I had a feeling this wasn’t an avast issue. For some reason, I don’t think McAfee or Norton are being fully removed from the computers before avast gets installed. Regardless of what the posters are saying.
For those still having the problems, try running the removal tools once again. It may not have worked through everything the first time. We’ve said it time and time again around here, some A/V’s are harder to get rid of than viruses…
This poster isn’t saying it’s an Avast problem. 
Just happen to have Avast, am a visitor to these forums and saw the problem mentioned. (Norton IS completely removed from my system for the record.) Actually, what I’m seeing in common as I research is Dell computers rather than anything to do with any of the AV programs. The workaround I shared earlier isn’t a cure but it’s prevented the crash from occurring. Would love to know what’s causing the problem! Let me add that I’m very happy with Avast after having Norton crammed down my throat since buying my first computer. Would never go back. Oh, and I’m happy with my Dells, too, even with their CP glitch
Okay, i’m having the same issue as the OP. I just recently received a Dell Inspiron 1545 as a Christmas gift and am running into this same error. After initial boot-up I can’t access Control Panel as it causes explorer.exe to freeze and required me to restart it. When restarted, everything seems to run normal but it’s quite an inconvenience. After reading some of the previous posts and deciding that the problem is most likely with Avast and not with my laptop, I proceeded to clear off Avast using the removal tool. When Avast has been removed in Safe Mode, everything runs normal even on initial boot-up and I don’t have the problem with Control Panel causing the laptop to freeze up. I do not have this problem on my desktop or several other laptops and desktops which I have installed Avast on. I have a 64-bit operating system with Windows 7. It seems to be occuring only with Windows 7 64-bit. If anyone has any other suggestions other than using different antivirus it would be appreciated as I have greatly enjoyed my experience using Avast.
Thanks
Dell systems come pre-installed with a lot of un-necessary applications that’s why PC Decrapifier exists:
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home
Hi all,
I am having the same problem mentioned above.
I am using windows 7 home premium edition, on a blank PC (where no AV was ever previously installed).
On my previous desktop (WinXP OS) i was using AVAST4.8x and it is a very good AV.
since i installed avast on the new desktop, at the second time i restarts my PC win7 explorer freezes!
if i uninstall AVAST, the problem disappears.
As far as i understands (reading previous threads) a new version of AVAST is going to be released at January.
I hope you will fix this problem.
If there is a solution to this problem or any idea i will appreciate if you will share it with me.
best regards,
G
Hi all,
Since this thread is a little dormant I am not too sure whether users are still experiencing this, however I have just found an avast! support article which seems to possibly explain the reason for the freezes:
So the instruction is to ensure that everything is up to date and to update drivers from Dell themselves.
The support page (for the UK - you can change the location at the top) would be here: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs
From there you can locate the relevant drivers outlined in the support article…
Hope this helps,
-Scott-
I am also having a problem with Windows 7 and AVAST. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and AVAST 4.8.1368. AVAST seems to be running fine during normal operation of my computer. The problem is during the initial boot up of the day. When Windows 7 boots up, AVAST also starts and then check for Virus Definitions update. As soon as the little blue window comes up in the lower right portion of the screen, that is when my computer freezes up. Nothing I can do except to push the button to shut the computer down and then restart the computer. This is annoying of course. Are there any suggestions for a fix for this problem? What I did as a temporary fix was to change the settings from Automatic updates to Manual updates. Hopefully this won’t allow AVAST to update at boot up. I will then manually update AVAST when everything else is up and running. Thank you for your time and help in this matter. I really love this AntiVirus program and wouldn’t want to run anything else.
Set the connection to not always connected to the internet and that may cure it
Avast 5 will soon be released, i am running Avast 5.0.332 beta3 on Win7/32 and it is working perfect
I’m another Dell user with Win 7 64bit and Avast 4.8, I have the same problem, here’s a copy of the posts to http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7files/thread/08118bac-3ef1-4208-8192-d8252d7cc660
When I first start Control Panel, the Control Panel windows says “not responding”, I then get the Windows dialog asking to restart the app etc. After the Explorer restart I can access the Control Panel functions without a problem (thankfully). This problem is 100% repeatable after logging in.
The Windows Event Log details are as follows:
The program Explorer.EXE version 6.1.7600.16404 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.
Process ID: ae0
Start Time: 01ca99bb77a8fa90
Termination Time: 0
Application Path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Report Id: 619fe1b6-05dc-11df-b48f-0024e8f2bcb4
The problem only happens after a restart, not if I restart Explorer then logout and login. I used the Win 7 Clean Boot procedure (msconfig utility) to track it down to the Startup item Avast ALWIL. ie. disable the startup of this item and the problem goes away. This suggests its a problem with Avast 4.8
Regards
Paul C
Thanks Paul!! This one’s been bugging me for a couple of months. Your research and sharing is much appreciated! Hopefully, version 5 includes a fix for this problem. I haven’t upgraded yet but plan to eventually.
I had the same problem with a Dell laptop, Win 7 64bit and Avast 4.8 that I set up for a friends daughter last week.
I didn’t have time to troubleshoot it (impatient 10 year old) ;D I will try to get hold of it sometime in the not to distant future and install Avast 5, hopefully that will fix things.
Same problem. After restart win7 (64 bit) & I try to open control panel then explorer freezing (after close &restart works fine). Randomly freeze IE8. All this on new clean OS after install avast (4.8 or 5.0). My computer is a DELL XPS 13 (p9600,4GB ram win 7 HP 64). My lap was in service and is all new. It is a problem with this formula avast - dell - win 7. On my desktop avast works fine with no complains ;D (win 7 - RC 64 or XP Pro 64 bit E7300,4GB ). If is a solution for this issue let me know (patch, registry fix, anything). I use avast on my desktop from some time and i didn’t find any problem and i recommended him but with my lap problem… ???
Yes, I’ve got the same problem with AVAST 5 and the MS-Explorer (using a dell inspiron 1764 laptop with windows 7 home premium 64bit).
When using Avira AntiVir Personal it’s ok.
I’ve also had issues with Windows Explorer “not responding” while using Avast Free 4.8 & 5.0. This would occur almost every time I booted. After restarting explorer everything would be OK. When I upgraded to 5.0 Free I ran it with default settings. The “not responding” issue continued to occur. Then I turned automatic updates off. That was over a week ago and I have not had any problems since. I’m running W7 Pro-64 on a Lenovo T500 Thinkpad.
Bob Helms
I just had this exact problem with a Dell Inspiron 1440, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and Avast! 6. I confirmed Avast! was the culprit by using msconfig and disabling all startup items and non microsoft services then enabling them one by one and restarting. It wouldn’t start freezing up until I opened the Control Panel though.
I’ve done all the updates and this problem persists. I’m going to try disabling Automatic Updates and see if that works. Either way there needs to be a fix this.
Nothing is working. Anyone have any advice on this?
Found the fix. This is a Microsoft issue. See the following KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972685