I recently dumped my old version of Notron Antivirus 2003 and decided to download and install the latest version of Avast Pro. I have not paid for it yet, I was going to do the 60-day trial and see how I liked it. The installation seemed to go okay, and all the providers (script blocking, internet mail, etc) seem to be running. However, I have one major problem:
The Avast antivirus program itself, where I assume one can perform manual scans, adjust various settings, etc., will not load. I have tried to run it by selecting “Start avast! antivirus” from the sys tray icon, by selcting it in the start menu, and I even went into the program files folder and tried double clicking on the application itself: “C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashAvast.exe”
In all cases, I get the same result. My cursor shows the hourglass for a few seconds, as if something is loading, and then… nothing. It’s as though I never tried to load it. Does anyone know what might be going on here? Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be able to load the antivirus program? Should I try to uninstall and then reinstall?
Sorry if this has been an issue before… I did not find any posts with my exact situation, though I only spent a few minutes looking before I posted.
Anyway, I have run into another problem in that I cannot uninstall Avast. I attempted to use the uninstall util as suggested. It did manage to remove the avast sys tray protection (the avast sys tray icons are no longer present). However, the util froze up and would not complete the uninstall. It has continued to freeze up on all subsequent attempts. I also tried uninstalling through windows add/remove programs. There, it shows that avast is still installed, and if I click “change” and then select remove, it freezes and the system hangs, requiring a reboot.
Thinking that perhaps this might have something to do with traces left behind from NAV, I went ahead and ran the Rnav2003.exe util, which seemed to go smoothly. However, running this did not fix my uninstall problem with Avast.
I also tried running the Avast installer (the one I originally used to install the program), but it recognizes that Avast is still installed, and will not allow me to completely reinstall the program. So for the time being, I have what seems to be a partial installation of Avast. The program is installed but will not load (my original problem), and now the various providers and sys tray feature are also no longer present. And I cannot uninstall it so that I can start from scratch.
Perhaps there is a way to perform a purely manual uninstallation (i.e. combination of removing program files, relevant registry keys, etc.)?
Thanks, I actually decided to do that right after my last post, and it did in fact work. I was able to completely uninstall Avast. One problem solved!
I have now reinstalled Avast, and at least my sys tray services are running again, so I imagine I have some level of virus protection in place. Unfortunately, I still cannot load the Avast antivirus program, so my original problem still exists. I’m inclined to think there is something about my particular system configuration that is interfering. Here is a list of the other things I normally have running (and that appear in the sys tray), which have not caused me any troubles in the past:
HP Photosmart 7400 series: it’s some sort of printer monitor… always has seemed pretty innocuous
Asusprob: a temp/fan monitor for my motherboard
WindowBlinds 4.5: some may think it’s a waste, but I love it
Microsoft OneNote: Program is not always running but the sys tray icon is always there
NVIDIA NVMixer: Sound controls for the NVIDIA sound chip on my mobo
Rainlender: Desktop calendar app
HandyNotes: Lightweight desktop note application
Webshots: for putting cool pictures on the desktop
I also have the windows firewall turned on.
As I said, some people may not like some of the “fluff” things I have installed but I have had them on this system for over a year with no problems. That being said, if anything looks suspicious that might interfere with Avast then by all means let me know.
In safe mode, I found that I am able to successfully load the Avast program, perform manual scans, etc. The program does a memory test and then opens up the interface module. I assume this is what it should normally do.
However, when I boot up normally, it will no longer load. This supports my idea that there is something about my configuration that is preventing Avast from loading. I don’t have a clue what it may be though, at least not yet. I do know, however, that it is NOT WindowBlinds, Rainlender, or HandyNotes since I have tried quitting those and it does not help. I’ll continue to tinker around, any suggestions are welcome.
In the meatime, I imagine that I am basically protected since the “on-access” system try protections seems to be working. Is this correct? If I need to do manual scans, manual program updates, etc. then I can just boot into safe mode to do it. Not sure if I would want to pay the $39 for pro edition though, if this is what I end up having to settle for:)
Can’t you repair your installation?
Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove. Then choose Repair function in the popup window (Repair). You must be connected to the internet while repairing. If this does not help, can you uninstall / boot / install / boot again?
If you sure that this is happening, I suggest you change to the skinless version (changing avast4.ini file).
Can you run: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashSimp2.exe
What do you get?
There isn’t and there wasn’t any problem on avast! Home edition that will be corrected by the Pro version. This is not how we trust avast! company. Home version fully works. 8)
I actually tried both of these. First, I tried the uninstall/boot/install/boot method. Although I originally had some trouble uninstalling Avast, I figured that out. I also tried doing the repair, which did not help me.
What exactly would I change about the avast4.ini file to make it skinless? Maybe that would help. As for running C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashSimp2.exe, if I do that I get exactly nothing! Nothing seems to load, no program opens, nothing seems to change at all. It’s like I have done nothing. I do notice in the task manager, however, that ashSimp2.exe is running.
I didn’t think my problem would be fixed by going to pro. In fact, I chose to install pro in the first place so the problem is in fact occuring with the pro version! I just meant that if I can’t fix this little problem, I’d be willing to use the home version for free since it seems to provide resident protection (in fact, it already recognized that an email I got today had a virus in it). But if I have to go into safe mode everytime I want to do a manual scan, or for any other reason that would require running the avast antivirus program, it’s a little inconvenient. Fine if it’s free, but not if I was going to pay for it.
I was connected, yes. Unless my cable goes out, I am usually always connected I have two HDDs, both of which are formatted in NTFS file system. I don’t use any ODBC or XML methods.
I haven’t had time to play with the .ini file yet. I will post any result once I have some time. I’m certainly willing to try, though not sure that the skinning is really the culprit.
While I do agree that something is definitely wrong, I’m actually not so sure that my installation is corrupted. As I mentioned, if I boot into safe mode and then try to load avast! antivirus, it loads up just fine. This makes me think that there is something else running when I boot up normally (some other process) or some particular windows setting I am using that is prevening avast! antivirus from loading. I used to use NAV 2003, which I uninstalled prior to installing avast. When I noticed my problem with avast, I ran Rnav2003.exe to ensure that NAV had been completely uninstalled. So at this point, there should not be any other antivirus (or traces thereof) on my system.
Here’s the exact order of what I did:
Uninstalled NAV 2003 using add/remove programs in the control panel
Installed avast! pro edition. Chose to perform virus scan on next boot, which found one bad file (not sure if it was a virus or just a suspicious file. It was associated with “popcaploader”, something yahoo games uses for some of it’s web-baed java games. Anyway, I chose to remove the file.
Noticed that although all sys tray features seemed to be working, avast! program would not load.
Tried to uninstall avast using aswclear util. Util froze up and would not complete uninstallation. This happened multiple times. Booted into safe mode, ran aswclear again, and then it worked. avast was uninstalled.
Ran Rnav2003.exe to remove any traces of NAV 2003.
Re-installed avast. However, this time, I chose the free home version instead of pro. So yes, I have in a sense downgraded. However, my problem existed on my earlier installation of the pro version, so I don’t think it’s because of the downgrade.
Still have the home version installed. Avast program still will not load, unless I boot into safe mode.
As a little side-note, I think it may be related, the fact that I had to go into safe mode to uninstall avast, and that I have to go into safe mode in order to successfully load the avast program.
Since I performed a boot-up scan and found only one file, which was removed, I think I’m clean. I don’t notice anything unusual in the task manager.
Thanks again for all the help. I’m sure avast is great and I know a lot of people seem to like it. Hopefully I can figure out what’s going on with my situation!
Oh, you must use one ;D
Open C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Data\avast4.ini file into Notepad and search two words: ODBC.
Change the value Database=XML and boot. See what you get.
I will not be that sure :-\
Do you know how to work with the Registry?
Can you post the contents of these Windows Registry keys in your system (if you have them)?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet004\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers\VDD
It’s not enough. You should, after booting, run the step number 5 before installing avast!
It’s better to send files to Chest for further analysis or, at boot time, move it and after login, send to Chest.
Wrong again. It’s better, first, use Control Panel (like you did with Norton).
Which Registry key do you use now? A Professional version or a Home one?
Try changing the avast4.ini file like I said before and post again if it fails.
I assume from the Symantec entry that some traces of my old NAV2003 might still be there? Also, I forgot to mention that although I DID uninstall NAV2003, it was part of SystemWorks 2003 and I still have Norton Utilities and Norton CleanSweep installed. Should I try to get rid of these as well? I sort of like them but don’t really care that much.
Right now I have Avast! Home version installed. I had originally installed the pro version, but I uninstalled that yesterday. When I reinstalled, I chose the home version instead (actually I did that as a little test, to see if my problem would go away if I switched from pro to home). I have just left the Home version installed for the time being.
The first driver is from Symantec… if you could change the order and let avast! be the first, will be better. But, like it is now, might be working.
No, other parts of the Suite work perfectly with avast! This is not the problem for sure.
Did you change any setting of Internet Explorer (like pictures)?
Again, what do you get running C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashSimp2.exe ? Nothing?
It’s becoming a mistery for me… If you open the thread of avast4.ini file (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=1647) and search the word skin and make sure you set the skinless options, will it work?
No, I hardly ever touch IE. I use firefox exclusively.
I have a little more to say about this after experimenting a bit. Essentially I get nothing when running ashSimp2.exe, yes. However, I tried running it several times in a row while leaving the task manager open and seeing which processes start up. Interestingly, although nothing seems to open on my desktop, I do see that a process named ashSimp2.exe is loaded with each run attempt. The process stays running until I re-boot, and multiple instances can run at the same time. Right now I have three of them running. Also of note, if I go into the Avast sys tray and click on “Start avast! Antivirus” a different process loads into the task manager, named ashAvast.exe. I have about six of those running right now as well. Very strange.
I set EnableSkins=0 and also added StartWithSkin=0. This did not help however
Both processes are correct, I mean, their names: ashSimp2.exe is the skinless version of avast! and ashAvast.exe is the splash screen that opens the Simple User Interface (ashSimpl.exe) or the Professional version (ashEnhcd.exe).
Now I can say it’s a total mistery… I’m asking for ‘higher’ help support here… :-[
I hadn’t thought to try the explorer extension, that’s a good idea. And as it turns out, that does in fact work. So I can apparently scan files/folders using that. I still can’t load the actual program yet, however. I agree it is very strange.
With regard to WindowBlinds, that was one of the earlier things that I tried. But unloading it (disabling it) didn’t help. Considering that, plus my attempts to “de-skin” avast using the .ini file, it seems like it probably isn’t anything skin-related. I’m trying to think of other things but nothing has really stood out yet. My avast just won’t load and it is, as you say, a real mystery ???
Thanks for continuing to think about it, as will I. Something’s gotta work sooner or later right?
I guess there have not been any new revelations about my problem? I know it’s very strange, I just can’t figure it out. I really would like to keep Avast and am thinking I may just keep it anyway, despite the fact that I have to boot into safe mode in order to load up the program. Everything else including the on-access (system tray) scanners and explorer extension seem to work.
In the meantime, I also decided to install ZoneAlarm Pro just becuase in general I’ve heard it’s a good firewall and it also has some anti-spyware features. My lappy got killed earlier this year by spyware so I’m kind of paranoid about that now. It seems to be working with Avast, in the sense that nothing else has gone wrong
I feel I now have a reasonable level of security, superior to what I had just a week ago (NAV2003 and Windows built-in firewall). But if I could get this last problem solved with Avast, it would be perfect. Perhaps there’s no such thing as perfection right :-\
I decided to take a screenshot of my task manager and post it here. If any of you notice anything unusual or suspect that might cause problems with Avast, please let me know. I do know what some of the items are but some I am more or less clueless about.
Again, for those of you who may not have read the entire thread, I am having a problem loading the avast! antivirus program. If I try, nothing happens at all - it just won’t load. Other avast features such as the various providers (which run from the sys tray) and the explorer extension seem to work. The only way I can load the actual program to perform a complete manual scan, adjust settings, etc. is if I boot into safe mode. I am using the Home version, btw.
I have two HDDs, both of which are formatted in NTFS file system. I don’t use any ODBC or XML methods.
