Avast 4.7 Crashes Outlook 2003

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi,

I have a problem with the Avast Outlook plugin, it causes Outlook to crash and when I restart Outlook I get a message that says the avast plugin has caused a serious error and would I like to disable it!

I have looked through the forum and followed some suggestions but still the problem is there! I have never had MSN desktop search on the machine, I used to have Norton before I changed to Avast and have run the NAV removal tool.

Any other suggestions before I have to go back to Norton :frowning: which I don’t want to do as it slows my poor old system down!

I’m running XP on a PIII 500mhz with 320mb ram, Outlook 2003 with the Plaxo plugin and the Spamfighter plugin.

Tim

2

What version of NAV did you have, was it part of a suite like NIS ?
What NAV tool did you use ?

A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT

You can also download SymNRT, a Norton uninstall tool that uninstalls all Norton 2004/2005/2006 products.

3

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response, I was using Norton Systemworks 2006 and used the norton_removal_tool downloaded from Symantec.

Cheers,
Tim

4

With systemworks being a suite of sorts (sorry I have no experience of it at all), I don’t know if you should uninstall that and then do a custom install of it and ensure the AV element isn’t installed.

Sorry I have only limited suggestions as I don’t use NAV or Outpost, just general experience, but I know NAV would integrate with Outlook in a similar way that avast’s Outpost/Exchange plug-in does so this may cause the issue.

You could check in Outpost and see if there is still a NAV plug-in still enabled. I don’t know what these other plug-ins do or if they might also have any effect, perhaps you could try disabling them temporarily and see if that helps.

Or try an uninstall of Outlook, boot and reinstall. This is obviously not something to take lightly you would need to back it up so as not to lose contacts, emails, etc.

5

You can use Norton Systemworks 2006 with avast if you DO NOT install Norton Antivirus (NAV).
You can manage your Norton Systemworks installation by the Windows Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs applet.

6

Hi,

I’ve checked the add in manager in Outlook and the NAV add in has gone. I’m not bothered about installing systemworks again, never used the other bits anyway and once NAV expired got rid of the whole thing which speed my machine up considerably!

I would like to get the Avast! e-mail scanner to work though, don’t feel so safe with it disabled!

Any other ideas? before I e-mail tech support!

Cheers,
Tim

7

Make sure the avast plugin is not disabled into MS Outlook:
Outlook 2003 > Help > About > Disabled items
Outlook 2000 > Tools menu > Options > Other > Advanced Options > Add-In Manager.

8

Did you try disabling the other outlook plug/add-ins just to ensure there is no conflict there and add them back one at a time ?

9

Good thought I’ll try that and get back to you!

Cheers,
Tim

10

No it’s not disabled in Outlook, but I’ve had to stop the provider in Avast! so that I can get my e-mail!.

Cheers,
Tim

11

Do you use a firewall? Which one?
Does it help if you disable the other plugins (Plaxo and Spamfighter)?

12

I am interested in this because my OL2003 kept crashing after installing Avast. When it would come back up the reading pane would be turned off. I have turned off the reading pane permanently and have had no crashes since. Any ideas why?

13

No need to post twice… Please, don’t duplicate the help effort.
Follow http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=25933.0;topicseen

14

I wish that I could get help in here or on my question that I posted by itself. The only thing that I gather so far from responses is that it is being worked on. Any suggestions as to what to do now?

15

Hi, no I have a hardware firewall in my router so don’t bother with a software one.
Over the last couple of days I’ve been experimenting switching on and off the plugins. If I switch off Plaxo it makes no difference, but if I switch off Spamfighter then all seems OK except when I close Outlook then it has a fatal exception error and says it must close! which is annoying but as I’m closing it anyway! So it seems to be a conflict with the Spamfighter plug-in which I don’t want to lose so it’s looking like I’m going to have to put Norton back!

Any more Ideas greatly appreciated.
Tim

16

How did you configure your email account to work at Outlook + Spamfighter + avast?
Isn’t there anything here http://www.spamfighter.com/FAQ_Installation_Default.asp that could help you troubleshooting?

For instance:

I am running NORTON ANTI VIRUS and I can't get SPAMfighter to work, what should I do? If you run into an Install Shield Error 1603 or 1607, follow this guide:
  • Reboot your computer
  • DON’T start Outlook
  • Deactivate Norton
  • Uninstall SPAMfighter using “Add/Remove programs” in your Windows control panel
  • Download and install the newest version of SPAMfighter here
  • Open Outlook and check if everything is all right
  • Activate your Norton

If for some reason it still does not work, you need to take off the gloves.

  • Reboot your computer
  • DON’T start outlook
  • Deactivate Norton
  • Download and run this program
  • Reboot your computer again
  • Deactivate Norton
  • Install the newest version of SPAMfighter
  • Open Outlook and check if everything is all right
  • Activate Norton

However, the Remove.exe file will remove all your SPAMfighter settings like black/white lists and statistics. If you have Norton Anti-spam, you will need to deactivate it, since that product will most likely conflict with SPAMfighter. Both are trying to access your emails for the same reasons, and that can make Outlook very unstable.