My computer has been running perfectly for years (really, years). Tried to install Avast 6 Free. Just before finishing install I got a BSOD. Rebooted. System took 5 minutes to load fully to my desktop. (XP SP2). Avast did not load on restart but installed folder in Start…Programs…there was no uninstall. Was finally able to go online and dl the uninstall utility. Booted into safe mode and ran it (although I think I ran it with the default for Avast 4). Rebooted. Took longer than usual to reboot, my system is now slower than it’s ever been, I get momentary lockups and need to know how to completely remove this program or at least get my system back to where it was (running perfectly). Should I try a system restore?
Hi and welcome to the forums: 
I would suspect you do need to run again and chose v.6 to Clear(Run in SAFEMODE). Also I have found it takes a couple of reboots to get everything settled in. :-
Why SP2 and not SP3??
Strange… It was downloaded 0 times :
Did you use any other antivirus before avast? Which one? How did you uninstall it?
Any other security program that could interfere?
Hi and welcome to the forums: :) I would suspect you do need to run again and chose v.6 to Clear(Run in SAFEMODE). Also I have found it takes a couple of reboots to get everything settled in. :-\ Why SP2 and not SP3??
OK. Will try. Thanks
Yes.
Vipre 4.0
Used their uninstall.
No.
RedRaleigh, I can’t see other reason for avast to crash besides a conflict with another antivirus or security program or remains of an old installation (not very well uninstalled).
Please, go to folder \windows\minidump and send the newest (recent) .mdmp files for analysis.
There is also C:\Windows\Memory.dmp file.
Better if you can compress (zip), rename it with an unique name, them and add some information about the BSOD and the link for this thread. 
Upload it to this anonymous ftp server: ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming/
Obligatory “Dude, where’s your backup?” question.
I do not mean to sound cheeky, but, changing anything that installs drivers (yes AVs do install drivers) has the potential to mess up one’s system. An external drive is not expensive. Get a nice 500GB one and provided you do not keep all your eggs in one basket, your C: drive should be 80GB max. A drive like that would go for many many many backups since apart from the first one the rest should be incremental.
No, you do not have to buy a disk imaging util, there are free ones out there. Macrium Reflect Free is one such product with lots of praises. (tho, the free version does not do incremental backups). Image your C: drive before a potential dangerous “move” and there, you’re good to go. Why in this day and age people keep going “commando” with their systems, boggles my mind. Want fast backup for your daily office docs and whatnot? Dropbox gives you 2GB storage for free. Files get synced whenever they are modified and I think they have file version feature too.
Thanks. I have two 2TB external backup drives (one is a backup of the backup!) and I make daily differential backups and weekly full backups plus a complete sector-by-sector backup routinely.
The \windows\minidump folder is empty and there is no memory.dmp file in my Windows folder. I re-ran the uninstaller utility (this time selecting avast 6 free) and it appears to have fully removed it. I ran a registry cleaner, rebooted a few times and (fingers-crossed) I seem to have my system back to pre-avast status. I won’t try it again.
If you feel like troubleshooting this further there is a Vipre removal tool at:
Staying with XP SP2 will not help you with any other anti virus application!
Stay here if you want help.
How to invoke memory dump creation?
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71
Thanks. Before avast I evaluated, at various times: Norton 2011, AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials, F-Secure, ESET, G Data, BitDefender and a few others I can’t recall at the moment. Not one of them crashed my system. I always used revo uninstall to make sure every bit was uninstalled, checked the registry myself and also ran any uninstall utility provided from the vendor before trying a new program. So, I’m not sure why you think SP2 is the problem…? As I said in my first post, my system runs beautifully.
RedRaleigh, why didn’t you upgrade to SP3?
Any failure in removing old antivirus could have an impact on avast (or any other antivirus installation).
+1 And you should installed SP3
Because I’ve always kept up with MS hotfixes and there weren’t a lot of new features in SP3 that my non-networked box needed. Are you saying, for example, the SP3 SSPI would fix problems with my avast install? Other than avast, I have not experienced any other install problems. I’d rather not take a chance installing SP3 just for the sake of installing avast.
avast 6 requires XP SP2 as minimum. But I’m quite sure SP3 won’t hurt. I, technically, can’t understand why people avoid having SP3. It’s an OS improvement. It’s not just an accessory thing.
+1
asyn
See:
Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 ends on July 13, 2010
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31
SP3 provides many Critical system updates and several performance improvements. 8)