I have been using Shadow Defender and avast! home 4.8.1296 with avasts’s programs folder added to the exclusion list which enable me to update virus definitions without a hitch. Upon upgrade to 4.8.1335, this is no longer possible because avast keeps getting an RPC error upon reboot. Thinking that it might be caused by self-protection, I tried to disable avast’s self-protect but still got the same problem. I therefore reverted to the previous version which worked as needed before the upgrade.
My question would be is if my pc is still getting sufficient protection even with an older version of avast? Does the virus definitions work in the same manner between the two versions?
XPSP3 32bit
avast! standard shield only
Shadow Defender
Sandboxie
Windows firewall
I would say delete the entry in Shadow Defender for avast and force it to ask again.
Unfortunately I know squat about shadow defender other than the usual marketing blurb, so I don’t really know how it works. My concern is that it is somehow actually blocking the update by sending it to the shadow area (or whatever), this could result in problems with avast.
However, I wouldn’t have expected to see that in the form of an RPC error.
What happens if you disable shadow defender ?
You may need to do a clean reinstall of avast.
Download the latest version of avast http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again. Use that when you reinstall.
Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, find it here and save it to your HDD.
Now uninstall (using add remove programs, if you can’t do that start from the next step), reboot.- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility, reboot. If step 1 failed it may be necessary to run this from safe mode, once complete reboot into normal mode.- 3. install the latest version, reboot.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that i get the RPC error with either a clean install or via upgrade from 1296 to 1335. With Shadow Defender turned off, avast updates fully without errors. The problem only arises when avast updates during a shadowed session then rebooting the pc otherwise, no problems during that session. I am not a techie but I’m guessing version 1335 accesses and makes subtle changes to the registry when updating the VPS thus the error after a reboot since Shadow Defender as far as I know only handles files.
A bit off-topic question:
What files does standard shield scan with the {*} set at default file extensions?
What you are describing sound very like when you reboot it shadow defender rolls back and screws up the update or installation possibly leaving avast in a corrupt state.
Did you go through the steps exactly as I suggested and probably running the avast uninstall tool from safe mode.
Not exactly the same steps since after the RPC error I had to reboot in safe mode to uninstall avast. Trying to remove it via windows Add/Remove results in a freeze up.
a. Reboot in safe mode and used windows Add/Remove to uninstall avast.
b. Reboot to normal mode and used the uninstall utility to remove leftover entries.
c. Reinstalled 4.8.1335 and got the previous error when updated while in shadow mode then rebooting.
I may very well stay with 4.8.1296 for now and wait for the next release and hopefully don’t get the RPC error then. Thank you very much David
Personally I feel the crux of the problem is with shadow defender and not a specific version of avast. I would bet that should you completely remove avast and install an earlier version that 4.8.1296 you would experience the same problem.
And somehow the only reason why 1286 works is that you specifically allowed it.
