ALWIL Software has released details about avast! 5, the upcoming version of its quite popular antivirus. According to the company, the new iteration, planned for release in October, will feature significant improvements in detection and protection capabilities, as well as user experience.

The product is set to ship in three editions, free, professional and as a complete Internet Security Suite (ISS), something entirely new for ALWIL. Customers who currently own an avast! pro license will be able to upgrade to the new version for free, or acquire a license for the ISS by paying only the price difference between the two editions.

According to the company, the heavily optimized antivirus engine will be identical in all editions and will feature a new behavioral-analysis component. Called the Behavior Shield, it monitors the system state via multiple sensors and blocks programs that try to perform malicious actions. A virtualization module will also be available, but for the Pro version only, while a code emulator will be used to inspect malware employing customer packers.

Detection for Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) has also been added. However, it will most likely function as an opt-in, because features such as this one are mostly suited for experienced users. As far as usability goes, the product has been designed to require, by default, as few user input as possible.

In addition to the new antivirus engine, as well as all the features specific to the Professional edition, the Internet Security Suite will include an antispam and a firewall module, configured to achieve the same worry-free user experience.

The user interface has been completely redone and will no longer have two, simple and enhanced, versions. The design looks clean, professional and in line with the minimalist trend observed in the latest security offerings from other AV developers, such as Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2010 or Panda's Cloud Antivirus.

Some existent avast! features have also been reportedly excluded from the new version. Such is the case with the Virus Recovery Database (VRDB) or with the ability to skin the interface. The pricing of avast! consumer products is also subject to change, but no specifics are available for the time being.

The company claims that the system-resource consumption has been significantly reduced and that the product's influence on boot times is almost unnoticeable. For now, we have to take its word for it, at least until we get our hands on the Beta version, which is expected to ship at the end of this month or at the beginning of August.