how can I tell if avast is protecting my computer the icon is not showing yp in my taskbar. I installed it and ran a scan and rebooted. thanks
If there is no icon on system tray, just check the option in the Appearance tab of settings.
Are you by any chance using spysweeper?
If so, use the restore/recover or whatever it may be called to restore the deleted registry entry and update your definitions file for spysweeper. It reports incorrectly (false positive) the avast ashDisp.exe which is the icon you see on your system tray.
Other programs that can block are the startup monitors: PrevX, ProcessGuard, WinPatrol, TeaTimer, Ad-watch, etc.
For the ‘i’ icon (VRDB): http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=14356.msg121337#msg121337
As a temporary measure until you resolve the problem, 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).