Spyware Warrior

[Osage]

Normally this would not be a big issue for me, but due to the fact that mu wife's hard disk drive totally failed, I am going to have to install her entire security system from scratch.

Since my wife, as one of those someone anyone take my wife issues, is not as careful about downloading email attachments, I feel avast is the better choice above avira because of the email prescanning.

But as I bring her computer back from the dead, with all the windows updates being the higher priority before exposing her new system to the internet, I have very few days left before I have to jump one way or the other regarding an AV.

It sure would be nice to jump to avast non beta 5 and be done with it.

[roger_m]

If you post at the Avast forums http://forum.avast.com they might be able to give you an idea.

I'm a big fan of Avast and can't wait for the stable release of v5. I'm currently running the beta on one machine.

Also v4 of Avast performed really well in the last AV-Comparatives test http://blog.avast.com/2009/09/20/did-avast-win-the-latest-avcomparatives/

[Osage]

I spent a little time on the Avast forum yesterday, it now looks like the final non beta release of ver 5 is put off till mid-November, and who knows when we will actually see it?

And the migration path from 4.8 to five will involve removing version
4.8.

[munckman]

Osage,

This advise needs to be taken with a large grain of salt.

While, I understand your situation and I see your apprehension in installing a beta, you obviously know what AV you want her to run so just install it. What I like to do with my better half is to surprise her...

Windows 7 comes to mind. If your existing hardware doesn't support it, as many of my families computers do not, "just" get her a new Lap Top with all the "Bells and Whistles." This won't help with Avast 5 but in the mean time, I guarantee you that she will notice your effort.

If she doesn't appreciate your kind hearted gesture... well I guess you'll have fun with your new Lap Top.

[Osage]

I appreciate the advice munckman, but by now I have win XP reinstalled and the 4.8 version of Avast up and running on my wife's computer. And for at least six months, I will stick to XP as an OS and then evaluate switching to win 7 then.

I see that avast released another beta five version and that may allow installing on top of the existing 4.8 version, so who knows what the final 5.0 avast version will look like when its released.

And ironically I ended up very recently inheriting a laptop with vista on it, and its the computer most likely to be upgraded to win7.