Avast messes up the registry!

Hi guys,
Anyone having a problem with the Explorer popping up with for example the folder c:\program opened every time you start your computer?

I got that problem after installing avast on win98.

After installing the Avast antivirus for home users in a “c:\program files.…” or a “d:\program files.…” directory or whatever path that contains spaces in the name the registry will be messed up since the developers didn’t put " " around “program files”.
Please fix this problem since it’s frustrating having d:\program opened every time you start your computer.

Taking a look in the registry every path for autostart programs should have quotas around it if it contains spaces.

These are the common keys
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (most common)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Setup

There is a smart program doing this check and correcting every faulty path in your registry which can be downloaded at
http://www.pekspro.com/pmfix.html (in swedish though!)

brgds
Andy

Hello :slight_smile:

This sounds like a funny one.
On average I install Avast once a day on machines with Os’d from 95 to 2003 and have not once seen this problem.

Try this program http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/mpProducts_Detail.asp?id=9
and see if there is anything in there that is not essentual to run at startup.

Remove them one at a time and see it it goes away.

Or, try this one. http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html
Generate a startup list (Config → Misc Tools → Gen startup log)

Feel free to copy and paste the result of that here.

Cheers :slight_smile:

w0mbat

I guess only few people have a folder called “Program” on their boot drive.

But you are probably right - the quotes should be there.

If you want more links than that from w0mbat, try a look here, specially at section Startup Control Tools.

I do have avast! in Windows 98 without any of your described troubles… :cry:
Does this behavior occur with any other application? :wink:

I do have avast! in Windows 98 without any of your described troubles...

That’s because you don’t have any folder called Program (or even a file called program.exe) in the root of your system drive.

For example, if you try to start a program called
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Msinfo\Msinfo32.exe
and you don’t enclose the name in quotes, then Windows do the following (usually, at least):

  1. Check for the file C:\Program
    If such a file exists (C:\Program.exe, C:\Program.bat, etc), the file is started and the rest is passed to it as command-line arguments.
  2. If not, check for the file C:\Program Files\Common
    Again, if such a file exists, it’s started.
  3. If not, check for the file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
    … etc.

If it’s just a folder, the default “open” actions is performed on start - it’s opened in Explorer.

Therefore, having a folder called Program on the system drive (and installing your applications into Program Files folder at that) is calling for troubles.

Anyway, I hope it will be fixed in avast.

understood. Always learning.

Cheers :slight_smile:

Thanks Igor, very clarifing… ;D