Avast fixes bug that made the June cumulative updates block many programs

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Microsoft has officially acknowledged that Avast (one of my least-favorite Windows programs) has plugged a bug that caused many different Windows prog
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AmbularD, Elly

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I won’t defend avast, and its their duty to adjust to each new version

But please put yourself in their shoes,  Windows 10  changes every time, its hard to keep a software that function in every version of this OS.

This is why I will never fully accept W10, its a nightmare for software developers.

And if someone think I am wrong about my last statement, then I will ask you, how long until you are tired of fixing your software because an Upgrade broke it?

Just someone who don't want Windows to mess with its computer.

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Microfix

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Zaphyrus wrote:

But please put yourself in their shoes,  Windows 10  changes every time, its hard to keep a software that function in every version of this OS.

The AVAST bug effects all versions of Windows 10.
Avast and other Windows OS developers have months of insider testing before any new update/upgrade.

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Well that certainly changes everything

Just someone who don't want Windows to mess with its computer.

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I used Bitdefender until updating to Win10 and would have occasional issues with Win8.  Everything that I read indicated that Windows Defender does just as good a job as third party programs and the price is right.  I’ve not had any issues but then I don’t click on dodgy links or visit weird websites.  The best virus and malware protection continues to be the PC user.

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Can’t speak for Avast on Windows 10, but it turned out to be a menace for me on Windows 7 ESU recently.  I was having so many problems I had just about concluded my Windows installation was hopelessly borked, but as soon as I uninstalled Avast and switched to Windows Defender backed up by Malwarebytes Premium, about eighty percent of my issues disappeared.  (And several others vanished after I quit using Chrome.)

i7-10700k - ASROCK Z590 Pro4 - 1TB 970 EVO Plus M.2 - DDR4 3200 x 32GB - GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW - Windows 10 Pro

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The tug of war between antivirus vendors and operating system vendors is seldom front-page news, but it sits firmly at the center of almost every instance of system instability I’ve ever encountered.  Consider the infamous case of Symantec vs. Microsoft back when MS realized that their kernel needed to be closed before Windows Vista was released, as they had realized that most of their problems stemmed from its open nature, and Symantec caused when they claimed the absolute right for their chosen business model to exist forever, and tried to stop MS from closing that particular security hole.  It was pretty messy, as a third-party company whose existence was based on a problem that another company caused, tried to keep that company from fixing the problem so that they could stay in business.  Fortunately before it got too bad MS and Symantec reached an agreement to share kernel and critical development data.  It was definitely an interesting dilemma, I’m sure there are analogues in other areas than IT.

The point I am making is this:  when you run any version of Windows and an antivirus, depending on the manufacturer of the AV, you are no longer running “windows.”  The scads of filter drivers from some vendors means that the AV program itself becomes your OS, layered on top of Windows.  I have seen antivirus programs break network connections, USB ports, system drives, and countless other parts of the OS in ways that are nearly impossible to identify.  Even some other types of third-party utilities, like some defrag programs, insert their drivers in the middle of the native stack and can wreak havoc in unexpected ways, particularly after Windows security updates.

For home and casual use I prefer the built-in Defender exactly because it’s built into the OS and not tacked on afterward.  Professionally I have had very, very good experiences with the ESET line of products.  The key is to choose an antivirus vendor that works closely with MS and is has an enterprise level product that’s used by the kinds of companies that can’t afford to go down.  Anything lesser is playing with fire.

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Does Windows Defender have a good detection rate?

I’m using Avast Free and Malwarebytes pro on Windows 8.1. But I realize i’m probably not going to stick with Avast when I upgrade to Windows 10 in 2022.

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Windows Defender has improved in Win8.1 as a stock security system over the years. I haven’t had very many False+ using it on 2/3 Win8.1 devices. Occasionally get blips from MS defenition updates bur, few and far between. Malwarebytes (free) runs alongside Windows Defender without issue on 1 device. I dropped Avast/AVG years ago, with absolutely no regrets.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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AmbularD wrote:

Can’t speak for Avast on Windows 10, but it turned out to be a menace for me on Windows 7 ESU recently.  I was having so many problems I had just about concluded my Windows installation was hopelessly borked, but as soon as I uninstalled Avast and switched to Windows Defender backed up by Malwarebytes Premium, about eighty percent of my issues disappeared.  (And several others vanished after I quit using Chrome.)

No kidding. I’ve heard complaints that win 7 users using avast are having issues simply shutting down their PC.

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You can check the detection rates at one of the comparison sites, e.g. AV comparatives.
Defender usually scores very well.

cheers, Paul

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Microfix

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I used Avast for nearly 3 years during the later Windows XP era. For 90% of that time it was an excellent program.

Then out of the blue it began to detect threats that only it could see. Not only was Avast the only program seeing these issues it never gave the option to quarantine or remove the things it detected.

I was also using Malwarebytes Free at this time as well and the fact that it never detected any of the issues that Avast assured me were there is what lead me to start testing other AV programs.

What finally drove me away from Avast for good was during the June 2013 update cycle when everything pulled in by Windows Update was detected as a virus. Which lead to the system blue-screening.

I don’t remember the exact explanation from my local computer shop, but what it boiled down to was that something about the way Avast detected the update patches as viruses lead to Avast basically trying to eat the system.

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