NEW Avast Version 21.2 (March 2021)

[slavo.benko]

Hi, all. Please welcome the newest version of Avast AV: 21.2 (21.2.2455)

Major public announcements

• Introducing Hack Alerts — From now on, we’ll warn you if any passwords linked to your email address were compromised in a hack or a leak. (Just sign in to Avast Account within antivirus)
• New performance report tool — If you encounter any performance issues on your PC and you suspect we're the culprit, you can now send us a report so we can investigate the issue (Just go to Settings > Troubleshooting > Record a performance problem)

Bug-fix and improvement highlights for hardcore fans:

• AV DNS finally no longer conflicts with our VPN solution
• Fixed product toasters that stole window’s focus
• Arranged for the proper order of dialogs in various alert-dialog flows (for reporting false positives, when the main UI is open, etc.)
• Fixed an issue where Passwords Protection (a Premium feature) was turned off for some users
• Fixed some rare cases where user settings weren’t stored properly during product updates
• Fixed rare problems with WebShield and HTTP/2 HPACK compression

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
• Omni: https://bits.avcdn.net/insttype_OMNI

Offline installers:

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

[Asyn]

Thanks Slavo, spreading the news...

[bob3160]

Thanks Slavo,
for also including the Omni offline update.
The correct link s/b: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_omni_setup_offline.exe

[slavo.benko]

It was especially for you Bob The URL was correct hopefully I just messed up the displayed text in the post, sorry about that. Amended in the original post now, thanks for the catch.

[bob3160]

It was especially for you Bob The URL was correct I just messed up the displayed text in the post, sorry about that. Amended in the original post now, thanks for the catch.

Thanks again. I have the links saved, just in case.

[Nunzio77]

Hi, I restarted a PC with Avast Free that was turned off since December 4th 2020.
After turning it on and waiting about 4-5 hours, I would have expected it to have updated to the latest version and yet it still hasn't.
I could force the manual update to the new version but I don't want to, I'm waiting for him to do it automatically. The virus definitions, on the other hand, were updated shortly after turning on the PC.
So I ask you after how long will it update to the latest version?
I saw that just today the latest version came out (Avast AV: 21.2 (21.2.2455) but didn't it have to update to the previous one anyway?
Do I have to update manually every time, even if I have set the automatic update?

[bob3160]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

[Nunzio77]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

OK thanks.
My fear is that I haven't updated Avast Free to the latest version for long periods. I can't go often to see in the update settings that the version is out of date.
I hope I have always updated it, maybe even waiting a few days. In my opinion they should update them in as little time as possible, but obviously I understand that the users are many.

[DavidR]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

OK thanks.
My fear is that I haven't updated Avast Free to the latest version for long periods. I can't go often to see in the update settings that the version is out of date.
I hope I have always updated it, maybe even waiting a few days. In my opinion they should update them in as little time as possible, but obviously I understand that the users are many.

With 400 million users to update there will always be an update cycle.

Given your previous statement, "I restarted a PC with Avast Free that was turned off since December 4th 2020."
With those kind of periods non use of the system, there is no thing to stop you doing a manual Program Update after such a long time frame.

[Nunzio77]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

OK thanks.
My fear is that I haven't updated Avast Free to the latest version for long periods. I can't go often to see in the update settings that the version is out of date.
I hope I have always updated it, maybe even waiting a few days. In my opinion they should update them in as little time as possible, but obviously I understand that the users are many.

With 400 million users to update there will always be an update cycle.

Given your previous statement, "I restarted a PC with Avast Free that was turned off since December 4th 2020."
With those kind of periods non use of the system, there is no thing to stop you doing a manual Program Update after such a long time frame.

I understand very well that with this number of users, it takes time for updates.

In this case, of course, a manual update can take place. Mine was just a reflection for any normal use where you can't know how long the AV is not updated to the latest version. Perhaps with "closer" cycles of updates, the time for an out-of-date AV will be as short as possible. That's all.

[DavidR]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

OK thanks.
My fear is that I haven't updated Avast Free to the latest version for long periods. I can't go often to see in the update settings that the version is out of date.
I hope I have always updated it, maybe even waiting a few days. In my opinion they should update them in as little time as possible, but obviously I understand that the users are many.

With 400 million users to update there will always be an update cycle.

Given your previous statement, "I restarted a PC with Avast Free that was turned off since December 4th 2020."
With those kind of periods non use of the system, there is no thing to stop you doing a manual Program Update after such a long time frame.

<snip>
In this case, of course, a manual update can take place. Mine was just a reflection for any normal use where you can't know how long the AV is not updated to the latest version.

Perhaps with "closer" cycles of updates, the time for an out-of-date AV will be as short as possible. That's all.

How are they to track your normal usage, well by tracking and recording your use no doubt, I know that many people wouldn't like this level of tracking as we have seen similar issues with what people consider their privacy.

There are already close update cycles, like an annual major program update 20.x to 21.x followed by about 10 incremental program updates 21.1x, 21.2.x.  Not to mention Emergency Updates and minor bug fixes that can be resolved with the Engine and Virus (VPS) Updates.

If this is your usual computer usage after a long period of inactivity then do a manual program update and you would probably have to do a manual VPS Update. 

[NON]

Thanks for the new release

[Nunzio77]

@Nunzio77,
Updates a staggered over time as to not burden the servers.
It could take a week or two or it could happen tomorrow.
Avast determines the update regions.

OK thanks.
My fear is that I haven't updated Avast Free to the latest version for long periods. I can't go often to see in the update settings that the version is out of date.
I hope I have always updated it, maybe even waiting a few days. In my opinion they should update them in as little time as possible, but obviously I understand that the users are many.

With 400 million users to update there will always be an update cycle.

Given your previous statement, "I restarted a PC with Avast Free that was turned off since December 4th 2020."
With those kind of periods non use of the system, there is no thing to stop you doing a manual Program Update after such a long time frame.

<snip>
In this case, of course, a manual update can take place. Mine was just a reflection for any normal use where you can't know how long the AV is not updated to the latest version.

Perhaps with "closer" cycles of updates, the time for an out-of-date AV will be as short as possible. That's all.

How are they to track your normal usage, well by tracking and recording your use no doubt, I know that many people wouldn't like this level of tracking as we have seen similar issues with what people consider their privacy.

There are already close update cycles, like an annual major program update 20.x to 21.x followed by about 10 incremental program updates 21.1x, 21.2.x.  Not to mention Emergency Updates and minor bug fixes that can be resolved with the Engine and Virus (VPS) Updates.

If this is your usual computer usage after a long period of inactivity then do a manual program update and you would probably have to do a manual VPS Update.

Thanks for the detailed information is very interesting. 
However this is not my normal PC usage, it was just an exception. The PC is turned on almost every day or every few days. It is an observation made in this exceptional event.
Thanks again. 

[darkwaechter]

Still have following memory leak since 20.7 ...

Hi,
I found the the source of the problem, is the wpad.dat file used to auto define the proxy (or no proxy).

Sorry for delay.
Version 20.8.5684.602  not solved my situation.  Same behavior, soon I connect network cable Avsta start eating all memory.
It happens on some networks, not on others.  Or start after some time.
My network are the culprit? Why special have on these networks?

My test procedure is this:
Disable swap/paging on window, avoid system to use paging, a avast just eat all ram and killed by the kernel (I think). 
Start computer with network cable disconnected (no wifi).
Open taskmanager, and Avast GUI.
Connect network cable and watch rise of memory usage by Avast.

If have some thing on my network causing the Avast memory issue, what can be?
My firewall is a linux machine, very simple, just for NAT, no complex packet filtering, multi internet access and Squid proxy (all most disabled).
I drop all forwarding from offending host. No change.
Dropped all input to firewall. NOW, avast no eating memory.
I opened port 80, and Avast start eating memory again.  What Avast accessing? Check the webserver log.
Avast getting the wpad file for proxy definition on this network. Renamed wpad.dat file, and try again.
Whitout wpad, no problem, avast try to get file, get a 404 and nothing happens.

Code: [Select]

The log on webserver (lighttpd 1.4.19):
10.0.103.91 wpad - [09/Oct/2020:09:36:43 -0300] "GET /wpad.dat HTTP/1.1" 200 94 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/72.3.3626.1895 Safari/537.36 Avastium (20.8.2432)"

wpad.dat content:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
         return "DIRECT";
}

I hope this information helps to solve the problem.

Tanks, Paulino.

I confirm, it comes from the proxy !

Disabling the option "Automatically detect settings" of proxy under Windows, will no more cause the memory leak.
Activating it again, and Avast eats again all memory ...

[chris..]

Introducing Hack Alerts — From now on, we’ll warn you if any passwords linked to your email address were compromised in a hack or a leak. (Just sign in to Avast Account within antivirus)

Hi
Is there any way to display the corrupted password instead of "*********".
This is a new feature in avast but the hacking is old (and known), I had changed my password at the time but I would like to check what the password was (to be sure not to use it again).
If not, can we at least know if the number of "*" match the number of characters of the hacked password or if it is general (12 "*" as far I'm concerned)?