I suddenly cannot launch avast!, either through the desktop shortcut or via the list of programs. The hourglass appears for a moment, then vanishes without launching the program. The program updates fine and the resident-protection shields come up OK in my system tray, but the program simply won’t launch. I have tried a repair and a total reinstall, but with no success. Any ideas?
- Uninstall avast through add/remove programs
- Run the uninstall util from avast’s website
- Reboot
- Install avast
But before doing so, please check avast’s log file for any errors.
Also check XP’s (if you use XP) log files for errors.
If you see any, mention them here
You mean the skin? The on-demand scanner?
Are you using any Windows theme application?
Do you have any other security application that could interfere? Did you have in the past (specially other antivirus)?
Thanks very much for your quick replies, Eddy and Tech, but I’m afraid I’ve come to realize that my problems far transcend avast! I’m having trouble with ALL of my apps, and it’s nothing I can fix with System Restore, so it’s clear there’s something wrong with my whole system 
avast! was simply the first program where I noticed something wrong, so I assumed it was the problem. It wasn’t. Thanks anyway.
Baz