I posted once before earlier this year but the advice given to me hadn’t worked.
So I’m posting again now that some time has passed and hope that my problem
can be resolved.
Earlier this year I restored my pc after losing my sound drive, and since then I’ve
had a number of issues with my pc that’s only gotten worse and worse as time
has gone by. One of the main issues here concerns Avast! 5.0
For some reason I can neither completely uninstall Avast! or install it. The uninstall
tool apparently isn’t doing what it should, because any time I try to install Avast! 5.0
it begins the installation, gets near the end, then begins an “uninstall procedure” then
gives me some kind of error message. What portion of the error log do I need to post
here?
It should be noted that I’ve tried the uninstall tool both in normal boot mode and in
safe mode with the same effect every time. Thank you in advance for your help.
I discovered recently that you have to have the C++ 2008 Redistributable installed on your computer before you can successfully install or even uninstall Avast! correctly. See if you have that installed. It will be listed in your add/remove programs list if you do. If you don’t have it, download it from Microsoft and install it, then try to install Avast! 5 again. I had problems installing on the Vista machine here just the other day. Installing the C++ files fixed everything. The Avast! installer is supposed to give you the necessary files but apparently it doesn’t always do so.
I found that I didn’t have the C++ 2008 thing so I downloaded and installed it.
However, It’s still doing the same thing, only now it quits about mid-way instead of near the end
of the download. The error message reads “There was an error while completing the set up process.”
What portion of the error log do I need to show off here in order to figure out my problem?
Did you restart your machine after installing the MS Package?
Did you check your Add/Remove Programs, does the Package now appear there? If it does, can you copy and paste the error log, or if it is long add it as an attachment?
Have you checked your machine for malware with something like MBAM?
Check your computer for malware with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM).
· Download freehttp://www.malwarebytes.org/ for an on-demand scanner.
· Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
· After install, click update so you have latest database before scanning.
· Under Settings:
o General: Automatically Save File After Scan Completes is checked off
o Scanner Settings: Check all boxes
o Updater: Download and install update if available is checked off
· Once the program has loaded, select “Perform Quick Scan”, then click Scan.
· The scan may take some time to finish, so please be patient.
· When the disinfection scan is complete, a log will appear in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note).
· Click the “remove selected” button to quarantine anything found. You will find the infection details under the Quarantine tab.
· The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
· Copy & Paste the entire report (if you have anything positive) in your next reply.
If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts – Click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process; If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately.
I’ve run Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials, neither one of them bring anything
up. That’s one of the reasons I want Avast! back, so I can do a boot scan.
Sorry to say, it does not as evidenced by the fact that I had to install the C++ package before I could successfully install Avast! 5 on the Vista machine here. Even installing C++ after Avast! didn’t work because even though the GUI would now show without saying it couldn’t start due to a bad side by side configuration, the program would say that the virus defs needed to be updated but when you tried to update it would say you didn’t need it. The only solution was another uninstall and reinstall of Avast!. Then everything worked. I know the installer says it is installing the C++ files but it doesn’t actually work. At least not always.
well I’ve seen just the contrary of what you’re stating happen on my system. I’ve tested that before, removed C++ and Avast, reinstalled just avast, saw the Vcredist launched very briefly during Avast setup and C++ installed when that was done >>> was again in the list of my installed programs ;D
Well I said not always ;D. It didn’t do that here. I’m not sure if it did or not on this machine with XP since I don’t remember if C++ 2008 was installed before I made the switch to Avast! or if it wasn’t. As I said, it showed the Vcredist in the setup procedure but it did not actually install the files for some reason. If it happened to me, I’m sure it has for others as well.
(The C++ 2005 files were present but not the 2008 ones. Maybe the Avast! installer was unable to distinguish and thought the 2005 package was sufficient?)
Yes. Essentials, too. If a virus is in play here, then its gotta be one that hides on boot, otherwise I’d
have found it by now, I’m sure of that much. When I performed the restore, I went in through the boot
system (F10) during start up. At the time, I had no idea you could initiate the restore when windows
was operating (just shows my own lack of skill in restoration.). I’m also 100% sure it’s my own fault
that my pc is the way that it is now, x.X which is why I’m trying to fix it.
I can’t perform a boot-time scan because there is no working version of Avast! on my pc.
So, no, I haven’t.
There might be a virus in play here, I just don’t know. I went through my processes and
found there to be three possible problems, and if google’s right, [s]they’re worms.
spoolsv.exe
Lsass.exe
Again, Malwareytes didn’t catch them and neither did Microsoft Security Essentials. These
programs either conceal themselves on boot, making traditional scans useless, or the two
systems I’m using just suck. Any clue as to how I get rid of these, or if these have anything
to do with my problems with Avast!?[/s] Nevermind this part, turns out they are vital windows
processes.
You may want to follow the instructions posted in the Avast “Virus and Worms” forum http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0 (read the first post). You have already done the MBAM part, but try the OTL part if you think you are dealing with malware.
I thought it was a worm at first but I found out that the two operations are safe. They’re
windows software. See, there are worms out there by Lsass and spoolsvs.exe, but they
use I instead of L, which makes it hard to distinguish the two unless you look carefully.
Again, they aren’t viruses, that was my bad.