I’m running v. 4.8 on a Win XP PC and also on a Win 7 pc. Is it necessary to uninstall the earlier version prior to installing v. 5 or does the v. 5 installer remove the older version?
TIA,
Frank
not necessary, but much better to uninstall V4.8 first, reboot, and install V5 from scratch. You’ll avoid bad surprises that way 
Thanks for the response Evangelist - I uninstalled V. 4.8 and installed the new Avast Free V 5 - it went well with no apparent glitches …much obliged.
Frank
you’re welcome but please don’t call me “Evangelist” ;D
Mea Culpa, Logos. I had a brain cramp and hastily gave you the unintended moniker! Sorry
Frank
Absolutely!
I thought I could get away with installing over top of 4.8.
What a mistake. All kinds of problems ensued.
I then uninstalled 5 and reverted back to 4.8.
I decided to attempt installing 5 again, but this time I uninstalled 4.8 completely and ran the Avast cleaner tool in safe mode and rebooted twice.
Nary a problem now.
I don’t understand why Avast and all the moderators on this board are not advising people to uninstall 4.8 first.
It should be a sticky…
I should add, that make sure you download 5.0.396, I think it’s the latest, and from what I’ve heard, the most trouble free.
Good luck.
John,
After your experience, I am certainly glad I took Logo’s advice and spent the time to uninstall V. 4.8. So far no apparent problems with V 5.
Frank
Frank,
Smart move on your part.
Glad to hear all is working well.
I just wish the Avast team would advise everyone that upgrades from 4.8 to 5, to uninstall 4.8 first.
I realize that it might not be necessary, but why take the chance.
A lot of people are having problems because they probably installed over top of 4.8. I know I did.
What would it hurt for the experts on here to advise all people to uninstall 4.8 first? Period!
Makes no sense to me…
The problem becomes: what do you do with a company of 500 people with 4.8 Pro installed? Tell all 500 they have to uninstall 4.8, download and run a cleaner utility in Safe Mode, then install 5.0? The install of 5.0 can be handled pretty simply thru Group Policy and silent install scripts. But I’ve not heard of a simple way for Group Policy to do an automated, silent uninstall, reboot into Safe Mode, and executing a cleanup utility.
The 4.8 Pro Upgrade to 5.0 Pro needs to be seemless and 98-99% error-free before a large company can move to 5.
I’ll wait.
Dewg,
I hear you.
I was referring mainly to the average Joe who was installing the free version of Avast 5.
I really don’t know what the answer is for the situation you describe.
You’re right though, it should be a seamless transition, and I don’t blame you for waiting.
no problem was funny after all