Avast 7.0.1426 has real problems

[Asyn]

Oh, sorry about that.  I thought it was strange seeing another Asyn on the forum. 

NP SafeSurf.
[OT] It's because I'll try to figure out how many posts a newbie needs, before the captcha request is gone.

[DavidR]

From what I gathered from the past 6 months, if you don't use a brand new Win 7 (or else) installation, or if you previously installed then uninstalled other well known security anti-malware softwares, you will 98% certainly have great problems with AVAST 7, even 6! I mean, I don't have these problems with AVIRA and it runs smoothly, fine and well and I tested on my pc without formatting 4-5 AVs... Come on, stop being blind and do something...!!!

What total rubbish.

I have participated on every avast beta (bar one), pre-release trial and regular program update of avast since I have had the XP Pro system almost 4 years and never once have I had to format my system.

On a very rare occasion have I had to do a clean install as opposed to an in place update (one of the pre-release betas). I have never had a major issue in all of that time, I have some minor issues, but they too have been resolved.

As I have said before "Don't lose sight of the fact that this is a support site." with over 150million active users with multiple system permutations, you are likely to get some who will experience problems. The point is that for those who want help and are seeking it (not just venting), there are people prepared to help.

In almost 8 years participating in the forums I have never seen or found it necessary to recommend that someone format their system just to install an update. So I have absolutely no idea what is going on with your system or why you just felt a format was your only option.

[Pondus]

FREE PRICE!!! That's all about!!! In my case, I didn't have to reinstall Windows to use AVIRA 12 FREE PRICE and it just runs well as a German do!!! No offence, it works and its detection is better and I have not seen a FP to this date. I don't need extra feature! I need the software to protect me 100% EVERYDAY 24 hours!!! Avast just failed that and that is what many fans reported these passed months!

Sorry.....no program can do that

[jjb2012]

I'm a huge Avast fan but there is no need for people to get defensive about this new version. EVERY AV program has had an occasional hiccup - better to acknowledge there _may_ be a problem and wait and see.

I'm a very advanced user and switched to MSE only because I will be returning to Avast after a few more minor releases. I'm reminded of the old advice not to buy a new car in the first model year. LOL

As for the features, I love the new auto sandbox (the new and improved auto sandbox). But I wish it would default to "Ask" rather than automatically sandbox. They are going to lose a lot of folks who just want Avast to work out of the box. I put Avast on newbie computers and set it up so it doesn't bother them. Trust me: the first thing I will do is change it to ask. If they do work in the sandbox and then can't find it . . . They curse me, not Avast!

I'd advise people having problems to switch to MSE for a bit, not because it is great (I use it with Malwarebytes Pro scans nightly), but because uninstalls don't leave a mess to conflict with Avast later. . .

[Dch48]

From what I gathered from the past 6 months, if you don't use a brand new Win 7 (or else) installation, or if you previously installed then uninstalled other well known security anti-malware softwares, you will 98% certainly have great problems with AVAST 7, even 6! I mean, I don't have these problems with AVIRA and it runs smoothly, fine and well and I tested on my pc without formatting 4-5 AVs... Come on, stop being blind and do something...!!!

Total  nonsense. This Win 7 machine is 7 months old now and came with Norton preinstalled. It has no problems whatsoever with the new Avast. The Vista machine also had Norton, then MSE, and finally Avast. No problems there either. The XP laptop has had many different security apps, Norton, Comodo, PCTools, Online Armor, and a few others, installed and uninstalled without a reformat ever involved and also has had no problems whatsoever with any version of Avast.  A 98% certainty of problems? I think not. It's probably more on the order of 2%.

[jjb2012]

If 2% of a carmaker's cars had serous brake problems, there would be a recall. . .

[CraigB]

If 2% of a carmaker's cars had serous brake problems, there would be a recall. . .

Guess what! avast cant kill you unlike a car can unless you have something helpful to contribute to the thread i think you should refrain from posting in it.

[sw3dg]

As for the features, I love the new auto sandbox (the new and improved auto sandbox). But I wish it would default to "Ask" rather than automatically sandbox. They are going to lose a lot of folks who just want Avast to work out of the box. I put Avast on newbie computers and set it up so it doesn't bother them. Trust me: the first thing I will do is change it to ask. If they do work in the sandbox and then can't find it . . . They curse me, not Avast!

  That's one of the biggest obstacles for me as well.  Its behavior of blocking programs that fail its subjective popularity contest by default just means users will migrate away.  People just want their system to work and run the programs -they- launch by default and without getting in the way.  I've also encountered performance and functionality problems with the 7.0.1426 update (on a Win7 64-bit system), long pauses when I'm scrolling through files in File Explorer, various slowed operations, compiling tools running into obstacles/problems, sandbox inteference requiring setting changes, etc, etc.  So I'm also on MSE for now for proper performance, 100% functionality, and no time wasting setting changes.  I don't begrudge Alwil though, I think that's a mistake some make.  These are growing pains that will hopefully be ironed out over time and I'll gladly check in every few months to find out the status on the latest updates and if one checks out to be reliable, doesn't hinder system performance, and doesn't obstruct what I want to do, I'll keep trying Avast.

[Lisandro]

I'll keep trying Avast.

Ok, you're welcome when you come back

[DavidR]

<snip>
As for the features, I love the new auto sandbox (the new and improved auto sandbox). But I wish it would default to "Ask" rather than automatically sandbox. They are going to lose a lot of folks who just want Avast to work out of the box. I put Avast on newbie computers and set it up so it doesn't bother them. Trust me: the first thing I will do is change it to ask. If they do work in the sandbox and then can't find it . . . They curse me, not Avast!
<snip>

Well from avast 7.0.1426 the autosandbox default mode is Ask as it was in avast6. That said there was no problem in using the avastUI, additional protection, autosandbox, settings to change the previous avast7 version autosandbox default Auto to Ask Mode.

[essexboy]

A picture is worth a thousand words

[Quadriflax]

I seem to be having some similar performance issues with avast! since upgrading not too long ago. I ran the uninstall utility in safe mode just now and did a reinstall and it would seem the problems persist. This is the free version. I've been using and upgrading avast! on this machine since at least Nov/Dec 2010, when I got some new hardware and upgraded to Win7. I've been checking the event viewer and the logs on boot, and when I did the reboot after uninstall, there was nothing. But after the reinstall, I get a couple warnings and errors and it actually froze on me for a couple of seconds.

It's weird. I'm not entirely sure I know what's going on, but it would seem that avast! is the culprit. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see if it gets fixed, but may have to switch in MSE or something else if it doesn't go away. I'd hate to change. Avast! was already my replacement for AVG once that went downhill.

[Lisandro]

I seem to be having some similar performance issues with avast! since upgrading not too long ago.

I have two friends, one with Windows 7 and other with Windows XP with very slow performance in their computers. The problem is that I don't know how to help troubleshooting. They have in common avast!, that I've installed for them. It won't be bad to discover what is causing such slowness in some computers. Maybe a performance analysis tool... Can anybody help troubleshooting such cases? Thanks.

[AntiVirusASeT]

actually i would prefer the default to be auto mode for autosandbox. it prevents the user from continuing to run the suspicious programme in the sandbox by terminating it. in ask mode, autosandbox allows suspicious programmes (flagged by Avast) to run indefinitely. the user may think that any changes made for that programme will be saved, thus wasting his efforts when he realise that all is gone when the programme is closed by him or by next system restart.

moreover, it is stated very clear in the autosandbox popups that the suspicious programme was terminated, and options presented clearly to allow user to open the programme normally on next run. i do wonder if any of those users who are complaining about 'where their programmes go to' even read what Avast is telling them. thats a very bad habit i must say...

btw, complete silent security is not gd as it could well hide the source of the problems when it interferes with programmes on the system silently...
few popups is the way of balancing security and accessibility of data on the system. in that note, i think Avast does a vgd job

[DavidR]

Well for the time that it was set on Auto in the early avast7 builds, it probably drew more complaints than it ever did in avast6 with it on Auto. That may have been down to it becoming much more sensitive and people were finding many applications that they had been using for years (and well known ones, MS Word and Excel, etc.) being pinged by the auto sandbox.

So before anything goes to Auto its has to be much more robust so as not to ping all and sundry files.