OK, I think it's time for a separate thread. This one:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=49095.0seems to be getting determinedly ignored.
After a BSOD recently, that seemed to point the finger of blame at Avast, I set up Driver Verifier to verify all drivers on the PC (Win XP SP3). With Driver Verifier activated, the PC does not even complete the boot process before DV gives the following BSOD:
IO system verification error in aswtdi.sys (WDM driver error 224) [aswtdi.sys+d2e at a57d8d2e]
This is quite reproducible, and indeed I just reproduced it again, wondering whether the complete lack of response to the minidumps I sent two weeks ago indicated that the problem had been fixed (obviously not). Perhaps I'm being a little over-sensitive here, but it seems to me that an AV solution that is reproducibly doing something illegal at boot time, and only getting away with it by virtue of not being challenged properly, is not one to rely on, its many other excellent features notwithstanding. Admittedly, I'm only using the free edition at the moment, but I'm trying to help to improve the product, so it seems to me there is a certain quid pro quo. I'm not seeing anything at the moment that inclines me to spend money (unlike the guys at Malwarebytes, for example, who are invariably customer-responsive to a fault).
I'd be interested to know if anyone else can reproduce the problem. To find out, start:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\verifier.exe
then:
- create standard settings
- automatically select all drivers installed on this computer
and reboot. Warning: if you do find the same problem as me, you'll have to restart again and go into safe mode because otherwise you won't be able to boot any more (in safe mode, start verifier.exe again and delete current settings).
