Ok, I don’t have any technical information to supply but this is what seems to have happened.
I have been using Avast 5 on my system since June, have been very happy with it.Then last week I got a pop up from avast that there was anew update, so i told to update, the avast window opened and it tried to make a connection and then reported that i didn’t have admin rights for the update. So this began a long drawn out attempt to try and regain admin power over Avast and its update connection to the internet. I was able to connect and get definition updates without a problem. In the end I rebooted into safe mode, used the avast removal tool and then manually cleaned out all traces of Avast form my hard drive and registry. I then rebooted and reinstalled Avast with the newest build. Everything seemed to have gone right, wrong. Again it would not make any connection to the upgrade service even though it didn’t need one, and now any scans that were made with the explorer drop-down menu would not open a scanning window.Opening the main Avast GUI ended with the same problem. No scanning progress window, but it was scanning and it audibly reported the scan was done. So I went into the setting and found that a few things such as scanning pop-up windows, and menu driven pop-ups were turned off, i turned them back on. No dice, they simply went back to the off mode again. So by this time i am totally getting ticked off. I used Superantispy and Malwarebytes to scan my system and even pulled the boot drive and had Avast scan the drive from another system. Nothing found, no infections, no nothing, as I expected. So i replaced the drive, booted back and removed Avast went back to my previous anti-virus app as Avast was totally useless to me and it seems can’t be fixed on my system. Nothing else on my system is effected, no other apps are running strangely, none of the other systems Avast is running on are effected and they all seem to continue working just fine. Teh only other option I can see is a wide system rollback or a reinstall of my Windows 7, neither of which is much of an option for me right now.
I like the product and it has been working well but I am totally lost as to why Avast suddenly went nuts and all these things got changed on it, and it would get locked out of my control. If anyone has any ideas, i am willing to reinstall it again and try a fix of any kind.
Oh, one more thing, the Avast 5 GUI I find was very clean and elegant, but since the new updates as of Sept 2010 what the heck is with the dam green upgrade button being slapped right up there along side the the close, min & max, buttons. I can understand needing to make a buck or using it as a means to remind us to register, but I hate it. It makes the whole application look like a piece of shareware junk. Please reconsider and rip that big green ugly button out of there in the next release. I use and recommend Avast to many of my customers and the fact that it looked so professional for a free product was a good point. This new button makes me rethink the whole thing. I can not recommend software that is going to have a paid upgrade nag sitting there all the time and neither are my customers. It was a bad move.
The problem seems to be more related to the system state before, though i find it unlikely to happen on Windows Vista or 7 unless your UAC is disabled. Otherwise UAC prevents many system stuff from being even corupted. So something else has to be problematic here.
Unfortunately i have no clue where to start. Maybe if you send us all the log files that are located in the user folders on Win7 (Users and i think ProgramData as well, you’ll have to enable hidden files and folders to see them). I’m on WinXP right now so i can’t say for sure. Or use Windows search and look for “selfdef.txt” or “nshield.txt”. You’ll find the rest in the same folder.
As for the green button, i agree it stands out a bit but as you said it, they do have to make a money as well and considering i’ve seen severely worse things (just look at the latest PCTools Antivirus 8, 3 or 4 massive ads inside main interface) and the fact that avast! isn’t as crippled as other solutions. avast! still does offer far more than any other program, so for now i can still overlook that. And if things go as planned, free version will get even more goodies so you’ll start to like the button. But yes, i do hope things won’t escalate beyond this, because if that ever happens users will start to look for alternatives…
I too noticed the “dam(sic) green upgrade button”. Now I like the colour green, but this button does indeed stand out like a, well, a green thumb against the orange, grey & off-white of the avast! 5 UI. So from a personal point of view, I too would prefer it to blend in with the surroundings. E.g. a steel-blue/grey button would highlight the upgrade path in a less aesthetically clumsy manner. How about it guys?
However, looking at the bigger picture, I recommend ‘avast! Free’ to customers because I believe it will serve them well. Maybe now I will consider the need to warn them to avert their eyes lest the horror of the “paid upgrade nag sitting there all the time” like a gargoyle, messes with their minds to the point where they… shell out money for the retail product. Aarrgghh the agony of life!
I would have though that in keeping with the avast colour scheme that the damn Green Upgrade button would be a damn Orange Upgrade button (perhaps it wouldn’t stick out so much) ;D
I rarely notice it anyway, it was only when some started talking about this new button that I noticed it, I must have selective blindness, ignoring that which isn’t important.