It seems that AVAST (in my case the fully paid version) is incompatible with Dragon Naturally Speaking 12.1 (Professional), since a few days ago. I read this in a forum, and the problem appeared for me today. My Dragon now does not open.
Anyone else there with the same problem? Will Avast fix this in the next days? Dragon is essential for me, every day for work.
Hans
so far the Tech Support experience is disappointing. Can’t even file the complaint…
It can help if you provide more information and not just say that something is not working. 
What exact version of avast?
What os/service pack?
Any error? If so, what is the exact error?
Have you tried to disable the avast shields one at a time to see if/which specific one is causing a problem?
I had a client with that issue, and I was able to create an exclusion, and the problem was fixed.
Sincerely,
J.R. “AutoSandbox Guy” Guthrie
“At this point in time, the Internet should be regarded as an Enemy Weapons System!”
Eddy,
thanks for checking in. Where do I even find out the AVAST version? I looked around, and it is not obvious. I tried to submit a ticket, but got thrown out after I typed everything (I need voice recognition to type, bec of medical issue). It is unclear how to upload the dump file that I generated since it does not link. All I know is that I paid and that this should not happen.
Windows 7, SP1, the error is described in the post by a recognized software reseller, that I posted. Dragon Naturally Speaking just cannot start (and I can no longer work).
http://www.speakeasysolutions.com/blog/2013/11/12/avast-antivirus-incompatible-with-dragon
So this seems to be a broader systemic issue, not a problem contrained to me.
Hans
J.R. thanks for the tip – what did you point the exclusion toward?
The DNS program folder? Or more? Or less?
Hans
Right click the avast icon near the clock and choose “about”.
It will show the avast version.
Dear Eddy,
We excluded the entire folder under Global Exclusions: C:\Program Files\nuance\ is the installation directory, but I may be wrong as I am going by memory.
Under Global exclusions, I added nuance
Sincerely,
J.R. “AutoSandbox Guy” Guthrie
“At this point in time, the Internet should be regarded as an Enemy Weapons System!”
JR,
thank you for your advice on this – I did the exclusion as you described, it turns out that now Dragon NaturallySpeaking is running faster than it ever did!! In other words, AVAST has been throttling my system for the last two years. That is kinda disappointing, but at least good to know that things should run much better in the future.
Thanks again,
Hans
Dear Hans,
The “kinda disappointing” statement really refers to EVERY anti-virus program in the world. In the Enterprise, their are ALWAYS exclusions.
Many software authors recommend to exclude their application from A/V for this reason. We exclude Intuit at our office for our QuickBooks Enterprise version, and also exclude *.qbw (the data file).
So, I think the proper statement would then become “I learned a lot about A/V software today!”
Sincerely,
J.R. “AutoSandbox Guy” Guthrie
“At this point in time, the Internet should be regarded as an Enemy Weapons System!”
I have finally uninstalled AVAST – I do have to say that even with the exclusion, it was not running properly. So the recommendation that AVAST just is not compatible with Dragon NaturallySpeaking unfortunately is correct.
Thanks for everyone’s input.
Hans
This means the exclusion is not right, yet. I have 40 years of clients, and many use DNS without any issues.