How long can we use the v4.8 of avast!Home after the 5.0 released?
My mother’s computer is using avast!Home 4.8.
It’s a hard work for her to install a computer software.I have to stay at another city more than half a year,so that I can’t help her update the v4.8 into v5.0 ( or install the v5.0 )when the v5.0 released this October.
So I want to know how long can my mother use the v4.8 of avast!Home and how long will be the virus database of v4.8 provided after the 5.0 released ?
My English is not very good,I don’t know weather I express myself exactly.
From what this thread says, having just taken ON Avast 4 Home ON a Windows 98SE computer , do I understand that, from next year Avast4Home is withdrawn ; I suppose fore-warned is fore-armed but it seems sad for those of us who DO use the 98SE version to be pushed OUT of using it safely on line
There has been no firm official decision on that other than support for win9x/ME will continue to the end of the year. What happens after that isn’t decided and I guess won’t be until closer to that time. There have been two personal (not official) comments that they believe at least VPS update support for 4.8 may continue for a while after that, but nothing ‘official.’
So really it is time for you to do some forward planing of your own.
find if there are any other AVs (with resident protection) which will still support win9x/ME.
find a means of a robust back-up and recovery system, so that should the worst happen you have backed-up important data files and implement a recovery strategy that can put your system back to what it was before a catastrophe (be that malware infection or otherwise).
start looking for a replacement OS/system whilst you have the time.
Personal choice is a wonderful thing and if you wish to continue to use win98 in light of all that is going on, that is your personal choice. There is less and less software support for win9x/ME so you are limited in the browsers you can use also and that also means security holes which have been closed by security updates, which aren’t available to you either.
I use W98SE, and I can and will continue to use for it decades to come. My printer and scanner are eleven years old and still in A1 working order; however, even when they fail it will be at worst a minor inconvenience.
My advice is dual boot with a later version of Windows as well (not instead). Get used to it gradually if you wish, otherwise just use it for emails and Internet services (that would take only a few hours to setup and become proficient).
I have chosen Xubuntu, a free Linux program, and I dual boot with W98SE. That was quite a learning curve (though enjoyable) and everything works perfectly (except it cannot use my ancient scanner so I scan from W98SE). The free program Wine allows me to use a dozen or so of my favourite W98SE programs from within Xubuntu. (I have even managed to configure Wine to use XP (which I don’t have) on a particular program - but most Windows programs do not run well (or at all) using Wine.
You can even load at least one Linux program from within W98SE and switch between them instantaneously [I tried it - I think it was Damn Small Linux (DSL)].
So, you have many first class choices that may suit you almost perfectly and require very little effort or experience. Linux is almost Malware-free but I still use a software firewall, a much later and safer version of Firefox than was available on W98SE, and the Linux version of Avast (Debian version on Xubuntu) which with broadband takes about 6 minutes daily to update and do a full on demand scan of my Xubuntu Home directory.
There will be readers who think me insane but that is their problem, not mine. It is a pity that Avast will cease for W98 users but I would only give thanks for my recent use of their excellent Home program and wish them continuing success with v5 onwards.
My regards
Addendum re Corrections:
Above I incorrectly refer to Xubuntu and Damn Small Linux as programs whereas they are actually Operating Systems (Thanks to scythe944 for pointing this out in his Reply # 9 below).
Great post and insight. I understand that a few years ago C-Net published a study and found that their were about 30 MILLION Windows 98 users still out there! I have Windows XP and still have Office 97, with all the free MS converter updates, and I did also get a Word 2003 update disk because I was having trouble before that, getting some things on-line. My concerns are MS insane prices for the products that they offer. When I was back in college, I didn’t know about the cost passed on to the customer and I went to the bookstore to look at whatever version of Office was out at the time, and when I saw the $400 price I almost died! I mean, I cannot understand the average home user paying $400 for a Word Processing Program! I know about the other programs like Outlook, Excel, and Power Point, but all I ever used was Word, so when I found out that WordPerfect you could get for less than half the cost of Word, I was very happy. $400 for writing college papers and letters to grandma is a little extreme.
That was years ago and I was trained on Windows 98 at my college and it did what I needed it to do. There is one big problem with Windows 98, and that is lack of security. The very old versions of the operating systems, programs like Outlook 97/2000, would not be good for e-mail today because they don’t have the security issues that are needed.
Today’s market almost requires:
1.) A reasonably recent OS
2.) Running of Windows Update
3.) The importance of a good AV program
4.) The use of a Firewall
5.) The care of never opening any suspicious files or e-mails.
6.) Early warning prevention against spam, spyware, phishing, and virus threats BEFORE you get to the site. (I am a huge fan of the McAfee Site Advisor plug in.) NOT their AV!!! Too bloated!! Avast is still the very best AV program!
If security was not the concern that it is today and Windows 98 would be supported with 1-5, Windows 98 would probably still be fine for 60% of most computer users. But you can’t combat the problems of computer security with Windows 98. That’s the problem.
As a side-note, does anyone know if the McAfee Site Advisor plug in works in Windows 98?
Please, I mean no disrespect, but Xubuntu is not a “program”, it’s an operating system (OS). I just don’t want people to think that they can “install” it like firefox or microsoft office.
Furthermore, I LOVE ubuntu, but I prefer Kubuntu. Doesn’t really matter though, because they all exist because we (as a people) have a choice, your choice is just as good as mine. That’s the beauty of open source!
I have come to terms with the coming change to avast 5.
Step1, disconnect all win 95/98/ME computers from the internet.
Step2, setup flash drive as “My document transfer folder”.
Step3, use XP computer to scan flash drive with avast there by keeping it clean.
Step4, “My document transfer folder” on flash drive as a way to move docs/files for 98/ME computers.
Step5, install Clamware AV on 98/ME computers, run scan manually.
Step6, using Linux live CD, connect 98/ME computers back on-line to surf net, disconnect after surfing.
Step7, setup win98/ME LAN for printing and file sharing via their own hub.
Step8, enjoy increase in speed of 98/ME computers due to not having to run “on access scanner”
Can I ask that when the time does indeed come when the support for 98/ME drops will there be a pop up message to inform us that the inevitable has occurred?
I would have though it would be announced on the avast web site that 4.8 is no longer supported. It would probably also be on the blog and most certainly in the forums.
I somehow doubt there would be any blanked emailing as there are over 100 million users (more by the time that time comes) currently and your registration details don’t contain what OS you are using.
I don’t know if the iNews function is capable of selectively only displaying on your system if you are using an OS than can’t support 5.0.
I do hope to have someone build me a new computer with Windows 7 as soon as the support has gone, would you say Avast 5 will work fine with this system?
Well I have neither the avast 5.0 beta or win7 so I can’t say, but there are many that are using win7 and the beta and aside from typical bug in beta trials it appears to be working fine with win7. I have no doubt by release time 5.0 will be fine with win7 as it will be essential to continue the work of 4.8 which is win7 compatible.
Hopefully I can continue using Avast and have the newest version 5 when I have my new computer, as I have never had such a wonderful AV program with virtually no problems with updates or anything such like.
Be also nice to be able to continue on this forum too.
Does the free version of 5 have a firewall too? or is it for the paid version only?
May I wish you and all on here a Happy New Year 2010 when it comes.