Yesterday morning when I turned my computer on, avast would not load. None of the protections would load. I could click on the tray icon and get the program window to come up, but “fix now” nor anything else I tried would get the protections to load. Also, I’d click on a desktop icon–it wouldn’t open. I’d click on another one, same thing. Click on a third, same thing. And then all of a sudden, all three would open at the same time. Sound wouldn’t work, and then it did. Then some of the other program icons would open easily, others very slowly. Turned off my computer and tried again. Same thing.
I ended up uninstalling avast (through add/remove programs) and things were better with everything else. I downloaded and installed a different resident AV program, the free-for-30-days version, and did full scan with Malwarebytes (which turned up nothing but PUPs), and Super Antispyware, which turned up trojan.agent/gen-nullo short. Had that quarantined, of course.
I had been using an older version of avast because of the all the problems people seem to have been having (or had) with upgrades after mine. So I believe the one in my signature is the version I had.
Any idea what this could have been? Was it this trojan thing or something else? Do you think it’s safe to reinstall avast? Are there more things I should check/do at this point?
Not updating because of the problems others have isn’t a good decision, you don’t know what their system specification is or if yours will be the same.
The longer you stick with an old version the more likely we will be unable to help (no longer familiar with it, etc.) should you get a problem with it.
It just so happened that there has recently been a problem after the release of a VPS update, this problem was only found in avast 6 or earlier and downloading a full manual virus definitions update resolved that problem, a subsequent virus definitions may not have been enough.
Sticking with avast 6 could result in this same error condition that isn’t handled in avast 6 (but is in later versions) could possibly happen again. You also aren’t benefiting from the improved protection available in the later versions.
####
In all honesty I would say you should do a clean install of at least avast 7 (if you can find a copy) or better avast 8.
Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, aswClear.exe find it here and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for all versions).
Now uninstall avast! - using add remove programs, if you can’t do that (as appears to be the case) start from the next step, reboot.- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility, it will request it be run from safe mode (and will handle the boot into safe mode), first for 7.x if previously installed and then for 8.0, once complete reboot into normal mode.- 3. install the latest version, reboot.
Ah, just stumbled upon this. In the middle of a client deadline right now (just took a quick break), so haven’t had time to read the replied, but looks like this person had the same avast problem from yesterday as I did.
The easiest solution, and the one that I agree makes the most sense, is to upgrade to the newest version. If I have problems that can’t easily be fixed, I can always uninstall and go to something else. Don’t want to do that, of course! Now that I’m aware of that aswclear program that can remove straggly stuff that Windows Add/Remove leaves behind, I am more comfortable upgrading.
I’m this way with everything. Bad experiences in the past (not with avast) have made me very cautious about updating things. Didn’t say I never update anything, I’m just really cautious.
As I said avast 7 is the least that you should have or this could happen again, but without doubt avast 8 is where you should be. If you do experience problems then this is the place to help resolve them and I have zero problems with my XP Pro SP3 OS and avast 8.
I had a bit of a nightmare with the very early (closed) beta of avast 8 and that turned out to be related to mbam pro and WinPatrol Plus, but a bit of a nightmare all the same.
David, just to update you. I installed avast! 8 today and so far no problems at all other than having to add one of my programs in so it wouldn’t be opened in the sandbox (but I had to do that with the earlier versions as well). Thanks again for your help.
