For quite some time now (since February), the Avast! program on my family’s computer has been unable to update. When Avast! tries to update itself automatically, a red box pops up and says that it was unable to update. When I try to manually update it under “Maintenance > Update” it forever stays at “Initializing, please wait…”. I’ve tried to uninstall Avast! and reinstall, but whenever I try to uninstall Avast! I get a “Fatal Error” pop-up (see below in attachment). Despite all this, Avast! seems to think it IS up-to-date, (as you can see in the second and third attachments) despite it warning me about being out-of-date (via pop-ups). How can I get Avast! to update again?
Some extra info (may or may not be important):
Another oddity is that under “Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall or change a program” it says I installed Avast! in August of this year, when I actually installed it earlier this year when we first got the computer IIRC. But I’m not sure if this has anything to do with Avast! not being able to update. Speaking of which, my family’s computer has been acting a little weird recently (weird brown pop-up telling us to update the computer “but not now” (according to my relative, I didn’t see it) and not asking for password at start-up like the computer always does, but the latter has only happened once I believe), but I’ve done up-to-date MBAM scans, so I assume it’s okay. I don’t think it has anything to do with Avast! not being able to update since that’s been going on for several months now and these “weird happenings” are just recent. But I thought they were worth mentioning if they do have something to do with the problem.
I have some questions (if you don’t mind) before I try to uninstall Avast!:
Is this Avast problem a common occurrence or is there something wrong with my computer?
Also, there’s a lot of malware in the Avast! virus chest, is it okay to just uninstall the program with so many malicious things in the chest? Or should I delete them manually first?
Is there anything to ‘watch out for’ when uninstalling Avast? Any problems that could arise from it if not done correctly?
EDIT: About question 2 - Huh, apparently there isn’t much malware in the virus chest. I was pretty sure there was a lot… Does Avast! automatically get rid of old malware?
Just making sure I do everything right and get Avast! working normally again without any problems.
Sorry for all the trouble.
Your program version is out of date also, the latest is 7.0.1474, so you should download that first (http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe) followed by the uninstall utility and then do a clean install of the latest version.
Now uninstall avast! (using add remove programs, if you can’t do that start from the next step), reboot.- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility from safe mode, first for 6.x if previously installed and then for 7.0, once complete reboot into normal mode.- 3. install the latest version, reboot.
What do you mean “first for 6.x”? Are you referring to the Avast! version? Am I supposed to uninstall Avast! twice somehow?
Sorry, I’m kind of slow when it comes to this stuff.
If you have had multiple versions of avast it is recommended to run it for each version, you do as suggested and run the uninstall utility for each version, one after the other without coming out of safe mode or rebooting until you have don that.
You don’t have multiple versions installed at the same time, but over time you may have installed and updated avast, e.g. installed avast 5 and updated to avast 6 and or avast 7.
Surely you know if you have installed different versions of avast on this system avast5, avast6 and avast7. If you don’t know all that you might have installed just do the one/s that you do know.
See image showing drop-down list of what versions you may have installed and or upgraded on your system.
Oh I see. I’ve installed Avast 5-7, but on an older computer(s). I’m pretty sure I only installed Avast 7 on my family’s computer (the computer in question).
Nonetheless, according to your attachment the “uninstall utility” will tell me what versions I’ve installed on the computer?
Anyway, I’m going to give this a shot, thanks a lot guys!
No it doesn’t tell you what you have installed on your computer, the uninstall utility has the ability to uninstall the avast product range, you just select the version you have installed (or had previously installed). Once you select avast 7 Free/Pro/Internet Security and then click the Uninstall button.
So that means I have to be able to remember what previous versions have been installed on the computer? Sorry, I can be slow when it comes to this stuff.
Nonetheless, I’m going to give it a shot, wish me luck.
I’ll post back when I’ve attempted to uninstall Avast!
Generally it isn’t a problem remembering what main versions have been installed as there are only a few recen’t ones 5, 6 and 7. But once you have done a clean install after using the uninstall utility, you are stating from a clean slate so you don’t have to remember prior installed versions.
Is it safe to uninstall Avast! with the Uninstall Utility when there’s already viruses/malware in the virus chest?
I recently scanned the files in the chest and I got the results in the attachments below. It looks like the first file was malicious (so I should delete it?) and second file was a false positive? Should I restore it?
Yes, viruses cannot scape from there. Anyway, uninstalling remove all files into Chest.
Generally speaking, yes. Restore if you need it, but it is a temporary file, so you don’t need it
The first is a PUP (potential unwanted program), most probably from HP.
Well, I used the Uninstall Utility (in safe mode) to uninstall both Avast 5 and 6 (I wasn’t sure which one I had), restarted the computer and then I installed the new version of Avast successfully… I think.
Check out the attachment; did I install the new version of Avast correctly and is it up-to-date?
After I re-installed Avast, it said it was out-of-date, but when I tried to manually update it it said it was already up to date… So I got slightly confused.
When you first install using the avast installation file, it is likely that the the virus definitions version is for when that installation file was created. So it is very possibly it will be considered out of date until your next auto update or you do a manual update.
Avast may well have been trying or had done an auto update at the time you were trying a manual check.
At the time of your post the virus definitions version in your screenshot was correct - there has been another update since then, now it is version 121214-0.
