Avast resident protection won't start, no matter what I do.

Hello, I’m having trouble getting Avast resident protection to start, the icon just sits in the tray with the red circle with a line through it.

I’ve looked at a number of similar threads and tried a number of remedies, including repairing, uninstalling and reinstalling Avast, uninstalling and reinstalling Zone Alarm Pro. Nothing works. I don’t know if this is related, but Windows update keeps trying to install Security Update for Windows XP (KB891781). I’ve installed it a dozen times, and everytime I reboot it’s back trying to reinstall it.

I’m running Windows XP with SP2, Avast version 4.6.763 and Zone Alarm Pro version 6.1.437.000.

I would also like to let you know that I’ve never turned on or used Zone Alarm Pro’s privacy settings (Cookie Control, Ad Blocking, and Mobile Code Control). I do have the Zone Alarm spyware scan enabled, but I had this running for a while and it hasn’t caused any problems on my other computer.

Check this out http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-other-questions.html#idt_1539

Generally this is associated with having another AV installed (or had) on your system. Dod you have another AV, if so what and how did you remove it.

I also have the problem of avast! resident protection not starting automatically, but only on one computer: the one that used to have NAV. So that must indeed be the cause.

I saw in other threads that the cause was described as “NAV not properly uninstalled” or “incomplete uninstallation of NAV”. I say this is a given. You have to fight long and hard to get rid of NAV.

I’m sure that no part of NAV is running on this machine; It would show up in the task manager. Besides, I have scrubbed the disk thoroughly, so it can?t possibly have an executable or DLL left to run. There are tons of Symantec and NAV entries left in the registry, but I don?t want to risk disabling other Symantec applications by poking around those.

So the question is: What does avast! need in order to start the resident protection automatically?

Mr_Blue

There is a removal tool that covers Norton Antivirus as well as several other Norton products. You can download here

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=

Registry entries can be the source of the problem and the removal tool might take care of this for you.

Thanks for the info. I followed the procedure even though I would have preferred not to uninstall most Norton applications. At least, now I’m sure that all traces are gone. Well… I had to delete a few remaining registry keys, but we can’t put the blame on Norton anymore.

avast!'s resident protection still doesn’t start upon reboot!

But…

I decided to revert to the original default resident protection task and that one start automatically every time I reboot!

On my 2nd computer, which never exhibited this problem, I am still running avast! 4.5.523 whereas the one that will only start the original task is 4.6.763. I think the problem was introduced somewhere in between.

I would try repairing the avast! installation at this point.

If this has been in effect a failed install due to conflict from a previous AV installation I would recommend you uninstall avast, reboot and install again. Once the conflict issues have been resolved and a clean install things should be OK (fingers crossed).

I strongly recommend you update your other computer.

Merely on a hunch: I gave a shorter name to my resident protection task and…

It starts properly!

Without reinstalling anything.

nice call …

I’m running Avast Home Edition 4.6 on Win XP SP2 and I have the same problem only that I did NOT have any other Anti-Virus tool installed. I did check the services according to the FAQ and they are started and set to automatic. I uninstalled Avast even using awsclear.exe and did a clean install after rebooting but still I got the red circle in my try and clicking ‘start’ does not do anything.

I guess I’m past 60 days but I registered and got a license code so I don’t know what it is. Maybe some problems since I’m using the german language pack?

Do you have any other security program that might block the creation of new start-up entries, Spybot S&D, AdAware, etc ?

Do you have SpySweeper that may falsely detect ashDisp.exe (as it did in the past) ?

You can create your own startup entry or a shortcut to ashDisp.exe as a means of starting it.

I also have this problem every now and then. However, I noticed that if I restart the Avast Antivirus service the background protection starts up just fine. So something in the regular startup procedure might be causing some interference. Now I’d only need to know what it is :slight_smile:

If it happens only now and then it is likely to be down to windows XP (a known issue) as there are occasions when one of my system tray icons goes walk about (SnagIt), restarting the program restores the icon as would a reboot.

No. The only thing I have installed is Kerio Personal Firewall 2.x but it has been for over a year now and never interefered with Avast. Curiously enough Avast did connect after my last reinstall and download new virus signatures but the three providers I’ve installed just do not start up.

I’ve tried to start it manually then but after entering the license key again I got two error messages:

Unknwon error: cannot create memory for “splash” task.
Unknown error: could not load configuration properly. Error: dbsCreate Object

Those may sound a bit strange to you cause I translated them from the german error messages. What I don’t get is how it can be messed up after a completely clean install!

Not at all strange, this is the real reason why it isn’t working and I surprised that you didb’t get this error message before.

Right click the avast! icon and select Program Settings, then Troubleshooting and tick the Use XML storage instead of ODBC.
You can manually edit the avast4.ini file (using a text editor) and change database=odbc to database=xml, this is in the [Common] section.

So am I as well as how the setting got switched from XML to ODBC. I’Ve changed it manually in the ini file and now it works. Thanks!

Your welcome, the setting didn’t get switched, the default setting is ODBC, but if there is anything wrong with the ODBC drivers then this could be the cause but easily resolved by switching to XML (only an option for Home users).