Hi everyone,
I am new with Avast.
I downloaded Home 4.8 from the server and installed it.
After reboot I started the avast application and got:
C:\program files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashAvast.exe is not a valid Win 32 application
I am using a Laptop with Win XP Pro. SP2 with latest update.
Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance for your help
C:\program files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashAvast.exe is not a valid Win 32 application???
What happening?
Try uninstall avast with aswclear.exe(avast uninstaller) then reboot,reinstall avast and reboot again.
Try a forum search for C:\program files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashAvast.exe is not a valid Win 32 application or just not a valid Win 32 application. I’m sure this has been discussed and I can’t recall if this isn’t related to malware interfering with the avast installation.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=32826.0
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=33021.msg275891#msg275891
Now these relate to an earlier version of avast without the self-defence module, if this is a first installation (?), it could be that your system was infected already and the installation failed to install fully so no self-defence module running at the time.
However, by all accounts there is a new variant of beagle that can combat the self-defence of not only avast but many other AVs.
I was a victim of this one 
If an installation from scratch fails, maybe you should try on-line scanning with Kaspersky or ESET or BitDefender.
Or some of the anti-rootkit scans.
Also see, anti-rootkit, detection, removal & protection http://www.antirootkit.com/software/index.htm. Try these as they are some of the more efficient and user friendly anti-rootkit tools.