Hi,
Since the last update, my Avast shows as unprotected. Right clicking the taskbar icon and selecting Avast shields control shows all shields are on.
I cannot open the Avast user interface, it simply sits endlessly on “loading”.
I have tried repair with no success.
I have tried to uninstall (completely)/ reinstall with no success.
External Malware, Anti-virus, Spybot, Rootkit etc checks show no problems.
It is working fine on my Windows 10 machine which I haven’t updated yet (and wont until I’m sure it is safe to do so).
The machine with the problem is Windows 8.1 O/S
I have tried suggestions found on the web, but nothing is clearing this problem.
Any help appreciated please.
Try and uninstall Spybot!
Remove all old a/v’s and left-over remnants here: https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/11/#artTitle
Follow bob3160’s advice here: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=222173.msg1478148#msg1478148
Thanks mchain,
uninstalling spybot s&d didn’t make a difference for me.
I had followed Bobs advice on the previous uninstall/ reinstall attempt, guess I’ll try again with spybot s&d gone.
I do have a new wrinkle however, I get RPC server unavailable when attempting an update, hadn’t noticed that before.
Looks like a long night ahead 
Cheers
Spybot S&D has a habit of blocking new items. Removing it and then doing a clean install should fix the problem.
Hi Bob and mchain,
Success!!.
I removed all traces of Spybot, and followed the instructions per Bob.
No joy. Just as I was reaching for the revolver it occurred to me I must have missed a step.
Sure enough, third time was the charm.
All appears back to normal.
Thanks so much for the assistance.
You’re welcome.