On two separate Avast8 systems (one Win7, the other XP), avast 8 has definition update 13-12-03-1, and asserts it is up to date. A manual check for updates confirms nothing more recent is available.
In contrast, Avast 2014 has received update 13-12-05-1… TWO DAYS NEWER.
It was my understanding that Avast 2014 and Avast 8 were sharing the same definition updates. Has this changed? In particular, has avast dropped support for version 8? Or is this a temporary glitch that about which you may or may not be aware?
Perhaps related, it seems that Avast 8’s SCRIPT shield is no longer monitoring IE 11 nor FF 25. Is this likewise another indication that ongoing support for v8 users is being dropped? Or does avast plan to address this issue?
I would appreciate answers to the questions as I’ve asked them. In other words, I am not (presently) looking for “advice” to upgrade to 2014 (yet). Nor am I looking to remove/reinstall/repair v8 — since this happened on multiple machines, it’s not a fluke.
Pondus wrote “If they where to drop any support, it would be said [a] long time before it happened…”
That’s what I figured as well. I can’t picture avast suddenly abandoning a huge user-base without a major announcement. Just imagine what the public reaction would be if people, who THOUGHT they were protected, suddenly discovered they weren’t! So I’m assuming it’s a glitch that needs to be fixed, and by posting here, I’m calling it to avast’s attention.
Pondus asked “Do you recive stream updates?”
I’m not near my avast systems at the moment. I’ll check later today. I know they’re SET for streaming updates. I’ll have to see if there’s an indication of whether/when they’ve last received one.
But even if the streaming updates are working, shouldn’t the basic database update as well? At least once a day?? It’s not like there’s no newer databases available… I’ve gotten them with v2014.
Para-noid subsequently replied “v8.0 and v2014 are on different vps update cycles.”
Well that certainly would explain the difference in definition updates. Hopefully, they won’t separate the cycles too far… in my opinion, going two days seems too long.
Do you have any idea if avast intends to address the issue of v8’s SCRIPT Shield no longer working with IE11 nor FF25?
if you recive stream updates you have all the updates you need
Do you have any idea if avast intends to address the issue of v8's SCRIPT Shield no longer working with IE11 nor FF25?
i doubt the will fix anything in old versions when they have released a new .... as that is usually why new versions are released.... improvments and fixes
“They haven’t even dropped support for version 4 yet!”
It begs the question as to whether or not users of older versions are “living dangerously”, being deluded by a false sense of protection: The presumption is that while a product is still supported by the manufacturer, it still offers adequate protection to the users. Avast certainly has a right to drop support of older products…and if they gave simple notice, that would be fine.
Personally, I would not use avast 4/5/6/7 anymore. I have chosen to stay with 8 “a while longer”, because there seem to be way-too-many problems confronting v2014 users. (In fact, my most recent attempt to install 2014 on my primary win7 system failed. But I am using 2014 under XP. Go figure.)
Until the introduction of 2014, it apparently was the case that older versions all shared the same database… so users of older versions were still “up-to-date” — at least in terms of virus definitions — although obviously NOT in terms of performance capability! What we’re seeing now is a separation of programs, with respect to their database, into “older versions” vs. “current”.
I am very troubled by v8’s SCRIPT shield no longer functioning with IE11 and FF25. Had I known, I might have kept IE10 and FF24 around. Of course, that defeats OTHER security/performance issues fixed/improved by these browser updates. Other than my questions in this forum, I’ve seen no notification by avast that they’ve (possibly) dropped v8’s SCRIPT shield support of all but the newest browsers. [All other avast 8 shields (file, web, network) seem to be working with IE11 and FF25.] If avast has no plans to update/fix v8’s SCRIPT shield to work with the newest/safest browsers IE11 & FF25, then I for one would classify this as phasing-out support of avast 8.