Avast Version 20.5 (July 2020)

[slavo.benko]

Hi all. Please welcome Avast 20.5.

We've packed it with a lot of new stuff:

• Introducing Remote Access Shield - Enjoy even stronger protection against hackers. This new feature lets you choose who can remotely access your computer and lets you block the rest. (Premium Security users only)
• Ransomware Shield is now free - We’re now offering this feature to Avast Free Antivirus users to maximize their ransomware protection
• Easier USB drive protection - We’ll now ask you to scan USB drives when you plug them into your computer. (You can also turn this off in your notification settings)
• Improved taskbar icon - There’s no need to keep your antivirus open during scans. You can now see your scan progress from the Avast taskbar icon
• Better botnet protection - Web Shield is even better about stopping malware from connecting to malicious servers

Things to note: 

• We are no longer releasing new versions of Internet Security and Pro. Every Pro/IS user updated to 20.5 version will end up on Premium Security to enjoy the full feature-set of paid version.
• Teaser for our dedicated forum users: We've added support for scanning Google QUIC protocol in Webshield, though it's enabled only for some users at the moment. We plan to full scale it in the upcoming version.

...and from about 110 other smaller or larger tasks, we pick here the fixes of:

• corner cases when Firewall was consuming too much CPU in correlation with VPS requests
• Cleanup install detection upon switching to x64 version (Congrats to Cleanup team and sorry when the app was being offered to you even if you had it already)
• bugs in protecting passwords stored in Firefox and Chrome that were installed after Avast AV
• some RescueDisk failures when being created on USB
• UI glitches for enabling/disabling shield in Protection section

How to install:

1. Update from your existing Avast version via Settings -> Update -> Update program
2. Or you can download and install files:

Online installers (recommended):

• Free: https://bits.avcdn.net/insttype_FREE
• Premium Security (formerly Premier): https://bits.avcdn.net/insttype_APR

Offline installers:

• Free: http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe
• Premium Security (formerly Premier): http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup_offline.exe

We hope you enjoy the new version!
AVAST Team

[slavo.benko]

(We're aware of small visual glitches in the post update screen - the content won't fit. This will be fixed during today)

[heikwith]

I think this are false Positives

[NON]

Thanks for the new release

I think this are false Positives

Please report false positives to
https://www.avast.com/false-positive-file-form.php
or
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=4.0

This topic is not the right place to report false positives.

[Asyn]

- [UI 532] The tabs are way too small and almost invisible now. (Screenshot)
- [Bug] Not fixed: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=234730.msg1549611#msg1549611

[abruptum]

What is the best way to configure Ransomware shield ?

[TheOwner]

I personally avoid Ransomware shield for this 2 reasons:
- It must be configured, each program you use must have exception and can slow down your PC, so it can cause more harm then good.
- You are not protected from HDD failure so in this scenario you lose your data anyway.

No one invented better solution than good BACKUP plan. I would rather see File shredder in Avast Free which have some usage (Still dont understand why is paid if there are many free alternatives).

[Hopper15]

I personally avoid Ransomware shield for this 2 reasons:
- It must be configured, each program you use must have exception and can slow down your PC, so it can cause more harm then good.
- You are not protected from HDD failure so in this scenario you lose your data anyway.

No one invented better solution than good BACKUP plan. I would rather see File shredder in Avast Free which have some usage (Still dont understand why is paid if there are many free alternatives).

is this accurate?

[TheOwner]

I personally avoid Ransomware shield for this 2 reasons:
- It must be configured, each program you use must have exception and can slow down your PC, so it can cause more harm then good.
- You are not protected from HDD failure so in this scenario you lose your data anyway.

No one invented better solution than good BACKUP plan. I would rather see File shredder in Avast Free which have some usage (Still dont understand why is paid if there are many free alternatives).

is this accurate?

In Ransomware shield settings under "File types" to protect Avast says "Selecting everything may impact your PC performance"
https://static.avast.com/support/kb/images/v2020/avkb51/en/v1_file_types.png

[abruptum]

I personally avoid Ransomware shield for this 2 reasons:
- It must be configured, each program you use must have exception and can slow down your PC, so it can cause more harm then good.
- You are not protected from HDD failure so in this scenario you lose your data anyway.

No one invented better solution than good BACKUP plan. I would rather see File shredder in Avast Free which have some usage (Still dont understand why is paid if there are many free alternatives).

is this accurate?

In Ransomware shield settings under "File types" to protect Avast says "Selecting everything may impact your PC performance"
https://static.avast.com/support/kb/images/v2020/avkb51/en/v1_file_types.png

I unchecked video,audio and image file types. I have backup for those. Archive files on my PC are mostly installers and portable programs, so I unchecked that too.

[RejZoR]

I personally avoid Ransomware shield for this 2 reasons:
- It must be configured, each program you use must have exception and can slow down your PC, so it can cause more harm then good.
- You are not protected from HDD failure so in this scenario you lose your data anyway.

No one invented better solution than good BACKUP plan. I would rather see File shredder in Avast Free which have some usage (Still dont understand why is paid if there are many free alternatives).

You clearly don't understand how Ransomware Shield works. User doesn't have to maintain the exclusion list. avast! team does that by utilizing their massive whitelist. They've been using it for years and it works superbly. Unlike Windows Defender which was using similar technique but was basically broken since its inception and it looked like its whitelist was non existent or non functional and they apparently got it under control with Windows 10 2004 update, somewhat. It still bitches over Crystal Disk Info tho.

Ransomware Shield is a really nice addition to avast! Free.

[DavidR]

Now that the Ransomware Shield is included in the Avast Free version - Should the https://support.avast.com/en-nz/article/Antivirus-Ransomware-Shield-FAQ be updated (Inclusion in Avast Free) ?

[convar]

This will now have fixed the problem, what were we talking about here?
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=235194.0

Was it Avast's fault at all?

Thanks in advance for the answer.

[GEGEPING]

Hi,

Maybe i'm the only one having this mega bug.

Soon as i install the last version or the two previous version i have conflict with MSIEXEC (windows installer) which crash and avoid windows update or his component

I wanted to generate files for support with avast support soft and it make me error impossible to do the files....

As soon as i perfom a clean erase  all are working fine.

I have all those bad thing only on my Dell D630 with Seven pro 64

Gerald

[loungehake]

I have used Avast for getting on for 20 years starting from version 4 with Windows 98SE.  This is the best installation I have yet to experience having just updated Avast on 6 Windows 7(1), 8.1(1) and 10(4).  All are working well and the extra work load imposed by AntiRansomware and other new features is not noticeable.  Avast is astonishingly light on resources as adventures with the competition have shown me.