Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: dkeat on September 26, 2008, 09:01:42 PM
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Greetings
When I right-mouse-click on the blue ball in the Vista tray on "Start avast! Antivirus" the menu point does what it is supposed to do and then just hangs around there "floating in space" (see attached screen shot). This is annoying as it won't go away and I haven't figured out how to kill it without rebooting. It happens every time I start the application. I don't have this problem with any other application and prior to this have never had it at all, so I assume it has something to do with avast! or the installation. Would appreciate any tips. Apart from this avast! rocks. :D
Thanks.
Dave
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Hi...
Do you mean that after you use the menu it leaves behind that whiteish box?
Best Regards...
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Yes, exactly. The whitish box that says "Start avast! Antivirus". It won't go away when I close the menu. It is there in the middle of the page as I write this reply to you.
Dave
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How much RAM do you have?
Seems that the video driver is not rendering and releasing correctly the video memory...
Does this happen after booting?
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Thanks for your reply.
I have 2GB of RAM. I have been using Vista Home Premium for 2 years on this machine and never had this problem before with another application. I installed avast! today.
Dave
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Thanks for your reply.
I have 2GB of RAM. I have been using Vista Home Premium for 2 years on this machine and never had this problem before with another application. I installed avast! today.
Dave
Which other security programs are running in background?
Which was your older antivirus? How did you uninstall it?
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The only other security related program I have running is my Comodo Firewall with its Defense+ disabled. Previously I had PC-Tools Antivirus and I used Revo Uninstaller to remove it. Revo Uninstalled does a registry scan after running the manufacturers uninstall program and removes any garbage left in the registry. It should be all gone.
Dave
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The only other security related program I have running is my Comodo Firewall with its Defense+ disabled. Previously I had PC-Tools Antivirus and I used Revo Uninstaller to remove it. Revo Uninstalled does a registry scan after running the manufacturers uninstall program and removes any garbage left in the registry. It should be all gone.
Difficult to say then... Revo is not good uninstalling products that requires boot to be uninstalled.
Igor says the last word here:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=22698.msg188440#msg188440
See here, please:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=37609.msg315764#msg315764
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You know it is only THAT menu item. All the other items on the SAME menu work fine. Only that one hangs. I am thinking that the install might not have been 100%. Is it possible to reinstall over an existing installation or would I have to remove the program and start from scratch?
Dave
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I read the thread you posted the link to. That is EXACTLY the issue that I WAS experiencing. I turned off the "transluscent effect", rebooted and voila! I tried the menu three times and there were no leftovers. If it stays that way all will be well in virusland. Thank you very much for your help!
Dave
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Glad you've succeed... I've learning to troubleshoot a little more ;)
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I really hate to have to say this, but it has started up again. I have tried turning off the firewall, turning off Windows Defender, it makes no difference. I have even tried using lower screen resolutions and color schemes.
The interesting thing here is that the problem only occurs with one particular menu (the right-click menu for the blue tray ball) and on that menu there is only that one point that leaves "leftovers". If it were the graphic card you would think there would be other problems as well. There may very well be an interaction with the graphic card, but to say that the graphic card is causing this would be going too far.
I have been using this PC for two years and this is the first such experience of this nature that I have had.
Here is the picture again so you don't have to scroll to the top of the page.
I really like avast! I would really like to find out what is causing the problem.
Dave
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I've learning to troubleshoot a little more ;)
I really hate to have to say this, but it has started up again.
I must confess I was not self confident on that solution...
What happens if you change the skin (from spiderman to any other)?
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Hi again. Well, I was a user of avast! for about a year when Vista first came out. I never had this problem and used that skin. The only reason I stopped using avast! was because I kept getting false positives from .jpg files. It was a constant "alarm" situation and I was unable to handle it through the channels available. Because I like the product I came back a year later and was pleased to find no more of the same false positives. Instead there is this. After I sent the last message it became worse. Other menu items began acting up and after closing the skin a piece of it reappeared again on the screen. Since then I rebooted and implemented the other "fix" adding the string to the avast.ini file. Right now the problem is not manifesting, but that was the case yesterday too. Then it came back. I thought of changing skins as well, but it didn't make much sense to me because the menu is independent of the skin. If it starts up again I will try that and let you know. But from viewing the two threads you sent links to, many people have or are experiencing this. I am surprised that apparently after quite some time nobody has taken the issue to a close.
Dave
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Hi again. Well, I was a user of avast! for about a year when Vista first came out. I never had this problem and used that skin. The only reason I stopped using avast! was because I kept getting false positives from .jpg files.
You can use the Exclusion lists as a workaround during false positives detection.
Since then I rebooted and implemented the other "fix" adding the string to the avast.ini file.
Which firewall do you use?
I am surprised that apparently after quite some time nobody has taken the issue to a close.
Leftovers is not an easy problem to troubleshoot... ::)
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Hi again,
I am using Comodo V3 as a firewall. I tried shutting it down. Made no difference. To be sure I declared all of the avast! running processes as "trusted" applications.
I also installed the latest driver for my NVIDIA graphic card.
So we shall see.
As I never had this before with any application -- not even previously with avast! -- there is obviously some interaction going on between avast! and some piece of software I am running. But avast! is definitely part of the puzzle. And the good people at Alwil would be wise to look into it. It is an indicator when people with typical installations suddenly have strange phenomena after adding your software.
Best,
Dave
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There is obviously some interaction going on between avast! and some piece of software I am running.
Hmmm... maybe Defense+ from Comodo firewall...
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It is turned off and has been from the beginning.
Dave
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It is turned off and has been from the beginning.
Do you mean since installation?
And the good people at Alwil would be wise to look into it.
Dave, the problem could be on that they couldn't reproduce the problem... you know, there are tons of avast users with this problem. I myself had once, booting, and the problem disappeared...
I can't help further, sorry, I can't reproduce or troubleshoot this correctly. I've tried to do my best...
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Yes, Defense+ has never been on since installation. It causes too much trouble and I don't feel it pays off for me.
Well, your help has been much appreciated for sure. And maybe there are others watching this thread that might have an idea or two.
Best,
Dave
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Greetings,
As I told you yesterday, I did two things. 1. I installed this:
Please try the following:
1. Start Notepad and open the file <avast4>\Data\avast4.ini
2. Find the section [Common]
3. Add the following line into that section (at the end, beginning... wherever):
SunbeltKPFHack=2
4. Save the changes; avast! self-defense might pop up with a message about avast4.ini being changed, so
2. I updated my NVIDIA driver
Since then, most of yesterday and all day today, I have had no further "leftovers". Just wanted you to know. I have no clue which, if any, of the measures I took were effective.
By the way, how do you get the nice country flags up in your profile? Couldn't find where.
Best,
Dave
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You have restricted access to your profile settings (and the PM function) until you have 20 posts.
To deter drive by signature spamming and abuse of the PM function (spamming forum members) unfortunately this penalises legitimate users also.
I don't know if you will be able to access this, but for when you can.
Click the Profile button > Forum Profile Information > Please select your country:, see image.
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Ah, well thanks very much. I guess I'll have to start sending messages! ;D
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You're welcome, nearly there ;D
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Yes, this makes 18 now ;)
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Tech,
I do not mean to stick my fat nose in, but I have always had very good success using Revo, if it is done
properly.
For programs that want to reboot your system, decline to reboot. Allow revo to finish its' job.
If there are files that cannot be removed until reboot, revo will flag them and remove them on reboot.
This is just my experience, but I have not had any issues with "left-overs". ;)
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I have had good experience myself as well. I think the product does a registry scan in addition to running the uninstall utility of the manufacturer. In that sense you could also just run the uninstaller and then clean up any leftovers with CCleaner or a similar utility.
Dave
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Tech,
I do not mean to stick my fat nose in, but I have always had very good success using Revo, if it is done
properly.
For programs that want to reboot your system, decline to reboot. Allow revo to finish its' job.
If there are files that cannot be removed until reboot, revo will flag them and remove them on reboot.
This is just my experience, but I have not had any issues with "left-overs". ;)
I understand... but I had problems uninstalling firewalls for instance... RevoUninstaller left behind drivers, registry keys... the only way was installing it again and let the uninstall process boot. Revo is not that aggressive on drivers and registry keys... quite some things are left behind, believe me.
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So what would you recommend for the removal of most programs, virus utilities, firewalls, etc? What do you use?
Dave
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So what would you recommend for the removal of most programs, virus utilities, firewalls, etc? What do you use?
Dave
RevoUninstaller for the ones that does not require reboot.
RevoUninstaller (without removing the files/keys but writing down their directions) for the ones that requires reboot. Then reboot, look for that files and keys and manually delete if they survived.
Sometimes, a non-that-much-aggressive registry cleaner could help...
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Sounds like a good strategy!
Dave
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Well, I did not find a freeware to do a better job than Revo...