Can't access scan menu

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I’m a PC technician and often install Avast for clients. I’ve come across the same problem about 5-10 times: after installing Avast, I can’t access the Scan menu (or the Tool menu). I want to schedule a daily scan for my clients – but can’t even access the menu.

I tried Avast support when this first showed up, but had no luck. Any ideas? TIA

2

Did you remove any other installed av before installing avast using the tool(s) from the developer ?

3

I installed Avast on brand-new hard disk with a clean install of Windows…

4

Are you rebooting after the install? sometimes a couple of reboots are required for everything to settle in correctly.

5

So far, I’ve rebooted three times (in order to install Windows updates). How many times do you think I should reboot? Any other ideas?

Thanks

6

TBH I would have installed all windows updates prior to installing avast.

7

Indeed, after a clean installation first thing to do is make sure all drivers are installed (correctly)
Best is ofcourse to use the latest drivers from the manufacturers.

Next thing to do is install all Windows updates as several applications needs the latest updates to work.

8

How are you trying to access the Scan menu ?
This should be the way, AvastUI > Click the ‘Scan’ tab > select ‘Scan for viruses.’

This opens the Scan section where you can select the virus scan that you want from a drop down list. Now click the blue Settings text. Here you can customise the settings for a scan, including scheduling them.

If this is how you have been trying to do it, at what point do you experience the issue/problem ?

9

The menu “freezes” at the first step. I click on “Scan” and get nothing. Same for “Tools”. But “Store” and the other menu items work perfectly. I could certainly uninstall Avast, update all my programs and drivers and then re-install Avast. Is that what you recommend?

Thanks

10

While it is perhaps a good idea presumably to install all current Windows Updates available at the time prior to an Avast install I’m a bit confused as to why not doing this would necessarily likely cause an issue with the Avast in the first place. After all, as we all know Windows Updates are continual WIP so to speak and as such there will necessarily be continual Windows Updates needed as they get released subsequent to any Avast install or indeed any software application install. Just wondering because if subsequent Windows Updates to an Avast install can for the most part in general typically cause issues with Avast then I can see why Avast might have a whole slew of issues keeping in mind that Windows is constantly releasing literally myriads of updates all the time hence there will always be potential Windows updates that based on this conclusion would presumably at some point potentially cause a problem with Avast.

Bottom line - if subsequent Windows Updates to an Avast install can potentially be such an issue to Avast as to cause major or critical functions of Avast to fail then it would seem to me that as a consequence of the pervasive number of ongoing Windows Updates that get released literally on a daily basis Avast is inherently susceptible to at some point be rife with problems as time goes on subsequent to any install.

I welcome any explanation as to my dilemma here on this conclusion regarding Windows Updates negatively impacting Avast.

11

I just did a clean install of Windows 8.1 on an Acer laptop followed by an install of Avast free.
I followed that with 123 updates. No problems with the updates or with Avast.
I can’t recall ever having to totally update the OS before installing Avast.
There is a time after Avast is first installed that things are a bit sluggish but that’s only for a few minutes
and depends on the OS and the additional modules installed or omitted.
If you’re still having that problem after all the reboots, maybe a repair or clean install of Avast may be in order. ???

12

Thanks for that clarification Bob, it would be a surprise to me to think that Windows Updates that are virtually ongoing on a daily basis would be problematic for Avast subsequent to an install.

13

First I would try a repair of avast:
Vista, win7 or later - Control Panel, Programs & Features, uninstall a program, select ‘avast! Anti-Virus,’ click the Uninstall/Change and select Repair, click next and follow.

Reboot after the repair.

14

You get a whiff of some dilemma or conspiracy and you just run with it don’t you ::slight_smile: I’m just talking about Windows updates on a clean install of Windows itself, Avast has no issue with Windows updates but in the case of a fresh install I would always recommend updating the hundreds of updates first before installing an Antivirus so that the system maybe as up to date as possible to alleviate any issues that may arise from outdated software or changed coding.

Please don’t turn this topic into another one of your long winded and boring novels, this is about the OP’s issue and not yours so give it a rest.