NEW Avast version 23.8

[jan.svoboda]

Hello,

Please welcome the newest version of Avast 23.8.6078 released on August 22nd, 2023

Major public announcement:

• Improvement New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers and any issues related to your identity online. Go ahead, give it a try now!
• Improvement Enhanced protection for your web browsing - We’ve introduced a new layer of detection with DNS scanning, focused on finding advanced malware in your device.

Have a nice summer!

How to install:

• Update from your existing Avast version via Settings -> Update -> Update program
• Or you can download and install files:
  
  • Online installers (recommended):
    
    • Free: https://bits.avcdn.net/insttype_FREE
    • Premium Security: https://bits.avcdn.net/insttype_APR
  • Offline installers:
    
    • Free: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe
      
    • Premium Security: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup_offline.exe

[DavidR]

Do these 'New Scan Smart detection capabilities' actually work in Avast Free, as in it does it do more than just report them and offer the paid Avast product ?

I rarely run the Smart Scan (or on-demand scans) outside of some questions in the forums, as it usually results in a recommendation for the Avast paid products.

[Nunzio77]

Does the improved web protection also apply to the free version?

[NON]

Thanks for the new release

[Gordon2]

The "new" smart scan has just advised me that the Firefox ver. 116.0.3 on my device is out of date and that a new version 110.0 (which dates back to February 2023) is available! Needless to say I have ignored this "alert".

[DavidR]

The "new" smart scan has just advised me that the Firefox ver. 116.0.3 on my device is out of date and that a new version 110.0 (which dates back to February 2023) is available! Needless to say I have ignored this "alert".

I just wonder if this might be the:
New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers. 
I suspect that the driver may not have been updated by Mozillla to indicate the latest Firefox version.  You could check for that file name on your installation and check the drivers prperties.

[Gordon2]

The "new" smart scan has just advised me that the Firefox ver. 116.0.3 on my device is out of date and that a new version 110.0 (which dates back to February 2023) is available! Needless to say I have ignored this "alert".

I just wonder if this might be the:
New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers. 
I suspect that the driver may not have been updated by Mozillla to indicate the latest Firefox version.  You could check for that file name on your installation and check the drivers prperties.

This occurred in the first stage of the scan which is now for outdated apps but you may well be right in a way, I rarely use Firefox with Edge my default and FF is usually updated by the Ninite app but I opened FF to check the version number before writing my post then afterwards ran the smart scan again and this time it found no out of date apps.

[DavidR]

The "new" smart scan has just advised me that the Firefox ver. 116.0.3 on my device is out of date and that a new version 110.0 (which dates back to February 2023) is available! Needless to say I have ignored this "alert".

I just wonder if this might be the:
New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers. 
I suspect that the driver may not have been updated by Mozillla to indicate the latest Firefox version.  You could check for that file name on your installation and check the drivers prperties.

This occurred in the first stage of the scan which is now for outdated apps but you may well be right in a way, I rarely use Firefox with Edge my default and FF is usually updated by the Ninite app but I opened FF to check the version number before writing my post then afterwards ran the smart scan again and this time it found no out of date apps.

I could possibly have been the fact that you aren't using Firefox as your default browser.  So the next time you opened it, that could have triggered the update.

That said, Firefox is my default browser, I just have it notify me when an update is available (which I download it in readiness).  I then when it is convenient to me do I restart Firefox as it has to Restart to apply/implement the update.

[TheOwner]

• Improvement New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers and any issues related to your identity online. Go ahead, give it a try now!

Outdated driver is not issue. Using incorrect driver is issue. Avast Antivirus is already able to detect vulnerable drivers, so this new "feature" has nothing to do with protection.

[DavidR]

• Improvement New Scan Smart detection capabilities - Smart Scan can now check for outdated drivers and any issues related to your identity online. Go ahead, give it a try now!

Outdated driver is not issue. Using incorrect driver is issue. Avast Antivirus is already able to detect vulnerable drivers, so this new "feature" has nothing to do with protection.

Pretty much marries with my comment in Reply #1

I rarely run the Smart Scan (or on-demand scans) outside of some questions in the forums, as it usually results in a recommendation for the Avast paid products.

As you are likely just to get a promotion for the Driver Update product.

[TheOwner]

I rarely run the Smart Scan (or on-demand scans) outside of some questions in the forums, as it usually results in a recommendation for the Avast paid products.

Running smart scan is extremely risky, because any bad click can cause installing unwanted software (bloatware). If you run it, you have to carefully check what you click. So my recommendation is: Never run smart scan, unless you know what you are doing. Run "Full system scan" instead if you need find malware.

In this state is "Smart scan" only used for promoting bloatware or paid software. I see no protection value here or reason to run it.

[DavidR]

I rarely run the Smart Scan (or on-demand scans) outside of some questions in the forums, as it usually results in a recommendation for the Avast paid products.

Running smart scan is extremely risky, because any bad click can cause installing unwanted software (bloatware). If you run it, you have to carefully check what you click. So my recommendation is: Never run smart scan, unless you know what you are doing. Run "Full system scan" instead if you need find malware.

In this state is "Smart scan" only used for promoting bloatware or paid software. I see no protection value here or reason to run it.

Well you would have to make more than one click, starting with resolve followed by clicking to install the trial version at which point you would be getting nags to purchase.
And as I have said more than once in this topic and you quoted it "I rarely run the Smart Scan (or on-demand scans) outside of some questions in the forums, as it usually results in a recommendation for the Avast paid products."

[chris...]

As with the 23.7 update, I still had the problem that I'm not protected after the 23.8 update and reboot.

However, avast services were activated and in "automatic" mode

It came back OK after a repair and/or reboot...I don't really know


On the other hand, some notifications are no longer displayed, as indicated by a user on the following topic:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=324682.0

[wahyushikifujin]

@jan.svodoba
please answer questions is this feature the same as dns traffic scan in the previous version or is it a different feature ?
and is this feature available to all avast users or to paid users only ?

Improvement Enhanced protection for your web browsing - We’ve introduced a new layer of detection with DNS scanning, focused on finding advanced malware in your device.
NEW DNS traffic scan - We’ve improved our detection scan to monitor your network by filtering out malicious domains and patterns early on.

[Nunzio77]

@jan.svodoba
please answer questions is this feature the same as dns traffic scan in the previous version or is it a different feature ?
and is this feature available to all avast users or to paid users only ?

Improvement Enhanced protection for your web browsing - We’ve introduced a new layer of detection with DNS scanning, focused on finding advanced malware in your device.
NEW DNS traffic scan - We’ve improved our detection scan to monitor your network by filtering out malicious domains and patterns early on.

@jan.svodoba news?