Historique de revision d'avast! 4 Familial/Professionnel

Version 4.8.1195

12 Mai 2008

• corrige l’incompatibilité du module d’auto-protection d’avast avec la fonction "Restauration du système" (Windows XP/Vista)
• corrige le ralentissement du clavier/souris dans certains jeux (exemple : World of Warcraft)
• le scan "Rapide" est encore plus rapide (Dans la version précédente, il était habituellement lent plus que le scan "Normal")
• corrige la reprise lente pendant la sortie de l’hibernation (sur certains systèmes)
• stabilité améliorée du pilote du noyau aswSP.sys
• corrige la suppression des fichiers infectés dans certaines "nested archives"
• l’extension shell: sous Windows Vista, les cibles des raccourcis sont maintenant correctement analysées
• le scan au démarrage affiche maintenant correctement les messages d’alerte concernant les archives corrompues
• améliore la vitesse d’analyse dans l’Interface Utilisateur Simplifiée
• améliore la gestion des exceptions d’analyse
• auto-protection (self protection): détection améliorée des changements dans le fichier INI
• le démarrage du service "avast! Mail Scanner" devrait maintenant être encore plus rapide
• corrige un problème avec avast en cours d'installation dans un répertoire avec un nom ne contenant pas les caractères latins
• corrige le problème concernant l’insertion de la clé de licence (ne fonctionne pas dans certaines configurations)
• améliore la détection/réparation des rootkits MBR
• avast peut maintenant et correctement traiter les cas ou le fichier INI est manquant ou corrompu
• l’option "Désactiver le scan pour rootkits au démarrage du système" dans la section Dépannage est maintenant efficace
• bouclier P2P: support ajouté pour Azureus Vuze et Qtrax
• les messages de la barre de tâche du Courrier Electronique devraient maintenant correctement traiter la plupart des codages communs de caractère
• corrige les problèmes avec le scanner au démarrage sur les partition FAT[32]
• petites améliorations dans certains désemballeurs (WinExec, RAR, CHM)
• corrige le message annonçant que la clé de licence va bientôt expirer
• sur Windows 64-bit, avast maintenant détecte les versions 32-bit et 64-bit du connecteur WHS
• la fenêtre de comparaison d’avast Familial / Pro est maintenant correctement affichée même sous Windows 9x

Version 4.8.1169

29 Mars 2008

• avast! contient maintenant une protection d'anti-rootkit
• avast! contient maintenant une protection d'anti-spyware (anti-espion)
• Une nouvelle fonction d'auto-défense pour empêcher les logiciels malveillants actifs de résilier les processus d’avast! ainsi que de corrompre les fichiers d’avast! et des éléments du registre
• les scanners affichent maintenant une progression du scan en cours (le pourcentage du travail fait)
• répare une vulnérabilité dans le pilote AavmKer4.sys kernel-mode (problème appliqué uniquement à Windows NT/2000/XP, 32-bit); un spécial remerciement à Tobias Klein
• amélioration du scan au démarrage (détection & suppression des fichiers cachés ou des fichiers supprimés du disque dur)
• le scan ne démarrera pas lorsque le démarrage se fera en mode sans échec (le programme était "invisible" dans ce cas, aucune progression/aucuns messages ne pouvait être vu)
• amélioration dans plusieurs désemballeurs
• les désemballeurs ACE et RAR fonctionnent même dans le scanner au démarrage
• Bouclier MI: support ajoute pour QQ
• améliorations dans le support des flux NTFS
• le service de courrier électronique affiche maintenant le nom du programme de l’envoyeur/receveur dans l’infobulle de son icône de la barre des taches
• mis en place une protection contre les faux positifs et fichiers système critiques
• corrige une petite fuite de mémoire dans l’un des pilotes d’avast ! (uniquement Windows Vista et XP 64-bit)
• ajoute un support pour le connecteur 64-bit WHS (disponible dans WHS Power Pack 1)
• grande amélioration de la performance du module de mise à jour, spécialement dans le cas où plusieurs incréments sont entrain d’être téléchargés (exemple : l’installation d’avast avec une définition virale périmée)
• l’installation silencieuse maintenant inclue des taches planifiées, s’il y en a
• corrige un problème de compatibilité avec Acronis TrueImage (XP 64-bit uniquement)
• compatibilité testée avec Vista SP1 et XP SP3

Version 4.7.1098

December 4, 2007

• fixed a vulnerability in TAR unpacker (special thanks to "Sowhat" of Nevis Labs)
• improvements in various unpackers (winexec, installer, CAB, NTFS Streams)
• boot-time scanner now functional even with USB keyboards
• speed improvements in the Outlook plugin (Windows XP+)
• Web Shield: compatibility improvements
• Internet Mail provider: improvements on Windows Vista
• CAB unpacker now working in boot-time scan
• RAR unpacker modified so that it is now more tolerant to certain corrupted archives (issue reported by Thierry Zoller of n.runs AG)
• Professional Edition: scheduled scan progress icon now accessible even in Windows Vista
• Windows 9x/ME: fix in the Mail Protection Wizard (related to Mozilla Thunderbird accounts)
• fixed a bug in the scan area selection dialog in Windows NT/2000
• optimizations in the updater
• removed mail heuristics false alarm (related to TNEF attachments)

Version 4.7.1043

September 6, 2007

• fixed a problem in the boot-time scanner (prevents the intermittent "Unhandled Exception" errors)
• added Inno Setup unpacker
• speed optimization of certain operations (e.g. scanning of emails in the Internet Mail provider)
• Standard Shield: fixed a memory leak (Windows NT/2000/XP)
• mail scanner: fix in IMAP handler (solves problems with Nortel CallPilot, for example)
• Windows Vista: removed the conflict with Asus Data Security Manager
• Web Shield: now scans even data returned from HTTP POST requests
• speed improvements in the area selection dialog
• fixed various small issues on Windows Vista

Version 4.7.1029

July 28, 2007

• infrastructure changes in the scanning engine bringing higher detection rates
• fixed a bug that was sometimes causing crash of the avast! screensaver during its initialization
• improved handling of corrupted files in the SIS and CAB unpackers
• Standard Shield: fixed a minor memory leak in the Vista (and Vista only) driver
• Standard Shield: improved the "move to chest" command in Vista
• Standard Shield: the default scan exceptions are now valid for read/write access only (not execute)
• added more "installer" unpackers
• added more Win32 executable unpackers (Enigma etc.)
• for NTLM proxy authorization (via ISA Server) it is now possible to specify the account under which the avast! service will perform the update
• added Arabic language pack

Version 4.7.1001

April 30, 2007

• Professional Edition: fixed installation of the ScriptBlocker module which could have previously caused various problems (e.g. in Internet Explorer)
• program installation now completes successfully even if Spyware Doctor is installed (the "OnGuard" module of Spyware Doctor contains a bug that was previously preventing the avast installation from working correctly)
• program installation now better handles the situation when repairing previous (corrupted) installs
• mail scanner: fix for marking of new emails as "read" (the problem was taking place in Thunderbird 2.0 in conjunction with some IMAP servers)
• fix for scanning of areas with East Asian names (Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista)
• added Armadillo unpacker

Version 4.7.986

April 18, 2007

• fixed the Outlook/Exchange provider on Windows 9x/ME
• solved incompatibility of memory scan with certain 3rd party applications
• fixed the boot-time scan under Windows NT 4.0

Version 4.7.981

April 14, 2007

• fixed extra-long duration of the boot-time scan under Windows Vista
• WebShield: improved compatibility with Windows Vista
• WebShield: better support for HTTP method CONNECT in upstream proxy scenarios
• fixed a minor memory leak in aswrdr.sys
• auto-updates now use much less CPU resources (should not interfere with other CPU-intensive programs running on the computer, e.g. games)
• added a new unpacker: "installers"; useful especially for detection of malware droppers
• Outlook/Exchange provider: improved compatibility with Outlook 2007
• boot-time scanner: fix for the case when there's the /NOGUIBOOT option in boot.ini (or BCD on Windows Vista)
• fixed a problem in Standard Shield under Windows Vista related to saving of Word 2007 documents on FAT partitions
• email alerts now use correct formatting even for non-Latin characters
• fixed a rare problem in Standard Shield related to handling of disk volumes mounted to NTFS directories
• further enhancements in executable unpackers
• fixed a bug in ZOO unpacker (special thanks to Jean-Sébastien Guay-Leroux)
• task scheduler: it's now possible to specify which days of week the task should run
• command-line scanner (ashCmd.exe) now supports a couple of more command-line options, mostly related to handling of infected files
• mail scanner: improved deleting of entire emails (virus embedded in email body)
• fixed opening of the sounds settings dialog under certain operating systems
• avast! screensaver now available even under Windows Vista 64-bit
• better detection of corrupted/modified VPS file
• WebShield: other minor fixes
• added Macedonian, Croatian and Portuguese (not Brazilian) language packs

Version 4.7.942

January 15, 2007

• Standard Shield works on Vista 64bit again
• fixed problems with (missing or non-functional) resident protection virus warning popup, occurring on some systems

Version 4.7.938

January 14, 2007

• fixed a problem with password-lock for resident protection settings
• fixed very slow updating on Windows 95/98/ME

Version 4.7.936

January 12, 2007

• higher performance of the scanning engine (especially on new CPUs) and faster start of the avast! system service on OS boot
• improved support for Windows Vista (added support for NTFS transactions (also known as TxF) etc.)
• improved detection of full-screen applications
• fixed a bug related to the demo licence not being installed during silent installs
• improved compatibility with Windows offline folders
• more improvements in executable unpackers
• minor fixes in the ZIP unpacker
• fixed Runtime error R6034 messages when Mozilla Thunderbird version 3.0 is installed
• suppressed double scans when the user selected a local disk scan plus a folder scan (with the folder residing on the local disk)
• added Catalan language module

Version 4.7.892

September 25, 2006

• 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 the last scan position
• added Swedish and Slovenian language versions

Version 4.7.871

August 8, 2006

• fixed malfunctioning of the boot-time scanner under Windows NT/2000 (error "STOP c0000139")

Version 4.7.869

August 6, 2006

• Standard Shield now compatible with NT systems set up for the C2 security standard
• minor fixes in the data storage
• auto-updater now run with normal priority (used to be high priority)
• minor enhancements in a number of unpackers (e.g. added support for old versions of UPX)
• fixed a bug in LHARC unpacker (special thanks to Ryan Smith)
• fixed a bug related to deletion of files from certain special archives; the "move to chest" operation used to, under certain circumstances, cause the file to be actually extracted to the avast folder
• attempt to solve the problem with corruption of Thunderbird mailbox when a virus is found in its first email
• files not scanned because of scan exclusions are not displayed in the Simple UI results dialog anymore
• hyperlinks (e.g. "virus information") are now opened in browser's new window
• Windows 9x: fixed a bug in data storage causing incorrect behavior if the program was installed to a folder with non-Latin character path name
• minor optimization of memory consumption of the "avast! Antivirus" service (process ashServ.exe/aswServ.exe)
• updater now more tolerant to corrupted data files

Version 4.7.844

May 31, 2006

• improvements in executable packers (most notably, ASProtect unpacker)
• fixed incorrect handling of non-Latin characters in the data storage
• Outlook plugin: now compatible with Windows Vista
• avast! now working correctly under Windows Vista 64-bit builds
• fixed incorrect statistics in sessions of scheduled tasks
• fixed a problem in the creation of silent installation (Professional Edition)
• fixed a subtle bug in the data storage (occuring after deleting an object)
• temporarily disabled the CHM unpacker (for security reasons)
• added Danish language version

Version 4.7.827

April 28, 2006

• minor fix in the updater (see here for details)

Version 4.7.826

April 28, 2006

• 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

Version 4.7.817

April 19, 2006

• 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. For more information, please refer to the FAQ section
• 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

Version 4.6.763

January 28, 2006

• 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)

Version 4.6.744

December 20, 2005

• added unpackers for a couple of new variants of EXE packers
• fixed a problem consisting of a lack of removal of avast temp files during a scan of huge archives
• Standard Shield: fixed a problem with blocking of the name of infected file even after the file was removed
• fixed a bug causing that for some infections, avast was offering the "Repair" action even if it was in fact not available

Version 4.6.739

December 3, 2005

• added a workaround to a small bug in NetBios (might have even caused blue screens in aswTdi.sys)
• added a couple of new Win32 unpackers
• fixed a rare problem of crashing of memory tests under WinXP x64
• removed displaying of the "Default mail client is not installed" message during engine initialization
• fixed incorrect operation of English avast! under Japanese Windows (e.g. non-functional Virus Chest)
• removed message "archive is corrupted" while scanning a certain class of packed files
• added Malay language version

Version 4.6.731

November 12, 2005

• aswRdr.sys: fixed a race condition that could eventually lead even to a system crash
• improvements in the executable file unpackers
• enhanced tolerancy against damaged archives
• boot-time scan now supports the "Move to chest" command
• mail scanner: fixes in IMAP handling (NTLM authentication related)
• the "Date of last scan" entry is now updated by all scanners (not only Simple UI)
• added support for CAB and LHA sfx archives
• P2P Shield: added support for BitLord, uTorrent and ABC
• boot-time scan now shows textual error strings (instead of error codes)
• WebShield: fixed parsing of HTTP requests in the case where a header is larger than 64K
• WebShield: fixes in the detection of Transfer-Encoding:chunked
• WebShield: new avast4.ini options: NoDefOptinProcess, NoDefIgnoreProcess, default=0
• WebShield: miniscule fix in the GUI
• minor fixes in the email scanner (related to Lotus Notes clients)
• GUI: most lists (e.g. areas to test, exceptions, etc.) now support the following keyboard shortcuts: INS = Add, DEL = Delete, F2 = Edit
• Aswrdr.sys: fixed compatibility problem with Windows Vista beta versions
• fixed a problem with the boot-time scanner under Windows Vista beta
• fixed crashes of the physical memory scan under WinXP x64
• mail heuristics: added detection of multiple content-type headers
• avast now does not report the "file is corrupted" messages when trying to unpack a modified, unknown or damaged version of a Winexec packer
• sched.exe now supports all params of the boot-time scanner
• added Greek language version

Version 4.6.691

July 9, 2005

• further improvements in executable unpackers (WinExec)
• WinExec unpackers are now supported even by the boot-time scanner
• changes in ACE unpacker: security fixes
• Web Shield: fixed a bug that could cause even crash of the ashWebSv.exe process (in module wshtcpip.sys)
• Web Shield: fixed a bug that could cause crash of the process while terminating
• Web Shield: removed event handle leak
• Web Shield: fixed a bug related to HTTP status 100-Continue
• Web Shield: fixed parsing of HTTP response for the HEAD request - now "Save Link As" in Firefox works correctly
• Standard Shield: removed potential problem (that could lead even to system hangup) while testing network-based files under Windows XP
• P2P Shield: added support for KCeasy
• IM Shield: added support for SIM (Simple Instant Messenger), PalTalk Messenger and Tlen
• fixed loading of default config values in resident providers
• now the Silent mode in the Outlook/Exchange plugin works
• added new GUI items (global program settings)
• added the ability of not displaying of popup messages while a full-screen app is running (e.g. a game)
• fixes in the mail scanner: handling of redirect (for the Calypso program); bug "server has closed the connection" while reading news
• added more comprehensive handling of expired licenses
• minor fixes and enhancements in selected unpackers (ZIP, MIME, TAR)
• improved warning on log off when removable media are present
• minor changes in avast! sounds
• VRDB generation when idle is now not started if current CPU load is 15% or higher

Version 4.6.665

May 22, 2005

• added support for additional executable unpackers (FSG, MEW, PE Deminisher)
• minor enhancements in the TAR unpacker
• more stringent checking of parameters passed into all avast! kernel mode drivers
• added the ability to on-access scan network drives even if the avast! antivirus service runs under the LocalSystem account
• Standard Shield: removed OS freezing on startup when on-open scanning of all (*) files was selected
• fixed a minor problem in aswTdi.sys (that could theoretically lead even to the "BSOD")
• added detection of "computer reliability" and potential disabling of kernel-mode scanning if the computer doesn't seem reliable enough
• increased maximum size of configuration data of the on-access providers (e.g URL blocking masks etc.)
• WebShield: solved problem with Hotmail access from Outlook Express (lowered the Keep-Alive "aggresivity")
• WebShield: decreased the number of data written to ashwebsv.ws
• WebShield: fixed problems related to crashing of various third party LSP modules inside the ashWebSv.exe process
• WebShield: improved timeout for non-HTTP connections (e.g. ICQ via JAVA) and default connection timeout increased to 15 minutes
• WebShield: implemented maximum size of scanned file during download (by default, 20MB)

Version 4.6.652

April 19, 2005

• WebShield: solved problems with displaying of certain pages (incorrect handling of connection close)
• WebShield: removed NETBIOS reverse lookup (access to UDP port 137) (same applies to the mail scanner)
• WebShield: added detection of ZoneAlarm and subsequent deactivation of transparent proxy mode
• better ability of dealing with corrupted archives
• minor enhancements in some unpackers (RAR, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, ZOO)
• added support for SIS archives (SymbianOS installation archives)
• fixes in the mail scanner: problems with multiple simultaneous connections, removal of superfluous sending in case of client timeout
• boot-time scan: removed limit of total length of the folder paths (1024B)
• fixed a bug causing lack of detection of certain virus types under Windows NT 4.0

Version 4.6.623

March 12, 2005

• fixed various problems in the new WebShield provider (ZoneAlarm privacy control related problems, access to SSL sites, access to HTTP/0.9 servers etc).
• fixed various problems in the new NNTP scanner (part of the Internet Mail provider)
• corrected installation-related problems in the case of the odd system setting NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation
• IM Shield: added support for Skype and IM2 Messenger (NT-based systems only)
• corrected some hyperlinks in the program
• attempt to solve seldom Windows 9x virus dialog related freezes
• attempt to solve ashServ.exe system shutdown related issues
• added Norwegian language pack

Version 4.6.603

February 19, 2005

• added the new "Web Shield" resident provider for on-access scanning of HTTP traffic. Under NT-based systems, it should work automatically. On Win9x, you have to tell your browser to use HTTP proxy 127.0.0.1 on port 12080.
• added NNTP (Usenet News) scanner to the Internet Mail provider. Under NT-based systems, it works transparently; under Win9x, the Mail Protection Wizard will help you set up the account (Outlook Express only).
• added new unpacker for Outlook Express archives (.dbx files)
• fixed crashing of the program when it found a boot/MBR virus
• the updater should now work with the default proxy settings even if IE is set to the "Work Offline" mode
• avast! now distinguishes between various malware categories and reports them differently.
• greatly optimized memory footprint of avast! processes (especially ashServ.exe)
• added support for long license keys (8-digit customer number)
• the Explorer Extension scanner should now work even under 64-bit Windows
• under 64-bit Windows, the scan of the SYSTEM32 directory now works correctly
• fixed the problem with a very slow start of avast! on-access scanner service on certain Windows 2000 configurations with MS Outlook installed
• fixed some problems in the GZIP unpacker
• optimized CAB and CHM unpackers
• fixed problems related with on-access scanning of named pipes (Windows NT/2000/XP Standard Shield)
• hyperlinks in configuration property sheets now finally have the correct background color
• attempt to fix sound-related problems under Win9x
• added links to certain FAQ entries on the Web
• avast! now correctly registers in the Windows Security Center under Windows 64-bit
• fixed certain conflicts with copy-protected programs (AsProtect) under Win9x
• warnings about suspicious e-mails (heuristics) are now displayed correctly even under terminal services environments (and while using the Fast User Switching feature in Windows XP)
• added Romanian and Bulgarian language packs

Version 4.5.561

January 4, 2005

• fixed problems with license keys for programs installed in the year 2005

Version 4.5.549

December 2, 2004

• fixed mail traffic problems related to personal firewalls (ZoneAlarm etc.)
• fixed seldom absence of the Settings dialog
• fixed rare crashes in aswTdi.sys
• fixed problems with SMTP authorization (mainly under Win9x)
• fixed strange display of column with ClearType turned on
• avast Home/Pro is now compatible with Windows XP 64-bít (except for the boot-time scanner and scanning of the \windows\system32 directory)
• fixed a bug in the scanning engine that could be, under certain circumstances, causing 100% CPU load
• fixed sending of mail alerts in the Mail Scanner module (long delays)
• fixed minor bug in the MIME parser that could cause repetitive reporting of the same virus
• Network Shield alerts can now be easily suppressed by using the "Do not show next time" hyperlink
• fixed problematic handling of filename cache in the Standard Shield (could potentially lead even to execution of an infected file)
• fixed minor incompatibility of the on-access scanner with the Windows XP's System Restore feature
• fixed launching of the integrated Virus Cleaner in some Win9x installations
• ICQ alerts are now compatible with ICQ Pro

Version 4.5.518

November 13, 2004

• added Network Shield - an IDS component for detection and blocking of Internet worms (NT based systems only)
• Internet Mail provider now works transparently, without the need of reconfiguration of mail clients (NT based systems only)
• P2P Shield now supports more P2P programs
• IM Shield now supports more IM programs
• added support for new archives (ISO, CHM, 7ZIP, RPM, CPIO, TNEF)
• significantly enhanced extraction of packed executables (namely AsPack)
• added TCP daemon (possibility of scanning via TCP interface)
• Outlook/Exchange now supports Silent mode
• added maximum Chest size limit
• added maximum log files size limit
• fixed a security hole in MIME packer that could in rare cases cause some MIME attachments not to be correctly recognized
• enhanced displaying of international characters in the Simple User Interface (automatic selection of charset)
• fixed display of window title of skinned Explorer extension on Asian operating systems
• the mail wizard now tests if the ports are occupied and if this is the case, it uses different port numbers
• on-startup-if-locked is now the default flag for 'Delete' operation
• when removing an infected file (delete, move, move to chest), avast! now also removes the eventual registry references of the file
• fixed and enhanced some virus actions (particularly Move) - saving of settings, reporting
• considerably enhanced actions on archives (postprocessing - both performing and displaying)
• Scheduler and ashCmd generated sessions now keep all the configured results
• the on-access modules now correctly handles eventual failures of the scanning engine
• fixed an Enhanced UI crash that was happening during the changing of sensitivity of the Internet Mail or Outlook providers without the Advanced Configuration box checked
• Mail Protection Wizard adds support for Thunderbird 0.7 and Pegasus 4.2 (now only relevant for Win9x)
• fixed overrun and crash in the mail scanners while testing archives with a large number of viruses (hundreds, thousands)
• fixed a bug of not-detecting DOS viruses when executed on WinNT/2K/XP if the name contained non-English characters ("Le Doc bug" :-))
• fixed a bug of not-detecting DOS viruses when executed on WinNT/2K/XP from mapped network drives
• fixed rare crashes of the program while scanning files in the Virus Chest
• implemented Simple User Interface without skins
• added the possibility of random skin selection upon Simple UI startup
• changed the default skin (instead of Blue Panel, it is Silver Panel now)
• implemented direct healing of some infections
• added support for detection of "decompression bombs"
• boot time scan now supports definition of multiple scan areas
• increased tolerance against damaged/corrupted archives
• fixed rare cases of steady 100% CPU load inside ashMaiSv.exe
• fixed crashing of ashMaiSv.exe on computers with names that include non-English characters
• fixed the inability to scan files or folders with certain special names (CON, NUL, ...)
• added Finnish, Korean, Serbian and Turkish language versions
• fixed a number of memory leaks in various GUI components
• fixed seldom crashing of web browsers caused by the ScriptBlocker provider (ahaScr.dll)
• fixed the change of cursor and sounds while in the context menu in Simple UI
• attempt to solve the problem with freezing Outlook when connected via VPN
• fixed rare freezing of avast while scanning special files (with archive scanning turned on)
• "Program settings" is now available via the tray icon context menu
• enhanced displaying of on-access scanner messages (now should work even under Windows 9x with high sensitivity of the Standard Shield)
• fixed a problem with the inability to schedule the boot-time scan on some systems (non-existing NTFS 8.3 pathnames)
• changed the Standard Shield defaults

Version 4.1.501

October 29, 2004

A tiny interim build used to get all avast installations ready for the transition to upcoming version 4.5.

Version 4.1.418

June 13, 2004

• fixed slow scanning on some systems and errors related to the "AsPack" unpacker
• fixed boot time scan - it was not able to delete files with the read-only attribute set
• enhaced UI now correctly displays properties of special tasks
• fixed problems related to editing of the screen-saver task
• fixed displaying of skinned dialog captions in Asian language versions

Version 4.1.412

June 10, 2004

• fixed a bug related to SMTP mail sending (extra "recipients" added etc.)
• improved reading of MBR's under Windows NT/2000
• an attempt to solve the problem with crashing of some programs under Win9x, e.g. FreeCell
• an attempt to solve "error 0x000000C1" problem when launching some avast components
• fixed writing to log file in non-English avast versions
• Windows Security Center in WinXP SP2 now correctly shows the VPS version even after it has been updated
• an attempt to solve computer freezes during memory scan on some computers with specific hardware and PowerStrip loaded
• improved boot-time scan - now if the computer is turned off during the scan, it doesn't stay scheduled
• The Bat! plugin is now able to show tray icon during mail scanning
• fixed a problem with folder selection under Asian Windows
• all skins are now usable in all language versions of avast! (including Japanese and Russian)
• enhanced output of the boot-time scanner (limited support for diacritics and fixed a problem with overlapping text under Asian Windows)
• fixed a bug causing the message "Error 3: Path Not Found" to be displayed during the scan of local disks on systems with an unformated partition; true even in case when the partition was included in the exception list (now, if the partition is in the exception list in the form X:* the message will not be shown anymore)
• the chest, VRDB and LogViewer now show date/time values according to the user settings
• fixed a bug that was for causing for some specific types of emails in Thunderbird (maybe elsewhere as well) incorrect insertion of scanning notes
• minor (language) fixes of English help files

Version 4.1.396

April 27, 2004

• fixed a bug in the Internet Mail provider that was causing its seldom crashes
• fixed problems in the Standard Shield that were causing instabilities in some Win9x systems
• fixed a bug in the VRDB repair code that was causing that some files were reported as unrepairable even though they could be repaired
• fixed a crash of Enhanced UI when adding a schedule from a task's properties
• fixed saving of alert properties in the Enhanced UI
• fixed saving of screen-saver properties
• fixed lack of tooltips and sounds in the Simple UI
• fixed slow start of the program under Windows XP SP2
• enhanced Spanish language pack

Version 4.1.389

April 21, 2004

• fixed a bug that was causing incorrect version of VPS file to be inserted to emails
• solved boot-time scan problem with latest VPS files: "avworkInitialize returned 42003"
• global memory segments are now non-inheritable which should solve respective problems with on-line VPS updates without restart
• solved freezing of the program while displaying some question dialogs in the Japanese version
• The heuristics module for the Internet Mail provider now adheres to the scan settings, i.e. if scanning of inbound mail is disabled, for instance, even the heuristics module for inbound mail is disabled
• deleting of infected files from the virus dialog now deletes the files on next reboot only when it's really necessary (i.e. if the file is really locked)
• Standard Shield for Win9x now doesn't trap read file access initiated by the Internet Mail module anymore
• the file clnr0.dll (Virus Cleaner) is now being extracted to the avast! data folder, instead of system TEMP
• added support for Windows Security Center in Windows XP SP2
• fixed a bug causing occasional substitution of a dot with an equation sign in message tags added by the Internet Mail module
• added new language versions: French, Slovak and Russian

Version 4.1.357

February 27, 2004

• fixed a bug causing bypass of scanning inside selected archives (eg. RAR) by the Standard Shield under WinNT/2000/XP/2003
• fixed deleting of temp files e.g. when moving packed infected files to the Virus Chest (typically in the Internet Mail provider)
• fixed incorrect display of path names containing the ampersand character
• fixed a bug in mail heuristics related to testing of attachment extensions
• fixed a bug that was preventing generation of report files under Windows 95
• ZIP unpacker: added support for a new compression method
• ZIP unpacker: fixed a bug related to decompression of text files
• RAR unpacker: fixed failures on spanned archives
• CAB unpacker: added detection + proper handling of duplicite file names
• MIME unpacker: fixed a problem with files with atypical headers during deletion
• the info popup displayed during the push update doesn't block the mail program anymore
• sending of emails from avast by SMTP now supports authorization
• the mail providers now work with both VPS version and date (not only date as in previous versions)
• the mail providers are now able to add info to the subject field of infected messages
• text reports now contain version of VPS files used to scan
• the settings of the Antivirus event log are now not reset to default values after every reboot
• boot-time scanner now doesn't create about 50 files with nonsense names in the TEMP folder anymore
• enhanced on-open scanning in the Standard Shield under Windows 9x
• enhanced checks for incompatible AV programs
• the "Common" config page was removed from Log Viewer and Virus Chest settings
• additional fixes to prevent repeated boot-time scans
• fixed minor log-file related problems
• added Japanese language version

Version 4.1.342

January 29, 2004

• fixed the Internet Mail provider to work correctly with Eudora
• fixed a slight problem in the Mail Protection Wizard related to setting of Outlook Express outbound mail
• solved the problem with Volume Shadow Copies under Windows XP
• Windows 2000/XP machines should now shut down faster
• solved seldom problems with the resident scanner password
• the command-line scanner now correctly saves sessions when working with tasks
• removed seldom crashes in TheBat! plugin
• added console program ashUpd.exe used for manual updating (not localized)
• solved error message 'File is not packed' when working with packed viruses
• solved problems with repetitive boot-time scanning

Version 4.1.335

January 21, 2004

• added plugin for The Bat! (mail client)
• Mail Protection Wizard now supports Pegasus Mail 4.1 and Mozilla Thunderbird
• fixed the Internet Mail scanner to work correctly with messages that include null bytes
• fixed a bug in sorting of scheduled events
• the scheduler now works even in terminal services environment
• fixed overwriting of packer settings for resident providers upon startup
• fixed a problem with incorrect saving of resident provider settings
• integrated Virus Cleaner is now also localized
• fixed a bug related to creation of a task after prior viewing of session properties
• added missing links to web for German, Hungarian, Dutch and Polish version
• fixed a bug related to note insertion for PUSH updates in the Outlook plugin that was sometimes causing the actual message body to be erased

Anniversary version 4.1.319

December 18, 2003

• avast is now able to unpack almost all ASPack variants
• improved work with packed EXEs - mainly actions (move to Chest etc.)
• fixed a problem that was causing some temp files to be left over by the WinEXEC unpacker
• improvements in the setup/update engine
• avast is now checking presence of other (incompatible) AV programs, such as Norton Antivirus
• fixed saving in the SMTP Settings dialog
• heuristics in the Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange providers now supports silent mode
• added support for iMesh to the P2P Shield
• added support for LHA/LHX/LZH archives (will make happy most Japanese users :-))
• added German, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian and Dutch language versions

Version 4.1.304

November 26, 2003

• Improved unpacking of EXE files compressed with AsPack
• fixed a minor problem in the ZIP unpacker
• fixed a pesky memory leak in the Standard Shield driver for Windows XP
• reduced overall memory footprint of avast modules
• the Script Blocker now works correctly even under non-admin account in the Terminal services environment
• solved the ashQuick 'Error: During open ATL dialog' message problem
• removed the 3-minute limit for virus alert response in the on-access scanner
• solved the "Error code 8004010F - Can not reattach the repaired file to the message" problem in the Outlook plugin
• the notification window is now shown correctly even if the Auto-Hide Taskbar option is set
• program now correctly works will all files even with non-ANSI names (e.g. under Japanese Windows with files with Japanese characters in names)
• the resident task now generates a report file by default
• added a configuration page for easy setting of SMTP details
• now it is possible to define two disctinct avast! signatures in mail plugins (the set of tags is extended with *_EX types - namely: TYPE_EX, INBOUND_EX, OUTBOUND_EX, ATTACH_EX, DELETED_EX, CLEANED_EX, LEFT_EX, MOVED_EX, MOVEDTOCHEST_EX)
• the avast service now watches for too-old VPS (virus database) files
• by using the ShellExtensionIcon=0 entry in the [UserInterface] section of file avast4.ini, it is now possible to turn off displaying of the icon next to the avast item in the Explorer context menu
• the provider list in the on-access scanner window now remembers the last selected position

Version 4.1.289

October 24, 2003

Special build of the program that solves a problem with sending of e-mail messages with attachments via the mail scanner.

Version 4.1.287

October 23, 2003

• fixed minor memory leaks in archive scanning (TAR, CAB, WINEXEC)
• added support for a new compression method (ZIP)
• minor enhancements in the ARC and ZOO unpackers
• added error notifications for automatic updates
• fixed a problem with removal of certain viruses from mail [Dumaru etc.]
• changed the Standard Shield for Win9x so that now it should be compatible even with programs like LaserLock
• fixed a problem in silent installation related to mail alert settings
• the storage mdb file access rights are now properly reset after DB compacting
• plugin for Outlook is now fully compatible with Outlook 2003
• mail scanner: fixed a timeout problem related to SMTP communication

Version 4.1.278/280

October 7, 2003

• fixed a bug in MIME archive delete/pack handling for some specific file names
• fixed a bug causing undefinited behavior when attempting to repair selected viruses in the Resident scanner
• fixed minor bugs in mail providers
• significant enhancements of the updating code
• minor change in SMTP authentication handling in the mail scanner
• in case of a change of system files located in the Chest, new instances of these files are maintained
• fixed a problem with handling of infected items in archives (in ashQuick.exe etc.)
• silent installation now includes the file setup.ini
• waiting/paused resident providers are now distinguished by a different color

Version 4.1.268

September 18, 2003

• fixed a bug in the MS Outlook provider causing sending of blank message bodies on some systems
• the P2P Shield now supports BearShare even under Win9x
• fixed a potential "ATL Error" problem in the Quick scanner
• FreeCell (and other Win16 apps) in Win9x should now work correctly again
• fixed a problem causing incorrect names of report files of the resident protection
• enhanced the scanning mechanisms of the P2P and (partially) IM Shield under Win9x
• fixed some bugs in the program updater
• official release of the Italian language version

Version 4.1.260

September 11, 2003

Main new features:

• new Win32 EXE packers are supported: UPX, PeShield, PeProtect, AsPack
• new file archive formats are supported: ACE, ARC, ZOO, BZIP2
• new resident provider to protect IM programs (Windows/MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, mIRC, Trillian)
• new resident provider to protect P2P programs (Kazaa, KazaaLite, DirectConnect, DC++, WinMX, LimeWire, BearShare, BitTorrent)
• new area to scan - AutoStart programs
• integrated avast! Virus Cleaner is able to completely remove the most common virus infections from the computer
• Internet Mail provider supports multiple SMTP servers now
• Mail Protection Wizard supports Netscape/Mozilla version 7 and IncrediMail now
• the computer can be optionally shut down when on-demain scan is finished (Enhanced User Interface only)
• VRBD generation can be started/stopped manually (using the icon in the system tray)
• all avast! components perform a self-check when started
• Outlook/Exchange resident provider can be set to perform arbitrary (automatic) actions on the infected objects
• major improvement of the Explorer Extension (ashQuick.exe program)
• it is possible to send files from the Virus Chest
• starting/stopping the resident providers during the runtime can be persisted (saved) now
• new types of virus alerts: IM programs and printers
• running scheduled sessions can be controlled now
• it is possible to specify that the stored sessions will be deleted automatically after given time
• it is possible to create Silent Installation packages (Enhanced User Interface only)
• new page in program settings to configure the UseRAS= and AssumeAlwaysConnected= items (i.e. to set the connection options for automatic updates)

Main fixes:

• fixed errors in resident protection on NT-based systems (not scanning of created/modified files, incompatibility with some defragment and backup programs, occasional crashes on Windows XP)
• the program should be fully compatible with Windows 95 now (if at least IE4 is installed)
• the mail scanner now works on Windows NT again and it is possible to insert user-defined notes on the virus status to messages
• fixed a bug causing that files inside of archives were not scanned when the files were tested according to their extension and the archive was being unpacked to memory
• the page with resident providers configuration was modified (it has two buttons now)
• when scanning created/modified/opened files, Standard Shield scans files without extension as well (if the list of tested extensions contains asterisk or question sign)
• improved the compatibility of the mail scanner with selected personal firewalls
• fixed occasional incorrect display of iNews in Windows 9x
• fixed a bug that may cause the automatic updates not to be started
• the heuristic module in the mail scanner does not warn about empty message subject by default
• fixed deleting the files after restart on NT-based systems
• fixed the "Browse for file" dialog in report file configuration (on older operating systems)
• fixed a problem in Outlook causing the messages not to be marked as read after given time (with some configurations)
• fixed some problems in the option Show detailed info on performed action of the Standard Shield
• fixed occasional crashes with the error Xerces Panic Error: Could not load transcoding services
• the option UseRAS=1 should finally work correctly on all operating systems
• fixed a bug in processing the operator if failed in virus actions
• moving the infected mails to a specified folder in Outlooku works now
• improved the tolerance of VRDB against the corruption of avast.int file (containing VRDB)
• fixed the problems with Fast User Switching in Windows XP
• Enhanced User Interface requires the password for the resident protection (if set) to un/mark the default resident task as well
• boot-time scan scheduler dialog remembers the last settings now

Version 4.0.235

July 3, 2003

Fixes:

• fixed problems with stability of the resident protection under WinNT/2K/XP
• fixed a bug causing possible incorrect testing of some files from Explorer (if their name contained the apostrophe character)
• fixed minor issues in the MIME unpacker
• fixed the preview feature of Screen Saver
• fixed a bug causing possible failure to start automatic updating

New features:

• binhex support added to the MIME parser
• the mail scanner now does not show irrelevant messages about occupied ports when the Fast User Switching feature of Windows XP is used
• clicking the blue info window after an update now results in showing the Summary window
• mail scanner can now reload its settings from the INI file immediately
• added context sensitive help for the mail alert dialog

Version 4.0.229

June 20, 2003

Fixes:

• Fixed a bug in MIME packer causing lack of detection of some specific attachments, and removal of infected attachments
• Fixed a problem with incorrect size of unpacked files (most notably causing some problems in MIME archives)
• Fixed a bug in Standard Shield for Win9x causing misinterpretation of extensions to be scanned
• Fixed a problem causing, among other things, lack of animation of the VRDB icon
• Mail alerts now work even in resident tasks (including MAPI)
• Fixed the Blocking module (in Standard Shield)
• Improved the stability of the resident module for Win9x - solves e.g. the incompatibility with Kazaa
• Improved the stability of the resident module for Windows XP
• Fixed crashing of Outlook in the case when avast! license has expired
• Fixed minor memory leaks in ARJ and ZIP archives
• Fixed minor memory leaks in Enhanced User Interface
• Fixed minor handle leaks in the Internet Mail provider
• Fixed a bug causing incorrect display of file sizes in statistics (if huge files are present on disk)
• Actions on archives will now be performed even if the test is aborted
• MIME archive now correctly interprets characters of national alphabets
• Fixed a bug in the heuristics settings of the mail providers (change of Normal vs. High sensitivity)
• Fixed the links on the front page of the Enhanced User Interface
• Fixed the behavior of the UseRAS=1 setting in avast4.ini
• Fixed restarting of the resident protection under Win9x

New features:

• Resident modules for WinNT/2000/XP now work with Unicode filenames
• Internet Mail Provider now supports, like the Outlook plugin, setting of custom mail tags
• The Internet Mail provider contains additional means of detection of dropped connections
• Internet Mail: the timeout dialog contains the name of server with which it is communicating
• The Internet Mail provider displays a warning in case the ports are already occupied
• The MAPI archive for scanning inside PST files has been implemented
• Boot-time scan now tests the MBR
• Improved logging in resident modules
• Mail alert text now contains the name of the computer from which it originated
• Report settings in Simple User Interface now support auto-complete
• Enhanced bounds checking in archives (better resistence against corrupted files)

Version 4.0.211

May 12, 2003

Fixes:

• Screen-saver now functional again
• Boot-time scanner now functional again
• Fixed some bugs in the Quick scanner
• Fixed sorting of some columns in Enhanced User Interface
• Fixed a bug causing incorrect display of session results

New features:

• Simple User Interface can now be fully controlled by keyboard
• Mail alerts can now be set for Screen-saver and Quick scanner as well (Pro version only)
• Added extra confirmations when user opts to delete potentially dangerous files (mail archives etc.)

Version 4.0.202

April 17, 2003

• Fixed a bug that was causing incorrect display/change of status of the resident protection in Simple User Interface
• Fixed a bug causing non-testing of files starting with zero bytes
• Fixed a bug causing non-testing of packed files under Win9x
• Internet Mail should now correctly handle archives as well
• Solved the problem with slow shutdown of Windows 2000 machines having Novell ZenWorks installed
• avast! Screen Saver now has default speed of window movement (10s)
• Added the option of global alerts
• The alerts now support a new protocol - WinPopup
• Greatly extended the size of buffer for testing exceptions
• It is now possible to skip empty drives when checking removable media
• Scheduled sessions can now be controlled (Enhanced User Interface)
• The updater shouldn't write to the IE cache anymore (if IE proxy settings are in use)
• Enhanced crash handler

Version 4.0.183

March 17, 2003

• fixed a couple of bugs in ZIP, ARJ, TAR and GZIP archive handling
• implemented erasing of infected files inside EXE packers
• enhanced error handling in the scanning engine
• boot-time scan should now correctly handle its command line under all OS's
• automatic detection of new mail accounts should now work
• radically increased the scalability of the scanning interface for resident providers
• erasing of files after reboot should now work even under Win9x
• last-access-time of scanned files is not being updated anymore
• fixed a bug related to saving of virus actions to a task
• on-access scanner for NT/2000/XP now takes exceptions into account even when scanning DOS programs
• added support for new INI settings AssumeAlwaysConnected and UseRAS in the [InetWD] section
• added links and contacts to our technical support

Version 4.0.172

February 20, 2003

• fixed a bug in the AV engine that could cause some viruses to be missed under certain circumstances
• added the auto-complete function to program's text fields (where applicable)
• enhanced visual compatibility with WinXP themes
• fixed incompatibility between avast! and SB Live! under Windows 2000
• fixed hanging of program update (when a new VPS was available as well) under Win9x -- at the point "Registering program ... 40% done"
• under Win98SE and WinME, the ashServ process should not be "Not Responding" any more
• an attempt was made to solve the problem with slow computer shutdowns (esp. under Windows 2000)
• definition of exceptions for remote iframe in mail heuristic module is now possible with any sensitivity setting
• it is now possible to insert safe URLs for remote iframe directly from the warning dialog
• the interval for program update query (if there is a new version) was prolonged

Version 4.0.168

February 12, 2003

• fixed a bug causing the computer to freeze during virus database update
• fixed program crashes under Windows 9x/ME
• fixed a bug in MIME packer causing it to fail on specific large files
• the mail protection wizard now doesn't insist on SMTP/POP3 account specification (if there is no set up on the computer)
• fixed a bug causing the Explorer to crash when selecting an action on a large number of files
• fixed a bug causing a blank icon to be shown on the taskbar in case VRDB icon was merged
• license key can now be entered via copy and paste again
• fixed minor memory leaks
• log Viewer now works much faster (especially for large log files)
• Win9x/ME can now add their files to the virus chest
• enhanced user interface now shows status of the VRDB generation (just like the simple interface)
• the Explorer (quick) scanner now scans all archives by default
• iframe detection in mail heuristics is now more subtle (local x remote + exceptions)