red circle in avast icon

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Im running win xp and yesterday i updated my avast (4.7.844). it ran fine after that but when i went to turn on my pc today, i noticed the red circle in the icon on system tray.

i followed the steps it said to do (right click my computer, services, and made sure it was set to auto) and i used the repair in add remove programs but it still has a red circle thru it and i cannot scan any files with avast to check for viruses.

I checked task manager and these are the avast task running
ashdisp, ashmaisv, ashserv, ashwebsv, aswupdsv
whats wrong?

2

Check out this avast FAQ entry http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-other-questions.html#idt_1539. Are you also getting the AAVM subsystem detected and RPC error displayed.

This is often related to having an other AV installed, perhaps not if avast previously worked.
Have (or did) you have another AV installed in this system, if so what and how did you get rid of it ?

3

yes,
when i click on “on access protection control” it reads
avast!: the aavm subsystem detected a rpc error

i use to run a AV by grisoft but when my pc crashed and i had to reinstall windows, avast has been the only Av i have been running.

4

Have you visited the link I gave and tried the option there ?

I used to use AVG over two years ago and even when uninstalled it left behind legacy device entries in the registry, which I removed manually. Fortunately it didn’t appear to cause any problem until I removed them.

What version of windows are you using and did you do a clean reinstall, e.g. reformat and start at square one ?

5

yep, i visited the link but it was the same steps i took earlier that didnt help.

im not sure if i have any avg registry entries left but i did however do a reformat and the whole 9 yards when i reinstalled windows xp.

i tried restarting my pc for the 3rd time and i noticed the red circle was gone so im not sure what caused it.

6

I think we will have to put it down to the mysteries of computers ;D thankfully it is now working again, just monitor the situation.

You might want to try running a registry cleaner looking for redundant entries.

Welcome to the forums.

7

thanks for your help :wink:

any advise or recommendations for a free registry cleaner?

i used one before and if i remember correctly, it deleted some things it should not have and caused my pc to act up.

8

Your welcome. I use a program called RegSeeker and it is a very powerful tool but it isn’t very user friendly, no help file, so you need to know what is going on in the registry.

I also have a program called EasyCleaner which is a relatively friendly tool that has registry cleaning as an option. This also looks like it categorises the entries it finds like a traffic light, Green, Amber, Red, etc. You could also look at RegCleaner.

Always backup the registry before editing and ensure the registry cleaner offers an option to save a copy of the deletions you make so they can be restored if necessary.

Or you could do a google search for ‘freeware registry cleaner’ without the quotes and see what it brings up then look for user reviews rather than possibly marketing hype.

9

i will try that. thanks again

10

I use Registry First Aid, has worked well for me but it is not free. The program offers a choice of scanning options and multiple suggestions offered on scanned findings.

11

thanks for the info.

i ended up downloading ccleaner. it was a freeware program that cleans the registry and also a bunch of other areas.
i checked out some of the reviews on cnet and it seemed to be a fav among users.

so far my pc seems to be running better and no more circles thru the avast.

12

Glad that we could help and that you are up and running again.