This is my first post on this forum, and unfortunately it is a problem that I hope people here may be able to help me with.
I have been using Avast 4 for a long time now (About 2 years) since certain other programs which will remain un-named were not making the grade, I have never had any problems with Avast 4. Now, my license is about to expire and I have to upgrade to Avast 5, some time ago I set my mother up with Avast 5 and if I am honest, I do not like it, I find the whole thing bloated and it uses a lot more CPU time than the old one, crippling the system somewhat, it also does not detect viruses as well as previous software and seems quite happy to leave a sample of Win32:Virut alone. But I am straying from the topic, the point is I don’t like Avast 5 anyway, but for some reason I am unable to upgrade as it seems to think I am using Windows 2003 (Presumably because I am on a domain?) and no matter what I do, it will not install, I use Windows XP SP3 (32-Bit) in case you wanted to know that, there is another problem as well, I had to re-format one of my Windows 98SE systems recently due to problems with the drive partition, this had the Avast 4 for Windows 98 installer on which was among the files I could not recover, Avast no longer offer download of this installer so my Windows 98SE system has no antivirus at present, why can you not offer a download with no support? It works for other companies.
So, this is my issue, I hope somebody can help, ideally I would be able to carry on using Avast4! but if this is not possible and you can find a way of getting Avast5 on my system, then I will give it a try, but if it is too heavy on resources (My computer is very powerful so it would take a lot to slow it down) I will be left with no choice but to switch to ClamWin (Which I have to use on the server due to there apparently licensing/compaitbility issues with avast) and I would rather not as it is inferior.
One last thing, the alerts that pop up right now every half hour, interrupting and crashing active programs are bordering “Scare-Ware” which is illegal in my country.
Version 4.8 has little time of life… The support (updates) will end. Unlogical effort and blocking new features are the reasons.
Version 5 couldn’t be worse than 4.8, neither in detection nor in performance. It only works for Windows 2k and higher, not for Windows 9x.
PC versions 4.8 or 5 won’t work in server operational systems.
avast does not have scare-ware as it is NOT trying to sell the paid version. Only upgrade from free to free.
Uninstall avast from Control Panel (if possible). If, for any reason, you can’t run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after that.
Run the avast! Uninstall Utility saved on 1. If, for any reason, you can’t run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after you’ve run it.
Install avast! using the setup saved on 2. Boot.
Register your free copy or add the license key for Pro.
Check and post the results. If, for any reason, you did not solve, try doing the step 3 in Safe Mode anyway.
Thanks for the help, I have tried what you said, but the error remains regardless of wether I am in safe mode or not, I have a screen capture of the error box and log file if you want those for some reason.
I beg to differ about it’s ability, I threw various samples at Avast 4.8 on my system and Avast 5 on my mother’s system and Avast 5 did not detect several wheras Avast 4 only missed one, and that was Cascade, which isn’t a real threat today to most people, being a programmer for 5 years I also know for a fact that a program using around twice as much memory and CPU time has worse performance than one that doesn’t.
I also argue differently about the scareware as Avast 5 setup is basically implying that I should buy an expensive version of the software when I could use Avast 4 for less.
Finally, I now have no Antivirus after following your instructions as I do not have the Avast 4 installer and Avast 5 will not install despite me following your instructions. I am considering filing a complaint with the authors of Avast, as my computer is currently protected by ClamWin and the performance is awful and Clam Sentinel is not very effective.
Technically and in fact the detection rate increased a lot since version 5.
avast is not implying anything. It’s version 4.8 free for version 5.1 free.
Or the setup file is corrupt.
Or other antivirus bad uninstalled (remains) are affecting.
Or other security program is interfering.
Or you do not meet the minimum requirements to install avast.
Who says the detection rate increased? Maybe it has, but I can only speak from my experiences, in which case it did not. Maybe it is not directly implying anything… oh, except that it says “This edition of avast! cannot be installed on Windows Server.” which would mean I have to fork out for a server edition, despite me using Windows XP, surely they took into account that some people would have domains set up, as I assume this is what causes the installer to halt. Also, when did I say I was using Free Edition?
Possible corruption came into my mind, so I downloaded again and it made no difference, I even tried downloading from other locations, but with no luck, the same thing happens, though occasionally the error message differs.
I’m quite certain that the old installation has been removed, no files are left and I checked the registry.
I have no other security programs (though I have now installed ClamWin temporarily, this was not installed when I attempted to set up Avast 5)
Though it may be getting old, my computer more than meets the minimum requirements for Avast 5;
Pentium D 920 2.80Ghz
4Gb DDR2 667Mhz
Windows XP Service Pack 3 32-Bit
More than enough disk space
Sorry if I am coming accross a little harsh here, but I have not had a good day and now my computer has nothing but ClamWin to protect it from malware which is not very re-assuring. I won’t deny I expected this install would go wrong as it was clear when I used Avast 5 on other people’s systems that the standard of coding had dropped considerably, but all the same, this whole situation could be remedied if A. The Installer was not programmed incorrectly, and B. Avast 4 was still offered for download as there is no reason it would not work as the database updates do not appear to be incompatible.
The VPS for 4.8 and 5.1 are different and that is another reason that 4.8 will soon be gone.
In fact, it was scheduled to end almost 2 months ago.
But, Avast has been kind enough to let 4.8 live a little longer so those users who did not start the upgrade almost a year ago when 5.0 was released would have a last chance to upgrade.
You will not find many other AV companies (if any at all) who will do that for the customers.