Windows 8.1 USB Mass Storage Device problem with Avast Free 17.3.2291

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

After updating Windows 8.1 with Avast 17.2.2288 to 17.3.2291, USB mass storage devices could not be recognised.
“Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)
The driver could not be loaded because a previous version of the driver is still in memory.”

Performing a system restore resolved the problem.

I carried out the update with the offline installer “http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe”

I also noticed that Avast did not set a restore point when the update was being installed.

2

I have just replaced Avast Free 10.4.2233 on a pre-SSE2 processor powered Windows XP system. I had noticed that the taskbar icon for USB devices was reluctant to disappear after releasing a USB device in the proper way. This behaviour ceased after I installed Panda Antivirus so I wonder if Avast AV software is generally predisposed to cause occasional problems with USB mass storage devices.