I have been using Avast! for a couple of years now and have never had any major problems. However three days ago I downloaded Yahoo Messenger and have been using it each day since then. On each of these days I have been receiving an error message from Avast! It reads “Internal error has occurred in Avast! program. It may be caused by a program bug or invalid entry data.” I reported it to Avast! the first couple of times.
I have Windows ME, and Internet Explorer 6.
Can anyone tell me if this is a known problem or explain what the cause may be and what I can do about it? If my suspicions are correct I can uninstal Messenger of course, but I don’t want to do that if I can find a way around it. Any suggestions or comments would be very welcome.
Edited several hours later to say that the problem appears to be related to the Avast! screensaver facility that does a wall to wall virus check while the computer is idle. I have turned that off and the problem seems to have gone away.
My first suggestion is to ensure you have the latest version of avast, if your signature is correct (avast 4.6 home), you need to download the latest version, 4.7.892 as there is little point in trying to troubleshoot a problem in an old version of the software.
Oooo! Sorry about that David. It is 4.7, I just forgot to update my profile. Fixed now.
I think I have now definitely narrowed the problem to the screensaver option of Avast! conflicting with Yahoo Messenger. I don’t get the error message with the screensaver off or with another screensaver running. So I have got around the problem, but I can’t use Avast!'s screensaver feature.
Well the screen saver scan options should only be running if there is no activity, so that is somewhat strange that it would interfere if it weren’t running ?
Though it may be monitoring the system to ensure no activity. Personally I don’t have my system scanned or generate VRDB using the screen saver options, when my system is idle it turns of the monitor and goes into standby, etc. I much prefer to run my own on-demand scans at a time which is convenient for me, once per week as a part of my regular system maintenance. Considering you have the resident scanners the on-demand scan I feel isn’t so critical.
With winME resources are always going to be an issue so if you have a few programs loaded they will still be using those resources if not actually in use. There may well be something conflicting on your system winME, Yahoo Messenger and the avast screen saver, but it isn’t something that I recall having seen in the forums, possibly because the combination of winME, Yahoo messenger and the avast screen saver aren’t too common.
As you say you didn’t have any issues until you downloaded Yahoo Messenger, the choice would be which is essential, yahoo messenger or the avast screen saver. If you can use another messenger service that would be one option or do a manual weekly on-demand (Standard, without Archives) scan.
Not sure Igor, and I don’t know how to find out. Anyway, I think I have a satisfactory solution thanks.
David, thanks for your comments. I agree the AVAST! Screensaver isn’t vital; I have used a periodic manual check previously and I will do it again. (I can’t change from Yahoo Messenger to another service as I need it to show my online status on a Yahoo site I own and moderate.) Actually, now you mention ME memory problems I have found that, if the AVAST! Screensaver has been running long, the computer takes a while to get up to speed again when I come back. Yep. a periodic manual check is the way to go! Thanks.
Igor, as the Screen Saver module could be configurated by the Enhanced Interface Task, why can’t the Home users configure it by a GUI or the avast4.ini file?
If you use windows explorer and open your avast4 folder then the Data and Log sub folder are there any files beginning with unp, the xxxx are numeric values. This is what Igor is asking you to find and attach to the topic. It might reveal the cause and give you other options or possibly help others also.
Quote: Are there any recent unpXXXXX.tmp files in \Data\Log folder?
Sorry Igor for the delay answering, I have been away on a kayaking expedition… Great fun!
I have looked in the folder you directed me to and there are no unp files at all. I note they are .tmp files. Perhaps I have deleted them with my fortnightly cleanout using easycleaner?
Anyway everything is running fine now I have terminated the AVAST! screensaver, and the computer is instantly ready to work when I come back after a spell away and just the IBM screensaver running. Thanks David and Igor for your help.