AVAST Issue With MS.CONFIG

Viruses and worms
1

Avast has served me well over the years. I’ve been using the new 4.8 home edition of Avast (free) for a few months on my XP. Just about 5 days ago, I noticed backround sounds on my system, as if more activity (resources) than usual were beng used. In checking the running processes, Avast was using quite a lot.Also, when I try to edit any entry in ms.config, i’ve gotten the top part of the blocking message from Avast, stating it blocked acess to this service, and registry entry D48E0F9D01. I couldn’t make out more than that, since only the very top part of the popup message showed, and if flashed very quickly. But it did give at least 2 or 3 paths–all to Avast components. When I manually ran a virus scan using Avast, it detected nothing, as the same as when I did the same using Norton’s and AntiVir after uninstalling Avast. Also, both problems of the backround noise and issue with Ms.config went away once I deleted Avast. Then it came back when I reinstalled it… Could it be a conflict with some program or update, or a smart virus?

                                                                           Bruce Star
2

Can you please download HiJackThis and post a log here?

I recommend scheduling a boot-time scan.

Note: Running multiple AVs is not a good idea.

3

Thanks. However, I already removed Avast from my machine, since the problems go away when it is off the machine. Therefore, i’d have to put it back on again to do a boot scan. It seems to me that if the problem is sypware, a security vulnerability in Avast was exploited, which would suggest that Avast needs to tighten this up. And no, I do not run two AV programs on my machine at once. However, I just took you up on your suggestion and downloaded “Hijak This”.

               Thank you,
                 Bruce