Avast internet security automatically updated without permission.

system · 2014-08-04T22:21:26.000Z

To hallucinogenix: I don’t think I will try v2018; but if I do, i will post the results.

system · 2014-08-04T22:36:40.000Z

Marlo post:74:

To jacemace, hallucinogenix, Hectic4409, Ragesh and JuliquE:

Did you install Avast on a different partition then the Windows system drive (C:)?

Do you have different filesystems on the C drive and the partition where Avast is installed?

No, to both your questions, mate. Sorry to hear of your troubles; you’re not alone, as you can see.

MartinZ post:69:

Hi all,

yes the version 2006,2007 and 2008 were forced to the latest version 2021. These versions are obsolete with minor share and for us it’s difficult to keep them up to date via additional updates. Version 2021 is public for few weeks and so far running well for most of the users. If you still feel that version 2021 is not the right for you then please install the previous version 2018.

Martin

'Preciate the explanation of what happened, if somewhat belated; would have saved a lot of time/hassle, had we known that any efforts to “fix” things would be futile, and you’d think it standard for something like this to be communicated, prior to any action taken (as hallucinogenix pointed out, it could even lead to some systems being unprotected, for a duration). Anyway… this is why I didn’t make my own thread; at first, you notice a similar subject as to what you might want to post (just as you’re always asked to search, before posting, on a “help” forum)… so, you see if there’s anything in there to help you. The matter, here, was still unresolved, when I first posted… so, I thought it helpful to include my own experiences with the same issue, providing a bit of perspective on the matter, in so doing. If it’s discovered that, whilst exhibiting similar symptoms, the cause(s) for this problem is down to a variety of things, unique to each of our own setups, then I don’t think anyone would be against making their own thread; for the regulars here to generically paste a reply instructing the individuals engaged in a discussion on the matter to post their own threads is just silly. When it makes sense to do so, there would be no objections; now that Martin has posted, it should be clear that making individual threads, straight away, in which we dissect our computer’s components and retrace our actions, only to further fiddle with settings and chronicling it all, along the way, would have been WAY premature, and would have only been more of a waste (again… this is why it should be communicated, ahead of time).

Right, well… I don’t think it’s a matter of v2021 not being “right” for us; as I’ve mentioned earlier in the thread: we’d all like to be using the latest stuff, all things equal – it’s a matter of whether or not it’s working, and your wording suggests we’ve a choice, when the whole reason we’re posting here is because we’ve encountered problems. This alludes to my next point.

Missing from your post is any acknowledgement of, either, potential/common causes for the issues listed here as catalysts for us reverting to older versions of Avast, in the first place, and Avast’s intentions to maybe address them (or not) in future versions (i.e. PC freezing with versions later than 2008, webshield issues, etc.), or an admission of your ignorance on the subject, altogether (hard to believe the latter is true, with seemingly so many opting to take a chance using older versions, which is always risky, given the potential for newer malware to exploit it).

At any rate, I reckon that, were there to be a fix coming, you’d have mentioned it… so, I’ll just assume that there isn’t – not sure WHAT we’re supposed to do with v2018, when it was repeatedly reported that any versions past v2008 were causing issues (read: we’re not just rebels, that simply MUST use an older version, just for the sake of it); alas, I’ve already had to make the switch to AVG… but, to be fair, it’s growing on me – my computer starts 12% faster, now, as it reported to me (noticed as much, too). Shame, though, after what must be a decade or so, give or take, using Avast.

D’ah well. Thanks, again.

system · 2014-08-05T01:27:45.000Z

Courtesy Martin (thanks) we know that the forced upgrade behavior is on purpose, as I suspected all along. It makes sense. Now, here we have a number of folks who have said that the latest version isn’t working for them, and that holding back and running an old version is no longer viable.

Fair enough.

There is NOTHING that says all of you have the same problems running the latest software on your systems.

Some folks - I dare say a majority - DO manage to get the latest Avast release to work on their systems. Much as you might not like to hear it, the product is not broken in general; somehow you have specific problems with it. Don’t get me wrong, they may be Avast’s bugs, which manifest in your specific cases because of something that’s special about your systems. Or they may be problems with something in your systems. We don’t know yet.

What we CAN say is that you’re simply not likely to get as much traction with Avast engineering and make progress getting through those specific problems by piling on in a group thread whose subject is something unrelated to the specific problems you’re having running the latest versions. The plot just becomes too diluted with multiple conversations occurring at once.

I can only offer my advice - again - that you each start your own thread (at least one already has, I saw that), where you describe EXACTLY what you’ve done and what goes wrong after you do a clean install of the very latest version. There you can hold the focus on the things that are likely to take you to the successful use of the latest release of Avast.

-Noel

system · 2014-08-05T10:54:09.000Z

@ jacemace

Hi

Regarding the Manual Downloading of definitions, that’s great advice and very much appreciated - YOU STAR !

The only query i have is obviously i’m running v2008 but you suggest downloading 2014 definitions, can you confirm that is correct and they work ok as i’m a little concerned about compatibility, as you say this is around 40mb.

I’m guessing by the size of the download (132mb) that the 2008 definitions download has the crappy 2021 installer included so don’t want to go anywhere near that as it will probably ruin my system again.

Look forward to hearing back from you…

Thanks

system · 2014-08-05T11:32:03.000Z

NoelC post:81:

Some folks - I dare say a majority - DO manage to get the latest Avast release to work on their systems. Much as you might not like to hear it, the product is not broken in general; somehow you have specific problems with it.

No need for hyperbole; no one would be so silly as to think that the MAJORITY of systems can’t run the latest Avast. I suggested that there must be a considerable contingent of us, when so many in this thread, alone, seemed to have specifically been running the same older version (2008).

You state the benefits of individual threads, as though anyone here has ever disagreed with it’s being an effective approach; I simply feel that there’s a time and place for that. Read the thread title: we were trying to figure out what was forcing us to update, and thereby taking away our work-around; should a solution to this forced update not be found, then, of course, we would have two choices: make our own thread, in an effort to figure out what was causing us to have to use the older version, in the first place, or move on from Avast, altogether – going to this step, straight away, however, is premature. We had a discussion, mostly convoluted with people imploring us to make separate threads, and, at the end of the day, it was clear that, had we obliged, we’d have wasted our time, in a vain effort to solve the issue, as taken from the subject/OP.

You can frame this however you like (as a pile-on, or what have you); for me, it seemed clear that we just wanted to share our experiences, first, before digging deeper, if need be. Things took a turn, when a few of the regulars, here, took something of a condescending tone with us, because we weren’t following “protocol.” There might have been some resentment in our posts, but, remember: the people posting here are frustrated. You claim to be wanting to point us in the right direction, and, honestly, it’s appreciated… however, if, once you’ve lent your advice, it’s not heeded, there’s no need for you or others to repeatedly pop-up, in here, with the same narrative, as before. Maybe we’re venting, a bit – clearly the thread served it’s purpose, as evidenced by Martin’s post. Who are you to tell us (constantly), “you’re succeeding wrong?”

Anyway… I won’t be back. Sincerely appreciate everyone of whom had only good intentions, even if I disagree with how some chose to go about it.

Cheers.

system · 2014-08-05T12:56:37.000Z

@ JuliquE

Ouch : - couldn’t agree more with what you have to say though, this subject appears to have turned into a thread about how our forum etiquette isn’t up to the more regular users liking and instead of focusing on what they can do to help us with potential solutions they are basically skirting around or avoiding giving any advice whatsoever, cause they don’t have a clue what is wrong, or know that the re-written webshield is to blame but the investment in it is to far gone for them to do or change anything about it.

I would love to hear your opinions of AVG even though you say you won’t be back - I’m reluctant to swap as i’ve been a user of avast for about 8 years, but am being forced to find an alternative.

bob3160 · 2014-08-05T13:43:56.000Z

hallucinogenix post:84:

@ JuliquE

Ouch <$1alt=“” title=“” onresizestart=“return false;” id=“smiley__$2” style=“padding: 0 3px 0 3px;” /> - couldn’t agree more with what you have to say though, this subject appears to have turned into a thread about how our forum etiquette isn’t up to the more regular users liking and instead of focusing on what they can do to help us with potential solutions they are basically skirting around or avoiding giving any advice whatsoever, cause they don’t have a clue what is wrong, or know that the re-written webshield is to blame but the investment in it is to far gone for them to do or change anything about it.

I would love to hear your opinions of AVG even though you say you won’t be back - I’m reluctant to swap as i’ve been a user of avast for about 8 years, but am being forced to find an alternative.

If you want to discuss AVG, may I suggest you do it on their support forum. It’s also the place to get help if you have a problem with their program.
http://forums.avg.com/us-en/avg-forums?sec=theme&act=show&id=288
Considering that avast! has almost 220 Million users, I consider 3 or 4 reporting a problem with a part of the program anything but a problem with the program but, a conflict that needs to be solved for the few users that appear to have this problem.

essexboy · 2014-08-05T13:49:29.000Z

Don’t expect much help on the AVG forum

Please see top of this webpage. You may not have noticed but this forum has now been virtually closed down to become 'read only'. Perhaps you may wish to now post @ 'AVG Community' http://www.avg.com/support (Scroll Down). [Search & Post in 'Windows Products']

system · 2014-08-05T14:04:20.000Z

@ bob3160

…and may i suggest you mind your own business, unless you have a solution to our ongoing issues >:(

Or are you just trying to compound JuliquE observations - Please try to keep on topic !

Thanks very much

bob3160 · 2014-08-05T14:31:49.000Z

hallucinogenix post:87:

@ bob3160

…and may i suggest you mind your own business, unless you have a solution to our ongoing issues <$1alt=“” title=“” onresizestart=“return false;” id=“smiley__$2” style=“padding: 0 3px 0 3px;” />

Or are you just trying to compound JuliquE observations - Please try to keep on topic !

Thanks very much

Since there isn’t any substantive information posted, there isn’t any way to solve your ‘problem’.
This also isn’t a private chat. Let’s try to solve the problem instead of getting every ones dander up.

system · 2014-08-05T14:49:22.000Z

@ bob3160

I totally agree and apologise for being slightly acerbic but i only respond in kind, i’m just getting very frustrated with the lack of any genuine help.

I have been asked to make my own thread which i have done with all the details requested and now i’ve been asked to make a ticket, all of us are basically being given the run around, and feel if you don’t have anything positive to add to our issues then please keep quiet.

All we want is suggestions to help us resolve this not advice to make another thread, create a ticket etc etc.

At the moment the users who are having this issue are creating a workaround to get us by, can you contribute towards this ?

Thank you

bob3160 · 2014-08-05T15:46:30.000Z

You where asked to create a ticket because that goes directly to Avast and answers will then come from Avast.
On the forum you may or may not get a reply from Avast.
I can’t contribute since I don’t have or have ever had the problem you’re describing.
I also run Windows 8.1 with the update and don’t have your problem.

Eddy · 2014-08-05T16:08:22.000Z

And there he goes again:

http://www.animateit.net/data/media/june2010/horse10.gif

system · 2014-08-05T17:31:41.000Z

hallucinogenix post:84:

I would love to hear your opinions of AVG even though you say you won’t be back - I’m reluctant to swap as i’ve been a user of avast for about 8 years, but am being forced to find an alternative.

I guess I was always going to have a gander at any possible replies, just in case there was anything worth coming back to.

AVG, for me, has always been sitting in the reserve; I mentioned, earlier in the thread, that for about a decade, now, give or take, I’ve been using Avast. Were it possible for me to use Avast, sans hassle, I must say I would do… however, AVG enjoys a great reputation (preferred by many, as well).

Interface seems easy to use; they have an up-sell portion of it, that you can hide, with a single click. Seems to automatically employ some basic level PC optimization, which has seen my start-up time 12% faster (reports this to you, just the once). It’s free version doesn’t have a shield for downloads, like that for Avast, but, it was seldom noticed, to be fair (I could maybe count on my hands how many precautionary messages I’ve received for any downloads, over the years). Otherwise, it offers a fairly comprehensive Webshield.

Just a couple days in, but, so far, so good. If/when I get a new system, I’ll likely return to Avast (worth noting that this problem persisted, even after a fresh reformatting)… but, until then, I really couldn’t be arsed to get to the bottom of what’s causing the issue (may be naive, on my part… but, I suppose I am so entitled).

CraigB · 2014-08-05T17:36:33.000Z

As already mentioned earlier please move your discussions about AVG to PM or email, this is the avast forum… not AVG :

Vlk · 2014-08-05T18:06:41.000Z

Hi guys,

The older builds of Avast 2014 are not supported anymore as the new VPS requires the latest versions (R3 or R4 builds) which means that any attempt to update the virus definitions from those old builds will automatically force update of the program as well.

Sorry if this is disappointing but we really can’t support the myriad of historical builds.
If you have any issues with the latest build, let’s focus on fixing those.

Thanks
Vlk

system · 2014-08-06T02:45:25.000Z

Vlk post:94:

…
If you have any issues with the latest build, let’s focus on fixing those.

Thanks
Vlk

Well that’s going to be a little hard to do if users are forced to uninstall Avast and install another working antivirus. In my case, that’s what I had to do because after the 2014.9.0.2021 update, my computer loses internet connection and freezes after about 20 minutes, forcing me to reset only for it to happen again. I had the same problem with the December 2013 and January 2014 updates but I was able to rollback to a November 2013 version which I used until I was forced to update to 2014.9.0.2008 – which surprisingly was stable on my system. But with this current forced update, my only solution was to uninstall Avast and install a different antivirus.

P.S. I turned off the Web Shield and that didn’t solve the problem. I completely uninstalled Avast, using the uninstaller, and then re-installed it. I did it twice and that didn’t help, either.

=========
OS: Windows 7 (64-bit) Home Premium

Lisandro · 2014-08-06T03:02:44.000Z

creeper2k post:95:

Well that’s going to be a little hard to do if users are forced to uninstall Avast and install another working antivirus.

Forced?

creeper2k post:95:

In my case, that’s what I had to do because after the 2014.9.0.2021 update, my computer loses internet connection and freezes after about 20 minutes, forcing me to reset only for it to happen again. I had the same problem with the December 2013 and January 2014 updates but I was able to rollback to a November 2013 version which I used until I was forced to update to 2014.9.0.2008 – which surprisingly was stable on my system. But with this current forced update, my only solution was to uninstall Avast and install a different antivirus.

If you make a clean installation (from scratch and using the avast! tool to uninistall) of the latest version (and have no incompatibility software), I see not a reason for avast! not work smoothly.

system · 2014-08-06T05:25:41.000Z

To hallucinogenix: I think Vlk answered your question - it looks like that if you use the offline vps definitions update from Avast, that your program version will update - I didn’t know that; but for all intents and purposes, I would actually give it a try - now don’t hold that against me - it’s not a recommendation, it’s just something I would do, and I tend to try everything and anything to get something to work - so personally, that is what I would do, try the offline update, and see if just the vps definitions update; and hopefully the program version doesn’t update. If it does, have a copy of version 9.0.2008 ready, and reinstall that version - and continue to block the program update with your firewall, and unfortunately you will also have the outdated definitions. That being said, as I posted in my original post I suspect the culprit, which I am guessing is sent over the Avast servers, is a service called emhwid from Avast. My program ProcessHacker noticed it and notified me of it in an info pop-up bubble from the taskbar. The thing is, I think the Avast servers send it, it updates the program version, and then it is deleted by the servers I guess. Which seams kind of sneaky. I have searched for emhwid on my computer, and it is not there. Maybe you could block the service emhwid with your firewall, or a HIPS. And the vps definitions could update, but not the program version - although this seems difficult, and probably technically not possible. PS, I think emhwid means emergency hardware identification - or something to the effect, that Avast created to update program versions they consider obsolete and abandoned.

system · 2014-08-06T06:43:09.000Z

CraigB post:93:

As already mentioned earlier please move your discussions about AVG to PM or email, this is the avast forum… not AVG :

Surely, Avast wouldn’t begrudge a couple disgruntled users, of whom are reluctantly contemplating a switch to another anti-virus software, with hopes of returning, in future, for discussing possible alternatives. Were we to have been plastering this rhetoric all over the boards, then you would have a case. Our last couple posts, after trying as much as our nerves would allow us to fix Avast, is hardly something for you to, AGAIN, return to this thread. Why are you here, mate – seriously?!

Having happily used their services for a decade or so, give or take, I’d like to think that they would be grateful that, all things considered, I leave them relatively pleased with their work, and with an eye on returning.

I’m not too concerned about some random forum spammer, to be honest.

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