I installed 2015 yesterday through the internal updater and all seemed well but this morning when I booted up the sequence got as far as the desktop background and then produced a dialogue “Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown and is trying etc. …” I booted into ‘Last Known Good Configuration’ with the same result. This happened three times so I Restored from a previous disk image. After all my usual routine operations I tried installing the update again but on rebooting the same problem recurred so it is definitely Avast 2015.
I continue to run on version 2014.9.0.2021 and will avoid any further updates until a revised version appears.
Most of us went through the upgrade in place from 2014 to 2015 without incident, but I agree with Eddy - do a clean remove, then install 2015 afresh.
Additionally, I suggest this: When doing the 2015 install, go through the Custom install and deselect all the “tool” items l the in the center column of the installer, installing initially just the 3 shields.
Then later, assuming the system comes up and runs, you can use the Programs and Features control panel to Change the Avast installation and enable the individual “tools” that you really want to use. I suspect it might be the NG entry that is causing the problem for you.
I’d also add to this that once the custom install comes up to go into Web Shield Settings & Disable “HTTPS Scanning”.
Between the above and this Avast 2015 should be solid/stable.
Once you determine for your system that it “is”…you can then always go back and enable these other items to test.
HTTPS scanning should be fixed in the 2208 update, if you do have issues it can be simply un-ticked in the settings rather than removing the feature all together.
Update. I ran the uninstaller in Safe Mode, rebooted and then did a clean custom install. I unticked most, but not all the tools. (Incidentally, what is NG that you mention as a possible cause?) On completion the screen became filled with white text against a blue background but there was not time to read the text. (Is this the BSOD? I have never seen this before.) Windows restarted and it seemed a normal boot but Avast did not run and clicking on the icon did not result in it loading or running. I clicked on the .exe through Explorer which brought up a welcome screen which offered to have Avast run in the background. I accepted this and immediately the system crashed again with the ?BSOD. Windows tried to restart but crashed immediately again. I have Restored back to the previous version and am not really inclined to trust this new version.
Further update. I once again ran the uninstaller in Safe Mode and then ran the latest installer. When the install completed I clicked on “Finish” and received an immediate BSOD. Windows rebooted and offered a choice so I chose “Safe Mode”. There was no response to clicking on the Avast icon so I ran AvastUI.exe directly using Explorer and received the following:-
“The application has failed to start because its side-to-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the Application Event Log or use the command-line svstrace.exe for more detail.”
I could not make any sense out of the event log so tried to run svstrace.exe but Windows says it does not exist.
NOTE: This error occurred while running in Safe Mode so it appears that Avast 2015 is in conflict with something basic in Windows and not one of my programs.
Can someone please make sense of this episode and provide a solution.
Thank you for the advice but would it be possible and helpful if you explained the curious results I have reported so that I, and others reading this post, can benefit from your experience and learn something useful?
Learning from me?
I’m not a teacher ;D
But let me try to tell the logic behind this problem (solving)
Curious results?
Not really.
Computers/software are very complicated things with as it seems for humans a unlimited of combinations.
Even literally 1 bit that should be a 1 but is a 0 can give huge problems.
How this happens?
Just a really tiny change in power or a resistor that goes over it’s fault tolerance…
The “side-to-side configuration is incorrect” gave away a (huge) clue on the cause of your problem.
To say it simple:
It means two (or more) things have a problem with each other.
We (you) know that avast is having a problem, that is one of the two.
So we have to find out what the other one is.
Since you updated avast, it is not likely that the cause is (remnants of) another av.
If that was the case, you very likely would have experienced problems before the update also.
You did perform the remove/clean installation procedure.
That (almost?) always rules out something went wrong during the installation of avast.
Ok, so what do we have left as possible causes (the second thing)?
Well we have hardware and software.
Let’s see if it is the hardware.
No, not likely or you you very likely would experience problems with other software too.
What is left is software.
I make a difference here between the OS and installed applications.
Can installed applications be the second thing?
Sure, but not likely since the previous version of avast was working fine and you did not mention problems with a other application.
Ok, we have narrowed down to a likely cause, namely the operating system.
avast (as many other applications) need several things to be able to run.
One of them is the Visual c++ runtime properly installed and working.
A non properly working Visual c++ runtime is known for causing the “side-to-side configuration is incorrect” error.
I know that not everything is (technical) correct as I told above, but I have tried to explain it in a way many people can understand/can get a clue on how things work.
Thank you.
It is much more satisfying to have some idea of why you are doing something (such as re-installing a component of the OS as here) rather than just carrying out a process and having a result.
As far as narrowing the probable cause down to the OS you forgot to mention that the problem occurred while running in Safe Mode. I will approach the problem again tomorrow after MS has issued the monthly updates and post the results - good or bad.
I am still ignorant of the mysterious NG mentioned as a possible cause.
Following advice I have now done the following:
Uninstalled Avast 2014.
Downloaded and installed Visual C++ 2013 runtime
Downloaded and installed 17 Windows updates
Installed Avast 2015 ----> BSOD !!
Booted into Safe Mode and ran Avast and received same message about “side-to-side etc”.
Did you try an installation without NG installed ? …above I read you did a Custom install but did not say if you unchecked it.
Go to program & features in your PC and under Avast choose CHANGE…steps thru and in TOOLS section uncheck NG…think it is near bottom…reboot…see if helps.
I’ve not seen it named, but my impression is that “NG” stands for “Next Generation” technology, in which a virtual machine is created behind the scenes and software is run inside that environment to ensure it can’t infect your real system.
Virtualization takes both a lot of resources and introduces extra stress on a computer, as well as adding complexity that can potentially interfere with other legitimate things you might have installed. Hence the advice to try running without it. You’re not without protection if you de-select the NG feature, as the three shields are still on task.
I am getting confused. Firsts it was stated that that “NG is a new addition/option to Avast since version 2015”.
The it was explained that “NG” stands for “Next Generation” technology, in which a virtual machine is created behind the scenes and software is run inside that environment to ensure it can’t infect your real system."
Now you are suggesting that before I install version 2015 I remove NG from my old version of Avast - which I just happen to have uninstalled before starting the new installation! Anyway, the old version does not have anything labelled NG but it does have “Secure Line” which it states is a VPN so perhaps this is what you are thinking of. In fact I do not have this activated - it is apparently only in the Pro version, not the Free which I use.
I obviously have a severe problem here and none of the suggestions so far have helped. Does anyone from Avast staff monitor these posts?
My suggestion was/is to do a thorough UNINSTALL of whatever Avast version you have using Avast’s own uninstall tool AvastClear (link below), then do a CUSTOM install of the new version, which takes you through a panel that allows you to de-select options, one of which is NG. The panel looks like the attached image.
I have repeatedly done precisely what you suggest in that I have used the Avast uninstaller followed by a custom install where I unticked every one of the tools in the second column. However there is nothing labelled “NG”.
In 2014 there was not “NG”…a new virtualization environment in 2015 that traps viruses in safe environment before they get onto your PC. The potential issue is with this is that virtualization (which is not new to PCs) takes a lot of PC horsepower. In theory Avast tests to see if your PC can handle it…BUT, you also have to have Hardware Virtualization enabled in BIOS…even systems that are capable usually have this disabled by default in BIOS. The past 2015 installer did not check or did not detect if this was disabled and installed NG anyway (if left checked in TOOLS in CUSTOM install)…I hear the new 2208 installer checks and removes NG from TOOLS options if BIOS is disable…but I have not tried and seen that myself yet.
If you’ve done all this how does your system run ?
Other thing (tweak) you can try is in Avast User Console Web Shield > Settings…disable HTTPS scanning.
Supposively this was fixed in .2208 but still can cause slow web or lock issues.