The leading Czech anti-virus vendor Avast! has announced the availability of public beta versions of its upcoming Avast 7 security applications – including Avast 7 Free, Avast 7 Pro and Avast 7 Internet Security. The products are now available for download for free, directly from the Avast forum.
The application is now packaged in a new installer. During installation, you are given the option to install Avast 7 Beta as secondary security application to be used along side with your current security product.
Besides that, the app get a slight facelift from Avast 6 and guess what, the security products are compatible with Windows 8 Developer Preview.
Apart from that, the new version offers a number of new and improved features including :
- the new cloud-based FileRep (file reputation service) feature
- remote assistance feature to assist your friends with computer troubles
- improvements to Sandbox and autosandbox
- streaming updates
- improvements to browser protection
- support tool
- export/import settings
- screensaver facelift
To install, just run the downloaded executable file. This version can be installed on top of your existing avast installation (6.x). But before installing, please keep in the mind the known issues of the beta.
- In some cases, WebRep Chrome plugin is not installed correctly
- The Safezone browser is opening each time when you switch back and to the Safezone
- Plugins for Outlook 2k3 and 2k7 show “runtime error” message
- Sometimes autosandbox toaster does not close correctly
- Problems with avast sounds on Win 7 and Win Vista
- Remote assistance feature sometimes crashes on Win 7 32b, Win Vista 64b
- avast! account functionality is disabled
- the help hasn’t been updated yet, it’s still from v6
- many of the translations haven’t been updated yet, so you’ll see new items in English
Avast 7 works on Windows 8 Developer Preview, Windows 7 (64-bit and 32-bit), Vista (64-bit and 32-bit) and Windows XP (32-bit) operating systems.
