* Introducing * - beta version of avast! Home/Pro 4.8

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

The program has now been officially released as 4.8.1169. Thanks to everyone who helped testing.

Hi all,

after some time, it’s my pleasure to announce the availability of a pre-release build of the upcoming version of avast! Home/Professional - version 4.8.

How to install it (for starters - most people already know this trick anyway ): simply download and run the following program: (link removed) and follow the on-screen instructions. That’s about all it takes (provided you have the latest release version of avast Home/Pro already installed, of course).

4.8 is quite an important update for us.

It contains the following major improvements:

  • a built-in antirootkit module
  • a built-in self-defense module
  • starting with v4.8, avast is now officially an antispyware application, too (CheckMark certified).

Plus there’s a number of not-so-big new features, such as the ability to track scan progress and a large number of improvements in both the scanning engine and other components (such as the boot-time scanner, and the updater).

BTW This first beta build will be followed by another one (most likely in about a week). This is because it still doesn’t contain some of the anti-rootkit functionality (so far, boot-time scan can be used to detect/remove rootkits; in the next beta, the GUI scanners will also feature antirootkit capabilities).

Also, in this first version, we’re still aware of some methods to bypass the self-defense module, and these are being worked on continuously. This especially applies to the ashDisp.exe process which is somewhat harder to protect than the rest (i.e. the avast services) as it shares the user’s logon session and is thus more easily attackable.

Any comments on this release are very welcome and appreciated!

Thanks
Vlk

2

Thanks, Vlk! :smiley:

Downloading the beta now. :slight_smile:

3

Hello Vlk :slight_smile:

The updater does not work for me. It tells me that I have the latest version. :-\

4

Hello Vlk,

Just downloaded and started the update file. After the necessary reboot i found only a version .1098 in the about Avast screen.
I can’t find any extra settings or new functionality. Did i do somethig wrong?

Leoloek

5

The update was rather strange…

Information about current update: Total time: 59 s
  • Program: Already up to date
    (current version 4.7.1098)
  • Vps: Already up to date
    (current version 080228-0)

Server: download958.avast.com (74.86.232.38)
Downloaded files: 5 (2,84 KB)
Download time: 3 s

First it was downloading plenty of data but end summary was like this. I don’t think this is ok…

6

I also downloaded and ran the beta update and received the same message about the program & signature file being already up to date. But then it said I had been successfully updated and needed to reboot.

But after reboot I’m stilling seeing build version 4.7.1098.

7

Same here, downloaded and installed, said I needed to reboot to enable new beta build. Can’t see any changes, still ver 4.7. Hmmmm… :-\

8

Sorry guys, my bad!
It should be fixed now (a tiny but very important piece of info was missing from our updating servers… :-))

Thanks
Vlk

9

just 3 quick questions (for Alwil team members):

  1. will the new version (when finalised) be a standard program update or a full install (of Avast)?
  2. will the termination protection cause issues with uninstalling Avast if the need arises?
  3. will V4.8 require a lot more resources/system requirements, or is it only a small increase?
10

Thanks Vlk, my dial-up is working overtime storming along at about 4.5KB, so time to get something to eat.

11

Standard update.

You can disable the self-protection on the Troubleshooing page in avast! settings - should there be any need.

Don’t see any reason for increased resource usage.

12

thanks Igor for the reply

I only asked about the self protection thing because I wondered if it would think that an uninstall was an attempt to terminate the program, just to check, if I needed to uninstall I would just deactivate self protection first?

13

I can’t believe you’ve won in the last day of the month… :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, I’m downloading and installing my new avast antivirus and antispyware :wink:

14

And still over three hours to go - got it ;D

15

great! Thanks Vlk, that did it. So far, so good. :wink:

16

I can’t start any componet of avast! (splash screen crashes, both simple interfaces crash when i start them via trey menu or directly from avast! folder). It’s weird… I’m using Vista SP1 if that makes any difference…

One of the errors from Event Viewer…

Faulting application ashSimpl.exe, version 4.7.1098.0, time stamp 0x47c70ed0, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 6.0.6001.18000, time stamp 0x4791a7a6, exception code 0xc0000142, fault offset 0x00009cac, process id 0xf84, application start time 0x01c87b2055029b3a.

…and…

Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: ashAvast.exe Application Version: 4.7.1098.0 Application Timestamp: 47c6b709 Fault Module Name: kernel32.dll Fault Module Version: 6.0.6001.18000 Fault Module Timestamp: 4791a7a6 Exception Code: c0000142 Exception Offset: 00009cac OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3 Locale ID: 1060 Additional Information 1: 9d13 Additional Information 2: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8 Additional Information 3: 9d13 Additional Information 4: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8
17

Does the on-access scanner work?
0xC0000142 means “DLL initialization failed”. Seems like one of the avast DLLs got somehow corrupted.

Can you try a repair of avast installation?

18

Yes, on-access works perfectly, i just can’t start anything on-demand.

19

Or maybe try disabling the self-defense module (via avast settings → Troubleshooting page). Note that you will need to restart the machine for this change to become effective.

Does that make any difference?

20

Thanks, great.

A suggestion for this new version:

Improving the beauty of the icon of the taskbar and simple interface.

They are only suggestions, but the avast is best.
Congratulations!