I downloaded and ran the FixUpdate.exe file Thursday night (3-1-12).
Early yesterday morning the pc starts up and I can log on with no problem at all. Last night, however, I am unable to log on. All I see is Windows 7 Home premium at the bottom of the screen with NO user ID logo. I do a hard shut down, then reboot in safe mode. I go back to a restore point of two days ago.
This morning when I turn the pc on, I get the “Configuring Windows Updates” message. This goes on for more than 45 minutes. I do a hard shut down, then reboot in safe mode. Everything is okay.
Had a similar problem. During my last reboot Avast updated itself to Version 7. After reboot I got exactly the same screen as you did…mine was blank with logo. Could only get out with hard reset. I went into Safe mode and disabled all Avast programs, startup and services and rebooted. Went to Windows ok, as normal. Went to Avast site and downloaded Avast 7 Trial. Inserted my Licence file and finished the install. Rebooted and all is ok. Something apparently was corrupted during the auto update(my assumption). Anyway wasted 3 hours trying to figure this out. Had I not seen this update on my wife’s computer, I would never have known it was something to do with Avast. Very frustrating!!