Avast has just released the final version of their antivirus software Avast 6 which has been available as a beta version for some time. Avast Free Antivirus 6.0 is a free for personal and non-commercial use. It offers antivirus and anti-spyware protection for Windows PCs.
The developers have added several new features to Avast Free Antivirus among them a new sandboxing feature and shields for specific programs or situations. A custom install option is available during setup to remove modules that are not needed from the program. A user without desktop email client could for instance disable the mail shield, a user who is not making use of P2P the P2P shield.
Avast 6 Antivirus scans the PC during the installation, a restart to finalize the setup is not required. Some modules like the new autosandbox are however only available after a restart of the Windows PC.
Free users have to live with advertisement in the application. They also need to register the application to stay protected after the initial 30 days. Registration is completed in the application, it is not necessary to open a web browser to register externally.
The main new features are the following in Avast Free Antivirus 6:
- AutoSandbox – suspicious programs will be optionally run sandboxed
- avast! WebRep – browser plugin for website reputation rating; a combination of data from our virus lab and community voting
- Script Shield now even in the Free AV
- Site Blocking now even in the Free AV
- SafeZone – a special virtualized area for sensitive transactions (e.g. secure online banking) (paid products only)
- Restore factory settings command (Settings -> Troubleshooting)
- Automatic actions in the boot-time scan
- New compression method in the installer makes the setup packages about 20% smaller.
- Script Shield now functional even with IE8/IE9 Protected Mode
- Sidebar gadget
- Improved stability/compatibility of the Behavior Shield
- Improvements in the avast! sandbox
Lets take a closer look at some of the features. Avast 6 uses the new AutoSandbox feature for instance to run suspicious programs automatically in a sandbox to avoid damage to the operating system and files.
WebRep, another new addition adds itself as a plugin to Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It can be used to view reputation ratings for websites that are visited or displayed in search engines in the supported browsers. Uninstallation options are provided in the Avast Antivirus interface which is handy in case those plugins are not needed anymore.
The new sidebar gadget for Vista and Windows 7 displays the current system state (e.g. secured) and offers to open the Avast Free Antivirus interface and to update the software with new virus definitions.
The Real-Time Shields menu offers interesting information about the shields that are currently running and protecting the system. The shields have their own Shield Traffic graph that displays information about scanned and infected files or events.
Expert settings for each module are very extensive. The settings for the web scanning module for instance are divided on seven pages with options to exclude urls and mime types from the scan, change the scan from all files to only select files and mime types, select packer formats that should be extracted while scanning, configure actions if a virus, potentially unwanted program or suspicious files is discovered and to define the heuristic sensitivity.
Similar expert settings are available for all shields. Some settings are identical while others differ. Another interesting feature is the ability to access the free antivirus software even if it is currently scanning the computer. It is for instance possible to take a look at the real-time shields during a full system scan.
Avast Free Antivirus 6 offers several interesting features and usability improvements. AutoSandboxing, the ability to uninstall the web reputation plugin, extensive shield configuration options and real-time and traffic history information make it a solid choice for Windows users who are looking for a program that can protect their computer effectively.
Avast Free Antivirus 6.0 is available for download at the developer website.
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Cool, used the beta since about 2 weeks.
The behaviour shield interferes with outpost firewall/security suite, so I uninstalled the behaviour shield.
Although I got the 64bit install, it runs as 32bit app. I can take a closer look at home later. First I will get the final.
I also uninstalled the webrep plugin, since I’m already a WOT participiant. I don’t like to click for every service around the world. The plugin showed up still in Firefox, so I had to delete it in the registry.
Awesome. Thanks for the heads-up Martin. Avast, at least for me, is an epitome of “the best things in life are free.”
/m
No matter how good avast is, demanding free users to get a cd-key/register is a big no-no in my book. The main reason why I don’t recommend it to anyone .
I don’t see any problem with the registration process. I got no mails or anything else to the address I registered with. Just provide my first name and a hotmail address, done.
They don’t do that anymore. R U drunk or using the old old Avast?
Is there a way to get rid of or hide that ugly sidebar gadget?
You can close it, or uncheck it if you do a custom installation so that it is not installed at all.
How does AVast free compare to AVG free?
“How does AVast free compare to AVG free?”
It does not compare.
avast! free appears light and nimble although this stupid “avast! WebRep” is very annoying and pointless in my opinion.
The huge popups rating the links when I unwttingly hover over the bars symbol distract me, and the extra hight of the menu bar takes away screen space.
I’m looking for a way to remove this.
Now, I just removed AVG free from my computer, although not the conventional way. Their uninstaller does not work at all, and I couldn’t remove it via Add-Remove.
Once it plants itself on your computer is there for good.
In my case as with many others, it freezes the computer during their insanely frequent updates.
I use ZoneAlarm, and their “support” suggested I turn off my firewall so AVG can get the update. Those guys are insane! Turn off my firewall for the time it takes AVG to get updates? Yeah, right.
Then they want me to download one of their program to remove AVG. Yeah, right!
Then they ask me to attach a copy of some log file so they can “analyze it”.
There is one catch … LOL!!! Their forum did not accept any attachments.
So, in a few words, AVG free was very “heavy” and slowing down my computer, and I had to turn off and restart my computer everytime AVG updated itself because it got frozen.
Just Google “AVG freezes my computer” to see what I mean.
Good luck!
WepRep is not a feature, it is an opinion gathering-displaying, pretty much as worthless as WOT since it represents dudes and dudettes’ opinions, not an expert advice nor any real-world objective data.
This is a free country, you decide.
I am using The Avast of V5.0. But I have downloaded The Avast of V6.0 (Avast, WebRep).
1. Should I install it?
2. Which will be better for me as an average user?
3. If I install it, then will the previous version run properly?
4. If I uninstall it (If once installed), will the previous version5.0 appear as past?
I just use update facility to upgrade my avast 5 to avast 6. No need to download avast 6 installation file
i’m so like this feature avast sandbox because it’s really help me opening an unwanted program in my pc. really great feature
I personally hate this WebRep and Overall rating thing and if I can’t figure out how to get it off my computer I am dumping the software entirely. I use GMail and now I some threads have a full foot of crap at the bottom, adding a new pile of code on every time I respond to an email This is my BUSINESS email, and I can’t have code tacked on or waste all this space.
Another thing that is driving me nuts (and I do research so you can imagine how frustrating this is) is half the sites I try to visit now need an exception and then still come up as just text and links. I can’t find half the stuff I am looking for. I am using the free version and can’t find how to stop this.
As far as I am concerned they’ve ruined perfectly functional software.
So… using free version for your “BUSINESS email”? From the Avast web site, “* avast! Free Antivirus is free only for personal and non-commercial use.” Feel free to stop using it. You shouldn’t anyway.
How do I restart the avast shields if they are not working?
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I wish they gave us a simple installer switch to automatically disable sandboxing or at least disable it by default, i install avast for general users who almost all think it’s annoying and complain about it, i can’t even find a registry entry to modify so i have to manually edit the preferences for every install even after going threw the trouble of making a silent install for all my apps…which is annoying and makes me think about moving to another anti-virus program.