Starting avast pro fails with error message

I’m running pro build Jul2008 4.8.1229 on Windows 98 SE. I rely on the on-access scanner and the on-demand scanner from Windows explorer, so I don’t run the user interface often.

Yesterday when I ran avast! the splash screen appeared, the memory test did not begin like it used to, and then I got:

“The process cannot access the file because
Program cannot set property into main Storage”.

I rebooted and ran avast! with the same error, several times. I reloaded my entire C: drive with a backup from July 25. When I run avast! I get the same error. The avast! version on the backup I reloaded is still build 4.8.1229.

What should I do? I still have my original avast! installation file from June 22, 2008.

Thanks.

Jon

Try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select ‘avast! Anti-Virus,’ click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.

If that doesn’t work perhaps a clean reinstall.

Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, find it here and save it to your HDD.

  1. Now uninstall (using add remove programs, if you can’t do that start from the next step), reboot.
  2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility, reboot, it mentions doing this from safe mode, but that relates to if step 1 failed because the self-defence module would block the uninstall utility. This isn’t a problem with your OS as the self-defence module isn’t active with win98.
  3. install the latest version, reboot.

I ran the avast! repair feature in add/remove programs. It had no effect on the problem.

I thought of one last thing to try before uninstalling. I wondered if the memory test on startup could be causing the failure.

I ran avast! and used Norton CrashGuard to terminate the hung splash screen. (Ctrl-Alt-Del might work too.) The simple user interface came up and partially worked. The virus chest wouldn’t open but the settings screen worked. I turned off the memory test on startup. (If someone else with this problem can’t get to the settings screen, it looks like the memory test can be turned off manually by setting SplashTestMemory=0 in avast4.ini.)

I rebooted to clear any hanging processes. I ran avast!, the splash screen flashed quickly, and the simple user interface came up. The virus chest and other menu items seemed to work. I tested running avast! several more times to make sure it worked consistently. It did.

Maybe this post will help others who hang on the splash screen.

Jon

Which other Symantec products are you using?

CrashGuard is the only one that’s resident. I run Ghost, DiskDoctor, and WinDoctor as needed.

When I used the avast! pro trial in June and July I did not have the startup problem. I don’t think I’ve changed the environment since then – hardware or software.

Jon

I suggest an installation from the scratch:

  1. Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.
  2. Boot.
  3. Download the latest version of Avast Uninstall and use it for complete uninstallation.
  4. Boot.
  5. Install again the latest avast! version.
  6. Boot.
  7. Check and post the results.

Hi all

I have the same circumstances. See attached image.
Eventually the avast! UI loads, I can start a scan but the quick-start and menu icons disappear and seem to have be re-created on reboot.

I’ve followed the linked-to advice on this page
I reinstalled MDAC 2.8 - no difference.
I went to change ODBC to XML in ‘avast4.ini’ but found ‘Database=SQLT’ ?

I’ll try uninstall/reinstall when I can unless someone comes up with a specific solution.

Since version 4.7.807 a new data storage called SQLT is used by avast!
MDAC makes no more difference.
Is there (was there) any other antivirus in this machine?
Did you repair your installation?

I uninstalled and reinstalled avast!. I had to do it twice, but now everything seems to be good. I had trouble after the first install and decided to start over. Details are listed below.

I followed Tech’s instructions, with some added steps of my own.

  1. Restored several Eudora mail files from the chest. These had hundreds (or thousands) of emails I did not want to lose. Each file had been moved to the chest because there was at least one old email in each file with something bad.

  2. Saved a copy of avast4.ini, mainly to have a copy of the exclusion list and mail settings.

  3. Saved copies of 8 Eudora account configuration screens and 2 Popfile spam filter configuration screens so I’d be able to fix them if the installation messed them up.

  4. Made sure I had a copy of my license key and my expiration date.

  5. Uninstalled avast! from Add/Remove Programs

  6. Rebooted

  7. Ran aswclear.exe
    For the product I selected “avast! 4 Home/Professional”
    For the path I entered “C:\Program Files\Alwil Software”

  8. Rebooted

  9. Installed newest avast! 4 professional. I chose Custom and excluded P2P, IM, and Outlook since I use none of those. I also excluded skins because I prefer the simple user interface. (I had included skins during my initial installation in June.)

  10. Rebooted

  11. Tested email from and to each account. Avast! checked all outgoing and incoming mail (which means the on-access mail scanning was working). POPFile screened and sorted incoming mail too.

  12. Then I noticed a red bar through the avast! tray icon. On-access scanning was disabled. I tried to enable it by right-clicking the icon and selecting start on-access protection, but it didn’t work.

  13. I ran avast! and entered my license key when prompted.

  14. Rebooted

  15. On-access scanning still disabled. Ran avast!. Checked my expiration date in About. It was correct.

  16. Couldn’t get on-access scanning enabled. I rebooted a couple of times. I tried to enable on-access protection from the settings menu. It didn’t work.

  17. I speculated that either not installing skins or testing my email before entering my license key had messed up the installation. I decided to start over.

  18. Uninstalled avast! in Add/Remove programs, rebooted, ran aswclear.exe, rebooted.

  19. Installed avast!. This time I installed skins. I excluded IM, P2P, and Outlook.

  20. Rebooted

  21. Ran avast! and entered license key when prompted. Memory test ran fine.

  22. Went to settings and configured everything the way I wanted it.

  23. Rebooted

  24. Tested email to and from all my accounts. All mails were scanned in and out. Popfile also sorted incoming mail properly.

  25. Ran avast!. Memory scan and everything else seems to work fine. On-access scanning also works fine.

  26. Rebooted

  27. Ran avast!. Avast! and on-access scanning are both still working fine.

Jon

Glad that everything is sorted… wow, you had a long journey to get it :wink: