Unprecedented audio problems with recent Avast versions

Immediately after upgrading my Win10 64 system from Avast Free Antivirus 23.5 to 23.9 I started experimenting some regular intermittent noises and delays while producing any audio material with any application.
No other changes were made, except the Avast upgrade.

I thought (and hoped) that maybe the 23.9 version had something wrong in interacting with the audio driver, so I decided to wait for the next release.
Sadly today, after upgrading to 23.10, the audio problem is still there.

I know I can do a total uninstall and then install the 23.5 (I have the offline installer), but I’d prefer to avoid that for two main reasons: I don’t like the idea of going through the whole operation (loosing, moreover, all my Avast settings) and I obviously would prefer to keep my antivirus program updated.

This is, for me, the first time (in many years) that the Avast update has brought problems.
Can anyone supply some hint (or share some experience) about the possible technical reason behind such a behaviour?

Avast Settings > General > Trouble shooting > Backup Settings - save to a location you can find them, install previous version now use the Restore Settings function, import the settings you saved.

Thanks for your answer.
I agree with you in thinking that installing the previous version should solve the problem (there’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen), but then how could I trust to install any other future updates?
I might indefinitely stick with version 23.5, but that isn’t the best idea in terms of security, is it?

I’d rather understand why these latest versions are producing the audio problem, and I hope(d) someone here in the forum may provide some help.
Maybe it’s just some setting to be changed…

PS.
If I decide to install 23.5 as you suggested (the audio playback is hardly bearable), can I just launch the offline installer or shall I uninstall 23.10 before?

To be fair (and balanced), it’s just your hypothesis that the Avast upgrade is what caused your audio issues. It’s definitely correlated with the upgrade, but it could be a (giant) coincidence. Now, if you go back to version 23.5 and your audio problems are fixed, then you can probably presume it’s due to the Avast upgrade. After you uninstall and before you reinstall, check to see if your audio issues are fixed as well. Then check again after re-installing the older version of Avast.

One thing I will say is that there have been the odd Avast update that for me would mess with my display drivers; not allowing me to adjust the brightness on my internal laptop display and not recognizing my external display. This even happened when I uninstall Avast the ‘regular’ way through the Control Panel, which is why I always and only use the Avast clear tool if I ever need to uninstall. There was also one time a little over three years ago where after an update and subsequent restart, it turned my profile into the Windows default profile. What i’m trying to say is that sometimes Avast may do some weird things on updates. What fixed all of those? In some cases a restart. In other cases a restart wouldn’t do it, nor would a proper shut down and power-on, but an improper, forced shut down by holding the power button down. One time it was downloading and installing Optional windows updates for my HP device.

I’m sure you tried many of these already (like restarting your computer), but run through all of those first before going through uninstalling and reinstalling the older version.

As far as using an older version going forward, it’s slightly risky but not that risky. Avast will continue to service and provide definitions updates for older versions for some time before they completely drop that version, similar to how Windows hasn’t stopped providing updates for Windows 10 yet. If you’ve seen some of the threads here, you’ll see the recent announcement that they no longer are supporting versions 9, 10, 11. We’re on version 23, so you probably have some time before Avast 23.5 is completely out of service. One thing you can do is look at the new threads each month that announce the new version, look at what’s being updated, and if it’s something you think you want, then you can try the new version there, see if it fixes your audio issues, etc.

Hello,

for those who are affected by this issue: Can you please provide support package. It can be generated/sent by pressing “Send logs” button in troubleshooting settings.

Thank you

It some point you have to dip your toes back in the water, for me that is set program updates to manual and active monitoring in the forums around the end of the month. See what fixes/changes/improvements are included, are you impacted by any issues and are any update to functions something you need.

Correct, it isn’t advisable to stick indefinitely with an old/er version.

I would say it isn’t a good idea to try installing old over new in any program, you could end up with an even worse issues/s.
So for sure backup the settings as advised, uninstall and reboot the system.

You may also consider pulling the plug on internet connectivity to ensure the installation of the old off-line installation file doesn’t try to connect and update.

Once installed you might want to set Program Updates to Manual or Remind if an update is available. It still checks but doesn’t auto update in either case.
Now you can Restore your old settings.

Given Spec8472 Avast Team’s reply you might consider that first to get it documented and hopefully fixed.

I did enable the “Send Log” option but nothing seems to have happened.
Is that enough or should I do something else?
Has the log already been sent?

Edit: I don’t know whether this can be useful information, but I noticed that the audio noises and delays only occur with programs that use the system’s default audio driver, while the programs which use ASIO drivers, such as DAWs, seem to work correctly.

That’s exactly what I have been doing for several years now: program updates set to manual, forum checking every three or four months to see if the new versions provide anything interesting (for me), quick scrolling through the “New Avast version” threads to see if any remarkable issues have been reported and so on.

I’ve well learned, by now, that when a PC works reasonably well it would be wise to… leave it alone, without updates or changes of any kind, but it is also true that using too “old” software can be dangerous, especially when we talk about security, operating system, firewall or antivirus.

That’s why a couple of times a year I usually take the risk and update Avast. And, maybe just thanks to luck, this is the first time I’m having problems. And, having a… technical mentality (with all the related [dis]advantages), it bothers me not to understand what the cause of the problem is. Because obviously there must be a cause; and maybe it’s even a quite simple one, which could be easily solved with a few clicks with no need of uninstalls, re-installs and so on (and this is always a… nagging doubt).

However, if (as it seems) this annoying audio problem only happened to me, I must assume that it is something that only affects my particular system. Maybe it’s one of those strange coincidences that sometimes arise when dealing with computers.

I generally don’t leave it that long, that is partly due to helping out in the forums, which is hard if you aren’t a little closer to the bleeding edge :slight_smile:

I’m still running Win10, it suits my old Acer Aspire laptop and me. It took a long time for me to leave XP Pro (on a Desktop PC) for Win10, that was generally down the system purchase coming with win10. It may be the same system upgrade to shift to win11. For a short time I ran an Acer 10" Netbook One, running win7, I didn’t particularly like that experience

Antivirus programs are really a different beast since they are entwined with the inner workings of the system to afford you protection and drivers (often old ones) can be an area of conflict. Not to mention hard to pin down.

Update:
I totally removed Avast (avastclear.exe) and rebooted, twice; and then… the random noises were still there (they just appeared a little late, after a whole couple of minutes of playback, as if they perversely wanted to create some kind of illusion).
So I reinstalled 23.10.

Then I checked the audio driver (which was up to date). Then I also spent an hour and a half in updating the motherboard’s drivers and even its BIOS (which was actually 16 months old) because maybe…
No way, the noises are still there.

So now the only “blame” I can place on Avast is that during the update from 23.5 to 23.9 it did something (who knows what!) that somehow, somewhere in the system, triggered an audio malfunction that I now absolutely don’t know how to fix.

Which once again confirms what experience teaches: software updates, however potentially useful or even necessary, are always risky.
And it’s always extremely unpleasant to find yourself with some mysterious and annoying problem that wasn’t there before and which only appeared because you decided to make an update that in fact wasn’t absolutely essential.

Thanks everybody, anyway, for your time and help.