Hi all, How do I start my avast program if it is not on the start up menu to begin with? I can get the interface on the screen, but it says ‘disabled’ and I can’t figure out how to enable the program from there.
Liz 
You should have an icon on your desktop as well as a blue icon ball in the system tray. The icon on the desktop starts the main scanner program. Right clicking on the splash screen after the memory check will get you to the menu system. The blue icon ball is for the different providers and you can also start the above sequence by right clicking on the ball. Double clicking the blue ball with bring you to the provider settings.
When I take avast off the start up menu, the blue icon ball disappears off the system tray. I have the icon on my desktop, and i can get to the menu, but, silly newbie that I am ::)I can’t figure out how to make avast start doing it’s regular ‘background’ scanning (while I’m surfing the net,etc.), like it automatically does if it’s on the startup menu…I can’t get the main interface to say anything but ‘disabled’…
Is it ashdisp.exe
Liz,
I will be glad to help you if you can give me the answers to the following:
When I take avast off the start up menu, the blue icon ball disappears off the system tray.Please explain what you mean by the Startup menu? Do you mean the Start in the lower left corner of the tray? or are you referring tot the Start Program folder in Windows? I do not understand.
I have the icon on my desktop, and i can get to the menu, but, silly newbie that I am ::)I can't figure out how to make avast start doing it's regular 'background' scanningIf you click on the desktop icon, what exactly appears: the On line Protection screen or the Avast scanner interface?
Where exactly do you see this “Disabled” message?
Thanks,
techie101
Hi guys
I don’t know what you mean by “Is it ashdisp.exe”, Culpeper
“Please explain what you mean by the Startup menu? Do you mean the Start in the lower left corner of the tray? or are you referring tot the Start Program folder in Windows?
I do not understand.”
I mean the menu in the ‘Start Up’ window of the ‘System Configuration Utility’ screen (which determines which programs will automatically start when I boot my computer). I get to it by clicking start, run, msconfig…and clicking on ‘startup’.
When I click on the desktop avast icon I get the splash screen that runs a memory test and then I get the scanner interface (?) (the thing that you can change the skins for). Beside where it says ‘Resident Protection’ it says disabled (it would say ‘standard’ if avast were operating.) When I click on the word ‘disabled’ a little screen comes out from behind the button that you click on to set the sensitivity of the scanner. The instructions on this button says to click the button to set the sensitivity, but I can’t get it say anything except ‘disabled.’
hope this helps, thanks techie!
Liz
I don't know what you mean by "Is it ashdisp.exe",I think Culpeper wanted you to identify the file of which you spoke of in the Start menu.
Actually, there should be 3 files re: Avast in the Startup.
- ashserv.exe which is for Avast anti-virus
- ashmaisv.exe which is for the email scanner
- ashdisp.exe for the tray icons.
Do you have all of the above files in Startup?
Beside where it says 'Resident Protection' it says disabledYes, I understand now. The Resident module is not running.
I click on the word 'disabled' a little screen comes out from behind the button that you click on to set the sensitivity of the scanner.It will since that function has no bearing on whether the resident scanner is running.
What OS are you using, I don’t remember?
If it is XP, then we can try a “repair” of Avast.
If other than XP, I would then uninstall Avast using the Add/Remove function of Windows, reboot the computer, and reinstall the program.
techie
Quote:
"I don’t know what you mean by “Is it ashdisp.exe”,
OMG! I’ve become my high school biology teacher. I’m starting to answer questions with a question! Sorry about that. I refer you to Techie101’s responses.
“OMG! I’ve become my high school biology teacher. I’m starting to answer questions with a question!” LOL, too funny.
To answer your questions, for some reason on my startup menu I only have one file and it’s ashServ.exe I do not have ashmaisv.exe for email but when I installed the program I unchecked email scanning in the custom option after we determined that Avast does not scan my Juno email. I have no idea why the file for the sys tray icons is not there. All I know is that when I put ashServ.exe back on the startup menu, the icons show up in the sys tray, but when I start avast after I have booted my computer, the icons do not appear and i do not know how to access all the info that I usually access through them.
I have now been able to get the ‘disabled’ on the user interface to change to ‘standard’ (after starting the program by clicking the desktop icon when avast was not checked on the startup menu) which should mean that the program is scanning in the background. However, when I start Avast like this, there are no icons in the sys tray (next to the clock–I usually have two avast icons there, which I think can be merged into one). When the icons are there (which they are when Avast starts at boot up on the start up menu) I can click on one of them and it shows a screen that indicates that the program is scanning. But I have no way that I know of to access that screen without putting Avast back on the start up menu adn rebooting.
This is not a great problem, except that there are times when I to not want Avast to start when I start my computer. But I want to be able to start it later and use all the screens and be sure it’s running, etc. without having to add avast to the startup menu and reboot.
Can I just assume that Avast is running if only the user interface is accessible and the resident scanner says ‘standard’ rather than ‘disabled’?
BTW, I already uninstalled and reinstalled avast, and it didn’t help. I run Win 98
thanks
See Techie101’s three files used at start up (mentioned in his post above). From the Windows Start button, run “msconfig” and look at the startup tab to makes sure those three files are listed. If not, than you need to uninstall Avast using the Avast uninstaller (utility) found on the main Avast website. Now, you can do a clean install of Avast and those three files should show up under the above mentioned startup tab. Now, you can run misconfig again and check off (remove the check mark) one or more of these three files so they don’t start with Windows without having to actually remove them from the start up routine.
Also, you can perform a search of this forum for these three files to get a better understanding of them. You seem to need a customized start up based on your needs so understanding these three files will point you in the right direction.
You can get real crafty and create batch files or macros to start Avast components after Windows start up when you need them. I’m not going to question on why you don’t wan’t Avast running on start up. That’s your own business. Nevertheless, I would like to talk you out of it if possible.
Hi culpeper
“See Techie101’s three files used at start up (mentioned in his post above). From the Windows Start button, run “msconfig” and look at the startup tab to makes sure those three files are listed.” I answered that question in my post just before yours, or tried to see the second paragraph, I only have the one file I mentioned on the startup tab.
As I mentioned also, I already uninstalled and reinstalled Avast. I went through the control panel to the install/uninstall utility which led me to the Avast uninstall utility (but not to the website).
“Now, you can run misconfig again and check off (remove the check mark) one or more of these three files so they don’t start with Windows without having to actually remove them from the start up routine.” After the reinstall I still only have the one file listed on the startup menu. I can see I didn’t use the right words to explain 
I have been unchecking the check marks to make avast not start at boot up, not removing the program altogether from the menu, sorry for the miscommunication (I didn’t know you could even take the program off the menu, duh)
“Also, you can perform a search of this forum for these three files to get a better understanding of them.” Great idea! hadn’t thought of that, thanks!
“Nevertheless, I would like to talk you out of it if possible.”
I agree with you. Normally I would always want to start all components of Avast at boot up. However I have been having a terrible conflict between this program and my CallWave internet answer machine and the only way I could listen to my messages was to restart my computer without starting Avast Thankfully, my son came home from college yesterday and was able to find a work around for this problem so that I no longer have to uncheck avast on the startup menu and reboot (yea!!!), although he could not resolve the conflicts.
Also, when I download and install new programs I have been told to disable my anti-virus. Also I always backup my anti-virus program when I do backups (thinking this would backup recent dat files). For some reason with McAfee I had to uncheck McAfee from the start up menu to disable it completely. Maybe Avast is not that way.
Thanks a big bunch, Culpeper!
Liz
There is actually an uninstall utility on the main web site for Avast…
http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1336.html
Okay, you’re having conflicts between callwave and Avast…What is your modem manufacturer?
So the uninstall utility on the website might be better than the uninstall utility that comes with the program? Maybe I should try again?
My modem manufacturer is U.S. Robotics 56k.
The uninstaller utility completely removes Avast if your having trouble with the default uninstall routine that comes with the program.
U.S. Robotics probably has call waiting commands you can add to the modem settings to disconnect your internet connection when online so you can receive a phone call. I used a utility program that came with my modem (Zoom) that worked really good. Robotics may also have a similar utility. Nevertheless, the modem command for my Zoom (when I used to use it) was AT$$CW1. I’m on wireless now but used a modem for several years.
What a great idea to get a modem command to disconnect your internet connection to get phone calls. Only problem for me is half of my phone calls are telemarketers and wrong numbers and I usually let my regular message machine take my calls when i’m offline, just so I won’t have to answer all those calls 
I’ll remember that about the uninstall utility!
Go to “control panel”. Click “uninstall program”. Click on “Avast antivirus”. Clicl "uninstall. U will be given the options…change/uninstall/repair. Click “repair”. Avast will return to your startup menu and load at startup after you logout and log back in. ;D