Avast not working on startup then creating new shortcut

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi

I am using Avast free 5.0.677.

Recently it hasn’t been working correctly upon startup, a little red cross appears on the icon in the system tray, it fails to update and says it is not working (all the components go red). If I leave the computer for a while (10mins or so) it eventually starts working, and creates a new shortcut on my desktop.

I am also using Superantispyware which is also acting in a similar way (except the creation of a shortcut).

When I experience this problem, the network icon in the system tray displays the little blue circle that comes on when windows is attempting to connect to the internet. This stays on until the program starts, but I am actually connected to the internet during this time because I can browse fine using firefox.

I am not very technically minded so I apologise if I haven’t explained this properly. Many thanks.

2

Do you use any other antivirus in your computer?

Can you try to repair your installation?
Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove. Then choose Repair function in the popup window (Repair).
If this does not help, can you uninstall / boot / install / boot again?

3

Many thanks for the reply.

Avast is the only antivirus I use.
It seems to be working ok today, but I have used the repair function anyway as you suggested.

I think it may be more likely that I have problem with windows(Win7) because it took me 3 attempts to start my machine after 2 black screens.