Avast Secure Browser started crashing recently.

Avast Secure Browser Avast Secure Browser for Windows
1

I uninstalled ASB about a week ago because of an issue I thought Avast was having with Noscript. Turns out that wasn’t the case, it was just an author-oops.

Tried re-installing it, and it’s crashing on startup within seconds. Yes, I’ve done everything this forum says to do, clean install/removaltool/registry digging and deleting and I’ve had to dig really deep into the registry to make sure ASB was completely removed. Even blasted the remaining files out of the appdata folder. It took some time to actually get avast to give me a completely clean install, but it’s done that now.

Unfortunately, this is to no avail as it’s still crashing within a few seconds of startup. This is the latest version, 77.1.whatever.

My other computers are not affected, for some reason, thankfully. I’m writing this on Waterfox (which is terrible).

For some reason, I’m having the exact same problem with a clean install of Iridium, which also runs on Chromium.

My only last thought for this is I think I created another user account after installing ASB, but I’ve run the installer as an administrator. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s caused weird issues.

I haven’t produced a log file yet – I was reading about that but I forgot to grab the program to output said log file and don’t know where it is if anyone could direct me to that.

Lastly, is it possible to add in the ability to choose an installation directory for ASB? The program files folder is such a terrible mess that I feel like being forced to install there causes more problems than it’s supposed to fix.

Thank you for your time.

Edit: PC specs, those are important.
Win 7 pro 64 bit 6.1 build 7601
Intel core duo E8400 @ 3.00 GHz
4 gigs of RAM
Intel q45 graphics chipset.

2

Hello AngryInaba,
Thank you for your post.
We are investigating this issue.
Could you clarify one thing?
Do you use the administrator account or created before another user account?
I can reproduce your issue if you use another account.
Thanks in advance!

3

As far as I can remember, I installed avast on this user account being set as an administrator, but later changed this admin account to a user account and created a different account that I made an administrator. This was several months ago.

Also, for some background - I tend to run in Japanese locale - the time when I installed ASB months ago was under JP locale and it worked fine then. I have tried fiddling with my settings, changing the date and time and region settings to the ‘proper’ settings for my region, and that hasn’t changed my results any.

Also, I have completely torn out any reference as far as I’m aware to Avast or google or Iridium being installed or left in the registry. It’s not that I couldn’t have missed something, but I sure tried to make sure they were all gone. Avast was not letting go of a semi-borked Noscript installation so I thought that was a problem.

I would launch the newly installed avast and before it closed itself three seconds later, I would notice the noscript icon still there. That’s gone now so I’m pretty sure it’s all completely fresh.

The steps I have tried are as follows –

Attempting to install on this non-admin user account without administrative permissions. Strangely, the launcher does not actually load? It starts and says ‘starting’ but goes no further, can’t install or anything from that point. The process doesn’t remain in the processes tab, either. It doesn’t ask for administrative privileges in the first place unless I right click and run as admin.

Attempting to install on this non-admin user account with administrative privileges using local language (Canadian), both with and without importing bookmarks. Crashes within seconds as with all other attempts.

Attempting to install while logged in as an administrator with a right click run as admin – this actually turns out somewhat differently because avast launches and then does the ‘welcome to avast, import bookmarks?’ and then crashes after I click a button. I do not see this screen at all on the user account.

I’ve used the avast uninstaller and also used the command prompt as described in another post on here from another avast team member though I can’t find that thread again. Even after doing that slightly elevated work, avast files would remain in the appdata folder and such, but again, I removed those after any uninstallation.

I think that’s about it? I’ve done so much trying to get this to work that I’ve probably missed something, haha.

Thank you for your time. I really miss using this browser.

4

Just wondering if you’ve tries this?

Clean install of the Secure Browser:
Maybe it’s time for a clean install of the Secure Browser
Download the installer from here, https://www.avast.com/en-us/secure-browser
Download the Secure Browser Removal tool from here, https://download.avastbrowser.com/avast_secure_browser_uninstall.exe
Save your Bookmarks via the Book Marks Manager if you have custom bookmarks so you can import them when you re-install.
Uninstall Secure Browser via Programs and Features - Reboot
Run the removal tool, reboot, run the installer import your favorites if you saved them.
A video to help with the installation: https://youtu.be/r_VLA0HMLQM
Report back if that’s solved the problem or not.

5

Sorry, when I said I’d followed the instructions on the forums, I meant your instructions. No, this did not solve the issue, unfortunately.

6

AngryInaba,
Thank you for such a detailed answer it helped a lot!

This is an installer issue related to the additional account in the Windows.

I already reported this issue to the developer’s team.

Hope it will be fixed it soon

7

So, is this an issue with Chromium architecture, then?

Are we certain that that’s the problem? I mean, it would make sense since I’m experiencing the same behavior in Iridium, but that doesn’t make it any less awkward.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to put my install in working order or any way I can help out the team to expedite or further troubleshoot the process? I mean, obviously, I’m not a programmer, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

8

Hello AngryInaba,
Sorry for the delay with the answer.

So, is this an issue with Chromium architecture, then?
no, this is installer issue.

Are we certain that that’s the problem?
I believe so. Developers already started working on this issue.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to put my install in working order
Could you try to launch installer not by double-click but with the right button and select ‘Run as administrator’?
This action helped me to install the browser

9

Does turning off your modem for 30 seconds and then restart make any difference?

10

Ruslan – I’ve tried both running as an admin while logged in as an admin and run as admin while logged in as a user, neither changes the outcome. Since I don’t even use the administrator account and am always logged in as a user unless I absolutely need to use the administrator account for some reason, then even if the install worked while logged in as an admin, if it didn’t work on my user account, I’d be really bothered by that. I hope that selection of words makes sense, lol.

Luuk, I was going to ask if you were being sarcastic but then I was reminded of how much I hate online installers for that very reason: even a small blip in an internet connection stability can mess everything up. Unfortunately, that hasn’t fixed it either.

I went to go pick up Thermos’ logging tools, but they don’t seem to be attached to that thread anymore where someone was having a similar issue. Does anyone on the team still have those logging tools so I can provide some additional information regarding the problem? Thanks.