avast! 8 released, adds software updater, browser cleanup tool

[Spirit]

Littlebits:There are more fan boys of avast and critics are less.

I have myself installed avast internet security 8 and believe me its more buggier than version 7. I feel slow down in opening apps and boot time increased after installing 8.

Interface remind me of Norton which is somewhat good and all I can say I will wait till it become more friendly

Uninstalled and back with comodo

 

[Akash209]

Littlebits:There are more fan boys of avast and critics are less.

I have myself installed avast internet security 8 and believe me its more buggier than version 7. I feel slow down in opening apps and boot time increased after installing 8.

Interface remind me of Norton which is somewhat good and all I can say I will wait till it become more friendly

Uninstalled and back with comodo

100% right bro.....!

 

[Plexx]

Some users might have reported issues but you can not say for sure this is caused by bugs because the users did not provide any details. There is no telling what other security products these users were using or if they completely uninstall their previous AV correctly.

If have updated three systems with Avast 8 and still haven't experience BSOD. If this was a major problem that applied to most users I'm sure there would be a lot more reports about it in their forums. I only see a few reports and none give any helpful details even when asked by the mods. This kind of looks suspicious if you ask me since none of the regular long time members of their forums are experiencing any of these bugs. I kind of wonder if some of these reports are fake. Since Avast currently has the largest third-party AV market share some users, competitor vendors and fanboys might try it make the latest release look much worse then what it really is. I'm sure some problems exists in the latest release as with any newly released software. But if you look over the reports closely in Avast forum it is obvious that something isn't right with some of them.

Thanks.

I am simply showing some reported issues. If you choose believe or not to believe, it is your choice. Nobody is forcing any opinion on anyone. But at the same time, no one is speculating whether the reports are real or false.

We all know exactly that a software might contain issues that appear on certain systems. Let's look at the Streaming updates issue for example. Random users experienced.

Anyways, as stated before and my personal opinion:

I still believe it was a rushed release.

 

[Gnosis]

I am sure Avast will get it all worked out. That said, catering to the masses is good business, at least until the masses start settling for slower boot times and sluggish performance in the name of security. It HAS TO BE the best of both worlds.

Speaking of Norton, they are the poster boys for that logic. Remember how many PC's had Norton when it was terribly invasive and nearly the worst grayware ever?! I guess they improved a lot around 2009 or 2010, but reflect on the old days and take comfort in knowing that even the masses probably spoke loud and clear and forced a change. Avast will take care of business regardless, pertinent to these grayware issues, no matter how mild or severe the bugs/flaws may be.

 

[samit]

its been a day since I installed Avast Free.....only issue I have right now is some of the windows 8 apps keeps on crashing like IM+ and Accuweather....

 

[bitbizket]

I only installed components which i find neccessary and useful, so can't say about other components.

I had not experience an I/O issue on my side. Memory usage is still low no leak whatever with rundll32.exe upon startup unlike my experience with the beta.

Opening windows explorer is smooth with no intermitent lag much better performance in this area when compared Webroot Secure Anywhere. Opening applications for the first time seems a tad slower but after a few boot its not noticeable. Overalls its feels lighter than having WSA.

Using default setup. Quick Scans speed are average no speed improvement after a subsequent scans. Booting up is about 5 seconds behind Avast 7, a tad slower. Application startup make no big difference when rootkit scan is disable. Shuting down system is fast no interuption from Avast 8 that i can see.

Web Shield cause a slight impact on web browsing, but tolerable. Did not notice any false positives with web page as reported since i'm using it only for a few hours.

However the Sandbox needs a lot of attention. I don't find any significant improvement with the sandbox since i can't get it to work smoothly in my system. Opening Firefox takes forever to load, onced loaded the browser freezed and shows black screen. Onced it get over, browsed froze and lag. Thats it, i'm done. Exit sandbox browser but it won't end the processes, had to terminate it manually via the sandbox.

Had nearly the same issue with the sandbox in the early version 7 when it was released. Took several months before i can get it to work properly. And now Avast 8 seems like an old reminescent of v.7 the real difference are the new interface and Windows 8 support.

Another bug i found is during browsing the sandbox setting and closing would freeze the GUI permanently. Had to force restart AvastUI.exe to unfreeze it.

If i want a sandbox i would rather used Sandboxie which are more matured in developtment.

Others components seems to work okay as they should like in v.7.

The interfaced is leaner and well layout, wish they could add several colour themes to the UI, orange does not blend well with my desktop. They should removed or hide the market tab (as a away of adverstising) for all their Pro and Suite product. It just doesn't feels right if you'te already a paid customer.

I hated security programs that turns into a maintainance suite but Avast latest components - Software Updater and Browser Cleanup is a nice touch. I would love to see something more like adware and toolbar remover added can be useful for the average user. If someone don't like them they can easily opted them out, i don't understand the fuss people complaining about if its small and efficient why not.

I have to a agree with Biozfear that products are rush before they are even ready.

It's understandeble for a small cases of bugs here and there some compatibility issues, but for a final product thats feels like it was still in their beta stage its not certainly a good news. Bitdefender has a bad share of problems going on back to 2011 and Avast has been since v.7 and Kaspersky is going from a acceptibly good program to a resource monster.

What i've noticed from reports from various forums the range or issues are varied from one machine to another. This proberly due either of compatiblity and conflicts, bad installation or left overs from previous security programs. More often nowdays security programs has a bad habit of leaving drivers behind. Others relies on third party uninstaller to uninstall security programs instead on relying on the developer own uninstaller which is not a good idea. Others seems like a genuine bugs which we can see from reports that more than a few had a similar issues.

Windows 7 SP1/Pentium 4/2GB

 

[Ink]

I installed Avast 8 Free under TimeFreeze, so far it was a good experience, but not long enough to test it thoroughly (ie. performance, boot times, bugs or other issues). The Remote Access still catches my eye, but TeamViewer is excellent software (and Portable), else the AV Shield are sufficient. The Software Updater isn't as thorough as Secunia PSI, currently trying the SmallBusiness Beta (which for up to 5 PCs it will remain free after the Beta phase). +1 for Secunia

The other concern I would have if it decides to Auto-Sandbox some software that is used for work-related business. I saw some Auto-Sandbox settings, so I may need to re-check those again.

The Browser Cleanup Tool is a standalone tool, but I've yet to understand the effectiveness of it. Any demonstrations on the net?

Overall the only slight annoyance was the UI felt a little cramp on displaying all the Shields, -Ha- and the other mystery of the non-working Streaming Updates (for me and PC outside this network).

Last thing is I prefer the Dark UI, not seen in the Free version.

 

[Littlebits]

Even though I believe that some of the bug reports on the Avast forums are fake or caused from not completely uninstalling other security software that leave behind boot drivers like Comodo. It is apparent that the current version 8 has resolved bugs. I do agree with Biozfear that Avast rushed this release before getting a lot of things worked out.

I just experienced a new bug that causes WinPatrol to freeze or sometimes crash. Possibility caused by the Behavior Shield or Auto Sandbox.

I'm sure Avast will resolved these issues since they have did a great job in the past.

For those who are not sure whether they should upgrade or not, I would recommend to wait for awhile. If you already upgraded and have experience problems, you can still download older versions of Avast from FileHippo. I believe Avast still supports versions 4.8 to current 8 for updates.

Thanks.

 

[Ink]

Avast 4.8 may only be receive updates until Q1 2013 (AFAIK).

 

[PurpleArmor]

I like that avast 8 includes a software updater. It sort of takes the role of Secunia PSI, though Secunia is more broad in checking for updates such as updates for the OS. Could someone tell me why is avast 4 still supported?

 

[jasonX]

My other partition had BSOD's when I installed AvastFree ver8. Saw that it's not only me whose having this. Went back to version7 yesterday.

 

[Akash209]

Avast 8 Still much BUGS... I Saw them:
1. Some times webshild was not working...
2. some times Doesnot delect some virus
3. some times high CPU uses.. etc.!!!!!
STILL AVAST CANT FIX THESE AFTER AVAST BETA PROGRAMS....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ink]

Avast not detecting a file (as a threat) is NOT a bug.

 

[Plexx]

Had to do a laptop today. Only requirement was some applications + avast! and a legit Office 2007.

I decided to install avast 8 on it after a clean W7 install + all updates + Office 2007.

It ran fine and I timed the boot time via a stop watch: 21 seconds, 18 seconds 18 seconds (3 reboots just in case).

Let it run on stock settings for 2 hours, just normal operations: open IE 9, go to Google, check email, go to MSN, read news. Open Word/Excel, create a document etc.

Did a full scan.
Reboot
Still 18 secs boot up. Upon loading up, BSOD. It was the moment avast! was about to load.

Endless loop of BSOD.

Booted on Safe mode, uninstalled, reboot twice, speed 10secs.

Installed avast 7, boot time 15 secs.
Full scan
Reboot
boot time 15 secs.

Did the same exact test as I done with avast! 8. No BSOD reported.
Set program update to manual, installed the rest of the stuff I was asked to install and placed in the laptop bag to be given tomorrow.

Will just have to tell the owner to wait before attempting to upgrade to v8.