Hi, I’ve just installed Avast 4.6 on WIn XP HOme edition. The problem is that no icon appears in the tray area so I suppose there must be sth wrong. I’m already using Avast on my desktop running WIn 2K and I never had any problem whatsoever. Are there any known incompatibilities with XP?
Thanx, tom
Ok, download avast! External Control clicking on ‘Control’ in my signature.
Unzip it and run.
You’ll see avast! tweaker option.
Choose to show system tray icon and let us see if it helps.
Another way to fix the problem, just add the path to ashDisp.exe into
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
(as the value named avast!).
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.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
ex: C:\Program\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashdisp.exe
Or just go to Avast4 folder and click on ashdisp.exe
I have also looked into this problem and it could be a problem with XP itself. I have experienced this problem with Avast! as well as other programs.
I have some problem with Warez P2P, I got some ads popping out. So I need to activate my shield. But now I seem not to be able to use any of the alteritives stated. The tray icon is just not showing up, no matter what.
Now it works 
Now it doesn’t, and I have stanard sheild active, since last PC shut down
Can you schedule a boot-time scanning?
Start avast! > Right click the skin > Schedule a boot-time scanning. Select for scanning archives. Boot.
Or, at least, boot in Safe Mode (press F8 when starting Windows) and scan from there.
After that, uninstall avast > boot > install again > boot (register and update).
Seems the best way to go now…
This is, once again, mainly an XP bug not associated with application software:
2004-11-11 – Francesco Saverio Ostuni wrote: “… I found a solution for me that works perfectly. I simply went to My network Places and on the left pane I chose to Hide UPnP devices. This operation does not disable the service (which I need).”
Further he mentioned that the same can be done through Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, on the left side: Add/Remove Windows components; select Networking Services, click on the Details… button, remove the checkmark for the UPnP User Interface, then click on OK. The result is the same. Now the icons are back every time at each reboot.
This has meanwhile been confirmed by many other users and consistently kept a success rate of well over 90%, so we can conclude that this solves the problem on all but the most unusual Windows XP installations.
If this is as you say an bug relating to windows and the UPnP, the solution is easy to do and for the most part the average user will have no requirement for the UPnP which can also be exploited allowing access to a users computer.
I have not only your mentioned solution but I have also disabled the UPnP service also with no adverse effects. Most users when presented with the UPnP name would thing of Plug and Play devices on there system and it couldn’t be further from the truth. The UPnP allows for device sharing, printer, etc. over the internet and this is where the exploit can happen once inside sharing your device it is possible they can share other things. So for the average user this UPnP isn’t required.