I assume I am not the only one that just got a big avast! update. It may be more noticable with my slow modem and ZoneAlarm settings.
I pretty much have to stop everything for nearly an hour and even after that it feels like my computer has been given a good shaking and needs to settle down. So far no problems that I see.
Is there ever any warning when these are about to occur?
do you mean a message if a new program version is available?
with the standard settings the programs just informs you that there is a “big” update available and you have to tell it to download it.
probably you changed the settings to automatically download it?!
to check what are your settings: “rightclick the avast-symbol in the taskbar → settings → update”
yours
onlysomeone
Yeah, I am set for (prompted) auto updates and usually am out of commission for only a few minutes.
It is just the big ones that take me by surprise and may interfere with something important I’ve got going.
I know I can cancel and return and then put off re-booting, but I like to get it done if I can.
Manually invoke program update I suppose…
Well I’m on dial-up and I also participated in the beta trial in the lead up to this release, not converting from beta back to the regular release normally generated a larger download but this one was around 6.5MB and didn’t take very long to download about 20 minutes.
So the incremental/program update shouldn’t take anywhere near what you experienced downloading the full installation file is 26.5MB or thereabouts and that would only take me about 90 minutes. The time it took you just for the update, so there has to be something else going on with your system.
The VPS updates are normally in the KBs and not MBs so that is what you are normally experiencing, but again I find they take seconds rather than minutes even on dial-up.
What is your connection method, dial-up I assume and not a very good connection speed at that ?
This was not even close to being intended as a complaint. I did neglect to preface my post with my standard “Thanks avast!”!! for a great service. After fighting with the Norton crap that came on my computer, I am especially grateful.
I do have a glacial connection to the internet, right now at 31.2 Kbps, have had such for ten years and don’t expect much more in the future. Except for an occasional correspondent with 10 mbs of baby pictures, I am content to do without Youtube and other such things. I am a reader and text materials are really pretty satisfactory.
I just thought a note in the Forum stating that a much larger than normal update was on the way might make for a little better planning. I’ll take it back, if it helps. 
I’m not trying to influence anyone, but dialup has become old technology with the larger downloads of today. I switched to broadband a few years ago, and I will never go back. A 6.5 mb download is about 2 minutes or so. I installed Avast the other day on my daughter’s computer, and at some point a update became available while I was configuring it. I clicked OK and the update was done before I could say how long will it take. BTW I’m impressed with Avast! I’m using a different AV on my own computer that I paid $40 for, and I think Avast is comparable. I hope I didn’t give the Avast boys any ideas.
Yes the program updates are much larger than the VPS (virus signatures) which happen on an almost daily basis. So when you get a Program update notification (they are set to Ask), that is the time to do your planning, don’t click the update now, etc. just let the notification window to close.
- finish what you are doing
- disconnect so you can reconnect (handy if you have any time on-line constraints) when time permits.
- reconnect don’t do anything else and do a manual program update, right click the avast ‘a’ icon, select Updating, Program Update and off it goes.
Fortunately the program updates aren’t that frequent for us dial-up users ;D.
@ twl845
For some switching to broadband isn’t an option due to the location they live in the sticks or even in my case the heart of England but still 9KM of copper cable away from the broadband enabled exchange. When an ISP checks to see if they can supply broadband I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath when they see I’m over 9KM from the exchange.
There are a few people in my area that have broadband and they can get up to 256kbps on a good day but do they get a discount on their up to 8mbps service charge, you bet they don’t and I hate being ripped off paying for a service I can’t get.
So for many it isn’t just that they like twiddling their thumbs but that switching isn’t straight forward or even an option.
It is probably because it is the only thing that will run over the barbed wire telephone hookup they can afford in the outskirts of Arkansas or Tennessee that Jed Clampett installed for them.
I received a popup at lower right hand corner of my laptop yesterday saying a new version of avast is available and I have to choose whether to install it or not. I’m wondering if this is the Big Update you folks were talking about. It did not say it’s an update but rather a new version of avast. Before allowing it to install, I saw the download file name was “VisthUpd.exe” instaed of something with Avast wording in it. That made me kind of nervous and deterred me from allowing it to install. So was that also the file name you folks saw and installed? Thank you.
David,
while the UK and its geography is not exactly comparable to my part of the world, California … the last of my folks on dial up managed to move to broadband a couple of weeks ago. He lives in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada in “You never heard of it” miles outside of “The Back of Beyond”. The installers climbed the mighty redwood tree next to his house (yes, I know they do not grow in the centre of England) they installed a wireless antenna (in English I suspect that might still be aerial) and ran an ethernet cable down the tree and into his house. He now has a wireless connection delivering speeds comparable to the lower levels of broadband here (3MBps down and 768kbs up). We don’t know yet what a Sierra blizzard will do to the connection but are there not in the UK some enterprising outfits that could be offering similar connections to rural communities?
Seems an avast file that makes the update under Vista.
Well there are Mobile networks offering a mobile broadband on 3G networks using a USB dongle plugged into your laptop (I presume there is no issue plugging it into a fixed system). However, also suffers from poor mobile network coverage and even for normal mobile network coverage, where I am I have to be on the right network and this is for lower GPRS quality and 3G is even worse for network coverage.
It is also about twice the cost of standard broadband contracts and is massively capped as far as download bandwidth goes 3GB per month is one of the better deals with punitive charges if you go over that limit.
There are also the same WiFi antenna services you mention, but you need someone prepared to have the antenna and box on their house and a number of people prepared to sign up to it. You have to pay in the region of £1500 for the installation (which could be spread over those using it) and an arm and a leg for the monthly contract. Believe me I have done a lot of research into this.
There is also Satellite broadband services, few and far between and cost a larger arm, leg and your spleen. Not to mention upload is by POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) and the equipment installation costs. There some satellite services that offer satellite in both directions, but that costs the earth, your heart and sole.
I’m still waiting to see how the Wi-Max develops if that would ever be enough to cover large enough areas to encompass those gaps in the existing network services.
I feel that the first might be swallowing hard and accept being ripped off for a low quality broadband over POTS.