An Old Annoyance Returns

bob3160 · 2008-01-05T15:26:22.000Z

The first time I use the right click function on the avast! system tray icon
to get to the ‘about’ function, after restarting the computer, I’m greeted with the following
blank screen. (Click picture to enlarge)

I need to close this blanc window and do the procedure a second time in order to actually display the proper information.

Once this is done, the function works properly till I reboot the system at which time the blanc screen
episode again appears.

This may be a result of installing WinXP SP3 but I can’t be sure.
I do know that the last time I had this problem which was never solved, SP3 was not available.

Alwil gurus unite.
Solve my problem
but please don’t fight. ;D ;D

bob3160 · 2008-01-08T23:07:32.000Z

This has been looked at 47 times and not one single reply ???
Any clues from Alwil?

Lisandro · 2008-01-08T23:56:46.000Z

Bob… I’m on the 47 ones… but I can’t imagine what is happening… something related to html maybe?

bob3160 · 2008-01-09T00:13:36.000Z

Tech post:3:

Bob… I’m on the 47 ones… but I can’t imagine what is happening… something related to html maybe?

Tech.
I don’t understand your reply.
What does the ‘about’ function of avast! have to do with html ???

Lisandro · 2008-01-09T00:17:06.000Z

bob3160 post:4:

I don’t understand your reply.
What does the ‘about’ function of avast! have to do with html ???

I’m guessing… and the maybe reveals my perplexity too… sorry.

szc · 2008-01-09T19:30:36.000Z

“An Old Annoyance Returns”

If I’m not mistaken, that means that it’s been solved at one point, and now you’re experiencing the same annoyance again. What did you do first time so it disappeared ?

I still believe it has something to do with those theme/visual style tweaking utilities you have used in the past… or maybe even with how your video card deals with real time rendering, not sure though.

system · 2008-01-10T01:37:59.000Z

I still believe it has something to do with those theme/visual style tweaking utilities you have used in the past...

Yes so do i.

Only thing i could suggest is to update your video card drivers, try to re-install avast! trough add/remove, reboot and run the standard uninstall utility over it, reboot install avast! and see if it works. You could also run the old sfc /scannow command to see if there are any system files needing to be fixed.

And get rid of those visual style utilites if you use the default XP theme …

bob3160 · 2008-01-10T03:08:25.000Z

Darth_Mikey post:7:

I still believe it has something to do with those theme/visual style tweaking utilities you have used in the past...

Yes so do i.

Only thing i could suggest is to update your video card drivers, try to re-install avast! trough add/remove, reboot and run the standard uninstall utility over it, reboot install avast! and see if it works. You could also run the old sfc /scannow command to see if there are any system files needing to be fixed.

And get rid of those visual style utilites if you use the default XP theme …

I don’t have any of those "visual style utilites " on my system.

system · 2008-01-10T03:32:51.000Z

bob3160 post:8:

Darth_Mikey post:7:

I still believe it has something to do with those theme/visual style tweaking utilities you have used in the past...

Yes so do i.

Only thing i could suggest is to update your video card drivers, try to re-install avast! trough add/remove, reboot and run the standard uninstall utility over it, reboot install avast! and see if it works. You could also run the old sfc /scannow command to see if there are any system files needing to be fixed.

And get rid of those visual style utilites if you use the default XP theme …

I don’t have any of those "visual style utilites " on my system.

Did you try uninstalling avast!, run the uninstall utility, reboot & re-install avast?

szc · 2008-01-10T04:06:48.000Z

bob3160 post:8:

I don’t have any of those "visual style utilites " on my system.

Yes Bob, I believe you, but I also remember you had some of those installed in the past, like StyleXP and WindowBlinds. Both are well known for the fact that can cause a lot of GUI problems once user decides to uninstall them and get rid of them. They can cripple down the original Windows GUI simply by removing some important DLLs. That’s why I mentioned it…

Is this happening on your XP or Vista machine ? If it’s happening on Vista machine too (like it was happening on your old XP machine), then I am more than sure it has something to do with your Video card itself or drivers for the same.

system · 2008-01-10T11:14:31.000Z

SasH post:10:

Yes Bob, I believe you, but I also remember you had some of those installed in the past, like StyleXP and WindowBlinds. Both are well known for the fact that can cause a lot of GUI problems once user decides to uninstall them and get rid of them. They can cripple down the original Windows GUI simply by removing some important DLLs. That’s why I mentioned it…

Sasha is right here, it’s best to run system file checker on that machine, put in your xp installation disc and type sfc /scannow into the run box.

SasH post:10:

Is this happening on your XP or Vista machine ? If it’s happening on Vista machine too (like it was happening on your old XP machine), then I am more than sure it has something to do with your Video card itself or drivers for the same.

That is also a possibility, that is why i suggested to update those drivers.

A complete reinstall of avast! is also an option to try.

Have you tried any of my suggestions Bob ?

bob3160 · 2008-01-10T14:25:16.000Z

If this problem had anything to do with graphics drivers, then the problem would always
be there. It would not ONLY exist on the first use of that function after a reboot.
This puter is a desktop running XP SP3

The other desktop contains XP SP3 and 2 versions of Vista I don’t have a problem on that computer.

The 3rd computer is a laptop running Vista Ultimate and no problems with the about function.

szc · 2008-01-10T14:56:26.000Z

bob3160 post:12:

If this problem had anything to do with graphics drivers, then the problem would always
be there. It would not ONLY exist on the first use of that function after a reboot.

Well, that’s not quite true… as I mentioned earlier it could be how your Video card or Video card drivers are rendering GUI elements. It could be that they are not doing it properly, and they “forget” to set some kind of refresh first time… so they need a little “push” and you have to do it for the second time in order to refresh it manually.

This puter is a desktop running XP SP3
The other desktop contains XP SP3 and 2 versions of Vista I don’t have a problem on that computer.

The 3rd computer is a laptop running Vista Ultimate and no problems with the about function.

Ok, so this could really confirm our (Miha’s and mine) theory about video card and drivers. The only difference between system 1 and system 2 is video card I guess, because it’s not likely you have two exactly same cards in both PCs.

bob3160 · 2008-01-10T15:24:08.000Z

Sorry Sasha but I don’t agree and again for the same reason as I’ve posted before:

If this problem had anything to do with graphics drivers, then the problem would always be there. It would not [b]ONLY[/b] exist on the first use of that function after a reboot.

By the way, how are your two angels ?

szc · 2008-01-10T15:30:42.000Z

bob3160 post:14:

Sorry Sasha but I don’t agree and again for the same reason as I’ve posted before:

If this problem had anything to do with graphics drivers, then the problem would always be there. It would not [b]ONLY[/b] exist on the first use of that function after a reboot.

hmmm… and I have to say again… that’s exactly the reason why. First time your video drivers are not refreshing GUI elements the way they should, so you are forced to do it second time and then refresh occurs without any problems. “Manual refresh” is what it could be called in this situation… sure it is weird, but I don’t believe it is something that’s hardcoded inside the avast! program.

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