avast! 5

[Bluesman]

The feature list is pretty long

I hope the list is not too much long, because an antivirus should be an antivirus only and not a bloated/factotum software

It could be long without bloating features

[Vladimyr]

Will Avast! 5 be compatible with win9x?

I ask and hope that Avast 5 (& 6,7, etc...) continues to be at least Standard Shield-compatible with Windows 95 - especially the free version.

Let me explain.

Its true, Win95 is old but in some ways its a special case. Many people, myself included, have successfully upraded from 98SE/ME to XP. But because there is no MS upgrade path from 95 to XP, some have just kept on using their perfectly capable 95 PCs, with all the applications they use already installed, compatible and comfortable. Some have even upgraded the hardware. (I have a friend with a dual-boot 95/XP (2 x 80GB HDD) Athlon XP 3200+, but his setup is certainly unusual)

So while many software companies have dropped support for the now "ancient" windows 95 (and even 98/ME) for reasons that are perfectly understandible, the recent AVG change from 7.1 (which works fine with 95) to 7.5 (which doesn't) has brought this issue into focus for me.
People who were happily using AVG 7.1 on their Win95 OSR2 machines are asking me what to do? Of course I suggest they (a) use Avast, and/or (b) get a new computer. Some have already changed to Avast but the worrying thing is that those who either don't find out about Avast (or are wary of having to register online to get the license code - which could be the reason they chose to use AVG over Avast in the first place - but that s another issue) will just continue to use the discontinued 7.1, or no AV at all, potentially increasing everyone's risk.

Hope this is helpful.

[DavidR]

The problem is AVs advance in there methods and protection to combat the advances in the malware. We are already seeing elements of avast that don't work with win9x/ME like Network Shield, certain IM and P2P applications that are only supported with winNT/2k/XP, and some that need manual set-up.

This is frequently because of limitations in the OS and not because avast doesn't want to continue supporting win9x, etc. and I fear as things progress through the years this will only get worse.

So I think avast 5 will still support win9x/ME avast 6 could be a long way away (avast don't do marketing style annual version change), avast 7 much further and in IT and malware terms a lifetime who knows what may happen.

To get some idea of time spans look here, http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-4-home_pro-revision-history.html

[Vlk]

The current plan for avast 5 is to continue support all Windows version 95 OSR2 and up, with NEW features being implemented on Win2K+ only.

That is, the core engine plus the basic protection modules will stay 9x/NT4 compatible while all new goodies will be Win2K+ only (and some XP, and a few even Vista, only).


Cheers
Vlk

[Vladimyr]

Thanks Vik, seems like a sound approach.
People still using 95OSR2 are also likely to have machines of meagre capability (I know - sweeping generalization). So while the Standard Shield may protect them almost imperceptibly, the resource requirements of Avast's extra features may just slow things down a bit too much anyway. (E.g. I 've used ASHMAISV.EXE with Thunderbird on an old Centaur/IDT C6 200MHZ PC. It works well, but not quickly!)

DavidR you are right:
"The problem is AVs advance in there methods and protection to combat the advances in the malware. We are already seeing elements of avast that don't work with win9x/ME...."
So congrats to Alwil for continuing to make such a good product both freely available and widely applicable.

cheers
Vlad