Author Topic: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?  (Read 129370 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

michaelmango

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #135 on: November 30, 2013, 01:22:17 PM »
I just found this looking at my startups on CCleaner. Thought it looked suspicious. I'm seriously thinking about changing programs too. The ad popups were already annoying me.

Offline Acco

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 28
  • Where's my flask?!
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #136 on: December 02, 2013, 08:10:28 AM »
I noticed the "random number" Emergency Update in my msconfig startup list also last week, prior to upgrading to Avast 2014.
I deleted that entry, due to Avast clearly avoiding any decent explanation of "why" it appeared there. Here this thread is 10 pages long, yet the one (and only) very brief comment by Vik appeared to answer 0 details of this entry, while raising more questions and concerns very significantly.

Also, what puzzles me is why is there a hidden scheduled "Emergency Update" in the scheduled tasks? After all, there is already streaming updates enabled in Avast, which I assume streaming updates mean any update can be streamed immediately... 24/7/365. Correct? So why the need for the hidden "scheduled task"?
Whadayamean it's broke,,,   let me make sure!

XP-Pro SP3 - P4 3.2 Ghz - 2 GB ram - Avast Free Home 2015.10.2.2218 - Firefox 38.0.1 - Thunderbird 31.6.0 - Imap Gmail - SpywareBlaster 5 - SuperAntiSpyware - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium

Ijkoy

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #137 on: December 02, 2013, 10:42:51 AM »
I noticed the "random number" Emergency Update in my msconfig startup list also last week, prior to upgrading to Avast 2014.
I deleted that entry, due to Avast clearly avoiding any decent explanation of "why" it appeared there. Here this thread is 10 pages long, yet the one (and only) very brief comment by Vik appeared to answer 0 details of this entry, while raising more questions and concerns very significantly.

Also, what puzzles me is why is there a hidden scheduled "Emergency Update" in the scheduled tasks? After all, there is already streaming updates enabled in Avast, which I assume streaming updates mean any update can be streamed immediately... 24/7/365. Correct? So why the need for the hidden "scheduled task"?

Afaik streaming updates only update virus definitions and not the programm itself. Let me do another speculation:

Why would someone need an update to be executed on every boot? If theres a bug in the program it could be fixed with a run once update. But lets assume there is a bug with AOS and the latest firefox or Chrome. So if a user installed avast and afterwards decides to switch from IE to Chrome there would be the bug  which only can be adressed by an emergency update. So how would you do this as an avast programmer. You don't know when and if a user switches browsers. So I think I would create a startup entry to "check" for the existence of Chrome or Firefox and then I would run it if necessary.

Offline Lisandro

  • Avast team
  • Certainly Bot
  • *
  • Posts: 67195
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #138 on: December 02, 2013, 12:48:39 PM »
When any avast! programmer post here, just let me know...
We (mostly) have few spare time for speculations ;D
The best things in life are free.

Tetsuo

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #139 on: December 02, 2013, 03:17:04 PM »
When any avast! programmer post here, just let me know...
We (mostly) have few spare time for speculations ;D
Excuse me, but you are a member of the Avast! Team, aren't you?

moses_x

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #140 on: December 03, 2013, 12:42:22 AM »
No answer, no fix ??? :'(

Ijkoy

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #141 on: December 03, 2013, 09:31:13 AM »
No answer, no fix ??? :'(

Are there actually any programmers from avast here in the forums? My suggestion would be to make a sticky thread with all emupdates listed. People who post here are in general more concerned about IT security and don't like to their computers to be remote controlled. However if we know what is happening i would be okay with that along with the majority of posters in this thread (i suppose).

dprout69

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #142 on: December 03, 2013, 01:13:54 PM »
Ultimately this is about trust...

Scenario A - Avast has mal intent and is infecting and/or spying on everyone and not posting here
Scenario B - Avast royally screwed up, thought they would quietly put a fix in and just doesn't want to admit it or lie so they are not posting
Scenario C - Avast is spying/infecting/screwing up and does decide to finally post on here and says the emupdate is going to put rainbows and pics of puppies in your documents and make you all millionaires.

This thread is two weeks old and continues to grow.  They are reading it... people from avast have posted in here... people from avast have posted in other posts about this thread.  They are just not posting an official answer.  Is this due to lack of communication within their organization... is this because the people that are posting are in business and only the programmers have the info on what the emupdate actually is and they don't waste their time in the forum or are extremely busy... who knows?  I'm sure there are politics within their organization as there is in most corporations... I know in my company if I need an answer from IT in any timely manner I need to march over there and stand in there cube and wait for it... but I'm a go getter, I don't expect that trait to exist everywhere nor do I know what's it's like to work in the Czech Republic...

So... do you trust them or do you start finding a different AV?  If you don't trust them to put an emupdate in, or trust them to do whatever they are going to do... then perhaps the answer is obvious.

They are your anti virus provider... nothing to see here... move along... move along...
« Last Edit: December 03, 2013, 01:17:04 PM by dprout69 »

Ijkoy

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #143 on: December 03, 2013, 01:34:03 PM »
Ultimately this is about trust...

Scenario A - Avast has mal intent and is infecting and/or spying on everyone and not posting here
Scenario B - Avast royally screwed up, thought they would quietly put a fix in and just doesn't want to admit it or lie so they are not posting
Scenario C - Avast is spying/infecting/screwing up and does decide to finally post on here and says the emupdate is going to put rainbows and pics of puppies in your documents and make you all millionaires.

This thread is two weeks old and continues to grow.  They are reading it... people from avast have posted in here... people from avast have posted in other posts about this thread.  They are just not posting an official answer.  Is this due to lack of communication within their organization... is this because the people that are posting are in business and only the programmers have the info on what the emupdate actually is and they don't waste their time in the forum or are extremely busy... who knows?  I'm sure there are politics within their organization as there is in most corporations... I know in my company if I need an answer from IT in any timely manner I need to march over there and stand in there cube and wait for it... but I'm a go getter, I don't expect that trait to exist everywhere nor do I know what's it's like to work in the Czech Republic...

So... do you trust them or do you start finding a different AV?  If you don't trust them to put an emupdate in, or trust them to do whatever they are going to do... then perhaps the answer is obvious.

They are your anti virus provider... nothing to see here... move along... move along...

Scenario D: They actually dont care about about 0,04 % of the 25 millions. But you are right, its all about trust, especially for an antivirus program, which has actually complete control of my system. I always recommended avast to my friends, installed it on several machines (i wouldnt do it at the moment). Im not giving up on avast, but things like this topic do not really help.

Im already reading something about a grimfighter feature in the next build (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141747.0). If this is the course Avast is going (no communication, adding more and more useless stuff) i will look for an alternatve.
 

dprout69

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #144 on: December 03, 2013, 02:10:47 PM »
Im already reading something about a grimfighter feature in the next build (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141747.0). If this is the course Avast is going (no communication, adding more and more useless stuff) i will look for an alternatve.

WOW!  Ummm... yeah... that will be the end of my time with Avast most definitely...  As a matter of fact, you'd really have to be blind not to see all the signs right now of what's to come. 

I have (turning very quickly to had) trust with Avast and their recommendations from me have already dropped down to zero until they resolve at least some of the issues, but I still have some faith that they are going to turn this around.

NoelC

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #145 on: December 03, 2013, 03:12:22 PM »
Some really level-headed posts here - thank you, guys!

Yes, it's about trust.

It's also about whether the product is continuing to provide the specific functionality we need.  Perhaps it is being molded more and more into a super-dumbed-down package for the masses of data consumers, without any longer a care about whether it's well-matched to the needs of professionals and computer users, who are actually aware of how their systems work.

We are forced to speculate, because we're not hearing "yes, that's the way it's supposed to work".

Lines of communications need to kept OPEN.  We need to understand that these things are being done on purpose.  We CARE about our computer systems, which is why we have the Avast! product installed.  There will never be a good time to have a Twilight Zone approach, "Do not adjust your TV set...  We have control..."

Let us hear from the Avast! team, please...  Edit:  Finally found the mentioned post by Vik, stating "yes, that's the way it's supposed to work".  Is Vik an official with Avast!?  I don't see any indication he is.  "Global Moderator, Serious Graphoman" means nothing.

-Noel
« Last Edit: December 03, 2013, 03:28:14 PM by NoelC »

Tetsuo

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #146 on: December 03, 2013, 03:48:39 PM »
Obviously posting here is useless at this point. Try elsewhere (e.g. Wilders Security, etc) and see what happens.

Ijkoy

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #147 on: December 03, 2013, 04:48:03 PM »
Edit:  Finally found the mentioned post by Vik, stating "yes, that's the way it's supposed to work".  Is Vik an official with Avast!?  I don't see any indication he is.  "Global Moderator, Serious Graphoman" means nothing.
-Noel

He is the Chief Technical Officer afaik, so yes he is an official. But why not clear things up a little bit more so this thread can finally die?

Davy

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #148 on: December 03, 2013, 05:27:26 PM »
They don't want ya to know....  I've moved on and bug free thank God.

When my license runs out it stays run out,  then what once my main drive will be wiped and......  Avast with it.  At least I'm bug free and my machines running smoother.... and less Google interference!

Their beta testers have gone to sleep.... it wouldn't surprise me if we was doing their job!

Dave




Randissimo

  • Guest
Re: Emergency Update 2013-11-21?
« Reply #149 on: December 03, 2013, 07:24:01 PM »
I noticed the "random number" Emergency Update in my msconfig startup list also last week, prior to upgrading to Avast 2014.
You're lucky at that. All I'm ever seeing in the new autostart section of the task-manager in Windows 8 is an entry with the name "program" without any details or settings available.
However, I checked for it and found out, that you can supposedly delete/view those entries with CCleaner:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/be02e931-eada-4a49-8f95-2ed47d64be10/windows-8-startup-items?forum=w8itprogeneral
So I've deactivated the entry in the task-manager to find the emergency-update entry in CCleaner deactivated as well. Then I've activated it again in the task-manager to see it activated again in CCleaner.
They should've at least signed their emergency updates.

Scenario B - Avast royally screwed up, thought they would quietly put a fix in and just doesn't want to admit it or lie so they are not posting
If it's scenario B, I can at least sympathize with them.