Vista SP1 and Avast

General Topics
1

Hi,

I have a general question related to Vista and Avast.

I want to do the update to Vista SP1. However I am told to back up all data and to stop/disable the antivirus.

The problem is that one I am not certain if this is wise, and two if I stop the On-access Scanner by right clicking on the Avast Icon in the taskbar and then clicking Stop On-access Protection I get a warning from Vista that my Virus protection is shut down.

What I don’t get is that if I do this then when restarting my computer the On-access Scanner starts up again. So I don’t know what to do given that it is recommended to stop the antivirus protection and since the computer is supposed to reboot several times.

Did any Avast User with Vista Home Basic do the update to SP1? How did it go? Where there any problems related to Avast?

Thank you in advance.

2

First, don’t panic.

Second, installation of service packs is almost similar to installations of other MS Windows updates. A service pack is just an integrated group of updates.

Third, suggestions to back up your data and to disable your AV are common if you are to install an important software - any reliable software developer usually advise it. It’s up to you: to do or not to do.
If your computer has very important data (for example, a bestseller you want to publish tomorrow :)), you should back up it; or you can do and save the image of your hard disk. I had no problems with Avast - I didn’t disable it either. But usually it is not obligatory - I installed SP1 without any back-ups or disablings.

My advice is: just install SP1 (follow all the on-screen instructions about rebooting). SP1 didn’t damage my computer and didn’t influence my Avast.

3

I suggest:

  1. Try to install with avast enabled (worked smoothly for me).
  2. If fails, you can try again disabling the antivirus (generally not recommended).
4

I installed it with AVAST ON but you can simply put the resident shield OFF (remember to put it ON after rebooting) ::slight_smile:

5

Hello every one,

Thank you for the posts. Indeed I left Avast on and nothing (well during the install) bad happened. I don’t notice any obvious changes apart from a slightly faster transfer rate on my USB stick. Windows open a bit faster but nothing else. Thank you for the posts.

Cheers.