I have been running Avast home for quite some time now and have been pleased with it. However, just today, the green box popped up telling me that a new version of avast was available for installation. i installed the new version, and restarted. I then decided to run a scan, and the computer crashed during the memory test. i rebooted, and tried again, this time skipping the memory test. avast started up fine, but crashed some time into the scan. i uninstalled and reinstalled avast, but the problem persists. What’s going on, here?
I also run Adware and NoAdware, but have never had problems between the programs.
and NoAdware, but have never had problems between the programs.
This one could be dodgy. Was once a rogue. Appears to not be, now, but personally, I wouldn't touch it.
There are far better alternatives to either of those programs, including Superantispyware, and MBAM.
What I'd suggest is to uninstall Avast from the control panel, run the uninstall utility http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html and re-install the latest copy of Avast. Reboot as prompted during the process.
In case the issue is malware related, I'd be inclined to allow Avast to run a boot scan on restart. Update it first, though.
How exactly does it freeze? Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?
Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?
Additionally, you can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with “OK files” to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it’s going to be close to the end of the report).
After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the “troublesome” file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn’t be hard to guess). We would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that we could fix the problem.
The report file created (if you turned it on in program settings) will be (default location) at \Data\Report\Simple User Interface.txt
Did you have any other antivirus in the past in this computer?
What I'd suggest is to uninstall Avast from the control panel, run the uninstall utility http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html and re-install the latest copy of Avast. Reboot as prompted during the process.
In case the issue is malware related, I'd be inclined to allow Avast to run a boot scan on restart. Update it first, though.
i’ll try that. the program updates just fine, it just crashes when it runs a memory test or scans.
How exactly does it freeze? Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?
Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?
the computer actually just shuts down and restarts. when i log back in, i’m sometimes prompted to restore my active desktop, and am always asked if i want to send an error report.
I’ll try creating a report file, but i wonder if it won’t be there when i log back in after it crashes.
Did you have any other antivirus in the past in this computer?
I had norton, but it came with my computer. i uninstalled it when i got a network adapter, and installed Avast! at the recommendation of a friend.
I had norton, but it came with my computer. i uninstalled it when i got a network adapter, and installed Avast! at the recommendation of a friend.
That's as likely as anything to be the problem.
Download the Norton Removal Tool (step three here:) http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/norton2008.nsf/docid/2007082908475279?Open
You could try just running it and see if that fixes the problem, or run it as part of a complete re-install of Avast, if the "quick fix" doesn't work.
That would be fully uninstalling Avast, run the Avast uninstall utility, (reboot if prompted) run the Norton Removal tool, reboot if prompted, re-install Avast.
Be disconnected from the web while doing this, of course.
