As many of you probably know the free Avast! Home is my antivirus of choice, and there is a new Beta available for people running the recently released Windows Home Server (WHS). Anyone can download and install the Beta, and one of the big advantages that you’ll receive by using it is the central management screen that’s integrated into the WHS Console pictured above.
From within the WHS Console you’ll be able to do things like scan any computer on the network that’s running Avast!, update the virus definitions, adjust scheduled scans, or view the scanning history. To access Avast! on other computers you’ll also need to run a Beta version of Avast! Home or Professional editions on each of the client machine on the network.
A forum has been started for Avast! WHS Edition, but I’ve seen no mention of cost for the application. The regular Avast! Server Edition runs for several hundred dollars, and I’m not sure if they are willing to let the consumer server version go at no cost. Avast! plans on making the Beta period short-lived because come November a lot of the pre-built Windows Home Server devices will be shipping, and at that time we should have a better idea of the Avast! WHS price.
Avast! Antivirus for Windows Home Server [via Windows Connected]
I won’t be getting Windows Home Server, but that central management console looks useful. I might have to look for something similar to run on my home network…I’m still using eset’s antivirus…
That is one of the things I love most about Windows Home Server as well. I’ve heard a lot of great things about what a good job Microsoft has done on this, and the management console is supposed to be phenomenal. Unfortunately I’ve got all of my computers setup just the way that I like them, and I would be afraid to switch my OS on my server and run into problems.