Avast antivirus 4.8 home

The first release of Avast version 4. Nearly seven years later, there are still a group of loyal Avast users who run Avast 4. Since we know that this change will affect 4. This blog post walks you through updating your Avast to the latest version of the program. For additional details about this topic, please refer to our comprehensive FAQ. Avast is no longer providing updates for version 4 , but your Avast product will still function; however, please be aware that your protection will be compromised.

We strongly recommend updating your version of Avast to benefit from important protection features and up-to-date virus definitions. When you have the latest version of Avast, the program and virus definitions are updated automatically. In addition to receiving the most advanced protection from the Avast Antivirus Nitro Update, our online help services and customer care team are best equipped to support recent versions of Avast.

Updating to the latest version of Avast allows us to deliver the fastest and highest quality of support to our users. Do I need antivirus to keep my business safe or is Windows Defender enough? Discover the best ways to keep your business secure. Large-scale cyberattack? Secure your devices and protect yourself and your data with these 7 simple tips. Sitemap Privacy policy. Virus definition updates for Avast version 4. Grace Macej 26 Sep Upgrade to the newest version of Avast for the best protection.

On my clean test system, the standard scan took less than 10 minutes. I hadn't tested avast! For this inaugural test run, I started by installing the app on a number of test systems infested with malware samples, including adware, spyware, worms, Trojan horses, rootkits, and rogue antispyware products. One of my samples tried to interfere with installation of security software, but avast! I frequently see problems with system stability when a security product's installation requires a reboot.

If a preinstall scan or real-time scanner deletes part but not all of a seriously entrenched malware program, the system may blue-screen on reboot or simply hang. While avast! It did offer to run a boot-time scan during this initial reboot. To get a clearer view of the program's operation, I declined that offer. Once I launched avast! In all but one test system it asked to run a boot-time scan. After the boot-time scan completed and Windows restarted, a couple of the systems requested another boot-time scan because they detected threats still running in memory.

What the heck—I allowed it. But on one system, avast! After four boot-time scans I had to admit that it wasn't going to get any better. Cleaning up these infested systems took a while, but overall it was quicker and less troublesome than running Spyware Doctor through the same tests.

The results were surprisingly good. Allowing full credit for removal of all executable files associated with a sample, and half credit if it detected a threat but left some executables behind, avast! That's not far behind WAV's 8. Do note that this is a new, tougher set of malware samples, so the results aren't directly comparable to earlier scores reported in the recent article " Nine Ways to Wipe Out Spyware.

There's a serious difference between virus-type threats and other kinds of malware. In order to propagate, a virus has to fly under the radar, remaining as inconspicuous as possible. Typically the virus hides by infecting an existing executable file; the virus code runs with a minimum of fuss and doesn't keep the infected file from doing its normal job. Spyware programs don't have to be so subtle. They can slop any number of files and Registry keys into your system and just hope you won't notice right away.

Trojan horse programs masquerade as useful programs, so they, too, have no reason to hide. A product originally designed to fight spyware and other nonvirus malware will typically work hard to clean up all the traces it can find. Files and Registry traces left behind may not be actively malicious, but they take up space and can gunk up your system. A virus-fighting program, on the other hand, figures that its work is done once it repairs or quarantines the infected executable.

This difference in psychology shows up very clearly when you compare avast! In most cases, Spyware Doctor cleaned up amazingly well, deleting not only the essential executables, but all or almost all of the Registry traces and data files installed by malware as well. You do get a more thorough cleanup from Spyware Doctor. It examines any file received through almost 20 different instant messaging clients and almost 30 different peer-to-peer download programs. Its "Web shield" can abort the download of a malicious file before it even starts.

And it examines all programs on access. Clearly it will be tough for a malicious program even to reach your system, and even tougher for it to actually execute. To check the Web shield protection, I attempted to redownload all of my malware samples. Naturally a fair number were no longer available from the original URL, but avast! Next, I opened a folder full of sample malware installers in Windows Explorer.

Even the minimal file access required to display file details in Windows Explorer was enough to set off the on-access protection—it wiped out over half the samples.

When I tried again using unique hand-modified versions of all the samples, it caught exactly the same group, indicating that its detection system wasn't fooled by my tweaking. For the samples that weren't immediately wiped out, I launched each in turn and noted avast!

In most cases avast! I gave it full credit if it prevented installation of all executable files associated with a threat and half credit if it tried but missed some executables. On this test it scored a phenomenal 9. That beats both WAV's 8. Again, this is a new test set, so we can't compare with older scores. But avast! I'm not sure how many home users will need this feature, but you can configure avast! Locally it can print an alert on a network printer or use WinPopup to send a network pop-up message.

The avast!