Hello,
I recently began using the Avast software. I am running Windows XP Pro (with the updates); I have 256MB of RAM; an AMD Anthlon 1.2GHZ processor on an HP Pavilion 7865PC. Everything was fine yesterday. Then this morning when I turned on my PC the Avast icon which is located in the toolbar (next to the clock) is missing. If I click on the Windows Security Center Icon it states that my Avast AntiVirsu program is up to date and virus scanning is on. If needed it also states Avast! antivirus 4.7.1029 (VPS 000763 - 5). I have Comodo Firewall installed on my pc as well.
The only thing that is new on my pc is that I downloaded and installed the Windows Defender software yesterday afternoon. But even after that was done and I did a restart and ran the Windows Defender as well as CCleaner; AdAware & Spybot everything was fine.
When I went to start/run/msconfig and looked in the start up tab the Avast software is no longer listed in there. What has happened to my program and could someone Please Tell me how to Fix this problem.
If that does not help, please, uninstall, boot, install again, boot.
What other security based software do you have that might block new startup entries, e.g. Spybot S&D (TeaTimer), AdAware (AdWatch), SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor (StartUpGuard), PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc.?
The usual culprits are other anti-spyware applications killing ashDisp.exe.
As a temporary measure until this is resolved you can create a desktop shortcut for this file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashDisp.exe (the avast icon and interface to the providers). Right click on the file and select Send To, Desktop (create shortcut). You will need to run this after each boot until the problem is resolved.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I greatly appreciate it. I have already go to the start/all programs and put a shortcut on my desktop.
The only new software added to the pc since the installation of this antivirus program has been Windows Defender and that was installed yesterday afternoon (which I uninstalled b/c the problem appeared today & doing a system restore did not fix the problem) and the Comodo Firewall and Malware programs.
In fact, the Comodo icons have disappeared from the taskbar as well. If I go to the Windows Security Alerts Icon and click on that to open up it at least states that the antivirus software is up and running but it states that the firewall program is not up and running - once I click on the icon I put on the desktop for that program it is up and running. The only change between yesterday and today was the installation of the Windows Defender. I do have the AdAware program on my pc as well as Spybot; CCleaner; CW Shredder and Spyware Blaster and I do run them every day but they were all installed prior to the installation of the Avast Antivirus program and up until this morning there were no problems.
It was stated to check the option in the Appearance tab of settings. I don’t mean to sound stupid — but what do you mean?
I did go to the control panel and then to add/remove but there is not option for repairing just an icon to remove it.
Again, I don’t wish to sound like an idiot but how would I go about making a link to ashdisp.exe in a startup folder?
I’m pretty sure that I understand what you mean by the registry. I did go to start/run — regedit and I did find the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. How do I add the entry/path into the registry?
Maybe I would just be better off to uninstall, boot and install the software again?
I did try doing a scanreg /fix as I could do with Windows ME but that doesn’t work in XP Pro.
Right click the ‘a’ blue icon, choose Program Settings and then the Appearance tab.
Go to avast folder (C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4), right click the file ashdisp.exe and choose to make a link to it.
Move it from there (C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4) to C:\Documents and Settings.… your user name here…\Start Menu\Startup or something similar to this).
The only change between yesterday and today was the installation of the Windows Defender. I do have the AdAware program on my pc as well as Spybot; CCleaner; CW Shredder and Spyware Blaster and I do run them every day but they were all installed prior to the installation of the Avast Antivirus program and up until this morning there were no problems.
Windows Defender might be the culprit, I can’t recall if there is a start-up monitor/blocking function in it, if so it could be that removing the ashDisp.exe.
AdAware is only an issue if you have the paid for option and are using AdWatch as that has a start-up monitor. Spybot S&D is only a problem if your have the Tea-Timer resident function enabled to monitor start-ups.
If it is any of the above a reinstall of avast isn’t going to cut it as they may just do what you did before. You need to check these programs and see if they have removed ashDisp.exe.
I am not currently using Windows Defender–updates took far too long on my dial-up connection–but I suspect it could be the problem. I didn’t actually use WD for real-time protection, scans took entirely too long and found nothing, updates took longer than most other programs, etc., so I eventually uninstalled it. I hope the screen shot is of some use.
I thought that it might be the Windows Defender that was causing the problem since it didn’t appear until the day after installing it on my pc.
I do have the AdAware but it is the free edition. However, even with the free edition the AdWatch function does work. In fact, it was popping constantly popping up and asking to allow or deny and it didn’t matter which option I selected it was changing all of my settings so I disabled that option. I don’t have the TeaTimer function enabled on my pc.
I did decide to go to the control panel and do an uninstall and then reinstall of avast but I noticed that when I clicked on that program there was an option to change or remove. I selected the change option and then I saw the option for repair so I went with that. I now have my Avast Icon back in the systray.