Hi all!
A little over a month ago (early to mid April 2017), I reinstalled Windows on my desktop computer, but when I tried to install Avast Free Antivirus again, I couldn’t. I had never encountered that problem before in the past couple of years, where I’ve reinstalled Windows anew about four times. The software is Windows 7 Ultimate, Service Pack 1, 32-bit. Whenever I install a fresh copy of Windows, I make sure to download and install all necessary updates through Windows Update, then install Chrome and Avast (always the latest versions - I download both programs, copy them on an external drive, and then use them not 12 hours later, once I’ve reinstalled Windows). Now, this time, I would run the Avast Free installation package, both as an administrator and not, and it would open up the screen with the ‘loading’ circle, where it would just show that it’s loading for five minutes or so, then show me a new window with the setup log that I’ve attached here.
I looked it up online several times. Searched for a solution in every way I could think of, copied the ‘error’ line from the setup log to see if someone had talked about something similar, and I did find similar logs posted but no solution. I repeatedly downloaded and used (in Safe Mode) the Avast Uninstall Utility (avastclear.exe) to remove all traces of Avast, then download the program again, but the result was the same. I even resorted to installing Windows 8.1, which I’m not very fond of, but I had the exact same problem. So I went back to Windows 7 Ultimate, since that clearly wasn’t the problem. I also tried older versions of Avast but to no avail.
A weak ago, I decided to try installing Avast again. Same issue. Today, I thought I’d search again and came upon the option to install Avast offline, so I decided to try that. It worked but the connectivity issues persist in different ways. For example, I can’t update the program (I have attached a screenshot of the error message I get) or connect to my account through the user interface (clearly the account is fine since I’m using it now to make this post). In the second case, the login attempt is called ‘Unsuccessful’ and the message I get is, “We’re sorry, but we could not connect your device to your account.”
I should add here that, at first, I thought this problem was Avast’s and only, so after many unsuccessful attempts to install it, I decided to go for another antivirus until Avast gets an update and hopefully a solution. But I faced a similar problem with AVG Free Antivirus. So, something’s up with my computer/network I imagine, but I can’t for the life of me understand what. I faced no issues with any of the other programs I installed, such as browsers, Office, media players etc.
I would really appreciate any help. I’ve spent the last month with no Antivirus and I’m worried about it 24/7.