Avast 4.8 & Windows 98

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi Guys,

can anyone tell me if Avast 4.8 will remain working after it has expired (in about 4 days from now) or that it will lock up?

My problem is that I am running on W98 which I can’t update for several reasons and I have to keep on using this machine for work.

Yes, I realize there won’t be new virus signature updates, but I’m not visiting the so called shady sides of the net, nor do I open any mail from strangers, or even from vague acquaintances for that matter, sooo…

Thnx in advance for any help.

2

You don’t say which version you are using, Hone or Pro ?

You can renew the license/registration, but it is likely that support for avast 4.8 will end at the end of this year.

This was original ending support for 9.x, winME at the end of last year, but since 5.0 didn’t get released until January this year, 4.8 has remained and as such support for win9.x and winME.

3

Hi David,

it’s Home, and yes, I know, support will end soon, my concern is only if the program will lock up or not.

I’ve had that experience before with some other scanners when they expired either due to other versions or some other reason.

But thank you for your reply.

4

It won’t lock up. Most probably, when it happen, you won’t be able to update. But, this is almost the same as a lock up for an antivirus…

5

Tech,

thank you for your answer.

I was keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t since I have had another scanner in the past which locked up the entire system just cuz they actively pulled the plug.

6

avast does not do what the other scanners do… Be happy :slight_smile:

7

I’m sorry to say, Avast 5 is still not satisfactory.

I was helping a friend with a suspected infection on her Vista laptop. We downloaded avast 5 and attempted to install. Two problems :

  1. Despite being a new install, there wasn’t an option to do a boot-time scan, like avast 4.8 does, to “nip those nasties in the bud”.

  2. More importantly, the installation BLUE SCREENS and after reboot, says something like “avast is in an inconsistent state” and is unable to function!

So after two attempts at installing avast 5, we installed an old backup of the avast 4.8 installation package (couldn’t find it here anymore). THIS installed successfully and did offer and perform a boot-time scan.

Since by this time, it was almost 2AM, I left to get some sleep, and am going back tomorrow to install more recent virus definitions for avast 4.8 and re-scan the lot (as the installation package built-in definitions are way out of date, of course).

So, as you can see, avast 4.8 is still needed even for Vista, let alone for W98!

Joe.

8

Since you leave a very important bit of information out is the Vista OS 64bit, if so boot-time scans aren’t available for 64bit OSes. That option will be available in avast 5.1, which shouldn’t be too much longer.

A clean reinstall may have been the best option:

  • Download the latest version of avast, 5.0.677 http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again (if you didn’t save your last download). Use that when you reinstall.

  • Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe find it here and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for both 4.8 and 5.0).

    1. Now uninstall avast! (using add remove programs, if you can’t do that start from the next step), reboot.- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility from safe mode, first for 4.8 if previously installed and then for 5.0, once complete reboot into normal mode.- 3. install the latest version, reboot.
9

100% agree!

10

Hello people!!!
I wonder how long will update the virus definitions for Avast Pro 4.8.
And if possible another antivirus which still has support for Windows 98
Thanks.

11
  1. Will end very soon…!
  2. That will be hard to find…
    asyn
12

people go for windows 7…atleast upgrade it to xp man ???

13

yeah…