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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: CoJo on November 01, 2003, 12:54:19 AM

Title: Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 01, 2003, 12:54:19 AM
Hello to all! I have been at this computer since 7am and I am a bit cranky. Long story short, Norton missed a virus and my dell from h*** needed some tech support.
I am, obviously, now using Avast! and I don't know if I have it set up correctly. I do not have an icon in my tray. Perhaps a good night's sleep will help, but right now I feel stooppppiiiddddd ;Dand :-[
If the icon isn't showing, does that mean avast is not protecting my computer?
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 01, 2003, 01:21:08 AM
Hi CoJo, welcome to the forum.

If the Icon isn't there you 'probably' do not have a good avast installation... this link should explain more http://www.avast.com/forum/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=1605;start=msg9858#msg9858

Also, be very careful that Norton or any other A-V has been completely de-installed before installing avast. Have a search for 'norton' in the forums, you will find the horror stories.

Hope this helps, hope avast serves you well and you stick with it.

Shout if any more ??'

Walker.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Lisandro on November 01, 2003, 02:53:04 AM
Also, be very careful that Norton or any other A-V has been completely de-installed before installing avast. Have a search for 'norton' in the forums, you will find the horror stories.
Walker.

Yeah!  ;D
Do you need help on Norton uninstalling?  ;)
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 01, 2003, 02:22:53 PM
good morning! ha! not so good here! I did the uninstall of Avast1, booted. reinstalled...still no icon and now I can't access my email on OE
sigh...
I'll take whatever help/direction is offerred...actually, I am begging at this point ;)
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 01, 2003, 02:30:57 PM
I'll take whatever help/direction is offerred...

CoJo,

OK... the guy's will help, but we need the info to be able too  :)

Have you removed all traces of previous A-V programs? Did you try anything in the link I mentioned?.

What are the exact symptoms... what is happening/not happening?? ??

Walker
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 01, 2003, 02:39:44 PM
CoJo,

Also, what is your OS and e-mail client??

Is the Icon still missing??

Did it look as though Avast auto configured your mail accounts on installation or did you do it 'manually'?
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 01, 2003, 04:30:36 PM
thanks for the responses!
I did what was suggested in the link...
I think NA is completely removed...or it's very well hidden.
I using WinXP and OE as my email
I configured manually for OE--but it also had listed Netscape listed although I had to uninstall it months ago when Mozilla would not work correctly..
still no blue icon!

Y'all know the Dummies books? well, they are too advanced for me:(....seriously, this has almost wiped out my one brain cell!
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 01, 2003, 04:47:59 PM
thanks for the responses!
I did what was suggested in the link...
I think NA is completely removed...or it's very well hidden.
I using WinXP and OE as my email
I configured manually for OE--but it also had listed Netscape listed although I had to uninstall it months ago when Mozilla would not work correctly..
still no blue icon!

Y'all know the Dummies books? well, they are too advanced for me:(....seriously, this has almost wiped out my one brain cell!
CoJo

Cojo,

I've never used it so I don't know the full problems, but from what you will find in these forums, you will see that it is quiet important to have ALL traces of Norton removed. Technical (one of the members) is good at this and hopefully he'll be back on the forums today.

Avast WILL work with your setup, we only need to establish what is going wrong. When you say you did the manual configuration, you set the 'dotted quads' (127.0.0.1 local host stuff) and the 'username changes in your Pop/smtp settings Yes/no?. Did you also manually change the Avast4.ini file ?.

When you say 'wiped out you e-mail' do you mean can't send/receive?. Can you successfully remove avast and reset your pop/smtp setting?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to find out where the problem is.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Fast on November 01, 2003, 04:53:18 PM
Hi CoJo

before performing any changes, have you disabled the auto-restore function of your operating system ?
For what I've been told this should be an important issue when using XP.
Just a suggestion/ thinking about your problem...

Good Luck.

Fast.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 01, 2003, 04:55:38 PM
HI!
sorry...my husband is dragging me off this computer right now! Just because we are going to Macon, GA to celebrate out 33rd wedding anniversary, he thinks I should stop in the middle of this important work.

When we get back this evening, I'll reread and redo anything suggested
I'll check on the following after I read what it means!
CoJo

.When you say you did the manual configuration, you set the 'dotted quads' (127.0.0.1 local host stuff) and the 'username changes in your Pop/smtp settings Yes/no?. Did you also manually change the Avast4.ini file ?.

Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 01, 2003, 04:58:19 PM
DO come back later CoJo.... we will get it working... promise.

Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: raman on November 01, 2003, 05:14:19 PM
BTW: Are you able to start the on-demand scanner ( at least in save mode)?
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 03:16:15 PM
good morning all!
again this morning, I could not access my email and had to call tech support at bellsouth.net. The tech reset my information --replaced the information that avast! had placed as far as the quads 120.0.0.1--and then it worked.
Right now I am printing up the manual for avast! and am going to reread it completely, uninstall, then reinstall...and I will disable system restore on XP before doing it.
I still have no blue icon...but I now show 2 IM icons, both of which are disabled through "Shoot the Messenger" from Gibson's site.
But I can scan just by opening avast!...last night it picked up a total of 3 virus, but not ones I had heard of...CTX and Matyas. The scan showed traces of Norton but it was scanning too fast for me to pick up the location.
so I guess I will need advice on ridding my system of it.
Sorry this is so long!
and thank you very much for all your help and, especially your patience with me as I try to clean up and protect my computer.
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: raman on November 02, 2003, 03:27:03 PM
The mentioned Viruses could be both 2 false alarm from Pandas pavdll.dll
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 03:43:21 PM
Should I remove them from my "chest" if they are false alarms or leave them there?
Also, does my plan of doing another install sound all right?
thank you!
CoJo ::)
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: raman on November 02, 2003, 03:58:31 PM
Yes it is save to delete the files(in your chest). If you want to reinstall Avast, you should choose custumized installation with not Emailprotection/plugin. You can easily do it afterwards if you want.
You can post here a Hijackthis log (http://www.mjc1.com/files/merijn/hijackthis.zip) of you want.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 02, 2003, 04:00:21 PM
Cojo,

When you have Avast installed, can you check what files are loaded...

****

Right mouse click on the 'time' in the 'Taskbar' and select 'Taskmanager' from the menu.
Click on the 'Processes' tab and check to see which of these programs ae running;-

    aswUpdSv.exe
    ashMaiSv.exe
    ashServ.exe
    ashDisp.exe

****

Any/all ??

Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 05:24:10 PM
Cojo,

When you have Avast installed, can you check what files are loaded...

****

Right mouse click on the 'time' in the 'Taskbar' and select 'Taskmanager' from the menu.
Click on the 'Processes' tab and check to see which of these programs ae running;-

    aswUpdSv.exe
    ashMaiSv.exe
    ashServ.exe
    ashDisp.exe

****

Any/all ??


ashServ.exe
aswUpdSv.exe
are the only ones showing as processing
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 02, 2003, 06:18:17 PM

CoJo,

Something definately amiss with your installation (stupid statement, you knew that  :) ). ashDisp is responsible for the Icon (to the best of my knowledge), that's why that's not showing.

I'm still concerned that it might have something to do with lingering Norton files. Trouble is I've never used Norton so never had to clean it out of a system... Let's give a shout for Technical (he never interupts when you want him too<joking Tech>) or one of the Avast team.

Any thoughts Vlk, Technical. ?? ?? ??
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Vlk on November 02, 2003, 06:35:18 PM
You can try to run ashDisp.exe manually: navigate to the avast directory (in Windows Explorer), and click on ashDisp - either an error message should appear, or a blue (a)-ball icon down there, next to the clock...

Anyway, I don't see how this all could be connected in any way to the former Norton installation.


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Walker on November 02, 2003, 06:45:39 PM
Anyway, I don't see how this all could be connected in any way to the former Norton installation.

Any other suggestions then Vlk, seemingly an Avsat re-install isn't working  :-\
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Fast on November 02, 2003, 07:57:38 PM
Hi CoJo, the 2 disabled IM-icons are definitily not the result of Steve's "shoot the messsenger". This program just disables the windows-messsaging system, not instant-messaging programs.
What worries me is that the 2 disabled icons in your tray could have been caused by the same problem that prevents the Avast-icon from showing up in your systray.
Have you got a reg-cleaner tool like jv16 on your pc ?
You might have a look with it to see if any obsolete entries are messing up your registry.

Regards,  Fast.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 08:09:31 PM
thanks everyone for the suggestions!
no, I don't have a reg cleaner (?) but it sounds like I need it :)
sigh...I did not realize just how little I knew about computers until all this happened...but I will use it as a way of becoming more learned about them (hopefully!)

ok, I'm going to go back to all the suggestions, redo, and start over...I have to...my email is not working at all now!

peace, CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 08:43:58 PM
IT WORKED!!! :)

I now show the icon for avast! and the VRDB generator and my email is working...
I don't know what happened but wow! 8)...I did the XP restore also and went through all documents, etc that had any reference to Norton...maybe all it together helped?

ok, another question, Please? with all this showing now, does it mean that my email is being scanned for viruses? incoming and outgoing?
or do I have to do something else?

thank you, thank you!
CoJo

You can try to run ashDisp.exe manually: navigate to the avast directory (in Windows Explorer), and click on ashDisp - either an error message should appear, or a blue (a)-ball icon down there, next to the clock...

Anyway, I don't see how this all could be connected in any way to the former Norton installation.


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Fast on November 02, 2003, 09:06:26 PM
Hi CoJo, when you send or receive an email, you should see a little icon in your systrai near the clock, for just a second or two, with a litlle blue dot in it.
If not, no problem.
You can set it up like this: go to start/programs/avast  and then click on mail-protection wizzard.
Follow the steps, its just a matter of a few clicks, filling in your pop and smtp server.
Depending on the email-client you use, you might have to set up your pop and smtp configuration again.
This should be easy, something like cojo@belsouth.com#pop3.belsouth.com in your username. For pop and smtp you set it to 127.0.0.1.
If you use Outlook you dont have to do this last one.
Sorry for my bad english, it is not my native language.
Good Luck.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 09:11:07 PM
Hi! Your English is great...

I'll follow your suggestions about the email. I really don't like Outlook Express but don't really know which one is better!

Thank you for your help.
Peace,
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Fast on November 02, 2003, 09:13:40 PM
Oops I forgot, directly after you set up the wizzard for email protection, FIRST check if it works already (depending on your email-prog). If so, you DON'T have to reconfigure your popsettings in your email-client.
Bye.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 09:18:48 PM
OK! thanks for letting me know

Peace,
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Fast on November 02, 2003, 09:19:01 PM
Well Cojo, there are a lot of email-clients and all of them have their pro's and cons.
To start with, Outlook-express is ok. At least it's easy to use and well integrated in Windows.
But it has it's security vulnerabilities.
Please go to options/safety and put the safety settings to the internet-explorer restricted zone high.
That helps.
I'm not sure if the terms I use for the settings  are correct because I use a Dutch version of windows.
When your a bit ferther in using email, you could try another program like Pegasus, iScribe, Eudora or Vivian-mail.
But for now it's ok and the best thing is: YOU got it working again !

Bye now.
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 02, 2003, 09:28:44 PM
all right...since it took so long to get it working, I'll just stay with it for awhile.

thanks again!
CoJo
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Lisandro on November 02, 2003, 11:20:12 PM
all right...since it took so long to get it working, I'll just stay with it for awhile.

thanks again!
CoJo

After your system is really working (I mean, you can send/receive e-mails, do a full scan of your system, etc.) I could guide you to remove Norton completely... If you want... Don't forget, once you intalled Norton in a XP system, it will bring you trouble when installing a second antivirus.

You can run eicar.com virus test (it´s not a virus, just a test). See links here (http://www.avast.com/forum/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=1509;start=0) in the post about eicar test...  ;)
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 03, 2003, 01:13:32 AM
Dear Mr. Technical!
I really appreciate your offer of help...
but, I "jumped for joy" too soon :-\   I logged off to go get dinner and when I logged back on, I had to manually
search for ashDisp.exe for the icons to come back...
I did a through scan, including archived files, and found one virus and a whole lot of things that could not be scanned...no error number, just that an error stopped it from being scanned.
sigh...I hate XP, but I hate Norton even more >:(  
this Dell from hell (pardon that bad word) has not run the same ever since I installed/unistalled Norton Antivirus and Norton Personal Firewall.
Can you offer any suggestions for me?
Thank you, CoJo  :-[
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: Lisandro on November 03, 2003, 02:04:40 AM
Dear Mr. Technical!
I really appreciate your offer of help...
Can you offer any suggestions for me?
Thank you, CoJo  :-[

I had a similar problem. avast Home Edition and pieces of the Norton SystemWorks 2003 (except NAV) were incompatible! The solution was manually editing two Registry keys (apparently corrupted by Norton Anti-Virus Removal Utility).

Here we are! First of all, take it easy, relax, it's a long journey...  8)
Do you have a XP system, ok?
Try to run avast! and clean your system before you go ahead...

1. Desinstall all Symantec Products (LiveRegistration and LiveUpdate included).
2. Boot.
3. Delete any folder related to their products: C:\Program files\Symantec, C:\Program files\Common files\Symantec Shared, C:\Program files\Norton SystemWorks
4. You will need a Registry Cleaner to remove the 'trash' left by Symantec.
There is a good one here (http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml). It´s no more a freeware but you can use it to clean your system untill it expires.
5. Run Norton Anti-Virus Removal Utility (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/949e46314f0916a0852565d00073bbfd/33497f6e8a319ece88256ace0076cc02/$FILE/Rnav2003.exe).
6. Boot
7. Install avast! again
8. You are almost there! Clean your system (through scan).

Tomorrow I'll teach you how to delete some 'invisible' trash left behind by Norton...  8)
Title: Re:Newbie Suggestions Please
Post by: CoJo on November 03, 2003, 02:07:43 AM
all right, sir ;D
I took a deep breath and will do these now and check in with you tomorrow...
thanks ever so much!
CoJo