I just updated to 4.1.357 and the scanners for P2P and filesystem are missing. Only mail scanners left. I noticed when the avast icon was completely greyed out today. Anything I’m missing?
Never mind. I restarted the machine, and it said it wasn’t going to run because Norton was running at the same time. It wasn’t running, but Norton had been previously installed on my computer, so I uninstalled that, and avast is working fine now.
Norton (NAV) messes your registry (http://www.avast.com/forum/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=259;start=0). If you want to get rid from it, take a deep breath! 8)
The main reason installation fails or systems freeze when using new AV programs is the inablility of the old ones to uninstall properly. I have had to dig up removal tools for Norton before anything would operate properly. This is not an avast issue, Kaspersky, McAfee and even Grisoft (e-mail plugin) have their own unique uninstall issues as well.
1. Use the Control Panel > Install/Uninstall Applications applet to remove Norton Antivirus (NAV) (it´s not necessary to remove other applications from the Norton SystemWorks not even LiveUpdate or LiveRegistration). Uninstallation routine by Control Panel is not sufficient enough to remove NAV 2000/2001/2002/2003 (and probably 2004, which I never tested and will not! I have been running Norton’s antivirus 4 years and no more!). For some reason that does not remove the program software completely, they recommend the download of a special program (see third step). In any case, it would probably be best to recommend that former NAV users consider uninstalling that software before installing avast! (see sixth step).
2. Boot.
3. Use RNAV2003 or this link to download and then remove traces of NAV into your registry: for removing the most fastidious at clearing out the vestiges of the software and sparing users’ headaches. Download and run the application. If you have already done the first step, choose ‘No’ to continue.
4. Boot.
5. Do not remove manually or using another software the Registry keys, it´s not necessary (by now) and may be dangerous. But, if you want and do not fell unconfortable walking through windows registry and deleating the many left behind entries, there is some good registry cleaners available to aid in complete removal of these. Reg Cleaner is a good one but it is a Shareware (you can run once to do its job). Another links and applications could be found here at the section Registry Tools. For Windows 98, I recommend RegClean.
If you have time, you can read more at this Windows Registry Guide.
6. Install avast! (answer ‘Yes’ for the presence of another av, in this case traces of NAV). Starting with version 4.0.172, there is a functionality in avast! Setup to detect and warn the presence of Norton Antivirus installed on the target machine.
7. Boot.
8. I’ll post more if you need to correct some Registry “corrupted” keys by NAV. Good luck and keep in contact.