Apparently the latest updates of Avast Free Antivirus cause a problem for Windows in which the UI does not load. Some postings indicate that fixes have been made, at least for Win10. However, on XP (SP3), version 18.4.3895.0 still has the problem. I have uninstalled, reinstalled, rebooted, and repaired. I have made all the suggested tweaks to “Services” (background intelligent transfer service; terminal services; remote desktop service), but the problem remains. Perhaps there needs to be an additional update that will fix XP.
I have been happily using Avast Anti-Virus for many years without a problem - this is clearly an issue with the current versions for Windows.
Does anyone has any further suggestions? Can someone from Avast address the problem?
Officially there is none, since the last offline installer that fully supports XP is that for the 17.3.3443 version and they only provide one for the current one.
I found a copy uploaded by another user in here, just look for it in the forum.
Just have a look on the first link posted by edur higher where you can find the link published by avast for “Premier” and “AIS”, if you want the free version it will just replace “avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe” … the old version 18.3 is for once officially published by avast
Side note: Offline installation is officially no longer supported on Vista and XP (since V17.3) because new CEF (only one bundled in offline installer because of size) is not supported there and the online installer will download the correct CEF version.
works fine, except that installation does use a web connection, and then automatically updates to the latest and problematic 18.4
This is the issue mentioned in the sidenote from Asyn note.
Here is a “hack” to get around it and end up with a functional version of 18.3:
One must start the installer without a web connection, wait until it stalls, then activate a web connection, wait until its CPU usage drops, then disconnect the web connection and let the installer complete. That results in a functional 18.3 installation, which does not have the UI problem. Then go into settings and adjust so that updates are not automatically installed, then activate the web connection again. Then manually update to the latest virus definitions.
Then, I suppose, monitor the forum to see if and when the problems with 18.4 get fixed…
As I said, I hope the Avast will pay some attention to this problem introduced in 18.4.
