avast! 9.0 BETA now available

Avast Mac Security
1

Please note we have just made avast! 9.0 Beta available for download.
You can find it here:

[s]http://download.ff.avast.com/mac/beta/avast_free_9beta.dmg[/s]

EDIT: Beta 2 is now available. Go to the thread https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=151195.0 to get it

Minimal supported OS X version is 10.6.8.

Notable changes since 8.x:

  • New main UI
  • Preferences has moved from System Preferences into the main application (menu Avast > Preferences)
  • New major versions of browser avast! Online Security plugins bundled.
  • No user registration required.
  • Many structural changes and fixes under the hood for higher stability and performance.
  • Complete support for 64bits. (In version 8.0 the antivirus engine was still running as 32bit for historical reasons.)

Notes:

  • The beta shall update automatically to the final release build as soon as we release it.
  • Remember it is beta. There still may be bugs.

We assume the final version shall be released in few weeks.

Fell free to test and discuss any issues you encounter here on the forum.

2

I like the new GUI, it’s less busy, simpler and minimal, it also unifies the appearance with the Windows version. However the main screen could be a bit more informative, like saying when was the last (successful) update and the virus definition version.

The new GUI also doesn’t make it easy to scan just one particular object , it would be nice to have a context menu entry in Finder.

3

Do we need to uninstall old version or will it overwrite somehow?

4

Uninstall is required.

5

Thanks for the feedback. Please note you can trigger scan if you drag & drop any file on the avast! icon on the dock (even, when the main app. is not running, assuming you have the icon pinned in the dock). But I agree it is not much visible feature and we shall consider how to offer simple scan in a more obvious way.

6

Thanks, I don’t have it pinned down on the dock, I already have it on the menu bar, I would prefer to keep my dock only for the apps I regularly use (not a running ‘service’).

What about dragging to avast window when it’s open? in 7 and 8 there was a small area for doing this, now it could be the full window.

I’ve always thought it was kind of strange that avast! didn’t use the Finder context menu facility for scanning on demand, seems to be such an obvious choice? I know it requires placing a file in /Library/Contextual Menu Items/, but this could be installed/uninstalled from the preferences.

7

Quick question guys. In the previous version of avast for mac I had no problems playing games like WorldofWarcraft(WOW) & ElderScrollsOnline(ESO). But when running the 9.0 beta for the mac it caused me to be unable to play ESO at all. Constantly getting Login Error code 201. Also of note was the announcement section of the login screen that said it was unable to retrieve information. Any ideas guys?

8

Preferences>Web Shield>Advanced>Scan secured connections (untick)

9

This work on Yosemite does anyone know?

10

Yes, it should. It was briefly tested with Yosemite preview 1 and we are not aware of any problems there.

11

I just installed 9.0 Beta on my iMac running 10.9.3. On trying various websites with Firefox 30, including google.com, mail.google.com and even this forum they are flagged as unsafe. any thoughts?

TIA

12

Looks like something went wrong with the import of the “avast! trusted CA” certificate to Firefox.
You can do this manually (Preferences->Advanced->Certificates->View Certificates->Import) by
importing the certificate from “/Library/Application Support/Avast/config/certs/cacert.pem” *

  • Do not import the ucacert.pem certificate!
13

thanks for the info and you were correct. FF is now fine. Safari and Google Chrome seem to work as well.

14

Among other Macs I have a new MacBook AIR which is running 10.10 DP2 and I think I will see how Avast 9 runs on that. thanks again.

15

I think I may know what happened with my original install. When I ran the installer I had FF open so the installer asked me to close it. Rather than clicking the close FF button in the Avast dialog, I just brought FF to the front and quit it. As soon as I did Avast continued with the install. I just installed Avast on my MacBook AIR but I closed FF before I started the installer and the CA was imported into FF properly without me having to do it manually.

Just a thought.

16

Apparently Avast blocks the App Store connection unless you disable Scan secure connections. Of course there is no hint that is what you need to do.

I think there needs to be a better method of allowing exceptions.

edit: I’m not sure what is going on now. If scan secure connections is enabled on my Late 2012 iMac running 10.9.3 I get this error when I choose updates in the App Store app.

The operation couldn’t be completed. (NSURLErrorDomain error -1012.)
On my new MBA running 10.10 I have no problem.
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18

is there more? lol

19

I thought the bold would be obvious enough.
The different OSX versions probably explain the different behaviour (Yosemite would be handling this in a different way).

20

well they obviously have different behaviors and yes, the versions are most likely why. my question was, since no doubt Avast 9.0 beta was developed before Yosemite why does it seem to work better on OSX 10.10 than on OSX 10.9.3 or below.

I was just trying to get Avast to install correctly in OSX 10.9.3 but I’ll use something else.