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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 06:33:54 PM

Title: Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 06:33:54 PM
Hi All;

Wierd stuff today.  I left my work computer on tonight.  Windows XP Pro fully updated running the trial version of Avast 4 Pro.  Came in this morning and Avast is telling me to restart the system.  OK, I restart.

However when the system rebooted it gave me the following error message.

Winlogon.exe - unable to locate the component.
The application shell32.dll was not found.  Re-installing the application may fix this.

Windows is going through repair right now and I hope it fixes the problem.

Now I just bought 20 Licences of Avast 4 Pro for the office, am I going to have this with every machine?
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: Vlk on April 26, 2004, 06:45:50 PM
Uh oh - never heard about this problem before... :(
I wish I could help -- but I find it really very unlikely that the avast updater could *delete* shell32.dll... :o
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 07:27:46 PM
I agree it is a wierd error, but nothing had changed except for that reboot request from Avast.  The reinstall did not fix the error, I restored the shell32.dll file from the CD using the recovery console but every time the system restarts the shell32.dll file is gone.  WTF

It is like every boot something is deleting the file.  Could avast be doing that if the file had been infected the the delete file after reboot feature was enabled?  And if so can I disable that from outside windows?
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: Scannerdesk on April 26, 2004, 07:36:17 PM
I agree it is a wierd error, but nothing had changed except for that reboot request from Avast.  The reinstall did not fix the error, I restored the shell32.dll file from the CD using the recovery console but every time the system restarts the shell32.dll file is gone.  WTF

It is like every boot something is deleting the file.  Could avast be doing that if the file had been infected the the delete file after reboot feature was enabled?  And if so can I disable that from outside windows?

Turn off "system restore" and reboot and see if that corrects it. If it doesn't disappear, reboot acouple of times, then re-enable restore and reboot.  See if that works..
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: Vlk on April 26, 2004, 07:40:28 PM
Also, check the disk for errors. Aren't there any cross-links etc? This sounds very strange... It's like the System Restore folder got corrupted and Windows is trying to "restore" stuff from that folder... :o
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 07:41:24 PM
I cannot turn system restore off from the recovery console.
I cannot use safe mode, or anything but the recovery console from the boot CD.
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 07:47:22 PM
I ran chkdsk /p and it came up fine with no errors.
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: Vlk on April 26, 2004, 09:26:27 PM
You can take a look in the \windows\system32\dllcache folder - is there shell32.dll? Does it have the correct version?
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 09:55:42 PM
Tried that.  File is there and is correct.  I reinstalled Windows to a new folder and ran System File Checker but that did nothing.  I guess I have to manually copy all of my files and reinstall all of my programs.  Now I am scared to install Avast on the office machines...
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: Vlk on April 26, 2004, 10:43:38 PM
Well you can cripple avast on that machine (e.g. from the recovery console) to see if it's causing the troubles (i.e. deleting the DLL).  E.g. rename the whole avast folder, that should do the trick.
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 26, 2004, 11:09:46 PM
I actually deleted the entire avast folder and then rebooted and selected the old windows folder and same thing.  shell32.dll vanishes as soon as the computer reboots.  I'm wiping the whole thing and reinstalling windows.  

First thing I'll do is install avast and see what happens this time.
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 28, 2004, 07:36:37 PM
Well I finished the reinstall, loaded all of my programs and updated Avast 4 Pro with no problems at all so I am going to chalk the whole thing up to a Ghost in the machine.  Thanks to everyone for all the help.

One thing I can say, I have not had a single virus get through since switching to Avast from Norton, not to mention that my systems are much faster now than before.

Keep up the good work.
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: CoJo on April 28, 2004, 07:57:54 PM
Well I finished the reinstall, loaded all of my programs and updated Avast 4 Pro with no problems at all so I am going to chalk the whole thing up to a Ghost in the machine.  Thanks to everyone for all the help.

One thing I can say, I have not had a single virus get through since switching to Avast from Norton, not to mention that my systems are much faster now than before.

Keep up the good work.

welcome mayakovski! these forums are the best 8)

pardon my butting in, but I also had major problems when I switched from Norton to Avast. With the help of many people here, we got my system cleaned of NAV.
perhaps, a remnant of NAV was your "ghost?"
just a thought in case it happens again...

cojo  
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: mayakovski on April 28, 2004, 08:10:14 PM
Hey CoJo;

I had the same problem originally with norton but the forums helped me clean it out.

This problem was just strange, never seen it before and niether have the computer techs I talked to.

Maybe it was the computers way of saying "I need to be reinstalled".  ;D

CIAO
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: CoJo on April 28, 2004, 08:16:42 PM
Hey CoJo;

I had the same problem originally with norton but the forums helped me clean it out.

This problem was just strange, never seen it before and niether have the computer techs I talked to.

Maybe it was the computers way of saying "I need to be reinstalled".  ;D

CIAO

 :-[ sorry, I probably didn't read everything I should have!
sigh, at least others have computers with ghosts and not just me! I have to preface any problem I have with "I did not change anything..." ;D
I am glad your problem is solved!

peace,
cojo
Title: Re:Update of Avast Hosed XP Pro
Post by: electronikus on April 28, 2004, 11:55:53 PM
I can only second that Avast! is one of the best virus scanners and much better than Norton, it does a great job and is a small and fast program - I love good code! ;D

...and it's true that you get great support in here.

Keep up the good work, Avast! people. Your support and software rocks.