Avast!5 will not start . . .

General Topics
1

Greetings from here to there,

I have been using Avast!Free for about a year and half without any problems, until now. About three days ago Avast stopped loading when my system boots and will not start even when I rite-click on the icon and enter my Admin password to run as Admin. ERROR message is: “The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application even log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.” My questions are, this event log the one in Win7 or is it one for Avast? and after running the sxstrace.exe tool and following the instructions at the cmd-line on converting to a txt file what is this telling me? I am not dumb just not familiar with the computereeze or software lingo. How may I get my Avast!5 back working again, please?
TIA, CU L8R,
NTxLS

2

Have you just done an avast program update ?

Have you uninstalled another program very recently ?

This is indicating a missing component required by avast and this may have been uninstalled by another application that also used it.

Side-By-Side Configuration is Incorrect Error - You need to install MS Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable.

You need 2008 SP1 - this is the correct one:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)

3

Yes to the Avast UPdate, not sure about the program being updated. Yes to the next question, as I am not a programmer and do not know any thing about that I uninstalled the MS Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable. My system is Win7 64bit, is there a copy for 64bit(?) or do I need to use the x86 version? Did not know this was required by Avast.

Thank you for this info,
CU, L8R,
NTxLS

4

It is that the C++ installation isn’t on windows by default, some programs require it and may well install it, subsequently if you uninstall that program it might well uninstall the C++ installation, not checking if another process uses it.

There is one for 64bit OS, here:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update
Note this link there are 64bit versions there (IA64, x64) ensure you get the correct one for your OS (x86 32bit OS, x64 64bit OS) yours would be the vcredist_x64.exe download.

5

I think you need both the 32 and the 64 bit MS Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable with 64 bit system’s, iv got both of the 32 and 64 bit 2010 version on my system as well.

6

NTxLS iv noticed in one of your other post’s that you have MSE and spybot with teatimer on your system with avast, this can cause major conflick’s and you should uninstall them, you can keep spybot but you need to disable teatimer.
Even if mse is not running there will be certain low level driver’s that are and can cause problems.

7

DavidR,

I have Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 ATL Update kb973924 -x64 9.0.30729.4148 plus the same with x86 and Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.21022. Do not have the x32 redistributable, have just downloaded that and will install.

Thank you all that have posted here,

8

DavidR,

UpDate, all is well in my ocean, I am back in full command of my ship, er, system. That did the trick, restoring the C++ Redistributable for both x64 and x32.

craigb,

I will remain with the installations I have on my system as they work just fine together. If you need to know more about what I have and any other details just ask and I will provide.

Again, to all that have posted in my roasted poster and my idiotic mistake of removing the wrong items, live and learn, I THANK YOU ONE AND ALL SO VERY MUCHLY!!

9

Oh well iv warned you and that it all i can do, you need to listen and learn by following good advice, i suspect we’ll see you when your system break’s ;D

10

Yes, that is most likely the case as the C++ versions would I guess depend on the application using it, if that were 32bit (which avast is) or 64bit. So it is a bit strange that they make a point of mentioning OS but not application.

11

I have not used SpyBot S&D since I have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) that is much better than Spybot S&D as it has become a dinosaur application like Ad-Aware.

MBAM works very well with avast! unlike SpyBot SD&D’s Teatimer that is now redundant.