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

[Firebytes]

Not only will the pop-ups possibly cause alarm amongst many users, but as has been said already, if they are nothing that a user can do anything about and are only informational, then they will be seen as a nuisance.

What I really want to know is this...does the self-defense module need to be disabled while installing new programs? Can it interfere with installations? I would hope it doesn't need to be disabled since the time you are installing new code is probably one of the times when avast has the most need to protect itself.

However, if the self-defense module is recommended to be disabled during installs, then it would be nice to have a right click option on the avast icon in the system tray to disable and to re-enable it. At least then a user could perform the operation as painlessly as possible.

[DavidR]

It shouldn't as the self-defence is for the avast application only, not other programs.

[Sesame]

Not only will the pop-ups possibly cause alarm amongst many users, but as has been said already, if they are nothing that a user can do anything about and are only informational, then they will be seen as a nuisance.

It seems that Alwil team is already thinking how to deal with the notification in "another thread".

What I really want to know is this...does the self-defense module need to be disabled while installing new programs? Can it interfere with installations?

As David said, you don't need to do so.  As you can see it from the notifications, all the files and registries are related with Avast! only.  I thought XPSP3's dynamic overhaul could require  such changes but, according to alanrf's comment above, it's more of the problem of XPSP3 setup.  The same thing is said about the AOL app: They shouldn't require such changes if they were well written.

The issue seems to be about communication.  Self-defense module is properly working except that it scares users with DOS window like black screen in a rather non-human-friendly manner.    I, myself, has no talent of programming and rely heavily on "documentations" when it comes to computers.

[Lisandro]

Mysterious messages yellow&green are appearing from time to time after boot.
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services key is being access blocked to write.
I don't know which application is trying to access, neither there is anything in logs...
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Note: they are not from CurrentControlSet like shown here:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/jahnjahn/AvastMessage.jpg

Besides, they have yellow color.

I've found selfdef.txt log. Which application is trying to access?

Code: [Select]

12/05/2008 15:11:24 Write access to registry key \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\aswMonFlt\Enum denied. [PID 4]
12/05/2008 15:11:24 Write access to registry key \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\aswUpdSv denied. [PID 4]
12/05/2008 15:11:24 Write access to registry key \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\aswUpdSv\Enum denied. [PID 4]
12/05/2008 15:11:24 Write access to registry key \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\avast! Antivirus denied. [PID 4]
12/05/2008 15:11:24 Write access to registry key \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\avast! Antivirus\Enum denied. [PID 4]

[planetf1]

Hi,
 I decided to try the beta update on my Vista Ultimate x64 P820D 3Gb system yesterday. In the last ~24 hours I've probably had 5 or so BSOD, and the systems' only been used for ~6 hours.

 I'll dig out the debugging info, I believe each time was a STOP 0x0000003B SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

 I'm going to de-install, and re-install avast back to the production version, so will see if that resolves the issue.

[Lisandro]

I'll dig out the debugging info, I believe each time was a STOP 0x0000003B SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

Please, go to folder \windows\minidump and send the newest (recent) .mdmp files for analysis.
Better if you can compress (zip) them and add some information about the BSOD and the link for this thread. 
Upload to the any of these anonymous ftp servers:
ftp://ftp.asw.cz/incoming
ftp://www2.asw.cz/incoming

[Vlk]

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

To get v4.8.1195, simply invoke the Program Update feature from within the avast GUI (this will work no matter what version you have already installed).

Thanks
Vlk