Today I installed Avast 6.
Now when I try to play a game that I’ve downloaded to my desktop, it won’t open and freezes the computer. I’ve had these games for a good while but today Avast said the game file was a potential threat to the computer and mentioned Auto sandbox. I need to know how to fix this.
Did you select to sandbox the file? If yes, see here : http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=72177.0 on how to not run it in sandbox. Do that and let us know if everything’s fine.
I also got a same problem, here my post: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=72203.0
Actually it was my son who was playing. He got a notice to sandbox the file, but when he did the game didn’t open and the computer froze. I restarted the computer and turned off Auto Sandbox but the game still wouldn’t open and froze the computer again.
I just tried clicking on all 4 games on the desktop and none opened.
Then I couldn’t open even My Computer or any desktop icons.
Couldn’t even click Turn Off Computer. I had to manually shut it down and turn it back on.
My game problems seems to be solved.
I went into Program Files to the game folders and clicked on the game icons in there and 3 out of 4 of the games loaded right up. I’m not sure what happened but the desktop shortcuts didn’t work anymore, but the ones in the folder did so I just replaced them. There’s one game that isn’t working so maybe it was causing the problems with the other games and not the Auto Sandbox or avast. I don’t really know.
But I’m just going to leave the sandbox turned off. That’s okay, right?
I really do love avast. I’ve never had any problems with it and I hated the thought of having to get another antivirus program.
The reason for the sandbox is to maybe catch new malware that is not listed in the current signature database. It will pick up on unknown apps that try to take actions common to what malware apps do. If you get an alert for something, and you don’t recognize the listed program and haven’t chosen to install it, you’d probably want to sandbox it. It’s just an extra layer of security that was added because the only knock on Avast! was that it was poor at detecting new threats.
If you leave the sandbox off, you’ll still be getting the level of protection you’ve been used to with Avast! and it may be enough. There’s always that small chance though that you could be hit by something new.
Well my game problem is back. Right after Avast 6 (free version) updates, my games on the desktop won’t load up and the computer freezes. I have to manually shut down the computer and then turn it on again. After the computer is restarted, the games will load up again.
Yikes, what to do?
Disable the avast sandbox(see pic - follow the numbers), restart the system. Run the game and let us know if the problem still persists.
Similar(ish) issues to mine
I had already disabled Auto Sandbox and the problem continued.
That being said, once again everything is okay. It’s confusing, I don’t know what caused the game problem and now I don’t know why they’re working again. I’ve done nothing. I thought it was the updates causing the problem, but Avast updated a few times today and the games are still running okay. I hope it continues to stay that way.
I guess I’m luckier than most here who are having problems with avast 6. It only affected a couple of desktop games. My internet is fine and everything else is working and I didn’t have to uninstall or reinstall. Knock on wood, it stays that way.
FYI, I have XP Service Pack 3 and an older version of Zone Alarm Free (8.0.298.000)
It is very likely not related to the AutoSandbox, but rather to the avast code emulator (sf.bin), part of its heuristics engine. This things kicks in in many cases where avast thinks that the files looks suspicious from outside.
Having a full memory dump generated at the moment the problem is simulated would definitely help to resolve the issue.
Thanks
Vlk