Outlook 2007 serious problem with Avast plugin after update to 7.0.1456

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have just updated Avast anti virus to version 7.0.1456.
I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit service pack 1 OS with all latest Microsoft updates installed and Microsoft Office 2007 service pack 3 with all latest updates installed. The machine has latest Intel MB DZ77-GA 70K (latest BIOS installed) with i7-3770 processor and 16GB DDR3 - 1333 RAM. After the Avast update I get a warning every time I open Outlook 2007. The warning is below:

Outlook experienced a serious problem with the ‘avast! Addin’ add-in. If you have seen this message multiple times, you should disable this add-in and check to see if an update is available. Do you want to disable this add-in?

I have tried completely uninstalling Avast and then running aswclear.exe in safe mode, then doing a clean install of the latest available download which is 7.0.1451 and then updating again from within Avast. However, this did not solve the problem.

Is anybody else having this issue? Does anybody know how to fix this issue without disabling the email scanning function?

UPDATE:

In earlier versions of anti-virus 7 free there were two Outlook add-ins. One was called Avast Addin and the other was called Avast Antispam addin.

I had a similar problem with the earlier version, but I was able to fix it by removing the Avast antispam addin from the Outlook Trust Centre, but leaving the other one in place. However, in this latest version, there was only one outlook add-in called Avast! add-in.

I have again stopped the error message from appearing, this time by removing the only Outlook Avast add-in that is installed with the new version. To remove the Add-in(s), you need to logon to the computer under a user account that has administrator privileges.

I also disabled the Avast Self Protection option in Avast > Settings > Troubleshooting, and I then navigated to the C: Program Files > Avast Software > Avast folder and removed the two files called “AsOutExt.dll” and “AsOutExt64.dll” from that folder.

I restarted the computer and lo and behold, the error no longer appears. I sent a test email from a web based email account to the Outlook email client to test if the message scanning still works. It appears as though it is still working because at the bottom of the “Avast Realtime Shields> Mail Shield” dialogue there is a message count that indicates how many messages have been scanned / infected, but I am not absolutely certain that it is scanning properly. Only the Avast techies can tell us that.

By the way, don’t forget to re-enable the Avast Self Protection option after you have finished the above steps.

UPDATE 2:

I also should have mentioned that I have 3 different pop3 and smtp email accounts set up in Outlook. I am unsure whether or not multiple email accounts cause conflict with the anti-spam add-in. Maybe when they test the updates, they only test with one email account set up in Outlook, and the problem may not arise with only one account set up. Two of my email accounts use the standard pop 110 and smtp 25 ports, but the other (Yahoo pop - yahoo.com.au) uses different non-standard ports. Could it be possible that this causes the issue ?

Regards,

Blowers

2

I had the same issue until I disabled the plug-in. Since then, I’ve been receiving odd error messages (“parser,” “range,” “memory,” and the like) from ArcSoft. My APC has thrown out a couple of errors I’ve never seen. Worst of all, Outlook 2007 started having display issues (e.g., blanking out the information in the message list as I read messages and displaying lines instead of text in the messages). Finally, I couldn’t open Outlook at all.

The only apparent change is the Avast Internet Security upgrade.

After my upgrade yesterday, I’m at 7.0.1451. I now have a message that 7.0.1456 is available.

3

Hi,

I have massive system problems since that update on Win XP Pro Media Center Edition SP3:

Error message is “not enough system resources” and even blue screens. Sometimes I crash after a few minutes, some times it takes 2 to 3 hours. Without any other program running or surfing or downloads, I have trouble with the mail clients (The Bat! and Outlook) receiving the message "no connection to server with Outlook and the message "“FETCH - Server meldet Fehler. Die Antwort ist: -ERR concurrent connection limit in avast! exceeded”. Only way to continue is to start the system again.

I cannot work in any program (homepage updates, working on photos, burning CDs etc) because either the program does not even open and the message about missing system resources appears or I crash while working.

Today all of a sudden after a re-boot I saw in avast! that I was back to version 7.0.1451 even though I had not changed anything since the update to the newest version. I made the update again and also clicked the “ok” after re-boot “to finalize the update”. Since that previous versions I also did not get any automatic information about the new version, only saw it in the program mask.

I also need help please.

Good night
Gerda

4

Same here. Running Outlook 2007 SP3 with Windows 7.

The error message comes up everytime I start outlook. :frowning:

5

since a bunch have this same problem why no Avast t just fix it instead of doing a work a round
If my client keeps seeing this i will have no choice but to uninstall avast and install something else.
robin

6

I haven’t actually seen any acknowledgement from Avast regarding this issue.

Would be great to know if they also see the issue, then we have a chance of getting a fix quickly hopefully?

7

These comments refer to Avast 7.0.1456 and Outlook 2007. After allowing OL2007 to disable both add-ins: “avast!add-in” and “avast! Antispam”, OL2007 now appears to open and close successfully after reading both incoming and outgoing e-mails. “Mail shield” in Avast reports that it is scanning and counting the incoming and outgoing e-mails, as described above by Blowers.

However, as I have also previously asked, is Avast really scanning the e-mails properly with both add-ins disabled?

Also, if both add-ins do not appear to be necessary for the functioning of OL2007, can I remove them from OL2007 using the Trust Centre, add-in function of OL2007? Blowers seems to have removed them without any adverse effect on OL2007 but he had the same question as to whether Avast is properly scanning the e-mails.

8

I suspect that even though Avast 7 free doesn’t include the antispam feature, that they still include the antispam associated add-ins in case the user decides to upgrade to the pro version. I thing they would be better off not including these add-ins (.dll) wit the free version, or setting them to be disabled by default until the user actually does upgrade to the pro version.

9

Just checked the logs for mail scanner and it shows Avast only checked 1 email at 8am this morning and nothing since. :frowning:

10

I would guess that if you disable the add-ins, then you don’t have protection.

11

Trying to upload the n-esimal dump of MS Outlook and avast! …
Called Tech Dump Outlook 7.0.1456 (2).7z

12

OK I have the same problem or very similar. Running desktop PC Win7 64bit Home Premium with Outlook 2007 with all MS patches applied. Yesterday evening I allowed Avast Free to update itself from something that was current or near-current to 7.0.1456. Process required allowing reboot - which I did allow. Now, when I reboot and start Outlook, I get that Windows pop-up that says that Outlook has a serious problem with the Avast add-in and that I should disable the add-in if the messages continue. As yet, I have not disabled the Avast add-in. What is the correcting fix from Avast?

13

Same problem here. W7 Pro x64 with Office 2007 Ultimate.
Started after update to version 7.0.1456.

14

Read here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?msg=804553

15

A bit late, but after upgrading to 7.0.1456, all has been well.