Weird problem after update to 5.1.889

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Normally, when I run into a PC problem, I’m quite capable (or lucky) to solve them.
With the latest Avast Free update, I’m getting stuck because it seems to be a bit weird.

I’m running Avast Free on AMD 64 with XP and SP3 fully updated.
Right after installing the upgrade 10 days ago this is what happens.
The first startup of the day, after exactly 4 minutes, the screen freezes, no mouse response,
no keyboard response and no disc activity.
The only ‘cure’ is a hard reset (power switch off and on again), after that the PC runs fine.
When turning on the PC the next day, same thing. First start up, PC freezes
after 4 minutes, hard reset, PC runs fine. The freeze happens regardless whether
a program (i.e. browser, mediaplayer) is running or not.
I looked through the system and Avast logs, nothing there at the time of freezing.
There are entries from MS Defender that avastTestService was detected making changes to the system.
So I disabled Defender, no change.
I also did a repair on Avast, no change
Also ran a full system scan using Avast, both safe mode scan and start up scan, nothing found
(freeze doesn’t happen when Avast runs a start up scan only after log in to XP)
Next was Superantispyware, with the same result, nothing.
Then I ran Autoruns (MS), which showed some invalid registry keys and some missing files and repaired those.
Removed all start up programs, only keeping the ones necessary for the system, no change.
Planner is checked for possible hidden task, starting after start up, nothing there.
The only program active (as seen in taskmanager) at the time of freeze is Avastsvc.exe, taking about 3-4 % CPU load.

The only positive at this moment is that my PC is faster than ever before, but
I’m at a loss, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

What is MS Defender ???
How much RAM does the system have ???

3

Sorry, I meant Windows Defender and it’s 3 GB of memory

4

I do not run Windows Defender on XP as it is un-necessary.

5

That may be, but it most likely not the cause of my problem either,
since Defender is disabled and the problem persists.

6

Even with it disabled its drivers have to load.

7

What version of Autoruns are you using ???

8

It’s Autoruns v10.06

9

Make sure there is nothing in Applnit

10

AppInit is empty for system, user and administrator

Some additional info:
AMD Athlon64 3500+ 2.21GHz 3GB, 2 x 160 GB HDD
XP home + SP3, IE8 + Avant Browser, SAS, Avast v5.1 Free

11

Do you have the BITS, Background Intelligent Transfer Service running and set to auto?
Do you have Comodo Firewall 5.3 installed?

12

The BITS function is required for windows update, no BITS running no updates.

13

So, yes on BITS :slight_smile: and no on Comodo, only the standard windows firewall

14

Have you un-installed Windows Defender ???

@ wtfwtfwtf

As you do not know what you are talking about please do not offer advice! ::slight_smile:

15

Every other time iv seen this lately uninstalling the behavior shield has helped, control panel/add remove program’s, double click avast and scroll to change and untick the BhS, click ok and reboot.

16

I saw that possible solution in another topic, uninstalled BhS, first start up today and PC still freezes :cry:
Going to uninstall Windows Defender, but have to wait till tomorrow to see whether that’s effective or not. I’ll be back

17

Turned out I didn’t have to wait. It’s update tuesday and, after installing
a bunch of Windows updates and removing Windows Defender, I restarted the PC and
the system froze exactly 4 minutes after login…aaaarrrgh.
Restarted again, runs as usual. Any idea would be very welcome.

18

Please read and follow these directions:
How to invoke memory dump creation?
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71

19

oke, will do

20

YoKenny, as the person is asking a question to anyone on a support forum, I will answer as I see fit.
Please stop telling people what to say.