Virus Definitions Invalid date

[rocksteady]

Have you tried clicking [Check for updates]? ...

... Avast's stubbornness has wasted too much of my time ...

@Zitrus, No worries, I knew what you meant by "Avast's stubbornness".
I am glad your issue is now fixed and you can now chill

[Zitrus]

@...I am glad your issue is now fixed and you can now chill

Thank you

Unfortunately I can't relax yet

The problem with the date of the virus definitions has been fixed, but the issue by Avast FAv persistent meddling with Firefox "The browser is managed by your organization" is still virulent.

It was gone after uninstalling Avast FAv. But after reinstalling of Avast FAv v20 this unsolicited impingement on Firefox was back, although I deactivated HTTPS + QUIC / HTTP3 in the Avast settings.
So far I haven't found a solution for this

[rocksteady]

Have you seen this re Firefox:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=233119.msg1543278#msg1543278

However, the browser issue differs from the prime subject of this thread. Maybe better you start a new thread than divert this one.

[Zitrus]

The problem with the date of the virus definitions has been fixed, ...

How long does "fixed" last? My translator says:
One should not chickens before they hatch the day!

Again! "Virus definitions are not up to date" - Oh dear!

(time, date and time zone of my computer is perfect and time setttings are Windows default)

[rocksteady]

@Zitrus,
That is weird as the version of your virus definitions is same as mine just now. Just time is different, but you are likely in different time zone.
Have you tried clicking [Update] again?

(saying is: "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched." your translator was not so bad).

[Zitrus]

Have you tried clicking [Update] again?

Thanks for answering.
Sure I did that, several times. Manual offline updates too (defs from https://www.avast.com/de-de/download-update. No successes.
Time zone as in picture.
Well, I guess "Virus definitions are not up to date" is a false report and I hope my computer is protected by Avast FAv.

I am stumped at this bug and it's up to Avast now - I hope a new version will fix it. On my part there will be no time-wasting uninstall-reinstall ping-pong anymore.

[DavidR]

Does what is reported in your image of reply #18 above, match the defs sub folder ?

[Zitrus]

Does what is reported in your image of reply #18 above, match the defs sub folder ?

Thanks for answering
There's a lot more in the folder. The newest and the ones from 8 days back. Does it have to be that way?
Strange thing: the date and the content of aswdefs.ini

[DavidR]

Does what is reported in your image of reply #18 above, match the defs sub folder ?

Thanks for answering
There's a lot more in the folder. The newest and the ones from 8 days back. Does it have to be that way?
Strange thing: the date and the content of aswdefs.ini

You're welcome.

The defs sub-folder should be periodically cleared (not necessarily immediately), as a new Virus Definitions Update (VPS update) comes in, it should clear the streaming updates associated with the previous VPS update.

If you are regularly restarting your system (not using the windows quick boot) that is normally when Avast housekeeping occurs.

Since your Updates are still reporting your VPS isn't up to date, even though it is and you have lots of these old VPS and streaming updates.  I would suggest that you do a complete Windows shutdown and restart.

If that doesn't clear most of them then try an Avast Repair again and follow it up with a complete restart again.

[Zitrus]

If you are regularly restarting your system (not using the windows quick boot) that is normally when Avast housekeeping occurs.

Thanks, to restart the PC was a good advice!

I did a restart into my administrator account - no improvement yet this time.

Then I changed my regular user account in a administrator one and made a restart again into this account - this second restart finally brought the desired success.

(I changed now back to Windows user account)

OK, it's fine now. But I think it shouldn't be that for Avast's housekeeping a restart is necessary every week.
With the previous version 19, I didn't have the slightest problem with the "up to dateness" of the definitions although I sometimes didn't restart my PC for several weeks. Only with the update to version 20 the problem did arise. I hope Avast will fix this sometime.

And thanks again for your help - I myself never thought that something as simple as restarting brings something in this case

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

Ordinarily it shouldn't need a restart to trigger the housekeeping.  I don't restart my win10 laptop system that frequently and my defs sub-folder is fairly clear most times that I check (in cases like this questions in the forum).

I don't know why you booted into your Administrator account, perhaps because your ordinary/regular user account didn't have administrator privileges.  Now that you have given it Administrator privileges, Avast may be able to carry out this housekeeping.  Just monitor it over a few days and see.

You would be surprised what a simple restart will resolve (and not just this) on your system.

[Zitrus]

Now that you have given it Administrator privileges, Avast may be able to carry out this housekeeping.  Just monitor it over a few days and see.

That's a misunderstanding. I wrote a tad unclear "(I changed now back to Windows user account)".

I changed the mentioned account back to an user account without administrator privileges. I think it's too risky to give a standard user account administrator privileges on the long run. Because malware may have sneaked in online, malicious files may be hidden in temporary folders or in browser caches  - harmless, as long as you are only a standard user but just "waiting" for you to make a mistake. Risky especially when you are online as administrator. That is why I had deleted all caches and temporary folders prior to equipping my standard user account with administrator privileges. And I did an extra virus scan before.
And finally i changed it back to an standard user account - it's just safer.

[DavidR]

OK, thanks for the clarification, if necessary a restart should trigger the housekeeping in the defs sub-folder.

[SumpoZ]

Hello.
I have the same problem with "Invalid date".
There are no visible problems in the defs folder.
Restarts, including those with administrative rights, did not help.
Repair didn't help either.
About 10 restarts were made.
This problem seems to have occurred since version 20. But I didn't pay attention to this before, because the antivirus works without problems. Updates are installed without problems. But recently, this "Invalid date" has become a nuisance. I found this topic. So I'm not the only one with this problem.
Most likely, the problem is really in the Avast antivirus.
And that makes me very upset.
A screenshot is attached.

[rocksteady]

@SumpoZ
Have you tried clicking [Update] again?