I just did a system restore the other day on my Windows 7 64-bit laptop because my system was damaged. Everything on my computer works fine now, except that Avast (free edition) is not protecting my computer. I open avast and tell it to “Fix now” and then avast goes into “not responding” and when it comes back nothing has changed.
I tried to uninstall avast so I could reinstall it, and I get some sort of odd error. I then tried to just install the newest avast over it, and similar (if not same) error. I did upgrade to the newest avast before the system restore, which may have sent it back to an older version? I’m not sure.
Any help would be extremely appreciated since my system is now unprotected
The “WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS” procedure to “scrape” all of avast! remnants from a computer system (AKA Pete Scrape) using the avast! example:
Add remove programs, remove avast!, restart.
Go to safe mode, use avast! removal tool, select avast! version #, restart, and repeat for every avast version ever loaded on that system
In Local disk C:, ProgramFiles, delete “avast” and “Alwil” directories if there.
In C:\Windows\temp, remove all.
Start, run, type “%temp%” and remove all.
Do a Windows search on all hard disks for instances of “avast” and “Alwil” and delete all.
Start, run, type “regedit” (Windows key + R). Under Hkey, current user, software, and remove “avast” and “Alwil”, then under Hkey, local machine, software, and remove “avast” and “Alwil” (This is specific to Windows XP)
Use CCleaner to remove the rest of any avast! orphaned registry remnants, and restart.
Install avast! and reboot!
Usually, good luck at this point. And you can substitute other manufacturers products into this script. Remember, registry hacking is always risky, so always have a backup before you proceed. It’s kinda like the acknowledgement checkbox in LSPfix, “I know what I’m doing, or, I like to reinstall my operating system”
The removal tool “aswclear.exe” does not remove everything, thus the need for “When all else fails” Pete Scrape. We have always wondered why the removal tool did not take care of the remnants! NOTE: This is for use “When all else fails” It appears that system restore screws with avast! quite often
Interestingly, so a good suggest would be using Pete Scrape one instead aswclear. I noticed some people are saying that after using aswclear, they still need to clean all registry, etc to remove Avast off of the computer.
This is not just an avast! issue, but antivirus in general. Sometimes when avast! is having an issue, it can be leftovers from other vedors antivirus as well. Here was the original article that goes into full detail as to the where and why.