Cannot revert to Avast free 5.0.677

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I can reinstall v5.0.677 but an attempt to do a database update results in a message saying ‘invalid file’ or something similar for the very large .vpx file (judging from the length of time it took to download it).

There are a lot of problems with v5.1.889. v5.0.677 might have been less advanced but at least it behaved itself. It is very frustrating to be prevented from reverting to that older version. I repent at leisure that I have been so rash as to install the new version. :frowning:

2

It’s not a good idea to downgrade… Anyway, I suggest an installation from the scratch:

  1. Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.
  2. Boot.
  3. Use Avast Uninstall for complete uninstallation.
  4. Boot.
  5. Stay off-line (not connected to Internet)
  6. Install again the old version: http://filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
  7. Boot.
  8. Register avast (insert the registration key).
  9. Uncheck the programs updates (set to manual).
  10. Only then connect to Internet (go on-line).
  11. Check and post the results.
3

Bearing in mind the problems with v5.1.889, it seems a worse idea to upgrade. I am having web download file corruption problems which did not exist with v5.0.677 ( http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=69484.0 ). Having temporarily reverted to v5.0.677, albeit with an out-of-date database, I am satisfied that the problem does not occur with v5.0.677 so infer that v5.1.889 is the cause of the trouble.

Is your method supposed to eliminate the ‘invalid file’ difficulty when downloading the database update?

Avast 5.0.677 was in use for several months. It was solid and reliable. It did not corrupt files. That’s worth a lot.

4

This is happening because of not to clean install. Follow tech instruction and run removal tools in safe mode. Maybe the problem will be solve

5

That’s exactly what I did. I uninstalled Avast 5.0.677, restarted system normally, shut down and restarted in safe mode, ran aswclear5.exe then restarted normally and installed Avast 5.1.889. Works a treat apart from bad downloads and occasional errors with web page rendering.

The problem does not manifest itself with AVG or Avast 5.0.677.

I don’t want to use AVG but I will have no choice if no solution is forthcoming. It’s a heck of an incentive to use free versions of such software.

6

I’m not an expert but did you run CCleaner? You can download CCleaner from http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
Don’t give up 5.1.889 is worth it!