Trying to help someone install latest version of avast free on a Windows 8.1 laptop (upgraded from Windows8). Thought it would be straightforward but has turned into a bit of a nightmare. I found a thread on this forum started by username “available” who seemed to have basically the same issue who received help by email from someone and managed to get it installed. Just wondering if I could get similar assistance.
I’ve tried to install a few times now but always get the same error. My last attempt which I hoped would work involved uninstalling avast (in safe mode) with the latest avast uninstall utility, disabling Windows Defender and then installing avast as administrator but I still get the same error.
In case it’s relevant, the first attempt to install avast was while Macafee was on the system. This has now been removed and the Macafee uninstall utility run.
Sorry I probably wasn’t clear but avast clear tool was what I meant by avast uninstall utility so yes I’ve run that, a few times now. The uninstall from the Windows program list (in Programs and Features in control panel) doesn’t work.
Looking on the internet the “side by side configuration” error gets thrown up by a number of programs and solutions appear to me to involve installing C++ Redistributable packages and/or tinkering with certain registry settings.
The only other suggestion I can offer is to manually run a search for Avast and McAfee and delete anything you find, have you tried running CCleaner to remove any registry leftovers of both AV products.
No need to disable Defender on Win 8.1, it will disable itself when another AV is detected and now that you don’t have a third party AV installed you should at least have Defender active for some protection.
Hopefully you didn’t install any of the Redistributable C++ files to cure the problem that related to “available” Avast no longer needs these installed and is compiled with C++ 2012 which is installed to a specific area, installing C++ manually will not work.
Something else you can try is restoring the system to before you installed avast and then remove McAfee properly first.
