avast! Free Antivirus version 5.0 has been released, replacing the previous avast Home Edition 4.8. This new version comes with improved antivirus and anti-spyware engine. Notable features are avast! Intelligent Scanner, Silent/Gaming Mode and Behavior Shield.
What’s New in avast! 5.0.377?
+ (Improved) Antivirus and anti-spyware engine
+ (New) Code emulator. avast! is now able to emulate the program’s code in an isolated environment.
+ (New) Heuristics engine. designed to proactively detect malware undetectable with normal definitions. The heuristics engine is able to cover both binary (executable) and script malware.
+ (New) avast! Intelligent Scanner. can reduce the number of required file scans by up to 80% through a white list of proven safe applications. Files identified as safe are not rescanned unless they change.
+ (New) Behavior Shield. Monitors activity on your computer using a number of sensors (file system, registry and network based) and reports/blocks any suspicious behavior.
+ (New) Fast application of updates. Faster updates and reduces demand on CPU/memory.
+ (New) Silent/Gaming Mode. automatically detects full-screen applications and disables pop-ups and other on-screen notifications without degrading security.
+ (New) Multi-threaded scanning optimization. avast! 5.0 runs faster on new multi-core CPUs. A new avast! feature allows the splitting of large individual files between cores, accelerating the scanning process.
+ (New) GUI. Easy to navigate graphical interface.
Other features:
+ Real time anti-rootkit protection
+ avast! Community IQ
+ Behavioral Honeypots. avast! sensors identify and monitor suspicious file activity on selected computers, automatically submitting files to the Virus Lab for additional analysis.
+ Smart virus definition updates
+ Optimized for latest Intel Core i7 CPUs
+ Reduced demands on the disk drive result in lower energy consumption.
+ avast! iTrack. Real-time graphic scanning reports.
+ Infected files are processed automatically without requiring user instructions.
+ Boot-time scanner, Command-line scanner, Wake-up for scan, and Scheduled scanning.
+ File System Shield, Mail Shield, Web Shield, P2P Shield, IM Shield, and Network Shield.
avast! 5 Free Antivirus System Requirements
+ Processor Pentium 3, 128 MB RAM, 100 MB of free hard disk space
+ Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64 bit)
This edition is FREE OF CHARGE for non-commercial & home use. If you are using a 4.8 product (home or professional editions), the update is pretty painless. Sometime in the near future, the 4.8 product will tell you version 5.0 is available.
-OR- You can download avast! 5 Free Antivirus here.
Hi! Welcome to 
Home use only
I love Avast! so much. Despite being free , it has almost everything a good antivirus software should have. I was impressed by the appearance when I first saw it. Then its ability in protecting the system makes me feel pleased, especially its network shield and web shield, they are extremely useful to ensure your security when you browse the web.The most important thing is that it does not slow down your computer, it’s light and you boot up almost as fast as you didn’t install it. But the disadvantage is its speed of scanning and the memory it takes, it’s terrible, you have to wait very long and you cannot do anything until it finishes scanning, your computer is terribly slow!
avast is a safe antivirous