Avast Free Antivirus 19.4.2374 for PC Windows

- avast is now finally compatible with Windows Vista RC1; also, the "remediations" in Vista Security Center are now functional
- added CHM unpacker (and this time, as an extra benefit, it should work even in the boot-time scanner)
- fixed a bug in the UPX unpacker
- added a couple of new Win32 unpackers
- added a workaround to problems with compatibility with Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (remaints of menus on the screen + seldom hang of avast program on start)
- no more attempts to delete files on read-only media
- improved detection of ZoneAlarm Pro (to prevent unnecessary WebShield incompatibility warnings)
- avast! screen-saver now uses better algorithm to remember last scan position
- added Swedish and Slovenian language versions

- minor fix in the updater that caused setting of incorrect access rights on the avast program files, preventing the program from functioning properly in certain circumstances.

- solved problem with installation on Windows NT 4.0 systems
- fixed the Program Settings menu item in the avast tray icon menu
- fixed a bug in the data storage that was preventing it from working correctly if the avast folder pathname contained non-Latin characters
- solved a rare problem that could eventually cause even a crash of the OS during boot (Windows XP)
- further enhanced compatibility with the latest Windows Vista builds

• Standard Shield: by default, system DLLs are not scanned anymore (speed optimization)


• further improved Standard Shield speed under Windows XP (generally, less files are scanned)


• Standard Shield: improved compatibility with Microsoft Office (particularly, saving of Excel documents on network shares)


• mail scanner now doesn't show Timeout Expired messages; the program was modified so that the respective timeout can be controlled by the mail client itself


• mail scanner: solved problem with the mail client reporting expired timeouts when sending larger emails via slow connectections


• mail scanner: fixed problem with delays during IP address reverse-lookup


• mail scanner: fixed displaying of tray icon


• P2P Shield: added support for Winny2 and Google Talk


• Web Shield: improved compatibility with Win9x


• transition to new data storage - avast does not need the ODBC/Jet drivers anymore and should therefore work better even under older versions of Windows (95/98/ME, NT4)


• fixed a bug in the Script Blocker module that was causing conflicts with some programs under non-English Windows (e.g. the German invoice system Lexware)


• added support for additional executable packers (e.g. MoleBox)


• fixed a bug that was sometimes causing very slow scanning of CAB archives


• boot-time scanner: added support for additional archives (GZ, BZIP2, TAR, LHARC, ZOO)


• improved handling of infected files with exotic filenames


• solved a problem with setting of incorrect access rights to the avast executable files


• removed a limit of maximal length of winpopup alerts (used to be 128 characters)


• Enhanced User Interface: infected items are now marked as red


• implemented new method of deleting of locked infected files (now using the boot-time scanner technology)


• this new version is now compatible with the Windows Disk Protection feature from Microsoft Shared Computing Toolkit.


• Avast should now work flawlessly with Windows Vista beta 2 and higher (Vista beta 2 will be released in the first half of May, i.e. in about 3 weeks); unfortunately, in beta1 + CTP builds <= 5342 there still can be serious OS stability issues

v4.6.763:

• enhanced support for UU-coded files


• avast! Screensaver should now work even under Windows x64 (with 64-bit screensavers)


• an attempt to solve problems related to computer freezing during shutdown (especially on Windows x64 machines with nForce4 chipset)


• scheduled scan progress can now be tracked and controlled by a new tray icon (Professional Edition)


• P2P Shield: added support for BitPump


• improved interaction of Standard Shield with other provider (better definition of scan exceptions)


• improved scanning speed of ZIP archives


• added an "unpacker" for OLE archives (extracts and scans e.g. binary files embedded in MS Office documents)


• Outlook plugin now works correctly even in the beta version of new MS Office 12


• Web Shield: minor improvements related to the handling of log files


• added Chinese language versions (both Simplified and Traditional)