AMD64 XP-64bit (x64) virus protection

Avast Business Avast Server Protection
1

Hi all,

Have been running the beta of XP-64 bit build 1218 (aka 2003 x64), and love the operating system, but have been unable to find a realtime AV scanner to suit.

I found your avast 4 server edition trial which I have downloaded and installed (no issues) and appears to be doing the realtime AV scanning etc, but when I did a full scan over my hard drive seems to be scanning every file as ‘unable to scan: internal program error’

Interestingly enough, some of these files are text files that I can guarantee are not in use or locked when avast tries to scan them.

Any ideas why this would be the case - I have read through your forums and found some indication that this is normal with system files etc; but I would not have expected it to be normal with every file on my disk.

BTW, I am running a RAID array as my primary partition.

Also, when I run the ‘avast virus cleaner tool’ it seems to NOT bring up these errors :-\ - just scans my whole drive with no errors.
Is there a difference between performing a full system scan by: (a) clicking on ‘Tasks’ under folders and then using the ‘scan: local disks’ option or,
(b) clicking on ‘File’ then ‘Start avast virus cleaner’??

BTW - option (a) fails on the ‘Disk 0 Master boot record’ if this helps…

Regards,

Michael

2

Hi, yeah, this is an incompatibility with the new DEP feature of XP (Data Execution Prevention).

It will be solved in the next update but in the meantime, it’s possible to turn it off by removing the /NoExecute switch from boot.ini.

Cheers
Vlk

3

Thanks for the information Vlk :slight_smile:

Is there an ETA on the next version of Avast! server?

Is there any plans to support XP-64 (x86) (or whatever it is to be called in 6 months…) in a desktop version of avast! software?

BTW - great signature! (hehehe) - but I would like to see someone disprove the theory…well, maybe not - might be slightly messy :-\

Regards,

Michael

4

Hi there,

Is there any plans to support XP-64 (x86) (or whatever it is to be called in 6 months......) in a desktop version of avast! software?

Actually, it got a bit faster than I initially expected and so I’m glad to say that the tomorrow’s update of avast Home/Pro 4.5 will be fully compatible with Windows XP 64-bit.

Thanks
Vlk

5

Thanks for the info vlk;

this may be a dumb question, but does this mean that I do not have to run the avast server version under Windows 2003 x64 (b. 1218)? (eg avast!@ home/pro)

I wanted to confirm this with you - also, does this mean that I still have to use the /noexecute switch in boot.ini?? Or does the new version of avast handle DEP properly?

Thanks for all you help.

Regards,

Michael :wink:

6

The latest version of Avast home/pro (4.5.536) should work without problems under 2k3, unless you have 2k3 server running, if I’m correct.

7

Terranova, basically YES for the workstation version of the 64-bit Windows, NO for the server version.

That is, if you see the Windows XP logo when it starts, you’re OK. If you see the Windows Server Family logo, you’re toast :slight_smile:

DEP works correctly with the latest versions of avast - i.e. no need to play with the /noexecute switch.

The official version will be most likely released tomorrow (we decided to do this after the weekend because of some technical reasons).

Thanks
Vlk

8

Avast Home/Pro build 4.5.542 is now out and as promised, it should work well on WinXP 64-bit (with the exception of the Boot-time scan which is not supported on this platform).

Thanks
Vlk

9

Why isnt it supported? Is somting you’ll add later or is it a windows limitation?

10

Well, avast! is currently a 32bit program.
While it’s OK to run 32bit programs on WinXP 64-bit platform and most of the functionality is not affected, a few special options may be limited. For example, it seems that the boot-time scanner module cannot be a 32bit program. Similarly, a 32bit program cannot access the real “system32” directory - therefore, scanning of “system32” directory is not possible, and the avast! screen-saver cannot use any screen-savers installed there.