Hello
I 'm currently using the 4.8 free home edition and soon i will need to re-registior with new key.
Although i have been happy using the 4.8 version i just wondered if its now better for me to up-grade with the 5.0 edition.
Do people prefer the newer 5.0 up-date version then the prior 4.8 version.
Your thoughts pls
chees 
5.x is much faster/better and more secure, you should update, if your OS is supported…!
The latest version is 5.0.594… Btw, support for 4.8 will end this year…!
asyn
it is definitely worth it to upgrade… one of the reason could be the SuspBehav and FileInfector advanced heuristics available only with v5
Hi all…
That’s a good point. If you are using Windows 9x/ME, I would continue to use 4.8 until support ends. After that, there are only two AV’s out there that I know of (that offer real-time protection) that still support these OS’s, Solo Antivirus and Protector Plus. I have no idea concerning their ability to detect and/or remove viruses. 
If you do decide to (and can) upgrade to version 5.0, be sure to uninstall the version you have now first with the avast uninstall utility, then install 5.0, (I’m assuming the uninstaller for 5.0 will also work for 4.8, I didn’t find any other uninstaller version.) This might save you some problems.
Regards…
It does…!! 
asyn
I will strongly advise you to stick to Avast 4.8 if you intend to use the boot time scanner.
The boot time scanner in Avast 5 is useless because the automatic action options have been removed.
This means that you need to sit in front of the screen and watch the extremely interesting blue screen for many hours.
Every time Avast detects an infected file, the scanning stops and you are prompted for action.
In Avast 4.8 you just choose “ignore” and the scan runs without interruptions. Afterwards you read the boot scan report
and decide what to do with the infected files.
Avast claims that the Automatic action options were removed because of risk for deleting system files.
The “ignore” option was obviously accidentially removed at the same time.
Avast 4.8 is slowly getting outdated and has problems opening certain newer compressed files.
If the future Avast 5.1 does not have the boot scan “ignore” option, it may be time to look for another antivir program…
A pitty, Avast is after my opinion the Rolls Royce among antivir programs.
You won’t find any other (good) antivirus that has boot time scanning.
The automated options are planned to be back in future versions.