The consequence of poor testing

[LorenzoC]

I have updated Avast on my uncle's WinXP machine.
Of course it went wrong, any sort of errors.
My uncle, who is old and not a PC guru would have been stuck with it but I remembered of the uninstall tool provided by Avast.
So with some effort I managed to remove Avast.

Now, do you think somebody who had just "emergency removed" a newly installed software is going to install it back again just to see if this times it works?
I don't think so. That means bye Avast. Maybe nobody cares of it, given the usual "it is free, why do you complain" and the "there are million users anyway".

[Paul Rodgers]

Did you uninstall v6 with the tool before upgrading to v7? That is a recommended way to upgrade instead of an in place upgrade.

[DarkRadience]

Step one
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility

Step two once rebooted
Avast! Free Antivirus 7.0.1407
http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
Run the installer and use the custom install option of you wish, I recommended it always.

I am not sure why people are so quick to give up, when most the time it is user error

[claprood]

Here's version 6
http://www.oldapps.com/avast_antivirus.php

 and read this
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94208.0

good luck

[YoKenny]

I am not sure why people are so quick to give up, when most the time it is user error

Also pebkack.

[LorenzoC]

User error my #@@.
Apparently you people don't get it.

I did nothing but letting Avast update itself.
If it is not "recommended" then why Avast has got the auto-update feature?

It is not about giving up easily, it is about:
- It is not "normal" to get errors after an update. When it happens, you cannot trust the software any more.
- it is not "normal" that a software hangs at boot and refuses to uninstall from control panel. Yes, you can probably fix the issue given that you spend hours on it. Maybe. Maybe next time you can't.
- Once you have worked around the issue, why should you go looking for more installing the same bugged software AGAIN?

Finally, the fact that older versions of Windows aren't fully supported, despite the "optimistic" system requirements, is getting annoying.

[Jack 1000]

I think Avast does a marvelous job of testing!  This is the best AV without question.  The only critique that I have is that that Splash screen after every reboot, trying to update over Avast 6, with the only option to do an uninstall with the Avast utility and than a re-install should have been caught and fixed before general release. (So many people had this bug.)  But at least Avast is working on it, and it should be fixed in the next build.

Jack

[claprood]

Apparently you people don't get it.

I did nothing but letting Avast update itself.
If it is not "recommended" then why Avast has got the auto-update feature?

It is not about giving up easily, it is about:
- It is not "normal" to get errors after an update. When it happens, you cannot trust the software any more.
- it is not "normal" that a software hangs at boot and refuses to uninstall from control panel. Yes, you can probably fix the issue given that you spend hours on it. Maybe. Maybe next time you can't.
- Once you have worked around the issue, why should you go looking for more installing the same bugged software AGAIN?

Finally, the fact that older versions of Windows aren't fully supported, despite the "optimistic" system requirements, is getting annoying.

I get it ..lots of frustrated people this week...My link was for AVAST version 6....re-install it and wait out the storm....
what are the alternatives? their not as good..

[DarkRadience]

User error my #@@.
Apparently you people don't get it.

I did nothing but letting Avast update itself.
If it is not "recommended" then why Avast has got the auto-update feature?

It is recommended for most updated to utilize the auto updated future, but as with most software when making a version change, 5-6 or 6-7, a clean install of the newer version has better results.

It is not about giving up easily, it is about:
- It is not "normal" to get errors after an update. When it happens, you cannot trust the software any more.
- it is not "normal" that a software hangs at boot and refuses to uninstall from control panel. Yes, you can probably fix the issue given that you spend hours on it. Maybe. Maybe next time you can't.
- Once you have worked around the issue, why should you go looking for more installing the same bugged software AGAIN?

So far both the issues seem to be user end error, related to the fact Avast 7 is just released and needs more care when installing, myself have installed it on 30+ computers widely varying in specs and OS's and have not had a single problem.

Finally, the fact that older versions of Windows aren't fully supported, despite the "optimistic" system requirements, is getting annoying.

This is true, Avast should have a legacy version that still gets proper security updates I am not sure why they do not.

[Paul Rodgers]

User error my #@@.
Apparently you people don't get it.

I did nothing but letting Avast update itself.
If it is not "recommended" then why Avast has got the auto-update feature?

It is not about giving up easily, it is about:
- It is not "normal" to get errors after an update. When it happens, you cannot trust the software any more.
- it is not "normal" that a software hangs at boot and refuses to uninstall from control panel. Yes, you can probably fix the issue given that you spend hours on it. Maybe. Maybe next time you can't.
- Once you have worked around the issue, why should you go looking for more installing the same bugged software AGAIN?

Finally, the fact that older versions of Windows aren't fully supported, despite the "optimistic" system requirements, is getting annoying.

I would actually suggest that an auto-update to the new version be removed and instead notify the user that the new version is available.

So why are you still using Windows which has had issues after auto-updates?

Lots of programs do this when something does not install properly. That is why many programs tell you to do a clean install instead of upgrade.

You can use the avast uninstall utility to easily remove it if it has problems and do it within minutes.

Older versions of Windows? Versions over 10 years old that Microsoft is dropping or has dropped support for? You want software companies to write software to support those legacy operating systems when Microsoft does not?

[DarkRadience]

Also to true any thing older then Windows XP is not with support, I myself still work on them but strongly recommend any and all my clients look in to upgrading to a new computer, or in most cases just newer, one that is running XP

[claprood]

I agree lorenzo, a lot are missing your point....Avast should have handled the update better....There are a lot of us who are just computer users..we expect our software to work...If it tells us to update, we do it and assume it will continue to work..We shouldn't be expected to have to learn complicated uninstall and re-install instuctions...I know a lot of people's updates were successfull, and a lot were not...many that were not, did what most people would do, followed directions......Maybe avast didn't have this ready to push out....let's hope they are hearing from the senior members of the forum...

hang in there
lloyd

[LorenzoC]

@lloydc
I could not leave my old uncle with Avast 6 installed waiting for another issue.
There are MANY users out there who either don't even read the error messages or they don't know what to do.
So, since after dealing with the failed update I did not have time to do anything else, he is currently without any antivirus.

@Paul Rodgers
@DarkRadience
You both have a career as comedians.
It is VERY funny to read you two blaming "the user" for this fail.

[DarkRadience]

Sorry yea the point Avast did fail here with the update it should have been more tested and the unstable behavior that many are seeing would have been weeded out.

EDIT: Avast is at over all fault for pushing a update that clearly needed more testing, the problem is still end users, IT workers like myself have not seen any errors or dissatisfaction from Avast 7.

[Paul Rodgers]

@lloydc
I could not leave my old uncle with Avast 6 installed waiting for another issue.
There are MANY users out there who either don't even read the error messages or they don't know what to do.
So, since after dealing with the failed update I did not have time to do anything else, he is currently without any antivirus.

@Paul Rodgers
@DarkRadience
You both have a career as comedians.
It is VERY funny to read you two blaming "the user" for this fail.

Please point out where I have blamed the user. I have told others that it is recommended to perform a clean install instead of an in place upgrade. I have never said it was their fault that they are having problems.

This is not a testing fail, but a procedure fail. In version updates should be done automatically, but new versions should always be clean installed.