Still having tech problems after new install

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
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Hi, can anyone can help me figure out what is going wrong ??? OK earlier in the week I was experiancing some quirks with avast 1 in particular- when trying to running a manual scan, avast would load, run thru memory check and vanish. Went to close all programs to reboot and when I closed Yahoo messenger, Avast reappeard. OK so I reinstalled Avast as it wasn’t scanning anything anyway. Reinstall went fine and completed a complete scan with not errors :wink:

Last night I closed the lap as it seemed to be running hard and could not find a reason for it, no heavy CPU usage, nothing running abnormally. This morning when I booted lap would not start black window with flashing line, closed it manually and rebooted too a little longer than normal but booted up. OK so now I go to run a manual scan to make sure there is No Virus causing the problems. I initiated the manual scan from the icon next to the clock, avast opened and ran the memory scan and vanished again, no where to be found either in task mgr or on my system. I keep yahoo messenger open all the time for email noticications, Same problem when I closed Yahoo messenger, Avast start scan sceen opened ??? I’m running 2 OS, So now I run a scan on C files (XP) only and archives. Avast get’s to 17% complete and jumps to 49% to E (Vista) and completes scan on E??? No errors just 1 program on C unable to scan (normal) and everything on E unable to scan. So why did it scan E when I specificly unchecked it to scan & what is casuing the conflict with yahoo Messenger blocking avast from starting???

I’m going to initiated a boot scann now and see if anything was missed, hopefully someone will get back to me with some answers when I log back on.

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I’ve spent a few minutes looking over your past posts, and I’m a bit confused.
Is this computer a Dell or a Mac?
Was XP pro installed from its own CD?
Did you get the correct drivers for it?
If it’s a Dell, why are you going to a Mac shop for Windows disks?
I can’t help thinking this is more likely a “2 OS on a computer really designed only for Vista” issue than an Avast issue, and I believe it relates to many of your previous posts.

Another possibility is that both OS are active at the same time.
Another possibility is that you have a corrupt download of Avast.

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This morning when I booted lap would not start black window with flashing line
Looks like a corrupt install of windows. Do a repair, then try a scan again.
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Dell, And Yes a XPS 1530 designed for Vista Ultimate, A horror :cry: >:(
Bought a New 320 Hard Drive 7200 RPM with a New install of a DEll XP Pro disk installed by a Dell service tech for me, and yes I have all the correct drivers, For reason’s of possible future problems with my warrenty we installed the Original OS as well :wink: :-X, as Dell will not support the XP Pro on the machine.

And yes if you read some of my earlier post’s, I did believe that some programs were running simultaniousely when they should not be. I’m on the XP Pro side almost exclusively, Partician was done correctly. However shortly after I installed a new printer than a second and now using the third I started experiancing problems after I uninstalled the 1 & 2nd one’s as they were giving me problems and returned them. I installed Ccleaner a couple of months back and that seemed to help. this problem with Yahoo just started in the last few weeks, so I don’t know if registry’s got corrupted possibly from Windows updates or what.

My Dell tech is not were I’m at now so I have to wait until I return to have him check the partician and OS. Any suggestions in the mean time??? Should I uninstall Yahoo have done it before after in installs & uninstalls of the printers corrupted IE and Yahoo & AOL (don’t use it)was overriding my browsers (IE & Foxfire-Google) I did a boot scan just now and everything cam up clean with No errors. But I have another question if you dont mind ::slight_smile:
Yesterday I was checking C drive applications and on Avast I noticed all but 2 were set to automatic, Web mail & web shield was set to “Manual” Could not find a setting to change it to auto or does it matter?

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I would love to but don’t want to mess with it until the tech who installed both OS systems can look at it, puter is just to sensitive for me to start making changes when I don’t know what I’m doing. This was the first time this has happened and was really surprised, other than some of the quirks I mentioned going on puter is running OK.

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Yesterday I was checking C drive applications and on Avast I noticed all but 2 were set to automatic, Web mail & web shield was set to "Manual" Could not find a setting to change it to auto or does it matter?
I don't understand this.[i]Exactly[/i] how did you get to see this information? It may matter, in that it might help pinpoint the problem. I've never seen "automatic" options for any of the Avast providers.

I don’t know much about dual-boot systems, but is it possible that XP and Vista are both starting up at log on/ running together? If so, that doesn’t seem right. That would need looking at in the BIOS settings, and preferably by the tech that installed the system.
I’m still confused about an earlier comment you made about going to the Mac store?

There is a thread here (a poll) on IM programs. I don’t use them. But if I did, I wouldn’t touch Yahoo (or AOL) if I were dressed in a biohazard suit and using a 40 foot pole. Unless you need it, my advice would be to uninstall it. Have a look at the poll to see if there is a better one.

Did you run any registry cleanup function in Ccleaner? This is a (normally) tame registry cleaner, doesn’t often cause problems. But I’ve had it cause problems, through deleting reg keys that were needed. A corrupt registry could be the problem, easily. Did you make a backup?

Probably the best advice I could give at this time would be to completely remove Avast, via the control panel, for each OS.
Before you do, download a new installer file form the Avast homepage. Also download the uninstall utility, http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html
-Disconnect from the net.
-Go to Avast program settings>troubleshooting and disable the self protection module.
-Uninstall from the control panel. Reboot if prompted.
-Run the uninstall utility.Reboot.

Perform these steps for each installation of Avast.

-Install from the new freshly downloaded file. Do that for each OS. (I’m actually not too sure about that, since I have never used a dual boot system, except at work.)
-Reconnect. Get updates.

That might at least eliminate Avast as the source of the problem.

Have you ever had another AV on this machine, and how was it removed?

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I’m still confused about an earlier comment you made about going to the Mac store?
So am I, lol. if your referring to a comment I made in earlier posts, it was just meant to explain how I discovered that I could split the Hard Drive to run 2 OS, as Mac offers options to run XP Pro. Nothing to do with my XPS or my OS.

RE: avast settings: I don’t understand this.Exactly how did you get to see this information? Went to Control Panel - Admin - Service’s - Avast, gave list of all avast services running and wish was set for Auto or manual start-up. From Avast
on-access protection control panel it shows all are running, but when I open the program settings the same 2 never show any scan’s performed.

I’m not quite sure what you mean by a thread here(a poll) on IM???Is this a setting??? only use yahoo messinger nothing else, and I use it to link to yahoo mail as I don’t want to use yahoo for anythig else. Got enough browsers, lol.

Ccleaner: yes I use the registry cleaner as well mostly if I add or delete something. First time I used it there was over 250 bad registres from installing the 2 different printer & uninstalling them. and I think some left over from the inital installation of programs files when the puter was configured. Nope I did not make a back-up was so glad to get rid of all the junk I didn’t want it lingering on the puter. But I did a system restore after each uninstall on both drives, and think that might have been when things got a little messed up.

Didn’t know there was an uninstall utility for Avast, thanks for the link I will do it tomorrow or later tonight. I just did a reinstall of Avast a couple of days ago, from Control Panel and then I do a seach from windows using the start tab options and delete all remaining files before a fresh install. Thanks for the heads up on the uninstall & reinstall, possibly crap is remaining and corrupting the fresh installs. I’ll get back to you and let you know how it works out and if there is any improvements. Have a good evening. Sue

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Went to Control Panel - Admin - Service's - Avast, gave list of all avast services running and wish was set for Auto or manual start-up. From Avaston-access protection control panel it shows all are running, but when I open the program settings the same 2 never show any scan's performed.
This is normal. They will start on demand. If (assuming you have a non-web based email client running) you left click on the tray icon, the list of providers will appear, the scanned count will appear on that, in respect of each provider. Using Yahoo mail will not cause the mail scanner to activate; it is basically part of the internet (HTML) and will be scanned on-access by the standard shield. The mail shield only scans for POP3 protocols, as used by Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by a thread here(a poll) on IM???Is this a setting??? only use yahoo messinger nothing else, and I use it to link to yahoo mail as I don't want to use yahoo for anythig else. Got enough browsers, lol.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=43189.0 This may not be relevant. Your first post indicated use of "yahoo messenger", which I took to mean an IM program. If it is just Yahoo mail you use, disregard. If you do use an instant messaging program, though, it might be worth a look.
Ccleaner: yes I use the registry cleaner as well mostly if I add or delete something. First time I used it there was over 250 bad registres from installing the 2 different printer & uninstalling them. and I think some left over from the inital installation of programs files when the puter was configured. Nope I did not make a back-up was so glad to get rid of all the junk I didn't want it lingering on the puter. But I did a system restore after each uninstall on both drives, and think that might have been when things got a little messed up.
Using system restore after uninstalling software will most probably restore the old and non-applicable reg entries that had just been removed from uninstalling the software. The entries won't point to anything, of course, because the relevant file will be missing, or in some cases replaced with a new or replaced version. This could cause problems. When you use any reg cleaner again, always make a backup of what is to be cleaned. Ccleaner should prompt for this by default.

It’s possible you’ll have to repair install the operating system/s.(If that becomes necessary, it might be best to get the aforementioned tech to do that.) I’m hoping a full uninstall/fresh install of Avast will fix the issue. If it were me, I’d also run the Ccleaner reg cleaner after running the uninstall tool, and before the fresh install. Make a backup, this time. Don’t be surprised if there are a large number of reg entries, maybe of the order of 2-300.
Let us know how you go.
Tarq.

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Thanks for all your suggestions, I’m learning everyday, Think I was getting tired and probably didn’t clearly type what I meant. When installing new software,programs etc. if there is a problem After uninstalling it, I will then do a system restore to before the install to make sure nothing is left behind, Than attempt to either reinstall. In the senerio I mentioned First I purchased a new HP All-in-one, The softwear created a problem I uninstalled it, system restore from the previouse day. Hp had me install it again, still no good, uninstalled and system restore again. The the next day returned it and got a Cannon All-in-One, same thing with install, system restore 2x. Finally wound up with a Brothers (less software) But the inital corruption (AOL took over all my browsers, Don’t use AIM or AOL But I do Have Compuserve which opens as a seperate program window and it’s own browser) from the first install of the HP remained but a lesser degree and was managable. When I installed Ccleaner it removed all the remaining junk from the 4x uninstalls, so I didn’t want to save it. puter seemed to be back to normal, no new installs since, just some updates (encluding Avast program) and soon after the problems with the browsers started again and I noticed Avast wasn’t scanning correctly, So I uninstalled Avast, system restore before avast’s install of the newer version, and did a fresh install of Avast latest version, same problem with Avast not scanning correctly. Unistalled Avast 2 days ago and reinstalled it, scanning correctly but as I mentioned earlier when Yahoo IM is open it hide’s Avast when I try to perform a manual scan, until I close yahoo. Just to clearafy I use Yahoo IM only for email notifications and to link it to the yahoo mail page. I have blocked Yahoo tool bar’s from add-on to all my browsers.

I’m going to uninstall Avast as you suggested using the utility, Do a system restore for a few weeks back from before the puter started acting up, reinstall Avast again and see what happens. If I’m having the same problem than uninstall Yahoo IM, run ccleaner and try a reinstall. What do you think?

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just to sensitive for me to start making changes when I don't know what I'm doing
Smart thing to do. At least do nothing without someone guiding you.

PS:
Please do not quote everything each time. It will make a thread hard to read and may lead to confusions.

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I'm going to uninstall Avast as you suggested using the utility, Do a system restore for a few weeks back from before the puter started acting up, reinstall Avast again and see what happens. If I'm having the same problem than uninstall Yahoo IM, run ccleaner and try a reinstall. What do you think?
I actually think using system restore for what you are attempting to achieve is not a great idea. It's a bit like using a "last resort" as a mainstream application, like running your car into the kerb every time you want to stop, because the brakes need adjusting and you'd rather not use them. System restore is a great tool at the right times, don't get me wrong, but it can sometimes not be reliable, and will leave your computer needing re-updating if any other changes were made (likely) between restores.

There are software uninstallers available to do the same job, but they don’t revert the computer back to a few days (or weeks) beforehand. Revo uninstaller is pretty good, and searches the file system and registry for orphaned entries after software removal. There’s another I haven’t tried, called Total Uninstall, that actually tracks each change made when new software is added, to facilitate thorough removal later. Last but not least, a lot of people don’t advise using reg cleaners, in case of damage. And to be honest, it takes a lot of orphaned reg entries to cause a significant problem in most cases. And any problem is likely to be a barely noticeable slowdown, rather than something broken.

I think best to perform the uninstall/the tool/fresh install, buit without using system restore.
Can you also double check that when you left click on the Avast tray icon, to bring up the list of providers, that the “instant messaging” provider is started.
[edit] that is, when Yahoo IM is active.

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Your probably right, my using the system restore with the printers is probably what messed things up in the first place. Puter is running fast, no slow downs or freeze’s, but something is running in the background that I can’t find because I hear the hard drive racing and the fan working overtime. I also noticed lsass.exe & csrss.exe memory usage constantly fluctuating even though there is no CPU usage when I open move than one window in IE, Foxfire. And Avast
ashWebSv.exe seems to have a lot of dedicated memory 51,128k possible because of the 2 OS.

Anyway I ran into a glich with the uninstall utility, atempted to uninstall the Vista side first downloaded it but didn’t uninstall yet, because it said I had to run it insafe mode. For some reason when my tech configured the lap it will only open in Vista in Safe mode, dosent give me the option to switch to the XP side. So now I’m a bit hesitant to uninstall it from either. if it’s linked to both OS’s I might corrupt the XP side and won’t be able to use the utility to properly clean it before a reinstall. Think I’m better ust leaving it alone for now.

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Run the utility on XP in normal mode, then. The reason for running it in safe mode is that the AV has a self defence module, and even the utility can not access the files when that is active. If the AV has been successfully uninstalled first, though, then it should work OK. The only thing likely to prevent a successful uninstall is if you forget to disable the self defence module (mentioned above.) And stop the AV first. Then uninstall it from the control panel.

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K, thanks sooooooo much :-*
Should I uninstall first from the Vista side in safe mode than XP after? Before reinstalling.
Just wondering if I should even bother to reinstall on the Vista side, I’m rarely on it anyway and I think that maybe that’s what’s causing the conflict, as the lsass & csrss started running just after I reinstalled on both Monday using the licence key.

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To be perfectly honest, I really don’t know. Not being even remotely au fait with dual boot systems, nor having more than a brief experience with Vista.
Perhaps someone with experience could advise.
And you’re more than welcome.

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Hi Sue, I’ve asked some of the more experienced/knowledgeable folk for advice on this, and it seems we’ve gone about as far as we realistically can, here.
The advice is basically to back up to an external medium (CD, external hard drive, another working computer etc) your files, pics etc, and reformat/reinstall and partition the disk. This is a partial quote of the steps:

1. Backup his important data without executable files (if possible) and format both partitions.

  1. Install on C:! drive XP! Operating System.

  2. Then install avast! and check if everything is OK.

  3. Install a boot manager eg. Xosl, Grub … (first one has GUI Grin)

  4. Install Vista on other partition and there he shouldn’t install avast! (it may work but it is quite useless if he is using Vista only occasionally)


(At step 4 I’m reading that to mean the “Xosl” is likely to be easier to use.)
You might want to copy this thread to present it to the tech who will be doing this, for information on what’s wrong and what’s been tried. (Or you could try taking it on yourself…I’d see the original tech about it, personally.)

There was a mention of possible hardware problems with your computer, but nothing specific. Might be an idea to get the tech to give it the once-over, to exclude that possibility (or replace a defective thingy under warranty.)
Good Luck. Let me know how you go.

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thanks a bunch for all your help :-*, I will be heading to my other location sometime this week, which I will than contact my original tech, have him do a once over and see if he can pinpoint the problems before doing a complet reinstall. I have a good deal of stuff already on a thumb drive so it will be no problem to add the rest. I am not that knowledgable so I would only do simple repairs if guided too. Best left to the pro’s. This system is relatively new 6 months old at this point, My tech will be able to tell me if there is any hardware problems that would require service. The problem is that Dell did not sanction my adding XP Pro, thus why we split the HD to include both in the event of hardware problems I just need to boot to Vista for them to cover the warranty.

Funny thing thought, Yesterday when I downloaded the uninstall utility on the vista side, but did not use it, while waiting for more info before I did. the puter seems to have quited down, strange I know. as I did not uninstall or reinstall anything yet. But doesn’t seem to be any unknown’s running in the background now or over heating.

Again thanks so much for all your suggestions and going the extra mile on the problem, I’ll let you know what my tech says in a couple of weeks after he has a chance to look at it.
Sue