the same configuration. I'm not seeing this problem so I'm out of ideas for now. (I don't suppose you're paying the extra $5.00 a month for dial-up to try that?)
Just for the record, I have 2 x XP SP2 machines cabled to a Belkin router and Motorola 5100. Both upgraded from 98SE in 2002 and updated via Automatic Updates.
avast! Home 4.8.1187 - all providers. ( Note: Beta is now up to 1192 ::) - I haven't tried it yet.)
Office 2003 installed and up to date
Windows Firewall
I don't have Acrobat Reader installed (Foxit instead).
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Perhaps this is another case where the avast team might want to offer its investigative talents to work with a user to understand why 4.7 works and 4.8 does not.
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Perhaps this is another case where the avast team might want to offer its investigative talents to work with a user to understand why 4.7 works and 4.8 does not.
That's what I'm hoping :)
Vlk is looking at the outlook specific problem now...: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=34586.msg296983#msg296983