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Avast Antivirus to discontinue new versions, but still supporting Windows XP


sdfox7

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Old Avast security products will continue to receive security definition updates: 

"Older system users who have not updated will continue to be protected by the corresponding older versions of our security products, even receiving virus definition updates, but they will not benefit from the newest programs and features. If you have any questions about this End of Support notice, just reach out to Avast Support for answers."

https://blog.avast.com/avast-discontinues-support-for-windows-xp-vista

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We've been discussing about this here on MSFN (I don't remember in which topic, though).

Anyway, the reason is that every year Avast releases a new version of its Antivirus with a new UI and new tools, however Avast 18 is already a pretty solid product which offers many tools included within the program and it's very reliable.

Some of the tools already available in Avast 18 are a Firewall, a WiFi Inspector to find vulnerabilities, RealSite to make sure your DNS are legit, a Sandbox to run programmes in a protected environment, Passwords to safely store all your passwords (it works with Firefox ESR 52.9, it doesn't work with Chrome 49 nor Chromium 54), a Sensitive Data Shield to encrypt your personal informations, a WebCam Shield to prevent unauthorized access to your webcam, Data Shredder to overwrite with the zero-fill method an hard drive and make deleted files impossible to recover, Boot-Scan to use a CHKDSK-Like method to run Avast when Windows is not running (to get rid of the nastier threats), an automatic software and driver update mechanism that checks for newer versions of the programmes/drivers you have installed and can install them in background or just notify you, Recovery Disk Tool with which you can make a bootable disk or usb with Avast only and many many other tools (I didn't even list them all)! 

This summer, part of the team started working at Avast 19 and another part of the team maintained Avast 18 with a new minor release every week and a public release every month to cope with the frequent Windows 10 updates.

Keep in mind that a new management is leading Avast and I don't know who took the decision this summer, but what I can say it's what I already said in the Avast forum months ago: we gotta focus on making sure that the last version of Avast 18 will be solid, hassle free and perfectly working before the end of the year so that we will be able to keep using Avast flawlessly as the definitions are provided in real time thanks to the streaming-updates and that only the new tools and UIs won't be available. (One of the things they'll do will be re-arranging the menu and make a sort of sub-menu for normal users and an "hidden" one for advanced users). 

Anyway, I don't know anyone anymore in Avast, so I can't say, but we already knew about this since this summer and we were prepared. ;)

 

In a nutshell: don't worry, keep using Avast, it will keep working for many years to come ;) 

Edited by FranceBB
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4 hours ago, FranceBB said:

We've been discussing about this here on MSFN (I don't remember in which topic, though).

Anyway, the reason is that every year Avast releases a new version of its Antivirus with a new UI and new tools, however Avast 18 is already a pretty solid product which offers many tools included within the program and it's very reliable.

Some of the tools already available in Avast 18 are a Firewall, a WiFi Inspector to find vulnerabilities, RealSite to make sure your DNS are legit, a Sandbox to run programmes in a protected environment, Passwords to safely store all your passwords (it works with Firefox ESR 52.9, it doesn't work with Chrome 49 nor Chromium 54), a Sensitive Data Shield to encrypt your personal informations, a WebCam Shield to prevent unauthorized access to your webcam, Data Shredder to overwrite with the zero-fill method an hard drive and make deleted files impossible to recover, Boot-Scan to use a CHKDSK-Like method to run Avast when Windows is not running (to get rid of the nastier threats), an automatic software and driver update mechanism that checks for newer versions of the programmes/drivers you have installed and can install them in background or just notify you, Recovery Disk Tool with which you can make a bootable disk or usb with Avast only and many many other tools (I didn't even list them all)! 

This summer, part of the team started working at Avast 19 and another part of the team maintained Avast 18 with a new minor release every week and a public release every month to cope with the frequent Windows 10 updates.

Keep in mind that a new management is leading Avast and I don't know who took the decision this summer, but what I can say it's what I already said in the Avast forum months ago: we gotta focus on making sure that the last version of Avast 18 will be solid, hassle free and perfectly working before the end of the year so that we will be able to keep using Avast flawlessly as the definitions are provided in real time thanks to the streaming-updates and that only the new tools and UIs won't be available. (One of the things they'll do will be re-arranging the menu and make a sort of sub-menu for normal users and an "hidden" one for advanced users). 

Anyway, I don't know anyone anymore in Avast, so I can't say, but we already knew about this since this summer and we were prepared. ;)

 

In a nutshell: don't worry, keep using Avast, it will keep working for many years to come ;) 

It will work for many years indeed since they still give definition updates for avast 5.x

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I've been trying to use Avast for the last few weeks after Trend Internet Security suddenly told me that the version I'd been using for several years was now out of support and I had to update to carry on using it. Needless to say the next and following versions doesn't work on XP! :(
I have had a lot of problems with Avast 18 on XP, in fact the only version I found the installer online for which would work properly on my system was version 12.3.
I decided I did like it and was willing to pay for it, which gave me access to technical support, and to cut a long story short, apparently "some" XP systems have problems with the latest versions.
I was given a link to download 18.3, which actually mainly worked where 18.7 (the current version) would not at all.
The main problem with 18.7 was that the main antivirus service refused to run, which meant that most of it, including the UI, would not work!
Apparently this is only affecting some XP systems, so you may be lucky. I would certainly try the free version first. If that doesn't work, none of them will.
18.3 still has two services which won't start on my system, the main service is very slow starting, and doesn't release the registry properly on shutdown, making the system hang  for ages on "saving your settings". It's also causing a System Restore error to be logged on every boot, and is stopping IE8 working properly at all, it just keeps on freezing and has to be forcibly terminated.
All of this is supposed to be fixed in 18.8, which will be the final version of 18, and the last for XP. They hope all the problems will be fixed for that.
:)
 

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20 hours ago, FranceBB said:

We've been discussing about this here on MSFN (I don't remember in which topic, though). 

Probably got lost in database error, sometimes called as "MSFN Board memory hole".

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@Dave-H... that's unfortunate.

I'm running Avast Premier Beta 18.7.2354 (build 18.7.4041.389) and I don't have any issues.

There have been issues with some XP systems in the past, but I thought they were all sorted out.

(By the way, I gave discounts to all my friends 'till few months ago as I was still able to. I would have given you a big fat discount if I knew you wanted to buy it).

 

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Edited by FranceBB
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Thanks @FranceBB, sorry I didn't see your post until today because I didn't get a notification of it.
Yes, a shame as the discount would have been welcome!

I've actually come back to the thread to report that when I updated to 18.8 (on a prompt from Avast support) all the old issues were still there, and the program is still unusable on my XP system.
Same main symptom, the main AV and Firewall services just will not start.
I'm still with technical support on this, so hopefully we will eventually find a resolution.
Until then it looks like I'm back to 18.3!
:(

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  • 3 weeks later...

@FranceBB Didn't you used to work for Avast a few years ago (or am i thinking of a different individual that was around xpforums in 2015) ? While I don't particularly like Avast in general (after the CCleaner incident) I do appreciate that they will keep it updated :)

Edited by Chociu
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I'm the same person; I knew people working there and I used to talk to them, and be unofficially informed about the development in summer 2015 'till the very beginning of 2016. As a matter of fact, I still think that Avast 16 was one of the best UI and programme version. After that, I haven't been involved in anything and when a new management got the company the people I knew started to be less and less 'till now, the moment in which I'm not even a beta tester anymore (but I'll have the "sticker" beta on the latest stable version of the programme forever as a memory).

A few pictures ("old-goodies", actually) from 2015, which seems like an eternity ago already:

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That's pretty awesome stuff :3

anyhow... yeah it's still good a company does provide definition updates for older systems to keep them going (and for both people and businesses that's a good thing)

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I just wish there was a recent version which worked with my XP system. :(
I'm using version 12.3 at the moment, all the 17 and 18 versions have severe problems.
Versions after 18.3 the main services won't even run on my machine, which makes it useless of course.
I had high hopes for 18.8, which was supposed to have fixed the problems that "some" XP users are having, but it was exactly the same.
I'm now waiting for 18.9, which will probably be the very last XP compatible version, but I'm not holding up much hope.
I've been in e-mail conversation with someone from Avast technical support for weeks about this, but we're no nearer to any solution.
They are well aware that some XP users are having this problem, there are plenty of reports on their forums about it, but apparently so far they have been unable to reproduce it on any of their test systems, so can't troubleshoot it.
:no:

Edited by Dave-H
Correction
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Avast! people couldn't care less for XP die-hards even if they tried real hard to. :crazy:  That was the case with AVG, too. Up to it's takeover by Avast! (late 2016) they kept releasing definitions for AVG 2011 (the last version to really work seamlessly with XP SP3). Afterwards, they forced people (even those holding still-valid licences to the paid-for versions) to update to their "latest and greatest version", which purportedly still supported XP (but not really-really, obviously). That was when I moved on to old MSE v. 4.4.304.0, which I keep using with no regrets whatsoever. IMO, they're just wishing very hard we XP die-hards fall down the memory hole, the sooner, the better! Living is learning, isn't it?

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Avast still say they have many users running versions up to 18.8 on XP SP3 systems with no problems whatsoever, and the Avast forums would seem to confirm that, with many XP user posters with no problems at all trying to help others for whom Avast is completely unusable on XP, and not getting anywhere!
Why some XP users, including me, seem to have a problem is all a bit of a mystery.
All their technical support guys seems to be able to say is that there are issues with "some hardware and software combinations" with XP.
What no-one seems to have been able to do so far is to determine what the XP machines with the problems have in common!
:)

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