Igor:
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I actually found it a really good feature.
I didn't use it all that often, however -
When news reports (tv, newspaper, etc) were hyping a new virus threat,
I would check to see if the [generic] signature was already in the avast
database.
(I don't remember any other a/v software having this, other than a
search option on their websites.)
Maybe it's just a comfort thing. But I liked it. One vote for resurrecting it.
(Or at least a search option on the website, as aforementioned....)
Wishlist item.