Another episode from the series of circus performance
19.4.2374 (build 19.4.4181839) and KB4493472 is hanging.
19.3.2369 (build 19.3.4241.445) and KB4493472 works ok.
Anyone else here or just me? 
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/11/microsoft_sophos/
https://www.avira.com/en/support-for-home-knowledgebase-detail/kbid/1976
2 Likes
I’ve already read some of them. But thanks for the links!
Ya… the normal patch day nonsense
You may have to go a little deeper than just whatever build you are running.
For the present moment, I withdrew on all Windows 7 this KB4493472. Maybe MS or Avast will fix it in a few days.
I’m not really the sort to defend microsoft/windows, it seems every other update with windows breaks something major.
Imagine a suit made of bricks strung together by barbed wire, wired into a backpack with a small generator in it. Then imagine a person wearing that suit, while running a marathon in 100 degree weather. That person is your PC running avast.
Any specific accusations at Avast? Or just the typical folk legends of Avast is no no…
I’m asking seriously.
I have been using Avast for many years on Windows machines since saying goodbye to Norton.
I never had major problems with Avast. Perhaps the earlier versions had many disadvantages but over time it improved a bit.
I’m not saying that Avast is a technical miracle. But in the category of free anti-viruses, imho is not as bad as people claim. Particularly in terms of efficiency and stability. But this is my opinion and I am not trying to convince anyone. Only many times I’ve heard how Avast is bad but almost always zero technical details.
And as for the problem with KB4493472 I do not know who is guilty, whether Microsoft or Avast.
Only that apart from Avast, Sophos and Avira have the same problems. So…
What do you recommend instead of Avast? Unless you are from a group that prefers the lack of anything on Windows.
Protection wise, its probably better than Microsoft security essentials.
I’ve noticed a big performance hit on MULTIPLE machines.
On a newer PC’s with plenty of ram and a SSD, it might not be as noticeable.
Just about any windows machine running win7 and avast that got the free in place upgrade to windows 10 seems to break in some weird way (permissions/corrupted files/etc) that involves backing out avast, doing an in place upgrade/repair of windows 10. (to be fair, avast isn’t the only antivirus that’s done this sort of crap)
I’ve seen the sandboxing kick in and break things that it shouldn’t have (to the point you have to completely remove avast, install the software you wanted, then reinstall avast)
The past couple of years they seem to have started shilling add on services/crapware (vpn, privacy browser, pc optimizer), they also bought CCleaner and started using it to silently cram their AV in the users machine.
They’re going the way of AVG. Used to be good, maybe not entirely crap, but are known for having a free product that works well enough. Eventually there is a push to get people to buy/subscribe and they start tacking on add ins and other crap and it winds up being a giant mess.
If i was going to buy an antivirus, I’d personally go with eset, not the internet security, just antivirus.
if you want something free, malwarebytes + microsoft security essentials is a good balance between OK protection, without a big performance hit.