I’ve been using Avast on my systems now for a few years, and have been fortunate to encounter very few problems with the program.
However, when I turned on my desktop (specs in thread title) this morning, the installer for the v7 update greeted me. I clicked install (not thinking to uncheck the “install Google Chrome and make it my default browser” option - given this has caused issues with others this may have been where my troubles began), and waited. And waited. And waited. Realizing that the spinning wheel cursor wasn’t going to go away anytime soon, I hit ctrl-alt-delete, hoping to quit the offending program.
Nothing.
Well, time to hit the reset button and try again.
System boots up, I log in, but the moment I click on the Avast update window my system freezes again.
Ctrl-Alt-Del again. Nothing. Reset again.
It hangs at the “Welcome…” screen when I log in.
Reset again. Fourth time’s the charm?
Nope. I log in just fine but the system freezes at the desktop.
Well, having a very good idea of the source of the problem, I reboot again, this time into Safe Mode, and uninstall avast. One last restart and my system is perfectly fine.
Needless to say, I am quite disappointed in Avast and their ability to deliver a safe, stable, functional product.