Avast Internet Security fails on our new G series HP laptops! :-(

Well, what a bummer…

We have 12 new HP G series laptops (Win 7 hp) for traveling sales. Fully updated, Norton fully removed with removal tool, no other software added.

When we install Avast Internet Security Suite on any of these laptops, Sleep and Hibernation Modes fail (Note: it works fine up to the point of installing Avast). After installation, any attempt to enter these modes results in the hard drive flashing in a common pattern (never sleeping or hibernating), and the need to hold the power button down to shut the units down and restart (with the dirty shutdown screen, of course).

The real kicker is that we also cannot UNINSTALL Avast! On each laptop, attempting to uninstall it results in it hanging midway at ‘Web Shield’, with no hard drive activity.

So, we ended up having to restore the laptops to our original image.

After looking through these forums, it appears that similar issues have been reported regarding sleep mode failures, but with no solutions. We will clearly need to switch to another product, unfortunately. :frowning: At least we tested first before buying the additional licenses for these units.

What blows the most is that we will now have to deal with two primary internet security suites, which I really wanted to avoid. It would be nice if someone from Avast could respond to this issue, as it seems this problem is persistent, at least with HP laptops, and apparently getting worse if our experience is any indication…

  1. http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
  2. http://www.avast.com/contacts
    asyn

that’s a user based forum here, so don’t expect too much anyone from Avast to respond here. Follow Asyn’s links :wink:

This said I’m running Avast5 (free) on a Compaq (so that’s an Hp basically) laptop + W7/64 with no problem. I’m also running AIS on another laptop (Acer) + W7/64. No sleep mode or hibernation issue either.
I would rather have a look at the stuff that HP has pre-installed on your laptops. What I had to remove on the Compaq was absolutely amazing ;D

I even tend to reinstall a clean OS on a bloated preinstalled system… :wink:
asyn

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. Here’s my followup :slight_smile:

  1. We cleaned the first laptop of extraneous software, updated it, and imaged it to the others, before any of this process began. Since some of the HP tools are actually useful to us, we retained those rather than loading a new OS. (That’s the image I am referring to). We do a number of things directly through the registry. There is nothing loading that doesn’t need to.

  2. Yes, I found that uninstall utility - much like the Norton Removal Tool, which I mentioned we used during the original cleanup. My point with the failed uninstall is that it locks the machine, no hard drive response = another dirty shutdown. That’s not a feel-good kind of failure :-\ You know, it’s just extra frustration given the other issues. I would rather go back to the image at that point.

  3. I’m glad to hear you have Avast5 Free working with your HP :wink: - and I’m sure there have to be a lot of HP’s out there running Avast successfully - but as you know, Avast Internet Security contains a number of additional components. There is a lot more going on with the Internet Security product, and from other messages I’ve been reading regarding various HP laptops, it seems this is likely where the problem persists - and yes, probably conflicting with an HP driver or utility…

  4. I am not the first to report this problem, which concerns me. If Avast had a solution to it, then it hasn’t made it’s way into the software, nor has it found it’s way into the forum. I did of course submit the issue to Avast, and am hopeful that a positive response will come of it. In the meantime, we have work to do, and these laptops have to go out.

  5. We have since installed Kaspersky IS with no issues, and augmented that with malwarebytes, superantispyware and spywareblaster with no negative effect on sleep or hibernation, so that’s what we’ll be using with these units. The fact that these cause no conflicts with this system are what are making me lean towards Avast as needing to address the issue.

  6. I think we have applied ample due diligence before installing Avast, and it just isn’t working correctly with these laptops for whatever reason. I wish I had time to sit and figure it out. Other products are working great, so I’m forced to go with them for now. Hopefully, we can play with one of these laptops this next week and figure out where the conflict is.

In the meantime, we do use Avast IS on other machines with no problems, and it is my first choice as a primary security tool - so I am really hoping there will be a solution, and we can get it working with these units.

but as you know, Avast Internet Security contains a number of additional components. There is a lot more going on with the Internet Security product, and from other messages I've been reading regarding various HP laptops, it seems this is likely where the problem persists - and yes, probably conflicting with an HP driver or utility...

yeah ;D as said I’m on AIS on an Acer, with no problem. The free version is only on the Compaq, but I’m almost sure that I could install AIS there too with no problem. What HP drivers/utilities are you keeping? as the only way to troubleshoot the issue would be to remove things one by one. Running process monitor (sysinternal) before that, and sending the report to a dev here might help too…

If you like to troubleshoot with us…

  • Which other security related software is installed…??
    asyn

I think he said none :wink: but he’s probably got an HP update utility running constantly…can’t even remember what’s its name, I ditched it.

I really think HP plays with the power management on their laptops in ways that are not evident or changeable. When I was using the factory image of XP Media Center Edition on this one, I had problems with standby and hibernation. I do not like Hibernation because it permanently takes up 2 gigs of HDD space and I always turn it off. With the factory image and all bundled software except the preinstalled burning software removed, Hibernation would always mysteriously turn itself back on and if I changed the power mode to anything other than the laptop scheme or changed any of the settings in the laptop scheme, those changes would eventually revert back to the defaults as well. I am now using just XP Pro and I do not have those problems. I can set my power settings any way I want and they stay that way. Plus I have at least 25gb more available HDD space. Maybe this kind of thing was at work in the problems reported by the OP and strangely only occurs with Avast!.

I have to add the caveat that when I was running with the factory image OS, I was also using Norton Internet Security before switching to Comodo Internet Security for the last 6 months or so. I had the power management issues with both suites however.

there’s indeed an HP power management profile on the Compaq I was mentioning, instead of the native “balanced plan” found with “normal” W7 installs. But I never looked into it. Just saw that I couldn’t delete it, it’s hard coded, not a custom plan. This said both hibernation and sleep mode work fine with it, but again, it doesn’t have AIS, just the free version on it.

Asyn: At the time we installed Avast, there were no extraneous security items installed. Although on other machines with Avast actively running, we include malwarebytes and/or superantispyware (as manual secondary) and spywareblaster. We had been running AVG free with resident mode off, just so it could run extra scans at 2am, but found the combination above to be more effective and less intrusive.

Logos: Hahaha, ok. Yes, I did say none. The only update utility running is Windows update, which of course delivers all of the necessary drivers and updates for HP. (Although we do turn off the Microsoft ‘auto reboot whether you like it or not’ feature with a RKM). The only HP software left on these particular units is wireless manager, power manager, and against my own personal wishes Support Assistant for the roadies.

Dch48: I agree with your assessment. That’s one of the reasons we opted to just remove items vs. installing from a stock Win 7, it seems to me as well that HP integrates more than their share, which is probably why we’re having this discussion.

And here’s an interesting twist: Apparently, we have a group of HP G71’s (~6 months old?) that are running AIS with no such issue. I’m looking at one right now in fact, and it is running the same software described above, updated to the latest versions. So, we did do this before, but without the same result… hmmm.

I guess I’ll have to strip one of these new ones (which btw are model G62’s) down further when I have the time… but still to this point, Avast has been the only problem child on these unfortunately…