Uninstalled AVG, installed Avast Home and registered same. Added following to AVAST.INI for always on connection with ISP blocking PING
[InetWD]
AssumeAlwaysConnected=1
System Win98, 192Meg memory, Cable internet connection, Outpost Firewall(with AVast authorized to access the internet), Mozilla 1.5Beta with Avast input mail scan working, Stopped VRDB
AVAST is working, but I am encountering the following problems
ASHMAISV.EXE and ASHSERV.EXE are showing as active, however I do not get the AVAST ICon in the system tray for about 5 minutes after booting
When running Avast Anti Virus, Resident Shield shows as Disabled, but AVASt seems to be scanning file when they execute. Setting it to Normal seems to work, but it dissappears the next time I look.
Selecting skull and crossbones on Anti virus displays:
Initialization of Chest files
Action was completed with errors!
Program cannot use Chest client: (null)
—>Description: The RPC server is unavailable
Find these error messages in log – what’s this mean?
06.09.2003 23:48:02 AAB 4294463775 ODBC function SQLGetTypeInfo() failed. Error description: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] SQL data type out of range.
06.09.2003 23:48:08 AAB 4294463775 During the parsing of C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\avast4.xml XML document, following error occurred: C.
Any way to permanantly stop Outpost/Exchange portion of AVAST
Problems 1 thru 4 solved. Quite a while ago in my desire to lock down my system and feeling I had no need for RPC, I renamed RPCSS.EXE to RPCSS.EXF thereby disabling the RPC : Renaming it back, then rebooting, corrected the problems.
This brings up a question; can I once again kill RPC or does this service always need to be available for AVAST.
RPC is part of the operating system. Killing it is generally not a good idea. If it scares you, it’s much better to get a firewall and isolate it from the net (i.e. disallow any access to/from the network). This way you can be sure that it won’t be attacked and still other system components will work/behave as expected…
avast doesn’t use RPC for any network communication.
I happily renamed RPCSS on Win 98 for many years. I added some rules to Outpost Firewall, and my system is once again in Stealth mode after RPCSS.EXE opened ports >:(
That leaves my last question:
Is there any way to kill the Outlook/Exchange function from running at startup?
I found the solution to the problem of RPCSS.exe opening up ports, even though they are blocked by my firewall.
It was posted by JusMe (thanks) and suggests renaming RPCLTSCM.dll (Avast can’t be active while doing this so I used Safe Mode or you can stop Avast from starting using MSCONFIG) After renaming and a reboot, RPC is still functions, but no longer has ports open to the net. ;D
Here’s a novel idea. Just block RPC in Outpost and forget about all this renaming operating system files. You know, it people like you that give Windows 98 a bad name…just kidding of course!
If you read my earlier post on this topic you will notice I have rules in Outpost that block RPCSS.EXE from the web. I want my system as secure as possible without relying upon a software firewall for 100% of my system internet security. Therefore closing un-needed open ports and the programs that open them, unbinding unrequired network protocols, running an Anti Virus (now AVAST!), doing a full disk backup to an external hard drive, and using non-MS products to access the web are just some of what I do to to keep secure and un-infected. A hardware router will be my next level of protection in the near future.
As for giving Windows a bad name – MS (lack of) security out of the box has been making recent headlines without my assistance. I actually feel Windows can be an OK system when properly neutered, controlled and carefully patched.
Renaming it back, then rebooting, corrected the problems.