I recently had my computer reconfigured after a virus. I installed Avast to protect against viruses. Now I can’t open Avast… it says ‘not a valid win32 application’. I try to uninstall and it says ‘setiface error 2’. Tried to uninstall with the removal program and it says that Avast is protected and can’t be removed. I can’t get into Avast at all, can’t uninstall or update. I tried to start the computer in safe mode to use the removal program and it will not let me, I can only start it in normal mode. Can someone help? I’m lost… ???
Your system is still infected, this is the clue (at least to me) ‘not a valid win32 application’ so I don’t know who cleaned up/reconfigured, see below.
The setiface error I guess is also related to the ‘not a valid win32 application’ error you got.
This is also a sign of infection stopping you get into safe mode to deal with infection.
- How to restore Safe Boot.
The malware may have deleted the SafeBoot registry keys.
Here are some options to restore them:
http://didierstevens.wordpress.com/2006/06/26/restoring-safeboot/
http://didierstevens.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/restoring-safe-mode-with-a-reg-file/
Also see http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=26554.msg216924#msg216924
avast! Rootkit Scan - Windows Start, Run and copy and paste this command (including the quotes, assumes that you installed avast in the default location) “C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe” “SUPERQUICK” and click OK.
From above, possible rootkit:
This is most likely a rootkit variant called Beagle or Bagel.
Also see, anti-rootkit, detection, removal & protection http://www.antirootkit.com/software/index.htm. Try these as they are some of the more efficient and user friendly anti-rootkit tools.
- Panda Rootkit Cleaner - http://research.pandasoftware.com/blogs/images/AntiRootkit.zip.
- Trend Micro RootkitBuster - http://www.trendmicro.com/download/rbuster.asp
- F-Secure Blacklight may not always be available, http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight
I suggest full computer on-line scanning before trying to repair avast installation:
Kaspersky (very good detection rates)
ESET NOD32
Trendmicro housecall
F-Secure
BitDefender (free removal of the malware)
I agree. Better yet, use Dr. Web CureIt (on-demand only).