it was announced that Avast would not long support XP, announcement to be made at the end of June.
Give the apparently large numbers of Avast users who run XP, this seems inadvisable. As I posted elsewhere, XP and Win7 do have have the ongoing problematic behaviors that seen endemic to later Windows versions, new ones with every new version. Of course there are vulnerability issues - I run XP as a virtual machine on my Mac, but still need antivirus because of shared folders. In any case, this move will lose loyal Avast users. Seems like it might be worth it to fix the problem with 18.4 that affects many XP installations (failure of UI to load).
This was mentioned in the forums some considerable time ago, this recent post only confirms this. But a firm date hasn’t yet been decided and or given. However, isn’t likely too far in the future.
I have many programs in daily use that are aside from no longer being developed are highly unlikely to run on win10.
As for the problem you mention about “18.4 that affects many XP installations (failure of UI to load)” I haven’t experienced that problem on my XP or Win10 systems. I have retained an older version of avast on my win7 netbook, Under Powered (Intel Atom N255 1.5GHz dual core CPU), damn small screen (and resolution) and only 2GB of ram.
The big question is Avast cut the all download links of old versions of program.
User, even their customers, cannot find any official way to download their previous version of program from Avast Website.
Moreover, Avast does not realize that are making a bulky and buggy antivirus software these several yrs.
There are caused big big trouble to their users and customers… :‘( :’( :‘( :’( :‘( :’(
Avast hasn’t really made old versions available and this is the way it has been for over 14 years of using avast free. There is no development on old versions, any bugs/issues remain frozen in time with that old version.
Which is why it is wise to download the off-line installation file, should it be necessary you have a fall back position of the last version that worked for you and your OS, etc. Otherwise you are left with the various download sites and even then, some of those are using much smaller the stub installation file (in the order of 6mb) and that downloads the latest version.
works fine, except that installation does use a web connection, and then automatically updates to the latest and problematic 18.4
Here is a “hack” to get around it and end up with a functional version of 18.3:
One must start the installer without a web connection, wait until it stalls, then activate a web connection, wait until its CPU usage drops, then disconnect the web connection and let the installer complete. That results in a functional 18.3 installation, which does not have the UI problem. Then go into settings and adjust so that updates are not automatically installed, then activate the web connection again. Then manually update to the latest virus definitions.
It had to happen sometime. Avast 18.4.2338 is an excellent version to rely on over the next few years. I certainly would not worry. Avast has been outstanding in its continuation of the flow of virus database updates, etc., for older Avast versions for many years.
A lot of us still use XP … I use XP PRO SP3 on my old Dell Dimension 8200 P4 1.8Ghz 2GB RAM machine. It is a fully legit version of XP that is installed. As to Avast discontinuing support of XP, I use only the basics from Avast Free (File Shield, Web Shield, Behavior Shield) … It has the latest stable release on it and is working fine. I would like to know how long we will still be able to auto update virus definitions after support for XP ends. Will the entire Avast Free stop installing on XP or only certain components of it, that a lot of us do not use ? ? ? What about AVG ? ? ? Will that work on XP ? ? ? Or does anyone have a good replacement that does not hog or slow down the computer if it is needed ? ? ?
Or does anyone have a good replacement that does not hog or slow down the computer if it is needed
I think Panda free still supports XP, and there is also ClamWin, this will also run on W98 ;)
With ClamWin you need to install a additional program Clam Sentinel for realtime protection
I have had no big problems running Avast so far on XP SP3 on one of my machines. It wil be a shame but lack of AV on XP may trigger a switch to some form of Linux as the hardware is still serviceable.
I still use legit / genuine XP SP3…Microsoft are still activating this over the telephone. Might interest you to know that Microsoft opened up their servers for XP in May 2017 during the WannaCry ransomware attack - I received all XP updates after previously having none, apart from the patch they released as an exception for this…
Bob,
Not quite sure why you have pointed to older Avast versions when the latest version works fine (for most people) on WinXP. I have never had any big issues doing the Avast free version update from the UI. Just the occasional gremin solved after a couple of re-boots.
Not sure how to distinguish “most” from “many” from forum posts. There are certainly “many” posts on other threads from XP users for whom 18.4 caused real problems (UI not loading) that were not solved by re-booting, un-installing, re-installing or any of the other suggestions (including registry fixes). Who knows why some installations of XP have this issue and some do not. Personally, my version is as up to date and functional as ever, and all versions through 18.3 worked fine. One hopes that the beta 18.5 version will fix all issues. I am waiting to read that an XP user who had the UI issues with 18.4 has found that they go away with 18.5… Bob linked to older versions so that people could use the program (as I have, now back to 18.3) until fixed.
Never had an issue here on XP PRO SP3 … But I always do the update using the Full Offline Installer and then select only what I want installed. (File Shield, Behavior Shield, Web Shield and Rescue Disk) … Everything else is either “pay for” or items I do not really need or want.
I personally haven’t used XP in a very long time. I had these versions available They are available if you want them. If you don’t need them, you can just bypass the offer.
