The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is ..

I downloaded Avast free antivirus, but upon trying to open it I get the following message: “The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.”
I re-installed Microsoft Visual, I uninstalled and reinstalled Avast, but to no avail. I read everything about this message and how to fix the problem I could find on Google, but the problem persists.
Pretty pretty please, can someone help me? Anyone?

Give online installer a try :):
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_online.exe

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My bad. Do you get that error when you try to open avast! interface?

What is your OS?
Any other security software?
If uninstalled how was it removed?

Can you rum a MBAM scan?

I get the error when I click on the shortcut icon avast! Free Antivirus on my desktop.
The error started occurring after I did System Restore.
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
Before, I also had Bitdefender and Norton, but after having done system restore, some programs do not seem do be working anymore & I didn’t renew the Norton license, so now all those programs are still installed and I can’t uninstall them.
I found the instructions how to uninstall avast in one of the previous topics in this forum and I just followed them (there was one link I followed).
What is a MBAM scan / how to do it?

Your old AV programs can be removed with the tools found here http://www.avast.com/en-gb/faq.php?article=AVKB11

Avast doesn’t like system restore and it’s self protection needs to be disabled beforehand, you can download the avast clean tool and a new copy of avast here http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=145192.0

Run the tool for all versions of avast that have been installed then reboot when finished and install the avast copy saved earlier.

Thank you very, very much for the help! After I uninstalled Bitdefender, everything started running smoothly :slight_smile:

Your welcome, glad it’s working now :slight_smile: