Vista stopped AvastSvc from running

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I’ve been running Vista and Avast Internet Security for about a year now.

Yesterday whilst re-booting after some Windows auto updates, I got a message saying Windows had prevented AvastSvc.exe from running as it was acting “suspiciously”. (There is a record in the Problems and Solutions history confirming it has been stopped.)

Now, Task manager does not show AvastSvc.exe as running, but Avast tells insists I am “Fully secured”.

So is Vista finding a false positive or is my copy of AvastSvc.exe corrupt? And how do I get it to run again assuming it is required (which from what I read it is)?

Thanks

2

Have you tried rebooting a couple more times, also try a repair of avast through programs and features/ remove programs.

3

Thanks Craigb.

AvastSvc isn’t running after a re-boot, a repair of Avast or even a clean install of the entire suite.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the single error message from windows informing me it had stopped it, I wouldn’t even be aware of the programme and that it should be running. I presume it should shouldn’t it??

4

When you say a clean install of avast did you use the uninstall tool to cleanup the leftovers’s http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear.exe after deleting avast normally reboot into safe mode and run the tool then reboot back into normal mode.
Did all of the windows update complete successfully ?

5

It has been having similar issues with Windows 2000 SP4, seeing that smss.exe and MMC won’t allow the service to continue or start up, I am not sure if the latest VPS update will fix this…

6

Well, not sure what to do now.

I’ve re-installed Avast IS as per Craig’s instructions and rolled back System Restore to a point well before the updates were loaded and AvastSvc will not run.

All the descriptions of AvastSvc seem to be rather vague so I am not sure how much protection I have. Avast seems to be working fine.

The error report is:-

[b]Product
avast! Service

Problem
Stopped working

Date
16/08/2011 17:24

Status
Report Sent

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: AvastSvc.exe
Application Version: 6.0.1203.0
Application Timestamp: 4e11a5c1
Fault Module Name: arPot.dll_unloaded
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4e2434a5
Exception Offset: 747c4281
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 2b5e
Additional Information 2: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
Additional Information 3: 6d63
Additional Information 4: 9179f058050da8732769ee1413b27bf3[/b]

======================

7

If you did the system restore roll back after the clean reinstall it could well have undone all your good work ?

System restore can have unforeseen consequences and we have seen many instances of it having an impact on avast.

Where are you actually looking in the Task Manager for avastSvc.exe as it would be shown in the Services tab not the Processes tab ?

The “Fault Module Name: arPot.dll_unloaded” reported is if I remember correctly the arPot.dll (avast anti-rootkit protection) so why it has the _unloaded tacked on to the end I don’t know if that is a windows thing to unload it or not.

So I believe it is more related to this arPot.dll library than the actual avastSvc.exe. This my account for why avast (and avastSvc.exe) appears to be running.

Unfortunately I know diddly about Vista, having avoided it like the plague, so I don’t know how you can tell Vista that the arPot.dll is fine and not suspicious.

8

I actually removed Avast after the Restore.

In Task Manager, only AvastUI is running as a process and avast! Antivirus and avast! Firewall are shown under services.

I can’t find arPot.dll. Where is it?

Oh, and one thing I have noticed, Avast no longer rates Google search results in Firefox.

Cheers all.

9

The avast antivirus is the avastSvc in the Services tab. See image.

The arPot.dll is in the sub-folders of the C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\defs folder. It is part of the definitions & engines updates.

You haven’t noticed the topics relating to the webrep and firefox6 not working then. It will require an update for that to work.

10

By any chance, is there any unpXXXXX file in the C:\Users\All Users\AVAST Software\Avast\log folder, with a timestamp corresponding to that event?

11

No, because it was deleted when I ran Aswclear.exe. All the folders have today’s date. Shame, that might have been useful.

I am running FF6 beta by the way.

12

Well FF6 isn’t in beta now it was released normally as of the 16/17th of this month. So if you do have a beta version you should update, but I don’t see that as being factor in this issue.

13

Sorry, I meant FF7.

14

OK, still don’t think that should be a factor.

Are you still getting these errors ?
If so keep checking for any of the unpXXXXX files in the C:\Users\All Users\AVAST Software\Avast\log folder.

15

No. I only ever got the one error message.

As far as I am aware, avast! Antivirus has been running throughout my “problem”. Stupidly, I overlooked avast! Antivirus and AvastSvc.exe being the same thing, :-[ but then I was looking for something that was not running rather than something that was!

Anyway, Iv’e done all the updates and tested the system with an EICAR. So far, everything is fine but obviously, I shall keep open a watchful eye.

Thanks everyone for your help and interest.

16

You’re welcome.