(Version 4.8 worked so well. Sigh…)
I got dragged into this because my free license was due for renewal. I was asked if I wanted to update the program when the license renewal reminder came up, and the license renewl process downloaded and installede version 5.0.594
Everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Today I reboot my system and it chokes after the Avast icon shows in the system tray with a yellow exclaimation mark through it. Hover over says my system is not protected and opening Avast shows that all internet protection services are disabled - red “minus sign” graphic.
I’ve screwed with this for over six hours so forgive me if my memory of what happened is shot at this point. The obvious points is: Whatever happened hijacked my dial-up internet connection services.
Tried connecting to the internet to find a solution to the Avast problem - couldn’t do it. All my predefined internet connection settings were blank. Minor panic, but ok - all I have to do is recreate a new connection with the MS Network Connection Wizard. Can’t do it. Internet Connection Wizard is, also, showing a blank field where the “Country/region name and code:” selection box should be. Click on the down arrow to select a region and the Connection Wizard craps out and closes. The log regarding this says:
Application exception occurred:
App: icwconn1.exe (pid=528)
When: 09/03/2010 @ 21:23:40.592
Exception number: c0000005 (access violation)
Working backwards through the event viewer log, the very first error! logged for this whole problem was:
“The avast! Antivirus service hung on starting.”
After that came:
“The avast! Antivirus service depends on the avast! Standard Shield Support service which failed to start because of the following error:
No attempts to start the service have been made since the last boot.”
"The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
Aavmker4
aswSP
aswTdi
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
Rdbss
Smapint
Tcpip
TDSMAPI
TPHKDRV
TPPWR "
“The Remote Access Connection Manager service depends on the Telephony service which failed to start because of the following error:
No attempts to start the service have been made since the last boot.”
Ultimately the log viewer starts every boot session with “The avast! Antivirus service hung on starting.” and then shows multiple services, mostly communication services, hung with the message “…No attempts to start the service have been made since the last boot.”
Yes, I tried the fix option from within the Avast add/remove program option. It said it completed, it didn’t change anything.
Still not knowing what the hell was going on, I was within an inch of doing a full OS reinstall. But I booted into safe mode, uninstalled Avast 5, rebooted… and all the problems disappeared. My previously defined internet connection profiles are magically back. I tried the MS Network Connection Wizard and it’s functioning normally again.
Hope this helps the technicians. There was one other person who reported a similar problem with Win 2000 but I’ve seen a lot of similar reports in this forum with everything through Windows 7. So I have to doubt an “old” operating system is to blame.
Personally, all I want to know is how to revert to Avast 4.8 since there isn’t a download link for the free home version any longer on the download page. Really p.o.'d about how badly version 5 messed with my system and don’t care if I ever see it again.
Rick ???