Avast 4.8.1335 causes IE7 to hang (Vista Home Prem)

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hey everyone,

I just got a new PC, installed Avast! 4.8.1335 on a HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. I love Avast, but I have determined that it randomly causes IE7 to hang. I will be browsing the internet, and after some time (varies from day to day) IE7 will just start to hang. I have tried to kill tasks one by one to figure out what was causing the hang…and also to remove add-ons.

It was driving me mad as this hang would freeze my PC network access as well. I would have to shutdown and restart the computer to get it working again.

Finally, I thought to stop the On-Access protection from Avast! and presto - IE7 started working again. Now, whenever IE7 decides to hang, I just stop the On-Access protection and everything works again.
Has anyone else had this issue and found a permanent fix?

I also use Zone Alarm 8. But I shutdown Zone Alarm and still had the problem, it only goes away when I stop Avast! on-access protection.

Has anyone else experienced the same or similar problem and found a permanent fix?

Thanks so much.

2

Since you have a new HP laptop that most likely came with some type of pre-installed antivirus service, what was it and how was it removed?

3

Hey thanks for the reply. It was Norton Antivirus 2009 and I uninstalled through Control Panel.

4

If you use ZA firewall and avast you should exclude the scanning of the tracking.log which we believe is the cause of the avast hanging up.

For the Standard Shield provider (on-access scanning):
Left click the ‘a’ blue icon, click on the provider icon at left and then Customize.
Go to Advanced tab and click on Add button. Write there:
?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log

For the other providers (on-demand scanning such as the screen-saver or the Simple User Interface):
Right click the ‘a’ blue icon, click Program Settings.
Go to Exclusions tab and click on Add button. Write there:
?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log

The System Volume Information folder belongs to Windows System Restore.

Also, for Norton:

  1. Remove NAV or Norton 360 through Add/Remove programs from Control Panel. Boot.
  2. Use Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista or Norton Removal Tool for Windows 98/Me. Boot.
  3. Install avast! (or repair the installation) and boot.

The Norton Removal Tool uninstalls all Norton 2008/2007/2006/2005/2004/2003 products and Norton 360 from your computer.

5

As Tech suggests above, removing Norton with Control Panel is not enough.
Norton leaves too much junk behind that can and will interfer with any other av service.

Please follow all his suggestions above.

6

wow thank you guys so much for the quick and detailed reply!

i have followed all of your instructions and hopefully that will take care of it.

thanks again, I will report back in a few days to let you know how it is working out.

7

A belated welcome to the forums, msmith. :slight_smile:

Yes, we would be interested in the results.

8

Hi msmith6986 :slight_smile:

I just got a new PC, installed Avast! 4.8.1335 on a HP Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. I love Avast, but I have determined that it randomly causes IE7 to hang. I will be browsing the internet, and after some time (varies from day to day) IE7 will just start to hang.

Are you absolutely sure it’s Avast causing this problem?

The reason I ask…

My HP Laptop Is 6 Months Old … & … Has been an absolute pain from day one :cry:
It came with - NIS 08 :frowning:
Which I replaced after a month with - NIS 09 >:(
Which I replaced 2 weeks ago with Avast 8)
Although my laptop still has problems… It has been so much better behaved since I killed NIS and installed Avast :smiley:
Especially at - Start Up!

When you first set up your laptop…
Were you given the option to have NIS installed and running - Before you even got to see your desktop for the first time?
Did you choose - Yes or No ?
I chose - Yes … And have regretted it ever since.
Convinced that many of my laptops strange little quirks are from making that bad decision :cry:
I have thoroughly cleaned out both NIS 08 and NIS 09 … Yet I still feel like they haunt my laptop.

Which HP Laptop do you have?

Mine Is… HP Pavilion dv7-1055ea

Have you experienced any other odd quirks?

Example…
Other programs as well as IE7 occasionally hang when opening.
Lights stay ON after shutting down.
Start - Computer … Needing To Load / Refresh

Note!
You Said…

It was Norton Antivirus 2009 and I uninstalled through Control Panel.
Like Tech has already said.. It's usually a good idea to also.. Download & Run - [b]Norton Removal Tool[/b]

Have you deleted your Temporary Cache / Browsing History since uninstalling NIS 09 ?
This Should Help! :wink:

9

I am near certain it is avast. When IE hangs, I cannot do anything. But I right click on avast and Stop On-Access protection, and then everything works again. I can then restart avast and everything is okay.

Hally, I am pretty sure that I chose no and uninstalled NIS 09 as soon as I could. Never fully installed it.

It seems that there is some sort of file conflict until I stop avast and restart it.

Ugh, it happened again yesterday. Could it be a registry scan? Does avast access the registry? I ask because I saw a warning about a registry issue in the event viewer…something about IE trying to access the registry but it was in use by another application?