NEW PRE-RELEASE version of avast now available for test [5.0.396]

[cadremis]

Malwarebytes Quick scan is taking forever, 18 mts to complete, I remember with 4.8 just 8 minutes to finish.

I guess more people are experiencing this since I have seen serveral posts here... rm

[SoNic67]

Upgraded from "official" 5.0.377 to this last one 5.0.396 and it works perfectly.

[Chim]

As it took me 3 hours on dial up to re-install 4.8 it would be neat if there was a major announcement as a sticky that all systems had passed muster for the latest edition of 5.0 before I go down that path again !!!
Thanks: Ian Mc

Ian, I too have Dial Up.  You should try doing what I do when I need to download any Applications with a HUGE File Size.  I go to a friend's place who has High Speed Internet.  I download the Apps there and burn them onto a CD.  Then I just take the CD and save the Apps onto my computer.  Then the Setup and Install is FAST.  You can of course also save the Apps onto a Flash Drive instead of onto a CD.

[laconte]

Hi there,

Just wanted to give you a little feedback regarding this test:

OS
Windows XP Pro SP3
Internet Explorer v8
Other security apps:
Comodo Firewall latest version without antivirus
Malawerbytes latest version

I've been using Avast Pro now for 4 years; no problems really, except for the FP's issue at the end of 2009. I was lucky there.
I guess like most Avast customers I anxiously awaited the release of the new version 5.0; when it finally arrived I was amongst those that wanted to rush to upgrade.
I've been fooling around with computer software you see, ever since Commodore 64, so I think I know a thing or two....maybe.
Therefore, before upgrading my Avast Pro v4.8.1368 to Pro AV v 5.0.377 read all I could about the pros and cons. Found a lot of complaints and decided to wait.

"And on the third day..." (Just joking); today I decided, to hell with it...:

Completely uninstalled v4.8 with the Avast removal tool as per instructions and even so, used windows search and regedit to remove any leftovers.
Made a clean Install v5.0.377 but it hung just before finishing and then my computer froze, managed to reboot without shutting down completely and, surprise! found Avast installed and working as it should. Going through the shields just checking the "expert setting" in "system file shield" particularly "actions" which I changed to "ask" as first option, my PC froze again.
Rebooted as before. Everything OK.

Spent most of the day using my PC (work and play) and suddenly a bloody great BSOD.
Rebooted, disabled all shields, went to Avast forums "New Pre-Release version...test (5.0.396) downloaded from link posted by Vik, installed over v5.0.377; everything went perfectly: Install didn't hang, PC never froze, restarted when asked.
I've now been using my computer for over 4 hours and nothing has happened, no hangings, no freezes and above all no BSOD's. Ran different scan options including boot scan, fiddled about with "Process Virtualization" changed a couple of things in "real-time shields" and "settings"; in other words went through the GUI back to front, nothing unusual.

As you may have notice, I have Malawarebyte's installed, and with real-time protection enabled, and I find no apparent conflict whatsoever.

In any case, time will showup any issues if any.

Cheers

[Jack 1000]

5.0.396 should correct the problems that users had with computer freezing after a Boot Time Scan when generally released.

Jack

[Ian Mc1]

Thanks David. Will check back in a couple of months.
Chim: Neat idea. Thanks.
Something well worth keeping in mind.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Yanto.Chiang]

Vlk,

After reinstalled with avast 5.0.396 so far nothing weird happening, but my Yahoo messenger accidentally blocked and need to customize.

[greenhatch]

Why has this thread been unstickied?  
Anyways in view of Alwil assertions that a lot of faults have now been fixed via .393 .394 and .396, I've opted to upgrade to .396 from .377 and re-enabled behavior shield. My problem was a blue screen when streaming videos in IE8 which I cured by disabling behavior shield. I'll report back in a few hours.

[TheRebel]

Why has this thread been unstickied?  

I think because it is released now... I just upgraded to version 5.0.396 through avast UI "Update Program".
And it was successfully updated.

[greenhatch]

Why has this thread been unstickied?  

I think because it is released now... I just upgraded to version 5.0.396 through avast UI "Update Program".
And it was successfully updated.

I did intend to uninstal .377 and reinstal .396 from the official download page; however that still shows the .377 version. So that's why I went the internal update route as I was impatient.

[waking]

Why has this thread been unstickied?

Reread the first message in this thread. It has been updated by vlk.

[Vlk]

I did intend to uninstal .377 and reinstal .396 from the official download page; however that still shows the .377 version.

It takes download.com a while to update the bits.

[Mele20]

This build is unusable on my Windows 7 Ultimate RC. It has a very similar problem to the problem I have with it on Vista Ultimate. I cannot use Avast 5 on either computer in any build.

I have not had Avast 5 on Win 7 until now as I have been beta testing Avira 10 on it but I am very unhappy with the latest beta we got today and I uninstalled it. I have been wanting to see if Avast had the same problem that it has on Vista on a virtual machine so this seemed a good opportunity. On Vista (virtual machine on Microsoft VPC 2007), Avast runs fine until I either open Fx or Opera download tabs to see the list or decide to download something. Then it uses 100% CPU and locks the computer totally and I can't even reset the computer from the Console on the host. It makes Avast unusuable. Earlier betas had the problem but not nearly as severe as in the release version and these Pre-release builds.

On Win 7 (also a virtual machine on VirtualBox),  the installation went fine.  I configured Avast and I then started Opera 1010 and then went to Opera download page. Avast did not use 100% CPU or lock the computer. Great! Then I went to my Downloaded Programs folder with the intention of seeing how Avast reacted to a file there that Avira says is a trojan.  I no more than got that folder open when Avast popped up and said that the new Avira beta released earlier today to us testers is a trojan! I tried to get a screen capture and could not (why can't Avast pop ups be captured)?.  I told Avast to block and then I hit the button to send the file to Avast. I don't know if it sent or not because almost immediately Avast began using 100% CPU and locked the computer so tight that I could not bring up Task Manager from the systray, could not shrink the virtual window to get to the host controls and VirtualBox controls. I ended up with a BSOD that Microsoft thought was caused by a mismatch between the BIOS for virtualbox and my CPU. The actual cause was that I couldn't do anything to gracefully shut down or reset Windows 7 as Avast had it totally frozen and had locked the CPU at 100% and never let up at all.  So, I had to eventually force a shutdown that caused a BSOD.

I booted the machine again and Avast worked fine until I went to my Downloaded Programs folder where I did a right click scan of the Avira file it had alerted on earlier and it said the file was clean but that was the on demand scanner. The real time scanner had alerted initially. The moment the on demand scan of that file was finished Avast AGAIN locked the CPU at 100% and locked the computer.  This is exactly what happens on Vista except there it happens when I access Fx or Opera download tab or try to download something. Slightly different this time though in that Avast let up on it grip on the CPU a tiny bit and I was able to bring up Task Manager and kill the avastsvc.exe process so I avoided another BSOD.

I'm beginning to wonder if the problem could have anything to do with Avast not running nearly as light as Avira and thus hogging the CPU at 100% because I have only been able to give Vista and Win 7 1GB RAM each (cannot run them both at the same time either) as I only have 2GB on the host and cannot add any unless I run XP Pro 64 bit which I don't own.  I have Avast (as I would with any AV) set to scan all files so I'm wondering if Avast is too heavy for these machines unless I change the scan options?  Probably has nothing to do with it as I noticed the problem on earlier beta builds on Vista (didn't have it on Win 7) but it was not severe. It used 100% CPU scanning the download tab in Fx whenever I opened the Download Manager but it let up in a bit and never locked the computer solid until the release version.

I have no other antimalware programs on either Vista or Win 7 and Windows Defender is disable on both.

[Vlk]

Mele, I'm getting somewhat lost. We're moving in circles here.

Do I understand it correctly that the problem only starts happening when avast encounters the Avira file (which it considers a Trojan)? I.e. before that, everything is just fine?

Now, the CPU load may be related to avast moving the Avira file to the Virus Chest. How big is the Avira file?

[thesilentman]

I did intend to uninstal .377 and reinstal .396 from the official download page; however that still shows the .377 version.

It takes download.com a while to update the bits.

Hi VLK,
just a heads up.
download.com is still offering the 377 version. Knowing the problems that version had, you should push download.com to act somewhat faster to offer the newest public release,  for your own sake. The more users download that problematic version, the more users will be disappointed by the product and possibly switch to another.

Greets,
tsm