How many dead Vista bodies before Avast acknowledge a problem?

[NoelDP]

As a regular contributor to the MS WGA forums, I have repeatedly had to tell people running Vista to uninstall Avast v6, as it causes Kernel and Mod-Auth Tampers which break validation in Vista.

Avast has so far neither acknowledged the problem, nor stated that they can even see it.

Might I suggest that a couple of developers hang around the Vista WGA forum for a few days, and see the list of bodies that has already appeared, and the ones that keep on appearing?

http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?q=avast%20meta:Search.MSForums.ForumID(d51bb8e3-3494-406c-af07-4770223ea96f)%20site:microsoft.com&mkt=en-gb

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/genuinevista/threads

[Asyn]

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=80315.0

- improved compatibility with Windows Vista SP0/SP1

Edit: Btw, installing SP2 for Vista should also fix this.

[Hermite15]

... still weird that such an issue happened in the first place, I didn't know that at all. Actually when I read the changelog bit about Vista, I was really wondering what it was about.

 In fact I've seen it happen a couple of times here on Seven. But Seven has got the WAT update (that doesn't just verify, but repairs if necessary) so it's never been a problem... issue was already gone after login in.

 Happened not that long ago, but I can't remember if there was suspicion of any Avast interference (ie after a boot scan, an uninstall/re-install etc...).

[NoelDP]

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=80315.0

- improved compatibility with Windows Vista SP0/SP1

Edit: Btw, installing SP2 for Vista should also fix this.

I only wish that was true - Certainly a simple update doesn't fix it. Avast must first be uninstalled, then SP2 installed, and then Avast reinstalled - and if the user is VERY lucky, it'll work.

AV software should NOT be a crapshoot!!

[Asyn]

AV software should NOT be a crapshoot!!

As said, that has been fixed already...!!

Free AV: http://files.avast.com/files/beta/6.0.1198/setup_av_free.exe
Pro AV: http://files.avast.com/files/beta/6.0.1198/setup_av_pro.exe
IS: http://files.avast.com/files/beta/6.0.1198/setup_ais.exe

[NoelDP]

... still weird that such an issue happened in the first place, I didn't know that at all. Actually when I read the changelog bit about Vista, I was really wondering what it was about.

What makes it worse is that there was a similar (though not identical) problem when v4.5 (IIRC) came out - and at that time I again was having to advise people to uninstall Avast.
...again, it took months before a 'fix' was put in the system.

FWIW, this issue was also reported in these forums back in April(?)

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=77625.0

The poster then (who I'd referred here) later told me that Avast 'could not repro' the problem. All they had to do was show up in the WGA forums and ask questions of anyone affecte there - but no. SILENCE and the appearance of the ostrich.

I'm fed up with telling people to uninstall what I consider to be one of the better AV's because of what should be fairly simple problems, that they have now twice failed to solve in acceptable periods of time.
 

[Vladimyr]

Hi NoelDP
I had no idea the problem was widespread. I didn't pay too much attention to that post in
"April(?)" (May 8 ) because I don't know of anyone running earlier-than-SP2 Vista.

[Asyn]

I'm fed up with telling people to uninstall what I consider to be one of the better AV's because of what should be fairly simple problems, that they have now twice failed to solve in acceptable periods of time.

So just stop telling people to uninstall. Tell them to update.

[Hermite15]

yeah but that's a beta, not supposed to be widely adopted right now + vlk didn't explicitly precise that the fix was for Windows activation issues (although that's very probable).

[Asyn]

yeah but that's a beta, not supposed to be widely adopted right now + vlk didn't explicitly precise that the fix was for Windows activation issues (although that's very probable).

Well, the beta is stable.
But if they shouldn't like to install the beta, they should wait for the final release...

[Cast]

I find this thread funny since the OP said that Avast isn't compatible yet ive used avast since it was out in 4.8 on this Vista machine.

[DavidCo]

@Castayr
 
There are millions? of Vista users without issues but that does not lessen the impact for those who do have problems.
I used Eset for a long time but switched due to an issue with Vista that a few had.

[Dch48]

No problem here on Vista Home Basic SP2 but I will say that Avast was installed well after the SP2 update.

[Vlk]

Yes, the new version (which will be officially released soon, and is currently available as a beta) is supposed to fix that problem.

Vista is very sensitive about injections to its "antipiracy" process (slsvc.exe). You touch the process, and it starts yelling. Obviously, MS has re-architected that in W7 though.


If anyone having the issue could actually test the beta and report back if the problem is really solved, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Vlk

[ady4um]

If anyone having the issue could actually test the beta and report back if the problem is really solved, it would be greatly appreciated.

The proposal of the OP was exactly the opposite: Avast Team could/should participate at those MS forums to "publish" the new beta, minimize the impact of those "uninstall Avast completely and forget about it" suggestions, and finally Avast could have some more testers about the issue.

Since the issue is actually a crashed system, I don't think that users are waiting for the stable release. They either accept using a beta (if they actually know that the issue may be resolved), or they change to a different tool.

Avast should had released a new stable with at least this issue resolved (and any already solved critical problems), if not for the users of Vista "pre SP2", for the bad PR. All the "extra" (read, non-critical improvements) could have wait in the beta step. Just my opinion.