Avast Home messed my computer(s) totally up!

[system]

Hi!

Here’s my problem: I tried Avast Home on my laptop running Win XP Pro. It worked OK, so I installed it onto 3 other computers I own.

But then I noticed that it messed A LOT of things up on all 4 computers:

• Windows Update doesn’t work (it just shows blank page)
• System Restore doesn’t work (sometimes a totally blanked-out System Restore window appears, but most of the time nothing appears)
• Webpages using Java don’t work like they should (for example SMS messaging system I use for my job works only partially)

It seems that it affected MSIE7 the most, Firefox works a little bit better (but not OK), Opera works fine.

I tried to uninstall Avast but it just stays the same and (as you see) I cannot use System Restore. I haven’t changed any Avast’s settings - they are all default. I also tried to disable all modules but no improvement.

Here are specifications of computers: 2 with Win XP Pro, 1 with Win XP Home and 1 with Windows 2000 Server. They are all updated and nothing else has been installed in that time.

I also checked all four of them if they are infected but nothing came up (checked with Panda and Kaspersky online scan).

I really don’t know what this could be and I really don’t want to format everything…

[oldman960]

When you try to uninstall, what is the error message?

What did you have for an av before and how was it ununstalled?

Welcome to the forum.

[Lisandro]

@southpark post:1

I also tried to disable all modules but no improvement.

So… seems that other application is involved also…
Which firewall do you use? Any proxy application? Other security programs?

@southpark post:1

Windows 2000 Server

avast Home/Pro version does not work on this operational system. See system requirements.

@southpark post:1

They are all updated and nothing else has been installed in that time.

What do you mean, installed by scratch and avast is the first application to be installed?

[system]

@Tech post:3

@southpark post:1

I also tried to disable all modules but no improvement.

So… seems that other application is involved also…
Which firewall do you use? Any proxy application? Other security programs?

@southpark post:1

Windows 2000 Server

avast Home/Pro version does not work on this operational system. See system requirements.

@southpark post:1

They are all updated and nothing else has been installed in that time.

What do you mean, installed by scratch and avast is the first application to be installed?

I don’t use any other security (or proxy) software (well, Spybot is installed but is not running), just Windows firewall is turned on.

I am running Avast on Windows 2000 just normally, it didn’t say anywhere that it doesn’t

It’s not the first security application, I used Norton on my laptop (it came bundled but now 1 year license expired so I tried Avast), AVG Free on 2 other computers (Win XP Pro and Home) and nothing before Avast on Win 2000 - it was recently formatted.

There are no errors, Avast logs don’t show any infection, intrusion etc. No errors, NOTHING. If that would happen on one computer i would understand, but on 4 different???

[oldman960]

For your system restore problem have a look here

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html

and a link off of the above link page

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#BlankWindow

[Lisandro]

@southpark post:4

I am running Avast on Windows 2000 just normally, it didn’t say anywhere that it doesn’t

The problem is the server version of Windows 2000…

@southpark post:4

It’s not the first security application, I used Norton on my laptop (it came bundled but now 1 year license expired so I tried Avast), AVG Free on 2 other computers (Win XP Pro and Home) and nothing before Avast on Win 2000 - it was recently formatted.

Well… if a computer with NAV uninstalled worked, the AVG ones should do too. AVG is easier to get rid than NAV.
Did you uninstall AVG free before installing avast?

[system]

Yes, I uninstalled it first (I know it’s not wise to use 2 programs @ the same time

[system]

oldman - you’re a genius, it worked!

I have a strange idea that all that’s got messed up is Java engine. I tried to reinstall it but no difference.

Edit: Actually everything is back to normal now that I used those commands, Windows update works, SMS Messaging too…

But still - there’s no other suspect than Avast, nobody else had those problems?

[oldman960]

Don’t know about genius :-[ , but I do know if you stumble around enough, you’re bound to bump into something. I’ve seem the sys restore thing on computers with norton before.

Glad it worked. How are your computers now? Maybe try to do one at a time.

[system]

Too late, I already checked them all - and everything is OK now.

Are you guys sure Avast doesn’t work on Windows 2000 Server? Because it works like a charm on it ;D

[oldman960]

Great!

@southpark post:10

Are you guys sure Avast doesn’t work on Windows 2000 Server? Because it works like a charm on it ;D

As far as the documentation goes

http://avast.com/eng/avast_4_professional.html

scroll to the botom of the page, 95-vista, no server.

[DavidR]

@southpark post:10

Are you guys sure Avast doesn’t work on Windows 2000 Server? Because it works like a charm on it ;D

avast Home/Pro is a desktop solution and not a server solution, I’m surprised it installed properly (if it did), but it wouldn’t provide any protection for any workstations/desktops on that server.

[system]

Interesting, it really works ok. How come it works on pro but it doesn’t work on server?

[system]

Can you post the screenshot of System properties Control panel and send setup.log to my email (you’ll see it in my profile). Did you use license key or license file (license.dat)?

[system]

I’m having problems connecting to the web and getting email with Thunderbird since I installed the lastest update (4.7.986). If I turn off the providers, everything works fine.

I might go and try out the suggestions in here, but it is kind of weird, because I have never really had a problem with avast home versions before.

If worst comes to worst, I can always uninstall, but I do like a lot of the features of avast ( mainly, the providers :o ), so I’ll try out the things in this thread (I have Win2000Pro), and see if they work for me.

[DavidR]

It doesn’t sound like the same isue on this post so I doubt the suggestions here will have any effect.

It sounds more like your firewall blocking avast after elements changed after the update.

What is your firewall ?
Does it allow ashMaiSv.exe and ashWebSv.exe internet access ?

• If it does delete the entries for them, reconnect to the internet and check your email, this will force the firewall to ask permission again.

[system]

@southpark post:1

• Webpages using Java don’t work like they should

I’ve got the same problem.

[DavidR]

avast doesn’t discriminate against javascript unless it is detected as infected in which case an alert will be displayed.

Southpark’s comment on different browsers and the inconsistency if the problem would lead me to believe that it is browser related, if it were totally an avast issue I would expect it to be consistent across all browsers.

It seems that it affected MSIE7 the most, Firefox works a little bit better (but not OK), Opera works fine.

Not that I doubt it is the same can you be more specific, what browsers have you tried, any example URL we can try, your firewall, your OS, etc.

[system]

@DavidR post:18

avast doesn’t discriminate against javascript unless it is detected as infected in which case an alert will be displayed.

Southpark’s comment on different browsers and the inconsistency if the problem would lead me to believe that it is browser related, if it were totally an avast issue I would expect it to be consistent across all browsers.

It seems that it affected MSIE7 the most, Firefox works a little bit better (but not OK), Opera works fine.

Not that I doubt it is the same can you be more specific, what browsers have you tried, any example URL we can try, your firewall, your OS, etc.

I wanted to send you log file but your email address is hidden in your profile.

As I said - I couldn’t get Windows Update to work (on any computer), System Restore didn’t work either (as far as I know it uses some components from IE). WinXP machines have MSIE7, and Firefox 3 Alpha (after some pages didn’t work properly I installed version 2 but it was the same) and Opera 9.2. Win2000 has MSIE6.

I also had problems with SMS messaging system (www.smscity.net - but you have to login), couldn’t vote on some radio station here and (as I forgot to mention before) router’s control panel didn’t work properly - for example when I was changing some TCP/UDP settings I couldn’t select them in the menu.

Well, everything is OK now, thanks to Oldman’s solution.

[DavidR]

@southpark post:19

I wanted to send you log file but your email address is hidden in your profile.

That is what the forums are for, you can either attach the log file but preferably paste the contents (or relevant part) in the topic. This way more people are available to view any log and offer assistance. The reason my email address isn’t available is I don’t want it publicly available for much the same reason your email is hidden, so it can’t be harvested and subjected to spam.

However my post was directly related to GreGambler’s post (directly above mine) stating the same problem as yours and my quote of your original post was to seek clarification from GreGambler on the browsers he had tried and the results.