I upgraded from 4.7 to 4.8.1185 about 8 hours ago and no problems appeared at first. I’ve now had 2 short freezes that last a minute or so. They appear to come when I close IE 6.0 and FireFox 1.8.1.14 which updated this afternoon also. When the freeze occurs the window is frozen with tool bars missing and desktop icons are also missing. When the freeze is done everything appears normal. I don’t see anything in the windows event viewer. Are there any files in Avast that may be helpful? I tried looking but didn’t see much. I disabled self protection after first freeez but did not reboot.
Joe
Reboot you system and see weather the problem still occur.
Are you sure of this version? It’s very old…
Which are your other protection software? Firewall?
Did you have any other antivirus in this computer in the past?
I was having similar issues and I thought it was Avast. Turns out that Adobe Reader was updated from version 7 to 8 and the Adobeupdate.exe was trying to update repeatedly while not connecting resulting in computer/software freezeups. My icons on the desktop were coming and going. I removed Adobe Reader 8, reinstalled version 7 and all is well now.
Tech
I use Spybot Search and Destroy 1.4 real time, Comodo 2.4 and a host file. I have Spy Sweeper 4.5.9.709 but just run for sweeps because it is a resource hog! I may have had AVG installed at one time but am not sure. I remembered since my initial post that prior to the 2 freezes I watched a DVD with Power DVD 4.0. I had Sandboxie installed at one time but uninstalled it last week. I have noticed on this and other computers the past few weeks that some video clips appear to freeze IE 6.0 and if you try and close it you get a box program not responding. I suspect some new flash type file may be causing this.
Joe
wsx123
Thanks for the the info on Adobe Reader. I do have 8.0 now. In the past Adobe Reader did cause me a lot of problems. I’ll try and changing when I get a chance and see if I can find 7.0. I hate that some programs have automatic update that you control!
Joe
I had problems with version 8. I’ve uninstalled, boot, installed again and it worked well.
Joe, can you try if the latest beta version solves this?
Download the updater (http://files.avast.com/files/beta/aswbeta.exe) and run it or go here for more information.
I would rethink that update rollback if I were you…just something I think you might want to keep in mind…the required update from 7 to 8 was a security update…not sure if I would want to take the chance in using an older version. Just thought you might want to know 
Liz
You might give Foxit reader a try, I gave up on Adobe Reader because it’s such a hog.
I tried te reinstall version 8 and had the same problems. Is foxit free? Can you download and save pdf files with it?
Yes they have a free version, Yes you can download and save pdf files.
I’ve been using it for over a year and don’t miss Adobe at all.
thanks, I will give it a try.
Here’s an overview that tells all about it
It’s installed and Adobe Reader is gone. This works great, opens up all my existing pdf files and ones on the web-Thanks!
Your welcome, Glad I could help.
I rolled Acrobat reader back to version 7.0 and things seem to be working fine now. I"ll have to checkout the Foxit readerwhen I have more time.
Joe
Going back to Acrobat reader version 7 rolls back to a version with vulnerabilities, the whole point of the update to the latest version.
There must surely be program settings that allow you to disable the auto updates and stop it running on boot. Possibly an entry for Adobeupdate.exe in the msconfig, startup tab that can be disabled.
However, another vote for abandoning acrobat and use foxitPDF reader.
I tried to install Adobe reader 8 twice, both outcomes the same-the updater tries to connect over and over freezing up the pc. I tried the free foxit and it works great, no problems at all-
I prefer Foxit but if you use Acrobat Reader 8 here is how to disable the automatic updates:
click - help>check for updates>preferences>then uncheck “Automatically check for Adobe updates”
Also, besides Foxit you could try PDF-Xchange viewer it’s good too.