Help... my tray icon keeps disappearing

This happened to my fathers PC recently. After a clean boot the tray icon isnt there. Fairly new Windows XP SP2 pro reinstall.

I set Skype not to start at startup and then ended ashDisp.exe in task manager and started it again from “C:\program files\alwil software\avast”. The icon appeared and is still there after a reboot.

  1. may be Windows is a little messy?

  2. Requiring downloading and running a “clean-up” program to fully uninstall something is indicative of very bad OS and an argument to switch to Linux?

Could Avast work as a not-need-to-be-installed and can be unzipped or used from a previous install if kept on D: ?

It could detect driver and services and install on demand. Filezilla asks if I wanto install and start service when I run it after a clean format/reinstall of Windows. Custom skins and icons and settings wouldn’t be lost.

http://jooh.no/programs_on_d.html
http://jooh.no/prog_ubuntu.html

Hi there
I have pretty much the same problem. The system tray icon suddenly dissapeared one day, after installing the MSN Live messenger. The following processes are running:
ashMaiSv
ashServ
ashWebSv
ashUpdSV
but no ashDisp. I did not find any setting with “run at startup” or similar. 1) Am i properly protected? 2) Any solution to the dissapearing tray icon?

Also, If I want to scan a single file automatically, what program should I use. Example, automatically scan files that are downloaded to a directory. Should not require any user input, just run as a background process.

Regards
Fluid

PS. My avast4.ini does not contain a section [iAVST] where the setting for system tray icons can be set. I have the latest avast program, is this something new?

The avast icon is just an indicator that scans are being done, it rotates and is the interface with the on-access scanners and right click context menu. So it doesn’t actually reduce your protection.

What is your Operating System ?
Check Windows Start, Run, type, msconfig - that the startup tab has an entry for ashDisp and that it is ticked.

You need to reread the thread and answer the questions (to yourself and see if they ring any bells) and try some of the suggested solutions.

I don’t know where you got the [iAVST] from it is [AAVM], ShowTaskbarIcon=1, however, I think you will find that present.

What other security based software do you have that might block new startup entries, e.g. Spybot S&D (TeaTimer), AdAware (AdWatch), PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc. ?

As a temporary measure you can create a desktop shortcut for this file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashDisp.exe (the avast icon and interface to the providers). Right click on the file and select Send To, Desktop (create shortcut).