Avast 6, after installing and rebooting the computer 2 or more times causes my system to lock up. Several Start Up items no longer load along side of the clock; rendering the pc totally useless and I cannot even Shutdown/Restart properly; I have to press Reset. This problem began after upgrading to six via the the Program Update; so I decided to download/install the full version (same problems).
I did Google research discovering SF.BIN to be an issue. I checked TaskMgr amd (sure enough) 2 entries of SF.BIN were listed; both consuming identical resources. It takes about 2/3 reboots for this problem to occur. I unistalled v6 with removal tool in Safe Mode; reinstalling v5.1.864; there are no issues whatsoever.
Any ideas as to what’s going on? In advance thanks
Need a little more information. What OS and version (Free or?) of Avast! 6 are you using? What is your firewall? What other security software are/were you using before Avast! 5 and how did you uninstall it? The SF.bin is the code emulation part of the avast and is downloaded or updated on virus definitions updates . You may need to exclude Avast! from being monitored by your firewall or other security software because it keeps being recreated, but this may also indicate residue of previous security software has not been completely removed.
OS: Windows XP sp3
AV version (Avast Free)
Firewall: Zone Alarm Pro v8.0
Other security software (ran manually - currently installed); SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes. I uninstalled Avast 5 with Revo Uninstaller
Was there another AV, perhaps preinstalled, prior to Avast! 5? There have been some reports of problems with some versions of Zone Alarm, but one of the ZAP users will need to address that.
Prior to Avast! 5, AVG free 2010 was installed (worked fine). Tried going to recent AVG 2011. It was a disaster; it will not fully install; causes randoms system reboots before it’s installed. I just removed SpyBot
I also have issues with avast 6 install , After installing version 6 my computer was completely locked up and the only program that would run was avast , zonealarm quit running , ctrl alt delete would not even work. uninstalled avast 6 and everything went back to normal , windows xp service pack 3
Here is avg’s removal tool http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools.
Avg may have damaged avast so you might need to do a clean install of avast if a repair doesn’t work.
I’m seeing the same issue on an XP SP3 system and it has ZoneAlarm 9.2.102.000 on it. I also have two systems running Windows 7 SP1 (one 32 bit and one 64 bit) also running ZoneAlarm 9.2.102.000 with no problems. I have uninstalled avast! 6 on the XP machine and reinstalled 5 and all is back to normal.
Interesting… so all of your startup items don’t load and system hangs/freezes, forcing a restart by pressing Reset?
I’m continuing this post stating that I ran the AVG removal tool. Avast! 5 is currently installed and I’m looking at Online Armor FW (free), as ZA might be the source of problem. Should I remove Avast 5; retry 6?
I first installed 6 by doing a program update. When my system rebooted I saw my desktop and icons but only the hardware removal and volume control icons in the systray. The system just sat there and would do nothing (i.e. clicking on the start button did nothing and doing Alt-Ctrl-Del would not bring up the task manager). I forced a power down and after seeing the problem a second time brought the system up in Safe Mode to uninstall avast! 6. The system came back normally (without anti-virus of course). I thought something may have gone wrong in the update to 6 so I downloaded the full install of 6 and when the system restarted I was in the same situation. I again uninstalled 6 in safe mode and reinstalled 5 and have been running fine since.
Thank you. I notice these are all free but apparently cooperate with Avast! ?.. good! The replies seemed to have focused away from the topic of the firewall being the possible culprit. Again thanks
Thanks for refocusing back to the origin. I will print out this information, reinstall v6 and follow through as instructed. Do you recommend changing firewalls at this time?
How do I upload the file? I accessed the ftp but do not see where to upload it from.
I joined to mention that I’m also having serious lockup issues with the new Avast 6. It downloaded automatically yesterday, and when I rebooted my computer it froze up at the startup: nothing loaded, no firewall, no AV, no Spybot, my three essential startups. I could open Firefox, or anything; I would get a message after a few seconds that I might not have administrative privileges to do this asction–but I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR! So I uninstalled Avast 6, reinstalled it again, didn’t need to reboot apparently–this time, no problems (I guess since I didn’t have to reboot, for whatever reason). The day went by just fine. But then this morning, I turned on my computer, and the SAME THING HAPPENED. I’ve had to uninstall the damn thing AGAIN in order for anything to get working, and I had to do it by going into Safe Mode. Also, the Task Manager wouldn’t open for me; apparently I didn’t have “Administrative Privileges”, again. I really hope this gets taken care of very, very soon, cuz I’ve been using Avast for years, literally, and I don’t want to have to turn elsewhere for my AV needs.
So I’ve got Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (no SP 1 yet), boot up with Spybot Search & Destroy, Online Armor firewall. Plenty of RAM, plenty of HD space, plenty of everything.