New release of avast Home/Pro [4.8.1290]

[Bluesman]

Yeah.... don't even ask.

Why god, WHY?

Just kidding, updated here now, everything is working just fine!

[N@URINE]

luckily I've already had a look at this topic, I updated Avast three days ago or so to 4.8.1282. and I'll upgrade it now to 4.8.1290 to try the newest release 

[Vlk]

Yeah, the 1287 build (which was online for just a couple of hours, really) contained a stupid bug in one of the program modules (ashTask.dll). That's why 1290 was released asap.

Cheers, and sorry for this
Vlk

[TheSpirit]

Thanks a lot for the clarifications, guys.

So Avast doesn't load new modules until reboot? Other security products like Antivir and a-squared seem to be able to load updates on the fly. One may not be able to restart a computer for a long time, so urgent updates will just have to wait?

[lukor]

Updates are several times a year, 4 - 5 times. I don't know of any program, Antivir or other that is able to UNLOAD tdi filter driver, once loaded.

[dallas7]

Speaking of updates, what exactly does Program "Ask me when update is available" do under avast! Settings "Update (Basic)"?

I don't remember what version of avast! I started out with, but I've never gotten any kind of alert when a new version was made available - and there's been at least four I can remember.

The only time I'm made aware of an new version is when I read about it here.  Not a problem, tho.  I'm never the first to update - I prefer others to test for me. And then, checking into forum.avast.com is always a highlight in anyone's day! 

Is there a pop up, a systray icon change or what?

Thank you.

[YoKenny]

I was notified about the update and it is running now.

[rdmaloyjr]

I don't remember what version of avast! I started out with, but I've never gotten any kind of alert when a new version was made available - and there's been at least four I can remember.

The only time I'm made aware of an new version is when I read about it here.  Not a problem, tho.  I'm never the first to update - I prefer others to test for me. And then, checking into forum.avast.com is always a highlight in anyone's day! 

Is there a pop up, a systray icon change or what?

Thank you.

There is a green pop up, similar to the blue virus database update pop up, that alerts us to a new version of avast!.

[dallas7]

There is a green pop, up similar to the blue definition update pop up, that alerts us to a new version of avast!.

I have the "Virus database" set to Automatic and I do get a blue pop up informing that the database has been updated and then it closes within a few seconds.  I only know this because of the few times I was at the computer while it happened - which is OK as I know that's how automatic should work.  I would imagine the same behavior for the Automatic setting for "Program."

For the "Ask" setting I would expect a pop up that remained until acted upon by the user, perhaps with a Yes/No.  Correct?

I'm going to set the Virus database to Ask and observe its behavior to get an idea of the developers' concept of "Ask."

[DavidR]

It is not so much an Ask, but a notification that an update is available, click on the box to update now.

Otherwise if your busy let it close and do the update when you aren't busy.

[Confused Computer User]

The auto update (for the program and virus database) should work. I'll admit that for me it did not work since my last update a while back (build 4.1229 I think). However that is because I selected the option of constant internet connection even if I am not constantly connected to the net. Despite having DSL I have an upload/download limit of 1 Gb. So I turn of my internet unless I am using it.

Pretty much, what DavidR said is true.

[TheSpirit]

Updates are several times a year, 4 - 5 times. I don't know of any program, Antivir or other that is able to UNLOAD tdi filter driver, once loaded.

Thanks lukor,
I'm glad that your update frequency is less than 2 per day 

Does this mean that a new offline installer is available when the online update is released, like Firefox updates?

I don't know much about the internals of online updates of security software. I hate online updates and prefer to download the installer and install the new software version on top of the old one.

[lukor]

Updates are several times a year, 4 - 5 times. I don't know of any program, Antivir or other that is able to UNLOAD tdi filter driver, once loaded.

Thanks lukor,
I'm glad that your update frequency is less than 2 per day 

Does this mean that a new offline installer is available when the online update is released, like Firefox updates?

I don't know much about the internals of online updates of security software. I hate online updates and prefer to download the installer and install the new software version on top of the old one.

Yes, exactly, when the update is available online it is also available as a download package that includes the latest VPS (virus database) version. Virus Database is of course update more frequently  like once or twice a day, and also includes algorithmic detections, that can vastly improve the detection beyond normal signature updates - and thus your installation evolves even betwen updates, but no restarts are needed. You can always turn of automatic updates for program or change it to notify only, and update whenever you choose to.

[alanrf]

While the above information covers almost all of the update cases ... in the best interests of not misleading avast users ... I add:

There will be times (certainly infrequent - but have existed in recent memory and may occur again) where the avast team will force program updates when it is necessary to provide support of newer features in the avast product.   

[TheSpirit]

Thanks again lukor. So far, Avast seems to be exactly what I was looking for. And a very responsive forum, too.