Hi All. Am running XP Sp3 on permanant internet connection and the program was not auto updating AS IT SHOULD. So, I ran the removal utility in safe made and then ran cleaner afterward, rebooted and rebooted again. I downloaded and installed as well as re-registered this software once again and now my windows security is telling me that my virus protection is out of date. Well, it’s not. And it’s still not auto updating. Is there a way to fix this or is it just written incorrectly. I was cautious about downloading a free antivirus and problems like this just confirm why.
My date is fine, BTW.
Never mind. I just uninstalled the program. It’s not worth the headache. Now I have an antivirus that actually does what it says that it does without causing problems elsewhere on my system.
Would alsobe nice to see a logout option on these forums. More rocket science, I suppose.
Hi, sorry you didn’t get what you wanted.
Well. Did you have any other security program that could interfere with avast installation?
Any previous antivirus?
Avast does what it says it does… it’s a trustable application.
There is a “logout” option. It’s not hard to spot. (It’s not rocket surgery.)
Most likely cause, as Tech said, is remnants of a previous AV. The security centre also sometimes gets confused, and needs re-setting.
(That’s not rocket science, either.)
But if you couldn’t wait more than 20minutes for help with this problem, I guess it’s doubtful you would have had the patience to fix it, anyway. ;D
Perhapse. Then again, if you need a forum dedicated to “fixing” the program’s problems or have to reconfigure a perfectly good operating system to conform to it’s inferiority, then it’s probably time to fess up and realize the thing don’t work right.
How many days does the thing need to realize that the system is idle? VRDB sits hidden in the tray and ceases to function unless you do so manually. It’s not peoples computers that are messed up, it’s this poorly engineered program. It’s literally stupid and a waste of space.
If I had the experiences you report, I would stop using avast! too. Fortunately for me, none of the 7 XP SP3 PCs with avast! Home (or the 1 with avast! Pro) in my immediate vicinity are exhibiting such phenomena, or any problem at all.
A little friendly advice. Report you observations but leave out the pejorative guff. It does you no credit and is so easily pedantically countered.
E.G. ‘Possessing no intelligence of its own, yes, avast! is “literally stupid”. However, having no volume, it cannot be “a waste of space”.’
See how easy it would be. A cynic might even deduce from your post that rather than seeking assistance, you’re doing your best to try and aggravate as many avast! users as possible.
The VRDB re-generates every 21 days. It may have finished, for now, so what you are reporting is not necessarily a fault.
There are no “faults” you’ve described in the program. What AV did you use before Avast?
Most AV’s have a user forum. Not all of those forums are as useful as this one.
Know more about VRDB…
It stores the necessary info to restore executables (*.exe, *.com) files.
VRDB is not a backup system, the stored information is very small (not the whole files).
Besides, only Win32 executables are processed.
VRDB is a generic method, storing file parts that are often target of virus infections. Actually, VRDB scans all the local hard disks for executable files and stores some info about them. VRDB is not a backup system, the stored information is very small (not the whole files). Besides, only Win32 executables are processed. The VRDB data are stored in \Data\Integ\avast.int
There is a limit of 8 seconds, I mean, VRDB will start generating when mouse is not moved (and keyboard not pressed) for 8 seconds. If you give any input to your PC within these 8 sec VRDB will NOT start generating.
If idle time is a problem for you, try what some of us have done. Disable VRDB generation (this only disables automatic updating every 21 days, you can still update manually any time you like), then whenever convenient just click on the “generate now” thing.
I set up a Yahoo Calendar “event” for this, recurring every 3 weeks, with an email reminder, so I don’t have to remember when the next one’s due. And of course that 3-week cycle is just a guideline, a few days one way or the other will make little or no difference unless you’re constantly making major changes to your system.
(Edit) Oops, almost forgot … given the nature of malware currently making the rounds, it’s widely agreed that the VRDB is more or less obsolete in terms of enabling recovery, and it’ll be (if they haven’t changed their minds at Alwil) dropped entirely from the upcoming avast 5, currently in beta. So I haven’t bothered updating my VRDB for several months now.
Really?
So, which one are you using now? Avira ? Come on, it doesn’t even update.
AVG ? You are crazy, it sucks, it doesn’t detects anything, just false alarms.
And with this, i mean: avast! really does what it says, and there are no problems with avast!
I have always found Avast to be the best AV software I have used. I have been involved with computers for 15 years. Avira gave me false positives, McAfee and Symantic (Norton) are bloated messes. AVG, I had AVG 7 which I thought was good, than AVG 8 came out and was so bloated ( I was told not even to bother with AVG 8 ) that I switched to Avast. I think it’s the best of the free AV programs and better than most AV programs you have to pay for.
Jack
I have Windows XP SP3 on a very old computer with Dial Up connection. avast has always worked great on it. I’ve never had a problem with the Auto Virus Database Updates or the Program Updates. In MY experience with avast, which I think is at around 2 years by now, avast does what it says it will. 
At any time, I work with XP (and now Vista) on many computers, my own and others, and mostly I find that the problem is not with avast but with something else. This does not mean that the symptoms of the problem are not being manifest through the running of avast because sometimes they are. In my experience, if the system is performing substandard for one reason or other, then avast may not be able to run best as it should. This arises with internet, I have found, if browser connect or performance is patchy, don’t expect avast to solve problem for you or even expect it to run absolute smooth. And often after I have sorted out difficult problem, then I repair or uninstall and clean install avast (and remember to have registration key saved for re-insert) because avast can have become affected, and no antivirus can be 100% perfect.