Author Topic: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?  (Read 6089 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

REDACTED

  • Guest
Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« on: February 05, 2016, 10:47:14 PM »
Can anyone tell me why the VPS udates are around 200 MB in size since November/December?

I didn't have my computer on between approximately Nov. 16 - Dec. 20 and when I went to do an update through Avast, the update was around 200 MB. That would take well over 10 hrs to download! Normally, even if I miss a few days or even weeks, the file size is no more than 10 or 16 MB.

Even if I go to the Avast VPS update page, the file size is over 200 MB.

What's going on? Or what am I not understanding?

BTW, I haven't done the update since I'm not sure why the file size is so huge. If this is the way the updates are going to be from now on, I'll have to find another AV program.

Offline Eddy

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Maybe Bot
  • ***
  • Posts: 31080
  • Watching (over?) you
    • Malware removal, Biljart and other things.
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2016, 10:54:54 PM »
You are wrong.
The latest full vps update is 64,3 Mb
https://www.avast.com/download-update

I guess the download you are referring to is the update for avast itself (the application)
Depending on the version you have installed the update is around 200 Mb
e.g. the freeware version is 192.6 Mb

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88899
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2016, 11:04:49 PM »
Can you be more specific as this generally won't have happened since November/December ?
Also what avast version are you using, latest is 1.1.2253 ?
What operating system are you using ?

When you go there you are downloading the full virus database and not an incremental update that will be large but not this big.

Provided you have an internet connection and haven't changed the avast update settings, then VPS updates should be automatic and incremental.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

REDACTED

  • Guest
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2016, 03:04:57 AM »
I just checked and the file for the VPS update is now about 108 MB either through the program itself or here - https://www.avast.com/download-update

I downloaded the file on a relative's computer on January 22 and it was 214 MB, but I never installed it.

I'm using Avast 4.8.1368 - free edition, I know it's old but I'm limited.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 03:17:57 AM by blublu87 »

Offline Eddy

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Maybe Bot
  • ***
  • Posts: 31080
  • Watching (over?) you
    • Malware removal, Biljart and other things.
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2016, 03:55:53 AM »
Even if you have Windows 2k installed, you should use avast 8.x

If you use Windows XP or later, use the latest version (2016.x) if your system can handle SSE2 instructions.
If not use avast 2015.

Offline INGBEAN

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 366
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2016, 01:00:20 PM »
Hello!

I have mentioned too, that VPS-offline-update files are now much smaller than in December 2015.

Here are file sizes for comparison reasons (in brackets size on December 31st, 2015):
VPS 9-11: 64,2 MB (64,8 MB)
VPS 5-8: 119 MB (225 MB)
VPS 4.8: 105 MB (211 MB)

Is it normal, that we have now half file size at "old" versions?

INGBEAN
Notebook A: DELL Inspiron 8000 | Pentium III (800 MHz) | 512 MB RAM | Win 2000 Pro (SP4+UR1) | avast! Free V7.0.1474
Notebook B: MAXDATA Pro 700T | Pentium III (800 MHz) | 256 MB RAM | Win 2000 Pro (SP4+UR1) | avast! Free V8.0.1497
Notebook: DELL LATITUDE E6530 | i7-3540M (3 GHz) | 4 GB RAM | Win 7 Pro (SP1, 64bit) | avast! Free V8.0.1497

Offline Eddy

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Maybe Bot
  • ***
  • Posts: 31080
  • Watching (over?) you
    • Malware removal, Biljart and other things.
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2016, 01:03:09 PM »
The full VPS database is changing each time as old detections for malware will be removed if it is not seen for a long time period.
If av vendors didn't do so, a full database would be perhaps even several terrabytes large.

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88899
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2016, 02:35:20 PM »
I just checked and the file for the VPS update is now about 108 MB either through the program itself or here - https://www.avast.com/download-update

I downloaded the file on a relative's computer on January 22 and it was 214 MB, but I never installed it.

I'm using Avast 4.8.1368 - free edition, I know it's old but I'm limited.

There was for a period of time that those trying to download the full VPS download for avast4.x had problems as it exceeded 200MB and that by all accounts caused issues with old systems being unable to handle a file in excess of 200MB.

My guess is that avast has optimised that download file size and is now much smaller.

Anyone using avast 4.x really is living on borrowed time, the end of support for win98 (and subsequently avast 4.8 ) has been going on for years. At some point in time avast 4.8 and its VPS updates simply aren't going to work.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

REDACTED

  • Guest
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2016, 07:49:08 PM »
I'm the OP and you all seem to be missing my point.

Let's try this again.

Prior to November/December 2015, a normal VPS update through the Avast program was less than 2 MB or so. I didn't update daily so I would imagine the daily update would be less than 1 mb, I don't know. I actually think it was around 550 KB, give or take a little. The longer I went without updating, the larger the update file size would be when I finally did update. So if I didn't update for a whole month, the update would still be less than 25 mb.

So missing one month of updates would result in needing to download a vps file of around maybe 20 -25 mb. But in November/December 2015, something changed where the update is much larger at over 100 mb (instead of the 10 - 20 mb that it should've been). That's never happened in my 5+ years of using Avast. NEVER!

I'm guessing most of you have no idea what I'm talking about because you probably use automatic updates and have high speed internet, so you probably have no idea what size the daily updates actually are. Downloading them through the Avast software doesn't impact your internet speed like it does for me, so I'm highly aware of the update file sizes. I know this because I'm stuck on dialup (no other option) and have to set the updates on manual because of that.

Isn't there someone here who knows what I'm talking about? I just want to know why the updates are so huge now? What changed?

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88899
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2016, 08:28:16 PM »
I suggest we are missing the point, because it wasn't particularly clear what you were doing, hence all of the answers related to the full VPS download.

Updates from the UI are generally incremental, but if you leave it a long time between incremental updates, then avast is likely to download the full VPS.

This would explain why your Update from the UI and that of downloading the full virus database are virtually the same.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline xode

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 25
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2016, 11:29:17 PM »
I just checked and the file for the VPS update is now about 108 MB either through the program itself or here - https://www.avast.com/download-update

I downloaded the file on a relative's computer on January 22 and it was 214 MB, but I never installed it.

I'm using Avast 4.8.1368 - free edition, I know it's old but I'm limited.

There was for a period of time that those trying to download the full VPS download for avast4.x had problems as it exceeded 200MB and that by all accounts caused issues with old systems being unable to handle a file in excess of 200MB.

My guess is that avast has optimised that download file size and is now much smaller.

Anyone using avast 4.x really is living on borrowed time, the end of support for win98 (and subsequently avast 4.8 ) has been going on for years. At some point in time avast 4.8 and its VPS updates simply aren't going to work.

Except that Avast 4.8 works just fine with Windows XP and Windows 7.  Further, its virus signature files are identical to the ones used by the Linux version of Avast, which works just fine even on Linux openSUSE 13.2.  So, both Avast for Windows and Avast for Linux can be kept up to date via the incremental Windows update.  Finally, Avast 4.8 has been much less buggy than the later versions of Avast, which have on occasion caused STOP errors in Windows.  For all of these reasons, I would like Avast 4.8 support to continue indefinitely.

Offline Eddy

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Maybe Bot
  • ***
  • Posts: 31080
  • Watching (over?) you
    • Malware removal, Biljart and other things.
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2016, 11:34:46 PM »
I would like to have support for DOS 6.22 but guess what...
It is not gonna happen. ;D

Offline xode

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 25
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2016, 11:39:23 PM »
I would like to have support for DOS 6.22 but guess what...
It is not gonna happen. ;D

Except that I am not requesting that new support be brought back for old stuff but that existing support be maintained for current stuff for an Avast version that works better than the latest Avast versions.

REDACTED

  • Guest
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2016, 06:04:09 PM »
I suspect that won't be available for long, since the old versions didn't have all the popups and other application installs that pay the bills these days.

Offline Pondus

  • Probably Bot
  • ****
  • Posts: 37506
  • Not a avast user
Re: Why are the VPS Update Files so Huge Now?
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2016, 06:16:13 PM »
I would like to have support for DOS 6.22 but guess what...
It is not gonna happen. ;D
Aaaaa.... that would be the MSDOS msav command     ;D