prevent Avast from auto startup when Windows reboots

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

hallo,

I dont want that Avast starts when my PC boots, because I want to test something.
How to do this? where is the setting?

2

Are you still using XP SP2?

3

yes

4

Don’t you think its time to update to SP3 as it has been available for over a year and has several Critical Security fixes and prefromance improvements?

5

There is no such setting.
You’d have to manually remove it from registry - either in safe mode, or disabling avast! self-defense first.

6

no such option :o ???
and in avast5 there will be?

7

No, because it isn’t designed to be anything other than a resident anti-virus scanner.

What tests do you want to make that requires you not to have avast not run on startup ?

If you boot into safe mode, avast doesn’t start by default, which is the purpose of safe mode where if you were experiencing problems applications are restricted to help you get into thew system.

8

well I want to check for application issue at startup. The protocols in Miranda Messanger loose the internet connection permanently , so I want to see if it is because of some appl. on startup.
In safe mode I think I will not nbe able to do this because no of the startup application starts in safe mode , right?

9

I don’t know Miranda Messenger, but that sounds like either firewall blocking or a clash with another security application.

So check your firewall settings and see if any of the Miranda Messenger files are blocked, or delete the entry for them, that should force the firewall to ask permission again.

Have (or did) you another Anti-Virus installed in this system, if so what was it and how did you get rid of it ?

What other security software do you have installed ?

The only thing that might get involved with Miranda Messenger would be the avast Instant Messenger provider, you could try terminating (and answer Yes to the Persistence question) that would stop the IM provider starting on boot and see if that makes a difference.

10

ok, I dont think the problem is at Avast.

I had earlier Kaspersky IS abd uninstalled it before installing Avast.
I had ZoneAlarm Firewall too, and it is uninstalled.

Now I have only Avast Pro and Comodo Fireall (wihtout AV).

PS:

You'd have to manually remove it from registry - either in safe mode, or disabling avast! self-defense first.
I would like to know more about this? Where is the relevant key in the regestry?
11

Download and Run this utility to remove all traces of Kaspersky from the registry:
http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208279463. You might want to print the instructions on the page for use of-line.

12

You can prevent avast! from running at startup with the System Configuration Utility. In XP click Start then Run. In the Run dialogue type msconfig and press Enter. The System Configuration Utility will open. Click the Startup tab and look for avast! Antivirus in the list. Uncheck the box and click Apply. avast! will not automatically run at startup until you go back and recheck the box. :slight_smile:

13

Wrong.

To be able to do that you would first have to disable the self-defence module. Even then it wouldn’t work as the startup entry is for ashDisp.exe, the avast tray icon, which doesn’t disable avast from starting up as the avast services are started outside of the user msconfig startup area.

14

Yup, you’re right. Thanks for the info. :slight_smile:

It does work for me though when I disable the Self-defense module in Program Settings>Troubleshooting. You just have to be sure to turn it back on when you’re done.

If you want to shut it down completely you could do it by typing services.msc in the Run dialogue. When the Services window opens find the avast! entries in the list (I have four). Double clicking an entry causes a Properties window to open. Under Startup type select Disable and Apply. Alternatively you can start or stop them using the Start/Stop buttons. This will start and stop them, and if you set Startup type to Diable this stops them from automatically running at startup. Be sure to take note of what everything’s set to before making changes so you can put it back like it was. :slight_smile:

15

ok , thanks

I need answer of that:

You'd have to manually remove it from registry - either in safe mode, or disabling avast! self-defense first.
I would like to know more about this? Where is the relevant key in the regestry?
16

Hello,

have you tried to disable ashDisp from msconfig under startup tab?

Also for relevant startup values in registry are stated below. But if you delete something from the System Registry accidentally, it may be corrupted to the extent that Windows may not reboot at all, so be careful.

HKLM refers to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKCU refers to HKEY_CURRENT_USER

  • Start > Run
  • In the Open box type regedit and then click on OK or press Enter

Common keys you’re interested in:

  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
  • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Others (used by malware often):

  • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\Run
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Take note that wrong registry editing will cause your system unable to boot up.

Hope this helps.

zell

17

what is that ??? :o
I thought it will be 1 registry key, not 10 :o
I have never seen such programm - no auto start prevent option but 10 reg key :frowning:

Or maybe you didnt specify your answer.
Could someone be more precisious

18

If you’re not already an expert with the registry I would leave well enough alone; as zellist said you can do some serious damage. The only time I do anything with the registry is if I want to clean it of invalid entries and then I use TweakNow or Eusing free software. If you plan to keep avast! and just want to troubleshoot, I would simply stop it from running using the methods given above and leave the registry alone. :slight_smile:

19

Hello again,

Here to clarify on my previous reply.
What I meant was not all registry will have Avast key to startup in your local machine.

You can ignore the the bottom 4 paths.
Take a look at the top 6 paths that I gave you and find the relevant key values/binaries that will prevent all Avast services to stop running at startup.
I have not look through myself, so I can’t give a definite answer.

Also try to do this:

  • Go Offline (Make sure you have administrator rights)

  • Start > Run

  • In the Open box type services.msc and then click on OK or press Enter

  • Look for Avast services namely (might be more):

  • avast! Antivirus

  • avast! iAVS4 Control Service

  • avast! Mail Scanner

  • avast! Web Scanner

  • Set them to Manual or Disable, and stop the services.

All in all, I don’t recommend stopping Avast Antivirus.
I’ll look through my own registry and give an update on the values.

Updates: I found my avast startup values in the registry namely:

  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • value: avast!
  • path: C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe

You can take a look in HKEY_CURRENT_USER too.

zell

20

As I mentioned in another reply to norel, ashDisp.exe isn’t the avast services.

There are other entries, avast is designed to be a resident scanner so there is no simple GUI solution to disabling it, you have to stop the other avast services and this too is designed to be difficult (self-defence module) to make it more difficult for malware to disable avast.