AVAST 2014 R2 Beta1 (9.0.2009)

[sedina]

Hi all,

We are more than happy to announce AVAST 2014 R2 BETA1 (build number 9.0.2009).

We're introducing several important pieces in this release:
* GrimeFighter -- performs a scan to identify ways to speed up, clean up, and better protect your PC.  GrimeFighter will run the scan and show you where you can improve the performance of your PC.  It then sedates your PC and performs all of the cleaning functions.  This need feature is a result of our acquisition of Jumpshot earlier this year.  It is an early stage integration into our user interface and we really need your feedback on it :-)
IMPORTANT NOTE: DON'T RUN GRIMEFIGHTER ON WINDOWS 8/8.1, ENCRYPTED OR RAID DISKS! WE WILL FIX THESE ISSUES SOON...
 
* SavePrice -- we added a new function to the browser plugins that helps you save money when you are shopping online.  It finds better prices for items you are searching for.  At the moment, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are supported.  Internet Explorer should be supported in the near future.
 
* avast! tutorial -- for users who run avast! trials, a tutorial is now available explaining all the great things avast! can do to protect your PC
 
* Stream Filtering -- a completely rewritten function that is part of the new Web Shield launched in v2014.  The three main components of Stream Filtering are a rewritten scanner, new kernel mode inspection techniques, and a new HTTP parser.  All of these functions lead to more effective detections of threats
 
* Firewall -- most importantly, we the previous issues with Java have been solved.  The firewall should be more stable and with better compatibility with other network applications

Download locations
http://files.avast.com/beta9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_full.exe
http://files.avast.com/beta9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup_full.exe
http://files.avast.com/beta9x/avast_internet_security_setup_full.exe
http://files.avast.com/beta9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup_full.exe

avast! cleaner:
http://files.avast.com/beta9x/avastclear.exe

Known issues
- Ignoring process or specifying “well know browsers only” has not effect
- Redirect settings in troubleshooting have no effect
- USB rescue disk sometimes fail
- avastClear not localized to all languages
- IE plugin compatibility problem with IE 11
- Some coloring issues in IE and FF plugin
- no localizations have been updated yet - so there are some English texts in non-English versions; that's normal, no need to report that

It should be possible to install this version on top of your existing avast! installation (all settings should be preserved).

Any feedback is appreciated! https://feedback.avast.com/response/add

thanks a lot,
Pavel

[GreggH]

Installed over 9.0.2008. GrimeFighter displays multiple items, but does not tell me what any of them are. I won't use it if a) I don't know what it intends to "clean up" and b) I do not have a say in what it does clean up. I am also suddenly running in to Browser Cleanup finding something that it can't remove and it won't continue properly when I tell it to remove the item. It continuously comes up with it.

Gregg

[essexboy]

An over the top install was queried by the hardened mode   But I thought it was safe to allow it through

Also experiencing the same browser cleanup problem, again hardened mode blocking it.  Disabled hardened mode .. still did not run

 
Decided to run Grimefighter as I know what it is and it stuck when downloading image

EDIT : Found a little popup under the Avast UI asking for a reboot.. Well hidden

Rebooted and 8.1 is not supported

[Staticguy]

Hi Pavels

Will there be a fix for this issue soon as mentioned here http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141125.0

Well I have come up with a workaround. Open up google chrome settings, click on extensions, and under AOS click options.

My question is why that wouldn't come up (mentioned above) when I just click on the AOS located at the top right hand corner and click on settings and it comes up as a blank page. I have sent a support ticket about this to Avast Support along with support ticket but haven't got their reply.

Support package is 20131127 0012 2838903305.zip and support ticket number is #GOY-238-41632.

I don't run beta programs as I use Avast at home and don't want to take any risks.

[DavidR]

I have downloaded the 9.0.2009 build and will install over the top of 9.0.2008 on my XP Pro system.

However, I won't be installing SavePrice as I feel this has nothing to do with security. Now if this means that I have to uninstall the browser plugins because this is embedded and can't be disabled then that means the end for the avast online security as SavePrice has nothing to do with security.

I also have concerns about GrimeFighter as I feel this is more bloat in a security program (is this in the paid products anyway ?). I'm always wary of and generally advise against applications that say they will "to identify ways to speed up, clean up, and better protect your PC." For me these tweaking make your system faster are generally not worth the hassle.

So I will be doing a custom install as normal and may well be doing some culling.

EDIT: Install over the top went well.
Didn't see SavePrice mentioned as an individual so BrowerProtection not installed.
Didn't see GrimeFighter as an option, so I can only think my assumption that this is a paid option is correct.

[DavidR]

Well Considering I really did have a bloody good search of the Installation steps and did a custom install specifically looking for GrimeFighter and it was not found, it was installed and has run. See image1, the items that were meant to have been installed on my custom install, no sign of grimefigher there.

I'm not impressed that it was installed. This XP Pro system is pretty tight, I don't have lots of cr4p installed or grime, yet it supposedly found 11 and it can supposedly give me back {P_JGB} on my hard disk.

I find both of these statements to be highly suspect - I have no idea what disk it scanned, presumably only c:\ which has a grand total of 12.3GB of data to recover X GBs is somewhat dubious. I don't like undocumented stuff like this that you have to take on faith, with no supporting evidence of what it found ?
Which pretty much confirms my thoughts on these speed up your PC type tools, snake oil.

My main issue is how did GrimeFinder get installed when I really went out of my way to make sure it didn't get installed ?
See image3 which supposedly shows GrimeFighter not installed, yet it ran!

[bob3160]

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=93544.msg1029629#msg1029629
Haven't tried GrimeFighter and am still looking for SavePrice

[DavidR]

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=93544.msg1029629#msg1029629
Haven't tried GrimeFighter and am still looking for SavePrice

See my updated post, I didn't want to try it, it wasn't installed, yet it still ran.

[Staticguy]

So i assume that SavePrice is integrated with Avast Online Security? To me SavePrice has nothing to do with security, so when the final version of this update is released I will not be installing the Browser Plugin via custom install.

Will Avast still protect me from web threats by using web browser without installing the browser plugin?

[Alikhan]

It's best to get rid of the bugs and then add new features... these will cause more problems.

[Rohugh]

Installed over the top of 2008,  download and installation went without problems.

The only setting that didn't transfer as far as I can see was my weekly scheduled scan.

In Statistics>Your Stats the network traffic graph is not working  (tried several reboots as that solved the problem in the last update).

In Settings>Update it shows "Connection not established"  (Attachment)

Will check it out further tomorrow as it is late here. 

[Rohugh]

Further to my above post I had this pop-up.  I am not going to follow it up for the moment as I am not sure what it is going to do. 

[DavidR]

So i assume that SavePrice is integrated with Avast Online Security? To me SavePrice has nothing to do with security, so when the final version of this update is released I will not be installing the Browser Plugin via custom install.

Will Avast still protect me from web threats by using web browser without installing the browser plugin?

The web shield is the main protection against web threats

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

Dear DavidR, I assume you feel like I feel about this?

More crapware!

Why don't we fix the problems 1st?

[propheticus]

Good news, so far this beta's firewall seems to be behaving better. Since installing the beta ver.9.0.2009 I have not yet encounterd the high DPC latency spikes that I had with ver.9.0.2008 which caused audio crackling.
I'll check again after a few hours of uptime and after some torrenting & browsing to see if the DPC values stay at an acceptable level.


As said before, grimefighter can't be disabled via options-> tools. I'm using win 8.1 and it installed after warning be about possible 'grime' but upon running the boottime cleaning routine it suddenly told me it isn't compatible with my version of windows yet.... Why the hell did it install itself in the first place then? This windows version check surely could have been performed beforehand. Also, there's no way to uninstall it via the modify installation option.
How about you fix the current issues before adding new ones?