I just had to reinstall avast! on my XP box, and when the 4MB or so updates finished installing and the system was rebooted, Windows froze. I uninstalled and tried again - same again. There was nothing I could do but boot into Safe Mode and uninstall avast!
The version I updated from is avast!_4_home_4.0.172.exe
Anyone else had problems updating the installation?
So youre saying ver.4.0.172 worked OK but the new update did not?
At what stage of booting did it freeze? Before or after logging on? Before or after the Explorer stated?
The product version of the exe I have is 1.0.0.1 - I think the exe version I quoted - 4.0.172 - may have been the newer number after the update.
My comp froze after getting to the desktop and attempting to load items in the system tray; didn’t seem like Explorer got to load, since nothing else worked at all. Sometimes the avast! icon in the tray would have a red circle with a diagonal line through it.
All the same here, too !
But if i wait about 30 sec. it boots on … and works.
Before the update everything was fine.
I tried to rightklick on the avasticon when it freezes at boottime, that with the red circle, and get an RPC-Error window.
But how i said, 30 sec. of waiting and all is fine, beside one thing:
I can´t update anymore automatically. If i try, the updatewindow pops up, then it minimizes itself in the taskbar and nothing happens, i can only abort it with the taskmanager.
Thx for help and do not wonder about the bad english, i´m from Germany 
Update 1: The updatefunction now works again, but only for the “program update”, hmmm don´t know why, but it works again …
I don’t know what’s going on with the updates on mine. But after spending about three hours eliminating apps one by one, it came down to avast! being the source of the system freeze; so I’ve uninstalled it - for now. It worked for ages before with no probs ???
I’m downloading a newer Home version exe, and I may try installing (and updating…) that sometime soon. Maybe.
Looking at the other versions people have downloaded recently, I think the exe version I have is 4.0.172 (from ?March 2003). I install that version, and the updater does its thing on the net, the 4Megs worth, then after rebooting, Windows freezes at the desktop and nothing can be clicked, opened, etc.; hard-reset is the only option. Then only a reboot into Safe Mode, and uninstalling avast! gets things back to normal… ???
OK mark so in your case, waiting wouldn’t really make any difference…?
Waiting for what?
Okay, I’ve got the latest installation package (7+MB). Hopefully, if I install that I should be fine? Maybe it was just issues from updating an older exe.
Waiting for avast (or the system or anything) to wake up from the freeze, as described by Viperlein above.
Yeah, waiting was no use. The whole system seemed to be stuck in some sort of loop, like it was trying to initialise a startup app, but couldn’t.
Mark,
I know VLK does not wholly agree with what I am about to say, but I know that it has been done by other users and done with success.
Sometimes, if using an older version, and then updating to a somewhat newer version that does not work for whatever reason, and you uninstall again…the add/remove function of Windows does not clean out the old Avast files fully.
Try downloading a copy of AVCLEAR from the Avast site and use this uninstaller first. Then try to install the newer Avast 4.1 Home Edition. Insure that all other non-essential programs are shut down whether they are Windows programs or not. Just leave Explorer and Systray running.
If this does not solve the problem, then I must yield to our Grand Guru VLK for further guidance. ;D
Good luck.
This exact same thing happened to me also. I have win 2K pro will all updates using the early avast 4 program. When it did it’s auto update on the 11th it froze up at the desktop. I could see the wallpaper but no icons… I reloaded the entire computer and it did the same thing again. I’ve never had a problem with avast before. Would using a newer avast version fix this problem?
Thanks for the tip, techie101. I downloaded the latest avast! install, so I’ll give that a go and see what happens. If that doesn’t work, I’ll use that AVCLEAR app.
In response to my post above, I did a fresh install of Avast 4.1 and it is working perfectly now.
It does? Interesting, indeed… ???