So I am trying to install Avast 5 Free on my work laptop with previously had MSE. The OS is XP Pro SP3. MSE successfully uninstalls and after a reboot the Windows security center is cleared. No running av. I install Avast and it installs fine. Once its done I open up Avast and it says 'services not started,click fix now". Well I do and nothing happens. I do a repair on the install and nothing happens. I uninstall and reinstall and the same results. I tried this 4 times now,twice under a normal login and twice under Admin. How can I make Avast start? BTW there is NO OTHER security running.
Nice no help…Looks like I will be keeping MSE since no Mods have answered me. Nice support forum guys.
when you did the reinstall did you trie to remove it with asw.Clear before reinstall ?
How to uninstall our software using aswClear.exe: http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
Been there done that, same thing. Avast installs and uninstalls perfectly fine but when I click “fix now” nothing happens and the services are not running .
hmmmm…after removal…try cleaning with CCleaner and Eusing free registry cleaner. and restart before install
CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/
Eusing http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm
Hi Dieselman, how are you 
Are you serious ? I can’t beleve that you of all people have problems to install Avast! 5.
Greetz, Red.
Now Rednose maybe you will beleive their is a problem much bigger with Avast 5 then you all want to beleive.
Been there done that. Rednose this is my work pc. Not my own pc. Cleaning up with any registry cleaner does nothing.
Well my old friend, don’t you know that should not install Avast! 5 free on a work PC in the first place 
Greetz, Red.
Work pc…NOT A company pc. Get your facts straight rednose. I have my own laptop that GM bought me. I am not breaking the rules of Avast Free cause its not across company computers. All of us are responsible for our own laptops. Please refrain from replying unless you can aid in my problem.
what i would say to try is install version 5. make sure that you update the program (if just downloaded today then do not worry about that part, but if you have 5.0.377, then it is more of a must or re-download it) to make sure that it is fully updated, then reboot the PC. if that does not work, try rebooting it one more time. I know that this may sound silly but i have had a couple computers here that had problems where it wound not start up properly after installed. it would not even update. rebooting it one time partly fixed it but it did not completely work fine until after the 2nd reboot. If you are reading the registration info fine that it has time left and is registered, but not starting up, maybe try resetting the bois too. I have seen 1 time where that has fixed it too. those are my 2 suggestions.
Hi Dieselman
Have you tried installing in Safe Mode? If not, I’d clear it out with the uninstall utility first and then reboot into Safe Mode and try to install from there (reboot after install, of course).
In case you’re not aware, Safe Mode is started by hitting F8 when it’s booting (kinda the same way you have to keep hitting a certain key to get into your bios). As it starts booting up (at the memory count screen) start hitting F8 and it should bring up a screen with the options. Just pick the regular Safe Mode and enter, and when you have to login, do so with an admin account. The icons will be huge, but it should install the same. Reboot to normal mode after the install is done and see if it helped.
Installing from safe mode gives mixed results.
I would however boot into safe mode and remove MSE, uninstall avast, run the avast uninstall tool.
Then reboot and install from normal mode. If this doesn’t work you may have to post the setup.log file to get a better idea what is going on.
i saw this on one system all i ended up having to do was reboot a few times and the services started after 3-4 boots not sure why but its running perfect now
the other thing i notice is the scan page all the choices are blank until i reboot 2 times. this happened on 3 systems now
Dieselman
Why not try downloading avast 4.8 free
Then Start/Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs/remove avast! free Antivirus
Then install avast 4.8 then if & when installed your icon on bottom right side (right click icon) Update options were Engine and virus definitions and Program. Click on Program and update to avast 5
This is how I did it an my OS is XP.
Don’t know if this helps but does give you another option to try.
Cheers
@ Dieselman : I had the same problem, see this thread : http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=55232.msg466993#msg466993
and after a few reboots it settled down and all is working fine - keep at it !
Dieselman, have you tried starting the avast service from Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services?
3 or 4 times… guess i got it lucky. when i had that problem it was just 2 times… i will have to remember that it may take 3 or 4 reboots…
Ok well work was slow so I played around. I am well versed in pc’s BTW. Here are the steps I did and NOTHING was successful. There are serious bugs in Avast 5.
- Uninstalled MSE and rebooted
- Installed Avast 5 Free (version 5.0.396)
- Installed fine but GUI says “Fix now” services not started
- Click on “fix now” and nothing happens
- Rebooted. Same problem.
- Rebooted. Same problem.
- Rebooted. Same problem.
- Ran the repair tool for Avast and rebooted. Same problem.
- Uninstalled Avast using the avast uninstaller and rebooted.
- Installed Avast again and same problem.
- Rebooted. Same problem.
- Went into services and tried starting. Got error codes.
- Rebooted. Same problem.
- Uninstalled Avast 5 and installed Avast 4.8
- Works like a charm. Avast 4.8 works.
- Uninstalled Avast 4.8 with the avast uninstaller and rebooted.
- Installed Avast 5 and problem is back.
- Uninstalled Avast 5 with the avast uninstaller.
- Installed AVG and AVG works. Uninstalled
- Installed Avira Free and Avira Free works. Uninstalled.
- Reinstalled MSE and my story has ended.
With all that said and done there is obvious problems with Avast 5.
i now have avast installed on 15 pc’s the paid internet security version for various systems. other than the one time i have no issues at all with it. now im not saying its 100% bug free imo all programs have bugs of some sort or another even after years. but for me this is rock solid and perfectly stable and i have yet to have any issues other than the one time.