Frustrated

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I've been having troubles with getting Avast to work properly. The icon disappears from the taskbar, the shortcut on my desktop loses the little orange icon and becomes the generic blank window one. Attempts to open Avast to use the user interface don't work, and I get this "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." message every time.

I've tried the repair utility in the uninstall menu. I ran it twice yesterday.

I've tried uninstalling avast and reinstalling it (twice now. once yesterday and once today).

It seems to work alright until I shut the computer down, and then the program goes into hiding again. I can tell it's going to happen again because although the icon is in my taskbar and running right now, the icon in the shortcut on my desktop has changed to the empty window again.

I'm getting really frustrated about this. I called the support number today and all they told me was to uninstall and reinstall. Again. I have a paid up subscription through August 2016, but I'm frustrated enough that I'm considering abandoning it (jfc I paid money for this thing gdi) and finding something that won't give me grief every time I turn on my computer.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice on fixing this problem? I'm running a Dell Inspiron 5520 with Windows 7, and as far as I can tell, everything is up-to-date on it.

 

[Pondus]

Did you remove your previous used AV before installing avast?

Did you remove it using that vendors removal tool?

Removal tools    https://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/

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Yes. I uninstalled the old Avast and actually went in and downloaded the newest version from the website yesterday. 

I've been running Avast for 2 years (?) or something now? It's been giving me these issues for a while, but I've only recently become really frustrated by it.

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edited to add: OH. I see what you're saying. Lemme go try that.

[Pondus]

See instructions here   https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0
scroll down to Farbar Recovery Scan Tool ...... run as instructed and attach the two diagnostic logs here in this topic

[Eddy]

Did you use the uninstall tool ?
What exact version of avast do you now have installed ?
Did you remove/disabled MSE ?

PS:
The latest version is not available from the website (it is a beta)
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=166172.0

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Okay, I ran Avast clear to uninstall what was there, and now I've reinstalled Avast Internet Security again (using whatever is available when you go to the avast.com homepage).

It seemed fine until I activated my license. After I did that, the shortcut icon switched from the orange splat logo to the generic empty window again.

I have no idea what MSE is, so idk if I've removed or disabled it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I ran Malwarebytes yesterday too, before I tried repairing the program and uninstalled/reinstalled.

I'm going to go run the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool now.

Thanks for the help so far! I'll attach the logs when I'm finished (hopefully this isn't above my head )

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I rebooted my system to see if Avast would come on properly when it booted back up and for the moment it seems to be doing what it's supposed to.

Who knows if that will continue to be the case tomorrow when I turn the computer back on, but yeah.

I'm attaching those FRST files here now.

Again, thanks for the help! Hopefully uninstalling it with Avast Clear did the trick (although I still worry that it's going to disappear and be unreachable again like the desktop icon has become ) IDK. I'll keep you posted.

[essexboy]

Nothing untoward showing there

I see you have threatfire installed, has that been there all the time ?