Avast Home Edition (freeware with reg code)

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.7.981 has been Released!

There is a number of fixes in this release. Here's the list of most important changes:
* fixed extra-long duration of the boot-time scan under Windows Vista
* WebShield: improved compatibility with Windows Vista (for details see here http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=27037.0)
* 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 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
* 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
* added Macedonian, Croatian and Portuguese (not Brazil) language packs

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.7.986 has been Released!

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

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.7.1001 has been Released!

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

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.8.1169 has been Released!

March 29, 2008
* avast! now contains a built-in anti-rootkit protection
* avast! now comes with a built-in anti-spyware protection
* new self-defense function to prevent active malware from terminating avast! processes as well as corrupting avast! files and registry items
* scanners now display a progress of current scan (percentage of work done)
* fixed a vulnerability in AavmKer4.sys kernel-mode driver (problem applies to Windows NT/2000/XP, 32-bit only); special thanks to Tobias Klein
* improvements in boot-time scanner (detection & removal of hidden or hard to delete files)
* boot-time scanner will not start when booting into Safe Mode (the program was "invisible" in that case, no progress/messages could be seen)
* improvements in many unpackers
* ACE and RAR unpackers now work even in boot-time scanner
* IM Shield: added support for QQ
* improvements in handling of NTFS streams
* Internet Mail provider now displays the name of the sending/receiving program in the tooltip of its taskbar icon
* implemented a protection against false positives in critical system files
* removed a small memory leak in one of avast! drivers (Windows Vista and XP 64-bit only)
* added support for 64-bit WHS connector (available in WHS Power Pack 1)
* greatly improved performance of the updater, especially in cases where many increments are being downloaded (e.g. avast! installations with outdated virus definitions)
* silent installation now also includes scheduled tasks, if any
* resolved a compatibility issue with Acronis TrueImage (XP 64-bit only)
* compatibility tests with Vista SP1 and XP SP3

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.8.1195 Released!

May 12, 2008
* solved incompatibility of the avast self protection module and the System Restore feature (Windows XP/Vista)
* solved keyboard/mouse lags in some games (e.g. World of Warcraft)
* "Quick" scan now quick again (in the previous version, it was usually slower than "Normal" scan)
* fixed slow resuming from hibernation (on certain systems)
* improved stability of aswSP.sys kernel driver
* fixed deleting of infected files in some nested archives
* shell extension: under Windows Vista, shortcut targets are now correctly scanned
* boot-time scanner now correctly displays warning messages about corrupted archives
* improved scanning speed in the Simple user interface
* improved handling of scan exceptions
* self protection: improved detection of changes in the INI file
* start of the "avast! Mail Scanner" service should now be fast again
* fixed a problem with avast being installed in a directory with name containing non-Latin characters
* fixed entering of the license key (didn't work in certain configurations)
* improved detection/healing of MBR rootkits
* avast can now correctly handle the case when the INI file is missing/corrupted
* the "Disable startup rootkit scan" option on the Troubleshooting page now effective
* P2P Shield: added support for Azureus Vuze and Qtrax
* taskbar messages from Internet Mail should now correctly handle most common character encodings
* fixed problems with the boot-time scanner on FAT[32] partitions
* small improvements in some unpackers (WinExec, RAR, CHM)
* fixed the message announcing the license key going to expire soon
* on 64-bit Windows, avast now detects both 32-bit and 64-bit version of the WHS connector
* the avast Home / Pro Edition comparison window is now correctly displayed even under Windows 9x

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.8.1201 Released!

May 16, 2008
* solved incompatibility with System Safety Monitor (SSM)
* improved compatibility of the self defense module with XP SP3 (and its installation)
* minor enhancements in the Web Shield (detection of streaming content)
* minor fixes in the updater

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.8.1282 Released!
November 12, 2008

* improvements in some unpackers (Zip, 7-Zip, WinExec, Installer)
* fixed incompatibility with ext2fsd driver
* fixed a problem in The Bat! plugin (causing orphaned thebat.exe processes after the program was closed)
* added new unpacker "droppers" (by default turned on in all tasks including the real time scanner)
* fixed a problem with actions on infected files with special names
* Network Shield: added a component for blocking of malware URLs
* added the possibility of sending of statistical information about detected viruses
* added a new option of reporting of false positives
* improved the submission from the Virus Chest (now based on HTTP protocol)
* added a component for gathering of new samples from exploited pages
* implemented a limit of the maximum size of the selfdef.log file
* speed optimizations in the updater
* speed optimizations in the scanning engine
* solved a minor conflict with McAfee SiteAdvisor
* added support for the Windows Security Center in Vista SP1 (new API)
* minor fixes in the Web Shield
* removed support for ICQ a MSN Messenger alerts

[ckit]

Avast Home Edition 4.8.1290 Released!
November 19, 2008

* improvements in the malware submission system
* minor improvements in some unpackers
* improvements in the rootkit scanner
* Network Shield: solved a problem occurring on systems with missing TCP stack

[ckit]

How do I delete Avast after I have attempted removal of it from regedit? I removed Avast from add/delete then restarted my computer and it reappeared and went into self defense mode. I have tried to remove it from registry edit and to remove it's defense, but it won't let me. What else can I do aside from backing my hard drive and reinstalling XP?

Avast Uninstall Utility:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html

I use to use Avast Home Edition myself, but when Avira offered an extra 10 months of protection for the cost of 12 months I switched to Avira Premium 9.