Hello,
OK, I did what you said and ran it in safe mode, but I think when you look at the log files you’ll see that it doesn’t make any difference…
What now?
Piers.
OK methinks it may be spybot doing this, could you temporarily uninstall and then run the fix again
Well, that really fucked things up!
At the end of running the Spybot un-installer I got a message saying that there was a problem with BitDefender Threat Scanner, that it had created a dump file in Windows\Temp and I should inform the software developer. WTF??? I don’t have Bitdefender on this PC at all. After a long search on the internet I find a post somewhere suggesting that Spybot uses Bitdefender code, so maybe that’s it. The result, however, is that I get an inescapable (never goes away however many times you click) error message on shutdown, that can only be got rid of by holding down the power button.
Spybot itself may have been uninstalled, but there are shit-loads of files left on the computer, and the sdfssvc and spdupdsvc processes are still running. So, now I’ve got two rogue antivirus programmes messing with my system.
To add injury to insult, when I tried searching for a file on my hard drive, the search functions had disappeared altogether. No searches either from the Explorer toolbar or from the start menu, just a blank blue box where they used to be. Two hours of wasted time trawling the internet and trying different solutions and I’ve got a search facility back. I say ‘a’ not ‘the’ because it doesn’t look the same, but from memory seems to have most of the same functionality.
For your (possible) interest, I’ve attached fresh copies of the FRST logs. I don’t suppose they’ll help, but if you think you can see an obvious new issue and no what to do about it I’d be delighted to know.
At this point, however, I have to ask - Do you actually know what you’re doing trying to solve this issue, or are you just experimenting?
I don’t wish to be rude, and the truth is that I really do appreciate the time you’ve devoted to fixing my problems (for free), but honestly it feels like I’ve come to you saying there’s water coming in through my roof, and all you’re doing is offering me a selection of different mops…
The point is, after two days of attempts to get Avast working, my PC seems to be in a worse state than when I started. It just shouldn’t be this difficult.
Is there any possible reason why I shouldn’t just give up and go back to AVG?
Piers.
Spybot as part of its running protects the registry from unknown changes. Unfortunately this sometimes stops files including malware being removed
Yes, I do know what I am doing. Removal of AVG should be done using control panel and the removal tool. However, when it is like this the manual removal of the registry service keys is the only option. This fix should remove the spybot service that is running and the AVG services
Note that each time I am creating a restore point so that you can go back if you wish
CAUTION : This fix is only valid for this specific machine, using it on another may break your computer
Open notepad and copy/paste the text in the quotebox below into it:
CreateRestorePoint: BootExecute: autocheck autochk /p \??\C:autocheck autochk * sdnclean.exeC:\PROGRA~1\AVG\Av\avgrsx.exe /sync /restart S2 SDWSCService; "C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy 2\SDWSCSvc.exe" [X] S2 vToolbarUpdater18.9.0; "C:\Program Files\Common Files\AVG Secure Search\vToolbarUpdater\18.9.0\ToolbarUpdater.exe" [X] S1 Avgdiskx; system32\DRIVERS\avgdiskx.sys [X] S1 AVGIDSDriverl; system32\DRIVERS\avgidsdriverlx.sys [X] S0 AVGIDSHX; system32\DRIVERS\avgidshx.sys [X] S1 AVGIDSShim; system32\DRIVERS\avgidsshimx.sys [X] S1 Avgldx86; system32\DRIVERS\avgldx86.sys [X] S0 Avglogx; system32\DRIVERS\avglogx.sys [X] S0 Avgmfx86; system32\DRIVERS\avgmfx86.sys [X] S0 Avgrkx86; system32\DRIVERS\avgrkx86.sys [X] S1 Avgtdix; system32\DRIVERS\avgtdix.sys [X] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy 2 Reg: reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\IPSec\Policy\Local /f Reg: reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\IPSec\Policy\Local /f RemoveProxy: EmptyTemp: CMD: bitsadmin /reset /allusers
Save this as fixlist.txt, in the same location as FRST.exe
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/73555776/FRSTfix.JPG
Run FRST and press Fix
On completion a log will be generated please post that
i also was having trouble registering Avast free through the program in Windows 7 Home Premium. As i was going to uninstall through programs in control panel then run Avast Clear found the uninstall procedure contained a “Register” option,clicked it and it successfully registered. Thought i would add this for those having problems registering as it did work for me 
Posting in a year old topic is never a good idea.
If you have a problem, please create your own post.