Outlook 2007 disabling Avast Add-in

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I recently installed Office 2007 standard and Outlook is disabling the Avast 4 add-in “(C;\programfiles\alwil software\avast4\ashoutxt.dll)”

I have gone into the trust center but the avast add-in is not recorded as a disabled add-in. I have seen that this problem pops up once in awhile and I’ve attemped to follow the tech recommendations but to no avail. I did uninstall Avast and reinstalled with the latest update.

I am running Windows XP, Office 2007 standard edition, and Avast 4 home.

If outlook is disabling this add-in, does that also mean I have no AV for outlook?

Thanks for any assistance.

2

Do you mean that following:
Outlook 2007 > Tools > Trust center > Add-inns > Manage Disabled items.
The avast plugin is automatically disabled?

Do you have any other antivirus in your system? Specially AVG, Clam or Norton?
Did you have in the past?
Any other spam killer or security tool?

3

Correct, the manage disable items indicates that none are disabled but when I open outlook I get the warning message with the above statement that I must “OK” in order to continue.

I have no other AV on the system although I did have norton at one time but that was removed when the original Avast was installed about 6 months ago. There is the google spyware blocker install but I believe that is the only one.

Does this help?

4

Maybe you should delete “extend.dat” file: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=155.msg651#msg651
The extend.dat file is in a hidden folder, so if you’re Explorer to do the search, you need to explicitly enable searching of hidden/system files…

5

OK, I found and deleted the “extend.dat” file. Opened Outlook 2007 and the warning box still appears telling me outlook is disabling the avast add-in. However, there is still no disabled add-in in the trust center.

Outlook seems to running fine, it’s just this little thing and I suspect that means I have no AV protection.

6

Try, please:

  1. Remove NAV through Add/Remove programs from Control Panel (if it still there). Boot.
  2. Use Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista.
  3. Boot.
  4. Install avast! Boot.
  5. See what you get.

Full SymNRT info:

  1. Download and save these three files to the Windows desktop:
    a) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/MSIFIX.bat
    b) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SymNRT.exe
    c) ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/linked_files/tsgen/SYMMSICLEANUP.reg

  2. Run the three files that you just downloaded
    a) On the Windows desktop, double-click the MSIFIX icon.
    Click Run.
    A black window may appear very briefly.
    b) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SymNRT icon.
    Click Run.
    Click Next.
    Click I accept the License Agreement, and click Next.
    Type the letters and numbers that you see in the white box, and then click Next.
    Click Yes or OK at each prompt.
    You may need to click more than once. Your computer may be restarted for you more than once.
    You may be asked to repeat some steps after the computer restarts.
    c) On the Windows desktop, double-click the SYMMSICLEANUP icon.
    Click Run, and then click Yes.
    Click OK.

  3. Boot.

7

OK, I tryed all of the above. FYI, the SymNRT file is out of date but they referred me to a later addition.

Nothing is helping the problem and Outlook 2007 still is not loading the Avast addin and is disabling it. I even attempted changing the security setting in outlook but to no avail. I guess my next step is to go to microsoft for help.

If anyone has any more suggestions, I’ll give them a try.

8

Are you also getting the message that an Outlook data file was not closed properly and has to be checked? When I saw this problem with Avast add-in once it happened to coincide with a damaged Outlook .PST file. You might want to try running SCANPST.EXE on your .PST file(s). Office doesn’t install a shortcut to this thing by default but you’ll find it under “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2007\Office12” if you installed Office in the default location.