I am very satisfied with my current (old) version of avast!
With the daily list of snafus and travails, I am still a little hesitant to take the chance on changing to 5.0.
Maybe this post will generate the confidence I need.
Thanks.
The thing is, sooner or later you’ll have to switch (or switch AV’s)… You might as well go ahead and dive in feet first. By and large, most users don’t have any problems with the new version. I think maybe you are intimidated by some of the negative threads on this forum, but remember that most people will not stop by to say “things are running great”. ;D
Bottom line: Switch to V5 
hello Jima,
In full agreement with what Artemis said.
Your gonna have to switch sooner or later ;D
and if by chance something does go agoof, these boards will help sort it out.
I was like you, and was hestitant on making the switch, because of what was being said here, two weeks ago i upgraded from 4.8 free to 5.0 free, on two different vista laptops, with no problems!
5.0 is awesome, much diffferent that 4.8.
I think you’d be glad you made the switch and will be wishing you did it sooner
Saty
Don’t lose sight of the fact that this is a ‘support forum’ so all you are likely to see are “snafus and travails” as you say, not the huge majority of users that don’t have a problem.
You can’t go on in life thinking the worst might happen, like stepping out of the front door and getting run over by a truck just because you heard about it in the papers, or you aren’t going to go out.
Should you be in the very small minority that experience a problem, then you already know where to come.
In addition to the above posts, take in consideration number of post here by users having issues to the number of avast! users (100 million – quite a small percentage. Could you imagine what the board would be like if all the users not having issues posted? ;D
FWIW have avast! 5 on three Win XP systems, and have not had any issues.
You did not note which avast! you’re using, Home or Pro. Even if using Home 4.8, check the upgrade options and see discounted price for Pro, and AIS which is good for 3 PCs.
I had 4.8 Pro on one system, and Home on the other two systems. Used the Home upgrade to get AIS for three years for $84.97. You can do a custom install of AIS if you do not want to install the Spam Filter and/or Firewall.
Good Luck!
Jima, go for version 5… better protection, interface, scanning speed, etc.
Besides, version 4 won’t be supported for that much time (maybe by the end of 2010).
and get stuck in nightmare… :
For the greatest majority there is no problem so it is a dream rather than a nightmare and you can’t base your decisions on a minority with a problem.
If they experience a problem they can easily get back to 4.8 as you apparently have, but to never try is crazy.
I had been using Avira 9 on a vista laptop and XP Pro desktop then switched to Avast 5 when Avira 10 popped up and it runs superbly, can’t speak for 4.8 mind, but regarding Avast 5 can’t praise it highly enough really…just my two pennies worth
This is an old engineer proverb : If something works why should you change it ?
Following the same proverb you would be driving round in a model T Ford or the first French production car or perhaps still riding a horse.
Hell you wouldn’t even be using the internet as you wouldn’t have a telephone as there is nothing wrong with writing a letter. In which case you wouldn’t require an anti-virus.
Its called progress and it has to start somewhere.
Now that did make me laugh, so true… then I thought about Avira 10…and felt slightly confused.
I thought I might jump in… I recall uninstalling Avast about a year ago from a friend’s computer due to the slowdown and resource hogging it’s been causing. Well, what a change w/ v5.0. Simply amazing. Well, Avira’s gone from there and Avast is back. Also the GUI finally is nice and easy to navigate and configure. Great job, guys.
That is not true! “Switch to V5, and ride in to the future with this great software”
It might be sensible to be hesitant if you have a realistic reason to think you might have a problem. If that’s the case it might be a good idea to look at that and try to resolve it first. But if you’re worried simply because some other people have had problems that’s a little irrational.
There will always be a risk factor regardless how small. With the current build the risk has dropped tremendously since it first came out. If your system and configuration are fairly typical you shouldn’t have any problems.
Thanks for all your answers and input.
I decided to go for it and opened the avast! webpage only to find the download is 40 MB!
That size download could take 5 or 6 hours or even more on my dialup, leaving many chances for interuption or other failure, let alone not having telephone service for that period.
Two questions: Was the one I got 5 years ago that big?
I got Windows upgrades (about the same size) on a disc. Is avast! 5 available to purchase that way?
Thanks again from this Luddite fuddy-duddy.
I’m on dial-up and it took around two and a half hours for 40 MB (aprox 4 minutes a MB), so there is something seriously wrong with your dial-up connection.
The program has grown over the last 6 years that I have had it but I think it was about 30MB then, one of the things you have to consider is that a lot has been added in the interim years not to mention the virus database continues to grow at a pace. If you download that on its own it is around 29MB. So the program itself is relatively well compressed.
Can you not get a friend with broadband or use a local library, etc. to download this and save to CD or USB and transfer to your system.
Thanks, DavidR
I just now began a download. My connection speed was around 25 kpbs, but occasionally dropped, with estimated time of download varying between 6 and 13 hours.
I just can’t do that.
So if avast! does not offer a version on a hard disc, I’ll try the second hand idea or just forget it.
To my understanding, Avast 5.0 is not providing better antivirus protection than Avast 4.8 but there is a “beautiful” new interface and clear flaw in update system which render it unoperant for some users.
When in such situation, the user having changed from 4.8 to 5.0 may have a lower protection level than previousy.
Maybe you should explain me where is the progress ? :
Sorry but your understanding is incorrect.
avast 5.0 has signatures and processes that aren’t in 4.8 as they wouldn’t work on older OSes which 4.8 still supports, e.g. win9.x, winME.
I’m not going to try and convince you of anything, that has to be your choice, there is more than enough in this topic alone to make your mind up, 5.0.507 has had further enhancements to the installation process especially in relation to installation over 4.8.