avast! Server Edition - Revision history

Version 4.8.1091

May 13, 2009

• fixes in the Exchange 2007 Server plugin
• fixes in ISA server plugin (solved an issue of data corruption of huge downloads)

Version 4.8.1059

December 19, 2008

• solved a problem in the Exchange Server plugin
• solved a problem in the logging subsystem
• solved a BSOD issue on Itanium systems
• improvements in the Server Deployment wizard
• improvements in the Network Shield provider

Version 4.8.1049

December 5, 2008

• added support for Windows 2008 and Exchange 2007 Server
• 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)
• 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
• improvements in handling of NTFS streams
• 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)
• 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 installations with outdated virus definitions)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)
• fixed deleting of infected files in some nested archives
• 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)
• speed optimizations in the scanning engine
• removed support for ICQ a MSN Messenger alerts
• 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
• fixed a problem with avast being installed in a directory with name containing non-Latin characters
• avast can now correctly handle the case when the INI file is missing/corrupted
• taskbar messages from Internet Mail should now correctly handle most common character encodings
• mail scanner: fixes in IMAP handler (Thunderbird)
• minor enhancements in the Web Shield (detection of streaming content)
• Standard Shield: improved handling of exceptions
• solved a synchronization problem that could potentially lead even to a hang of an avast component (e.g. the Outlook plugin)
• added support for the Windows Security Center in Vista SP1 (new API)
• Enhanced UI: it is no longer possible to delete a default task by using the Delete key
• command line scanner (ashCmd.exe): fixed displaying of directory count
• Windows Vista: during a scan of system drive, duplicate entries are now handled correctly (symlinks)
• Explorer extension process (ashQuick.exe) now ends immediately after aborting a scan
• Web Shield: solved compatibility problems with Opera browser
• Web Shield: solved problems with some D-Link router devices
• speed optimization in kernel-mode components
• XML scan reports now generated in UTF-8 format (allow for non-Latin characters)

Version 4.7.766

May 16, 2007

• fixed extra-long duration of the boot-time scan under Windows Vista
• WebShield: improved compatibility with Windows Vista
• 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)
• added a new unpacker: "installers"; useful especially for detection of malware droppers
• added Armadillo unpacker
• further enhancements in executable unpackers
• Outlook/Exchange provider: improved compatibility with Outlook 2007
• boot-time scanner: fix for the case when there's the /NOGUIBOOT option in boot.ini (or BCD on Windows Vista)
• 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
• fixed a bug in ZOO unpacker (special thanks to Jean-Sébastien Guay-Leroux)
• fixed bugs in SIS and CAB unpackers (special thanks to Sergio Alvarez)
• command-line scanner (aswCmd.exe) now supports a couple of more command-line options, mostly related to handling of infected files
• mail scanner: improved deleting of entire emails (virus embedded in email body)
• avast! screensaver now available even under Windows Vista 64-bit
• fixed a bug in the avast! screensaver that could even lead to its (very rare) crash
• better detection of corrupted/modified VPS file
• WebShield: other minor fixes
• 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)
• program installation now better handles the situation when repairing previous (corrupted) installs
• solved incompatibility of memory scan with certain 3rd party applications
• 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)
• added Korean and Portuguese (Brazil) language packs

Version 4.7.726

February 5, 2007

• higher performance of the scanning engine (especially on new CPUs) and faster start of the avast! system service on OS boot
• fixed the bug with avast! not asking for a password even though it was set
• more improvements in executable unpackers
• minor fixes in the ZIP unpacker
• scheduler: for daily schedules, it is now possible to specify which days of week the task will run
• fixed a bug in the SMTP 2000/2003 provider that could eventually lead to a crash of inetinfo.exe process
• SMTP 2000/2003 provider: if an email with a blocked attachment is moved to badmail, the blocked attachment is now not removed from the message (can be accessed later, if needed)
• improved support for Longhorn Server (added support for NTFS transactions (also known as TxF) etc.)
• avast now fully compatible with Itanium 2 processors (IA64 version of Windows)

Version 4.7.676

October 6, 2006

• fixed a bug leading to the lack of demo license file (which could further lead to many strange problems) in case of silent installations
• avast! is now finally compatible with Windows Vista RC1; also, the "remediations" in Vista Security Center are now functional
• added CHM unpacker (and this time, as an extra benefit, it should work even in the boot-time scanner)
• fixed a bug in the UPX unpacker
• added a couple of new Win32 unpackers
• added a workaround to problems with compatibility with Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (remaints of menus on the screen + seldom hang of avast program on start)
• avast! now fully compatible with Itanium 2 processors
• improved compatibility with Windows Offline Folders
• no more attempts to delete files on read-only media
• improved detection of full-screen applications
• improved detection of ZoneAlarm Pro (to prevent unnecessary WebShield incompatibility warnings)
• avast! screen-saver now uses better algorithm to remember the last scan position

Version 4.7.660

September 7, 2006

• minor enhancements in a number of unpackers (e.g. added support for old versions of UPX)
• fixed a bug in LHARC unpacker (special thanks to Ryan Smith)
• fixed a bug related to deletion of files from certain special archives; the "move to chest" operation used to, under certain circumstances, cause the file to be actually extracted to the avast folder
• attempt to solve the problem with corruption of Thunderbird mailbox when a virus is found in its first email
• files not scanned because of scan exclusions are not displayed in the Simple UI results dialog anymore
• hyperlinks (e.g. "virus information") are now opened in browser's new window
• minor optimization of memory consumption of the "avast! Antivirus" service (process ashServ.exe/aswServ.exe)
• updater now more tolerant to corrupted data files

Version 4.7.638

June 15, 2006

• improvements in executable packers (most notably, added ASProtect and MoleBox unpackers)
• fixed incorrect statistics in sessions of scheduled tasks
• fixed the Program Settings menu item in the avast tray icon menu
• solved a rare problem that could eventually cause even a crash of the OS during boot (Windows 2003)
• Standard Shield: by default, system DLLs are not scanned anymore (speed optimization)
• further improved Standard Shield speed under Windows XP (generally, less files are scanned)
• Standard Shield: improved compatibility with Microsoft Office (particularly, saving of Excel documents on network shares)
• transition to new data storage - avast does not need the ODBC/Jet drivers anymore and should therefore work better even under older versions of Windows (NT4)
• fixed a bug that was sometimes causing very slow scanning of CAB archives
• boot-time scanner: added support for additional archives (GZ, BZIP2, TAR, LHARC, ZOO)
• improved handling of infected files with exotic filenames
• solved a problem with setting of incorrect access rights to the avast executable files
• temporarily disabled the CHM unpacker
• removed a limit of maximal length of winpopup alerts (used to be 128 characters)
• Enhanced User Interface: infected items are now marked as red
• implemented new method of deleting of locked infected files (now using the boot-time scanner technology)
• avast! Server Edition should now work flawlessly with Windows Windows Longhorn Server beta 2 and higher

Version 4.6.566

February 10, 2006

• enhanced support for UU-coded files
• ISA Server plugin: installation on secondary nodes of an ISA 2004 Enterprise Array finally works
• Lotus Domino plugin now compatible with Lotus Domino 7
• an attempt to solve problems related to computer freezing during shutdown (especially on Windows x64 machines with nForce4 chipset)
• scheduled scan progress can now be tracked and controlled by a new tray icon
• improved interaction of Standard Shield with other provider (better definition of scan exceptions)
• improved scanning speed of ZIP archives
• added an "unpacker" for OLE archives (extracts and scans e.g. binary files embedded in MS Office documents)

Version 4.6.531

December 3, 2005

• added Lotus Domino plugin
• fixed a bug in ISA plugin causing some downloads to be corrupted (ISA 2004 only)
• fixed a problem in ISA plugin with certain streaming servers
• added a workaround to a small bug in NetBios (might have even caused blue screens in aswTdi.sys)
• fixed a rare problem of crashing of memory tests under WinXP x64
• fixed a bug in generating of DEMO license files
• fixed incorrect operation of English avast under Japanese Windows (e.g. non-functional Virus Chest)
• removed message "archive is corrupted" while scanning a certain class of packed files
• aswRdr.sys: fixed a race condition that could eventually lead even to a system crash
• improvements in the executable file unpackers
• enhanced tolerancy against damaged archives
• boot-time scan now supports the "Move to chest" command
• mail scanner: fixes in IMAP handling (NTLM authentication related)
• the "Date of last scan" entry is now updated by all scanners (not only Simple UI)
• added support for CAB and LHA sfx archives
• P2P Shield: added support for BitLord, uTorrent and ABC
• boot-time scan now shows textual error strings (instead of error codes)
• WebShield: fixed parsing of HTTP requests in the case where a header is larger than 64K
• WebShield: fixes in the detection of Transfer-Encoding:chunked
• WebShield: new avast4.ini options: NoDefOptinProcess, NoDefIgnoreProcess, default=0
• WebShield: miniscule fix in the GUI
• minor fixes in the email scanner (related to Lotus Notes clients)
• GUI: most lists (e.g. areas to test, exceptions, etc.) now support the following keyboard shortcuts: INS = Add, DEL = Delete, F2 = Edit
• Aswrdr.sys: fixed compatibility problem with Windows Vista beta versions
• fixed a problem with the boot-time scanner under Windows Vista beta
• fixed crashes of the physical memory scan under WinXP x64
• mail heuristics: added detection of multiple content-type headers
• avast now does not report the "file is corrupted" messages when trying to unpack a modified, unknown or damaged version of a Winexec packer
• sched.exe now supports all params of the boot-time scanner

Version 4.6.489

July 20, 2005

• fixed a bug related to non-asking for password in on-access scanner settings
• added the possibility of installation to secondary machines in ISA 2004 Enterprise Array
• Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange providers now by default use the Silent Mode even in heuristics
• fixed a minor synchronization bug in aswRdr.sys
• further improvements in executable unpackers (WinExec)
• WinExec unpackers are now supported even by the boot-time scanner
• changes in ACE unpacker: security fixes
• Web Shield: fixed a bug that could cause even crash of the ashWebSv.exe process (in module wshtcpip.sys)
• Web Shield: fixed a bug that could cause crash of the process while terminating
• Web Shield: removed event handle leak
• Web Shield: fixed a bug related to HTTP status 100-Continue
• Web Shield: fixed parsing of HTTP response for the HEAD request - now "Save Link As" in Firefox works correctly
• Standard Shield: removed potential problem (that could lead even to system hangup) while testing network-based files under Windows XP
• P2P Shield: added support for KCeasy
• IM Shield: added support for SIM (Simple Instant Messenger), PalTalk Messenger and Tlen
• fixed loading of default config values in resident providers
• now the Silent mode in the Outlook/Exchange plugin works
• added new GUI items (global program settings)
• added the ability of not displaying of popup messages while a full-screen app is running (e.g. a game)
• fixes in the mail scanner: handling of redirect (for the Calypso program); bug "server has closed the connection" while reading news
• added more comprehensive handling of expired licenses
• minor fixes and enhancements in selected unpackers (ZIP, MIME, TAR)
• improved warning on log off when removable media are present
• minor changes in avast! sounds
• VRDB generation when idle is now not started if current CPU load is 15% or higher

• added support for additional executable unpackers (FSG, MEW, PE Deminisher)
• minor enhancements in the TAR unpacker
• more stringent checking of parameters passed into all avast! kernel mode drivers
• added the ability to on-access scan network drives even if the avast! antivirus service runs under the LocalSystem account
• Standard Shield: removed OS freezing on startup when on-open scanning of all (*) files was selected
• fixed a minor problem in aswTdi.sys (that could theoretically lead even to the "BSOD")
• added detection of "computer reliability" and potential disabling of kernel-mode scanning if the computer doesn't seem reliable enough
• increased maximum size of configuration data of the on-access providers (e.g URL blocking masks etc.)
• WebShield: solved problem with Hotmail access from Outlook Express (lowered the Keep-Alive "aggresivity")
• WebShield: decreased the number of data written to ashwebsv.ws
• WebShield: fixed problems related to crashing of various third party LSP modules inside the ashWebSv.exe process
• WebShield: improved timeout for non-HTTP connections (e.g. ICQ via JAVA) and default connection timeout increased to 15 minutes
• WebShield: implemented maximum size of scanned file during download (by default, 20MB)
• added the possibility to access the Virus Chest on a remote machine (and have infected files sent to a chest on a remote machine)

Version 4.6.443

April 19, 2005

• solved certain stability problems with the aswTdi driver
• added the new WebShield module
• better ability of dealing with corrupted archives
• minor enhancements in some unpackers (RAR, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, ZOO)
• added support for SIS archives (SymbianOS installation archives)
• fixes in the mail scanner: problems with multiple simultaneous connections, removal of superfluous sending in case of client timeout
• boot-time scan: removed limit of total length of the folder paths (1024B)
• fixed a bug causing lack of detection of certain virus types under Windows NT 4.0
• added all other features of avast! Home/Pro 4.6.652

Version 4.1.154

April 22, 2004

• Added support for AMD64 version of Windows (64-bit)
• fixed a bug related to file attachment blocking in the SMTP2000 / Exchange2000 / ISA / SharePointPortal2001 providers
• solved boot-time scan problem with latest VPS files: "avworkInitialize returned 42003"
• global memory segments are now non-inheritable which should solve respective problems with on-line VPS updates without restart
• deleting of infected files from the virus dialog now deletes the files on next reboot only when it's really necessary (i.e. if the file is really locked)
• the file clnr0.dll (Virus Cleaner) is now being extracted to the avast! data folder, instead of system TEMP
• fixed a bug causing occasional substitution of a dot with an equation sign in message tags added by the Internet Mail module
• The heuristics module for the Internet Mail provider now adheres to the scan settings, i.e. if scanning of inbound mail is disabled, for instance, even the heuristics module for inbound mail is disabled
• fixed a bug that was causing incorrect version of VPS file to be inserted to emails

Version 4.1.98

January 29, 2004

• fixed the Internet Mail provider to work correctly with Eudora
• fixed a slight problem in the Mail Protection Wizard related to setting of Outlook Express outbound mail
• solved the problem with Volume Shadow Copies under Windows XP/2003
• Windows 2000/XP/2003 machines should now shut down faster
• solved seldom problems with the resident scanner password
• the command-line scanner now correctly saves sessions when working with tasks
• added console program aswUpd.exe used for manual updating (not localized)
• solved error message 'File is not packed' when working with packed viruses
• solved problems with repetitive boot-time scanning

Version 4.1.91

January 21, 2004

• fixed the Internet Mail scanner to work correctly with messages that include null bytes
• fixed a bug in sorting of scheduled events
• Mail Protection Wizard now supports Pegasus Mail 4.1 and Mozilla Thunderbird
• solved a problem with upgrade from a DEMO to release license on SBS
• the scheduler now works even in terminal services environment
• fixed overwriting of packer settings for resident providers upon startup
• fixed a problem with incorrect saving of resident provider settings
• fixed a bug related to creation of a task after prior viewing of session properties
• fixed a bug related to note insertion for PUSH updates in the Outlook plugin that was sometimes causing the actual message body to be erased

Version 4.1.63

November 26, 2003

Initial release