Avast 5

Looks like it's here

http://www.avast.com/index

Blog

http://blog.avast.com/2010/01/19/avast-version-5-0-is-here/

All good things come.... and so on

thanks for the update

Thanks hazel.

Ah ... so this is the one everyone's been waiting for?

I'll hang on to Avira for now and watch with interest :D

Installing Avast 5 has just been a big disaster.

After the post install reboot, none of Avasts modules or services were running, and none of them would start manually. Just received a popup which said it couldn't find the module, please start the Avast service.

Negative I'm afraid. Nothing would start.

Tried running it's "repair" routine, rebooted and the same problem .. nothing would start. Checked through the Install log, and everything seemed to go OK. It removed Avast 4.8 as expected, and installed OK.

And now, after completely uninstalling it, I found I had a new service running which belonged to an outfit called "The Nalpeiron Licensing Service™".

http://www.nalpeiron.com/products/

Is this now part of the Avast setup? I also noticed the Avast 5 install seems to be much bigger than Avast 4.8.

Would you guys with Avast 5 check for me and see if you have a service running called "Nalpeiron Licensing Service"?

I haven't got any Nalperion service.

Avast! 5 installed fine for me, over 4.8. :)

But it has a bad (and funny) French translation. :P

I'm waiting! ;) Like I've stated before I'll be removing version 4.8 followed by some cleaning up of its leftovers before I even begin to think of version 5. So maybe in a month or so I'll install version 5, so long as they support 4.8 that long that way any possible issues can be hammered out.

I also noticed the Avast 5 install seems to be much bigger than Avast 4.8.

Some of the final 4.8 installers starting offering Google Chrome as an installation which bloated the setup file, although it only randomly offers to install Chrome but it will sure write registry data about offering it.

I actually expect 5.0 to have some form of adware or other offer attached to it, which is why I have also have a copy of Microsoft Security Essentials standing by waiting for installation if Avast 5 disappoints - hopefully that won't ever happen.

I've just installed Avira until I sort things out, and bingo, it now updates OK.

The service I mentioned above isn't to do with Avast, thanks for checking Aethec, it's coincidence that I noticed it as I've recently installed a Plugin called "Bokeh", and it belongs to that.

I'm disabling it anyway and then I'll see if "Bokeh" still works.

Weird why the Avast update went screwy.

Apparently 4.8 will be supported for a while yet: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=50672.0

You can't yet upgrade to 5 by using the right click "program update" in 4.8 . I will wait also.

The service I mentioned above isn't to do with Avast, thanks for checking Aethec, it's coincidence that I noticed it as I've recently installed a Plugin called "Bokeh", and it belongs to that.

If you use something like Total Uninstall or ZSoft Uninstaller those surprises will be a thing of the past. I know its somewhat of a pain to track every installation, however with the stuff that piggybacks with software nowadays it's essential.

agree zsoft works great.

better make an image of your system before installing new avast..

read good reviews about new version,,,my problem was always uninstalling avira..

Good advice aqua, indeed making an image with Macrium Reflect (or whatever imaging program) if wanting the absolute minimum amount of hassle.

I went against my better judgment and installed Avast 5 a few hours ago. It sure does look nice and hardly uses any RAM whatsoever. But it doesn't ask for a reboot on XP, so I did that manually myself and was confronted with a blue stop screen which happened three times in a row. So in Safe Mode I removed Avast 5 to solve the issue, Total Uninstall'd the rest of it off, then used System Restore to make certain it was indeed dead and gone off my system.

I don't think I'll be trying Avast 5 again though, especially with the startup issue, and since I've installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I just wish Microsoft Security Essentials had a much smaller RAM/resource footprint, it's a complete pig in that regard.

Adios Avast. :(

Can I ask if you uninstalled avast 4 first Andavari?

Also when uninstalling any security software it is a good idea to reboot twice before installing anything else.

In windows the first boot disables the driver for it and the second boot uninstalls it.

Can I ask if you uninstalled avast 4 first Andavari?

Also when uninstalling any security software it is a good idea to reboot twice before installing anything else.

In windows the first boot disables the driver for it and the second boot uninstalls it.

I sure did uninstall v4.8 first, and after rebooting I even used my homemade uninstall supplement to remove all the left overs automatically!

Rebooting twice isn't necessary for security software uninstalls though.

Rebooting twice isn't necessary for security software uninstalls though.

In some security/firewall forums it is positively encouraged. It is something I always do now.

Good advice aqua, indeed making an image with Macrium Reflect (or whatever imaging program) if wanting the absolute minimum amount of hassle.

I went against my better judgment and installed Avast 5 a few hours ago. It sure does look nice and hardly uses any RAM whatsoever. But it doesn't ask for a reboot on XP, so I did that manually myself and was confronted with a blue stop screen which happened three times in a row. So in Safe Mode I removed Avast 5 to solve the issue, Total Uninstall'd the rest of it off, then used System Restore to make certain it was indeed dead and gone off my system.

I don't think I'll be trying Avast 5 again though, especially with the startup issue, and since I've installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I just wish Microsoft Security Essentials had a much smaller RAM/resource footprint, it's a complete pig in that regard.

Adios Avast. :(

Did you ever have MSE installed prior to installing Avast 5? I've jumped around a lot with the free anti-viruses on a Vista laptop (I know you said XP). When Avira was having the update problems (seems to be fine now, as I used it lately) I went with Avast. Then there was all of this great PR about MSE and I used it. It had its update problems also so despite removing anything and everything MSE (Reg entries, files, appdata) I could never install Avast 4.8 or the beta 5, indeed similar symptoms as you encountered with every attempt. My free AvRecovery license expired and before I installed Comodo Time Machine I wanted to see if I could restore a Paragon image from summer. This image was before MSE was ever on this laptop. I updated all my software and just kept that image. Yesterday I installed Avast without a hitch, which makes me wonder if MSE leaves some remnants that even RegSeeker can't find.

They got out of beta quickly, without having a Release Candidate.

The last beta was 5.0.373 and the stable is 5.0.377, but there were still problems with the last beta. :-/

Did you ever have MSE installed prior to installing Avast 5?

No because this install of XP Pro SP3 is fresh being only one week old as of today. I only had Avast 4.8 installed previously which was 100% removed as in every trace of it was gone as if it were never installed.

MSE does leave allot of stuff behind, hence the reason to track the installation. Use Revo to remove it, then use that tracked installation of either Total Uninstall or ZSoft Uninstaller to make sure all or most of the remnants are gone.

No because this install of XP Pro SP3 is fresh being only one week old as of today. I only had Avast 4.8 installed previously which was 100% removed as in every trace of it was gone as if it were never installed.

MSE does leave allot of stuff behind, hence the reason to track the installation. Use Revo to remove it, then use that tracked installation of either Total Uninstall or ZSoft Uninstaller to make sure all or most of the remnants are gone.

I use Revo often and yesterday used AppRemover (security software its specialty) to uninstall Avira. Had a problem with ZSoft a few weeks ago. It had analyzed the AyRcovery intsall on my XP desktop a year ago. I used it to uninstall AyR so I clould install Comodo Time Machine (same app really), however, it must have become corrupted or something because I ended up with the BSOD. Amazingly, even though I witnessed ZSoft removing many AyR files, out of desperation I forced a reboot and hit the Home key. AyR snapshots were there, selected one and everything was normal. Then I just used AyR's own uninstaller to remove it and now have CTM watching my back side!