FIXED (guide): avast! Kills my start menu & ms-settings

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

So basically, its a nice day and everything, im going to college, goes back home and one day, after like 6-7 years with avast on 3 computers (2 with win 7), on the third one with the LEGIT windows 10 fully updated with avast fully updated, i see that my windows is crippled as a flat tire on a highway.

Half the features not working, everything is suddenly dead, i restart the pc, dead, restart, dead, shutdown - everything is working, restart - dead, so basically the only way to make the system work properly is to cut down is to fully shut it down.

So… to make story shorter (but still long), i tried so many things, making my windows 10 4k rig to a rat lab, asking myself what could i have done to make it happen? i tried:

  • sfc /scannow
  • dimc checks
  • taskbar troubleshooter
  • creating new admin user
  • booting in safe mode with network
  • restarting windows explorer
  • powershell -Apppackage code in admin mode
  • uplugging usb to check if any faulty device could have done this
  • uninstall many windows updates

And then, while going through my third list i made while had a 3 hour break in college, i said to myself lets google “start menu - %appinstalled%” which %appinstalled% were random softwares like avast,comodo, sandboxie etc.
Well, when i googled “avast start menu”, ive seen a nightmare happening, tons of pages stating that avast kills start menu, i said well i will add that to my list but its probably bs because i trust avast.
I went back home today with like 10 ideas to check, guess what? i randomly picked the avast one after like 3-4 failed attempts of other ideas, and then…
its started working, finally my start menu works, i restarted my pc for like 7 times, everything is working again, everything is perfect, everything.

Now to the million dollar question, what am i doing now? i cant stay with avast if it kills my windows, i need an anti virus, should i just go with something else? because if it was stated from 2015 that it does that and its still happening, then something must not be right here.

tl;dr
Avast killed my pc.

How to fix the issue:
Start menu (ironic lol) >search “sign-in options” > uncheck Under privacy “use my sign in info to…”
Enjoy

2

Repair Avast:
Control Panel> Program and Features (Add/remove program)>Select Avast> Select Repair. Reboot when completed
https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB204

If Repair doesn’t fix the problem, try the following:
Clean Install of Avast:
https://goo.gl/4Ptzkf
If you need additional help with the Clean Install, watch this:
https://youtu.be/p-h3myRD51A
What version of windows 10 are you running ???

3

I have also run into this issue. Uninstalling avast fixes the issue. Even re-installing it caused the issue to come back. I am personally running the fall creator update (the newest version). Avast had been running with out any major issue for some time on my windows 10 machine. And I refuse to be backwards in my windows update. I also don’t know how.

4

I just tried the cleaner program (it rebooted me into safe mode) and ran it. I then reinstalled avast, restored a backup of my settings, and rebooted. The Start menu worked. Rebooted again, and it did not work. I would say, 90% of the time, my start menu and other windows do not work correctly. But every once in a while, it does. With out avast installed, it always works.

5

Guys I’ve added a guide on how to finally fix this issue in #1 post

6

Yeah, I had this problem too a while ago. Turning off the mention option seemed to have fixed the problem. I just had no idea Avast had anything to do with this.

7

That’s because Avast has nothing to do with it. It’s a Microsoft problem. :slight_smile:

8

Many thanks for this! After trying much of what you listed above, I came across your fix and it worked for me. Thank you!

9

@ newhere3
I’d suggest you change the title of your original post to
b (guide) Microsoft Kills my start menu & ms-settings[/b]
This (is) was a Microsoft problem not an Avast problem.

10

If it was titled that, I would never have found the fix. I searched Google for exactly these words: “avast update kills start menu”, because it was soon after an Avast update that the start menu stopped working. Before this, I reinstalled Windows then reinstalled Avast only for the same problem to occur again after Avast updated itself. Seemed logical enough to me that it was an Avast problem at the time, even if the root cause is Microsoft.

11

@Mediaman

  1. You are incorrect in your assumption.
  2. My reply was not directed at you. :slight_smile:
12

Irrespective of who your reply was aimed it, the fact remains that it was through a Google search for the words “avast update kills start menu”, I was able to resolve the issue for which I’m very grateful.

13

As long as you’re happy and solved your problem. That’s what counts. :slight_smile:
The title of this thread should still be corrected. :slight_smile: