V7 Constant BSOD & Slow: Confidence Level Low

[rockywoods]

Due to constant BSOD's, Crashes and Performance slow down on many of my clients Windows 7 computers
after updating to Avast 7.01407, my Confidence Level of this product has gone from Confidence Level HIGH
to Confidence Level Low.  It is sad that Avast put out a product update that has destroyed customers
confidence.  This is the time of the year when many customers are in the middle (including myself) of
doing taxes from hell.  We do not need a poorly tested product update to come out and detour us from our
tax deadlines at this time. I have already reverted back to avast 6 on many computers and have sadly by request
from clients, completely removed Avast from their computers and install another antivirus program.

Avast you need to fix these issues ASAP or you will continue to have customers go bye bye.

Rockywoods

[nine9s]

What kind of problems did you have?

After my Avast 7 update yesterday, my Windows 7 would not start (got to whirly Windows startup screen) then nothing - completely blank/black screen, no sound, no cursor...nothing - it would not even respond to ctrl-alt-del.  I tried rebooting a few times and the same thing happened. I was able to go into safe mode and I decided to uninstall Avast,. After uninstalling Avast 7, I was able to boot into regular windows fine.

See my detailed post about my problem here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=94298.0

Did you or your clients have anything like that happen?  What did you see?

Thanks.

[GillesC]

Same problems of Windows freezing till I disabled most of real time shields. The File System Shield seems the culprit. Even if I turned off also Scripts and Behavior shields.
Open Avast 7 and disable those functions before trying any other task.

[rockywoods]

Hello nine9s,

Yes, two of my clients computers were freezing at the same spot with a black screen and would go no
further.  Hard shutdown, rebooted to safemode and removed Avast 7 fix the issue. Both units were running
w7/64bit home. Other units were just crashing or giving core dumps and BSOD screens.  A few had
just slowed down to a crawl and just experienced performance to a all time low.  All systems were fixed
after hours spent trouble shooting and then just removing Avast 7 completely.  Avast 7 was the common
culprit in all cases.  This version needs to be put back on the drawing board and reworked.

rockywoods

[rockywoods]

Hello GillesC ,

Disabling shields that are there to protect you against viruses is like disabling virus protection.  Might as well
not use Avast since you have decrease your protection.

[igor]

For a BSOD, the corresponding (mini)dump file is needed; it should be created in the C:\Windows\Minidump folder.
So if you have any on the affected systems, please upload them to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming.
Thanks.

[rockywoods]

Ok, will send dump over to you, when I get back on one of my clients computers.  Right now they
are not yelling at me and this is a good thing for now. Peace for a little while
after fixing all those computers.

rockywoods

[nine9s]

Hello nine9s,

Yes, two of my clients computers were freezing at the same spot with a black screen and would go no
further. 

rockywoods

Sorry about all you experiences but glad you confirmed because now I do not have to worry about other stuff and know it is likely Avast 7 problem.  I'll just stick with Microsoft Security Essentials I guess.

[rockywoods]

Hello nine9s,

Yes, two of my clients computers were freezing at the same spot with a black screen and would go no
further. 

rockywoods

Sorry about all you experiences but glad you confirmed because now I do not have to worry about other stuff and know it is likely Avast 7 problem.  I'll just stick with Microsoft Security Essentials I guess.

Hello nine9s,
I would not use MS Essentials. Detects very little. Poor Protection. I would suggest going back to Avast 6 which worked great for me before going to MS Essentials.  I backed out of V7 and went back to V6 on 2 of my clients computers they are working ok now. Just make sure you uncheck autoupdates in the V6 settings.  That way you get antivirus updates only and no update untill Avast rewrites V7 for us.  V6 still protects very well and works good.

Here's version 6 if you choose to go back and use V6 again.
http://www.oldapps.com/avast_antivirus.php


rockywoods

[Temix]

However, there is a problem with a BSOD due to Avast! 7 is almost a new system!

[nine9s]

Hello nine9s,
I would not use MS Essentials. Detects very little. Poor Protection. rockywoods

Reviews of MSE are very good and I have used it before.  You sure?

What about Avira free?   I just downloaded it, uninstalled MSE and trying Avira now.

[rockywoods]

Hello nine9s,
I would not use MS Essentials. Detects very little. Poor Protection. rockywoods

Reviews of MSE are very good and I have used it before.  You sure?

What about Avira free?   I just downloaded it, uninstalled MSE and trying Avira now.

I have read good reviews on Avira on detection rates. I would try Avira or go back to Avast 6 or wait and suffer with Avast 7 and hope they come out with a new build soon.  For me, I have gone back to Avast 6 for now until a new build is out for Avast 7.  I need to do other work and stop spending time on trying to fix Avast 7 on computers.  I'm sure all will be resolved with Avast 7 sooner or later.  But just not right now.  I will install Avast 7 on computers when all is fix or at least most.  It is time for me to move on to other stuff.  Good Luck.

rockywoods

[GillesC]

Problems again with Avast 7 even with all shields off !
There is definitively a problem with that software.
I am downloading Avast 6 and will reinstall it till I find a new antivirus or Avast fix the bug.
I am also considering to ask a refund for my subscription. I am not a beta tester and i use my computer to work, so no time to waste like that.
They dont carry extensive tests before release ? Seems that betas are alphas and finasl are betas for most companies, not only Avast.