** INTRODUCING **: pre-release version of upcoming avast update (now 4.8.1192)

[Vlk]

The update has now been officially released as v4.8.1195. Thanks to everyone who helped testing.

Hi *,

here I'm again. A service update for avast Home/Pro is coming soon (my guess is in about 1-2 weeks) and as usual, it's my pleasure to announce the availability of a pre-release version of this update.

How to install it:

In case you already have avast 4.7/4.8 installed on your system:
1. ^NEW! go to avast settings, and on the Troubleshooting page, disable the avast self-defense module (this is NECESSARY for the update to complete successfully)
2. download and run the following program: LINK REMOVED
3. after it completes, re-enable self-defense module (disabled in step 1.)

That's about all it takes (provided you have a previous version of avast Home/Pro already installed, of course).

If you don't have the previous version installed, or would prefer to do a clean install (which, in some more serious cases, may be necessary), we have also prepared the full installation packages (setup files). These can be downloaded from the following locations:

LINK REMOVED (Home Edition, English version) ~21MB
LINK REMOVED (Professional Edition, English version) ~21MB

LINK REMOVED (Home Edition, all languages) ~59MB
LINK REMOVED (Professional Edition, all languages) ~59MB

If your current installation of avast stopped working (and/or cannot be uninstalled), we recommend the following procedure to install this new build from scratch:
1. boot into Windows Safe Mode
2. use aswClear.exe to remove any existing avast installation (or remaints of it)
3. boot back into normal Windows mode and use the above mentioned setup packages to install the new version


There is a number of fixes in this release. Here's an (incomplete) list:

- solved incompatibility of the avast self protection module and the System Restore feature (Windows XP/Vista)
- solved keyboard/mouse lags in some games (e.g. World of Warcraft)
- "Quick" scan now quick again (in the previous version, it was usually slower than "Normal" scan)
- fixed deleting of infected files in some nested archives
- shell extension: under Windows Vista, shortcut targets are now correctly scanned
- boot-time scanner now correctly displays warning messages about corrupted archives
- improved scanning speed in the Simple user interface
- improved handling of scan exceptions
- self protection: improved detection of changes in the INI file
- start of the "avast! Mail Scanner" service should now be fast again
- fixed a problem with avast being installed in a directory with name containing non-Latin characters
- fixed entering of the license key (didn't work in certain configurations)
- improved detection/healing of MBR rootkits
- avast can now correctly handle the case when the INI file is missing/corrupted
- the "Disable startup rootkit scan" option on the Troubleshooting page now effective (in the previous version, it was ignored)

- messages from Internet Mail (on e-mails being sent/received) should now correctly decode the most common character encodings
- fixed possible boot-time scanner crash at the end of the scan
- fixed problems with the boot-time scanner on FAT[32] partitions
- Standard and Thorough scan in the Simple User Interface should now scan System Volume Information folder again, provided it's started from an Administrator account
- fixed the message announcing the license key going to expire soon
- added support for Azureus Vuze and Qtrax in P2P Shield
- small improvements in some unpackers (WinExec, RAR, CHM)

edit May 7: the program has now been updated to build 4.8.1192.

Any comments on this release are welcome and appreciated!

Thanks
Vlk

[Lisandro]

Title should be 4.8, isn't it?
Also, the user must disable the self-defense module before.

[Vlk]

The necessity to turn off self-defense prior to running aswBeta.exe is clearly stated in my original post.

BTW thanks for the notice about the version number.

[alanrf]

The necessity to turn off self-defense prior to running aswBeta.exe is clearly stated in my original post.

You are quite right but this is a deviation from standard procedure for beta testing and can easily be missed in the rush to get down to the fix list.  May I suggest it would help to make this requirement at least in bold and preferably in color in your post?

[Lisandro]

The necessity to turn off self-defense prior to running aswBeta.exe is clearly stated in my original post.

Too many posts... too few reading carefully. Sorry.

[DavidR]

The necessity to turn off self-defense prior to running aswBeta.exe is clearly stated in my original post.

You are quite right but this is a deviation from standard procedure for beta testing and can easily be missed in the rush to get down to the fix list.  May I suggest it would help to make this requirement at least in bold and preferably in color in your post?

He He, which is exactly what I did but as soon as it happened I knew I had to disable it.

Vlk, if that is an incomplete list you guys at Alwil have ben busy, thanks very much.

[MiguelAngelXP]

Thanks Vlk

And all the developement team for a quick answer, but I would like to download the all install package, I like the clean installations 

Kindly Regards 
MiguelAngelXP

[se2mobile]

Agree with Miguel.

It would be nice if the new beta version could be downloaded as a standalone installer file, because I still could not update through proxy.

Keep a good job, Vlk 

[Solemn]

Great news--looking forward to testing this out!

But before doing so, I was wondering, is this essentially the same as other betas? It pretty much looks like it to me except for the bit of tweaking you have to do for the self-protection feature.  Can we also still normally update to the final release when it's available, or is it slightly different in design?

Other than that, thanks a lot for the hard work on this.

[Vlk]

It would be nice if the new beta version could be downloaded as a standalone installer file, because I still could not update through proxy.

I have updated my original post.

But before doing so, I was wondering, is this essentially the same as other betas? It pretty much looks like it to me except for the bit of tweaking you have to do for the self-protection feature.  Can we also still normally update to the final release when it's available, or is it slightly different in design?

Yes, you will be able to seemlessly update to the official version once it's available.
BTW moving forward, it will always be necessary to temporarily disable the self-defense module before running aswBeta.exe. This is because we don't want to have any backdoors in it, not even for our own tools...


Cheers
Vlk

[alanrf]

BTW moving forward, it will always be necessary to temporarily disable the self-defense module before running aswBeta.exe. This is because we don't want to have any backdoors in it, not even for our own tools...

Not at all unreasonable ... but to follow your recent logic in the aswclear.exe discussion  and given that the vast majority of beta participants will always be existing avast users ... .should not a brand new aswbeta.exe module simply prompt the user by asking:

"Have you remembered to disable the avast self defense module via avast Program settings > Troubleshooting? Y/N"

before proceeding?

[Vlk]

BTW moving forward, it will always be necessary to temporarily disable the self-defense module before running aswBeta.exe. This is because we don't want to have any backdoors in it, not even for our own tools...

Not at all unreasonable ... but to follow your recent logic in the aswclear.exe discussion  and given that the vast majority of beta participants will always be existing avast users ... .should not a brand new aswbeta.exe module simply prompt the user by asking:

"Have you remembered to disable the avast self defense module via avast Program settings > Troubleshooting? Y/N"

before proceeding?

Yes, this is planned. Well, in fact, instead of asking like this, it will detect if self-defense is on, and if it is, instruct the user to disable it.

[alanrf]

Very nice! The professionalism of your team is always several steps ahead. 

 

[Giraffe]

- fixed entering of the license key (didn't work in certain configurations)

- avast can now correctly handle the case when the INI file is missing/corrupted
- the "Disable startup rootkit scan" option on the Troubleshooting page now effective (in the previous version, it was ignored)

Any comments on this release are welcome and appreciated!

Thanks
Vlk

A certain, perverse, happiness here! After all the times that the key wasn't accepted, perhaps it wasn't just me 
Perhaps the .ini file matter was a combination of this needing fixing and my set-up.

Also, thought I was in trouble again re. rootkit scan not holding off, so pleased that I didn't bother to pursue it.

Many thanks for this update.

[Vlk]

So, Giraffe, does this build work on your system? Remember than it's a pre-release build, so we don't actually guarantee that all the issues on the list are really solved.