Windows cannot find files/programs

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi,

My son’s PC has suddenly developed a problem where Windows 10 refuses to find certain files. It comes up with an error saying…

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Users\blah, blah, blah’. Make sure you’ve typed the name correctly, then try again.

This happens even if I open Windows Explorer and click on the file itself! And even if I go to the MS Office directory and double click the Winword.exe file directly!

After much searching online, I found an answer at answers.microsoft.com that suggested the following….

Do you have AVAST installed?

Either way, go to the following path in your registry, look for the executable filename of the program you’re trying to open and look for a “Debugger” key. Check if the value says AVAST in it. If it does, just open the Debugger key, remove the value and save it again. Try to open your program again.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

….I tried this for winword.exe and there was a Debugger key with the following value: -

“C:\Program Files (x86)\AVAST Software\Avast Cleanup\autoreactivator.exe”

I removed this and – hey presto! – I could now open Word documents.

Then I tried to open an Excel document, and Windows couldn’t find it. Removed the registry key, as above, bingo, I can open it.

But I don’t relish having to do this for every program I use!!!

Do you have any idea why this has happened?

I am using Avast Premium Security
Program version: 20.3.2405 (build 20.3.5200.575)

And Avast Cleanup Premium
Program version: 20.1 (build 8977)

2

I also started having this problem today. I got the error with BlueStacks. Deleting the Debugger key allowed me to run 1 instance of BlueStacks, but the BlueStacks Multi-Instance Manager still has the error, and does not appear to have a similar registry key. I did find another tip online to rename the file for the MultiInstanceManager, and that seemed to fix it.

3

I also have this problem right now on both of the computers in my family. Will there be a fix to it soon? Or is there a good video tutorial on how to fix the issues, my computers aren’t in English, so following text-based tutorials is difficult.

4

I am having the same type of problem and it made 2 programs inoperative. After spending 3 hours, I was able to repair one program. I have spent most of the day trying to restore the program, but it doesn’t appear to be repairable and it looks like I will have to spend $500+ buying new software. I have canceled all my Avast subscriptions and am uninstalling the software. USERS SHOULD BEWARE!!

5

→ https://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=63.0

6

I am also having this problem. It’s a total disaster. What are Avast doing about it?

7

Follow the link in Reply #4, several (answered) topics in the dedicated forum section.

8

This issue has started with my computer today 10th June, 2020, also.
I am not technically inclined.
I have followed the instructions suggested below, but my computer does not have the same configurations as below. So, I feel stymied.

“Here is a tip from Microsoft forum what you could try to fix your issue: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie11-windows_7/iexploreexe-keeps-trying-to-open/70988be1-e1d7-46af-ac37-071c789d4c37?auth=1.
Also please try to open Registry Editor and look for the following registries on your machine: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options where you should find registry entries associated with all of you installed programs.
If you will find there a “sub-entry” under a particular program registry like the one on the attached screenshot, these are typically created by our product for apps which were put to sleep.
You can safely delete the “sub-entry” and then restart the PC and it shall revert the changes you have made in “Background & startup programs” feature.”

If the problem has arisen because of Avast, is there something that Avast can do to remedy this?
I don’t think I’m being unreasonable asking for something that I can understand as a computer user who has virtually no technical knowledge about programming software.

Having paid for a service which is supposed to assist the efficacity of my computer, but has effectively stopped my ability to use the programs I need for my work, I would appreciate something being written either in layman’s words or a technician contacting me to help me through the process.

Thank you.

9

Best you post/ask in the dedicated forum section.

10

I just had this on two computers yesterday and today. I spent 3 hours with Microsoft Team who managed to unblock some of my apps and files by purging the registry of Avast under a debugging key. This is TOO much for me to have to do by myself. I need Avast to fix this soon.

Does anyone know if Uninstall will work?

11

I had this exact problem start on my PC yesterday. Interestingly, there are threads being posted here and elsewhere online with this same issue and all posted this week.

I haven’t had trouble with Avast before this issue - so I’m wondering if there is some recent Avast update that caused this?

PS: I resolved the issue by removing the Avast Debugger entries in my registry. It went after my Office files (Word and Excel)

12

It has been fixed now: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=234797.0