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Other => General Topics => Topic started by: s2sap on September 15, 2009, 04:27:53 PM
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A microsoft techie took over my pc remotely to fix a problem with ie8 and changed my startup settings to selective instead of normal - which is great because the pc now loads and shuts down 10 times faster - but how do i now get avast to start running when my pc is first switched on to give me real time protection - this is how it was before.
Any help appreciated
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I would have though that even in a selective startup avast would still run as avast should be a startup item.
From the windows Start button, Run, type msconfig and click OK; that open the System Configuration window. The General tab is where the Selective Startup is checked, change that to normal Startup. This will obviously increase start and shutdown times.
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Hi Thanks for that but I dont want to go back to normal startup I want to stay with selective startup but have avast included. Maybe avast is running in the background but there is no "a" icon beside my clock where it used to be.
Any ideas ?
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Go to msconfig as suggested by DavidR, in the "startup" tab, make sure "ashDisp" has a tick beside it. OK, and exit, restart.
The note will come up after reboot, advising you have made changes to the way Windows starts. Tick "Do not show me this or run msconfig at startup again" (or message to that effect) and OK.
The effect of this will be to add the above file to the startup, which won't affect the startup time very much, but should enable the icon.
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@s2sap
The use of msconfig as a start up manager is not recommended but Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel is recommended:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
What operating system and Service pack level are you running?
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Hi YoKenny,
XP Media Edition Service Pack3
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Go to msconfig as suggested by DavidR, in the "startup" tab, make sure "ashDisp" has a tick beside it. OK, and exit, restart.
The note will come up after reboot, advising you have made changes to the way Windows starts. Tick "Do not show me this or run msconfig at startup again" (or message to that effect) and OK.
The problem (as I see it) with this idea is that the ashDisp.exe doesn't start avast only the desktop icon without the supporting services/processes.
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Hm. In my msconfig, under "startup" the ashDisp is the only Avast process available to be disabled.
I think I've mistakenly misread what's going on in the OP, as the display icon not working.
I see now it (appears to be) the entire program.
Surely the tech wouldn't have messed with the services, do you think?
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I wouldn't have though so, it is the selective startup which is the problem and avast won't be the only application effected and this is why, for normal use it is a bad idea as it leaves your system less secure.
Unfortunately there is little configuration in this selective startup, I don't know if it will start services and certainly not early in the boot process as is required by the avast services and device drivers to be fully protected as soon as possible. So Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel as YoKenny mentioned is a good place to start (excuse the pun) or not ;D
The only real option is a normal boot mode and do an audit of what actually starts on boot and stop those non-essential applications from starting if they absolutely don't need to start, e.g. security based applications and windows services, etc.
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OK thanks everyone for your help - if I am going to leave my laptop on selective startup without avast automatically starting when I turn it on how do I turn ON the avast program once I have started my laptop and tell it to physically keep running and protecting as opposed to just doing a system scan - hope this makes sense ?
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Looks like the laptop could use more RAM.
What is the make and model of the laptop and how much RAM does it have?
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If you open taskmanager after startup, (but without having intervened to manually start Avast) are there any Avast processes running? (Look for processes beginning with "ash"then a capital, such as ashServ.exe.)
I suspect the program is running, but the icon is missing. (ashServ.exe is the main Avast service.) If this is the case, follow my advice at reply 3.
If not, I'd seriously look at following up on DavidRs suggestion.
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Thanks again. Looked in taskmanager and there are no Ash.anything running.
In my selective startup there is an ashDisp but it is not ticked to run at startup. If I tick that it will run at startup but what is ashDisp. There are no other Ash programs in there.
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Have a look at the "services" tab in msconfig. Order them by name. Any Avast services unticked? Tick them all.
ashDisp = see reply 6, by DavidR.
(I would have thought the Avast program would run without ashDisp needing to be active.) I also would have thought that the tech would not have been able to disable the Avast services without disabling the self protection module, so that's odd.
It's possible you might need to repair your Avast installation.
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I am more interested in my questions asked in Reply #10 by me.
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YoKenny - I had to go and find the info from when I bought laptop so here it is - bought it 3 years ago now
Specifications for this PHILIPS X56
Processor Type T5600
Processor speed 1.83 mhz
Memory Size 1024 mb
Memory Type DDR II
Hard Drive Capacity 80 Gb
Optical Drives DVDRW Dual Layer
Screen Size/Type 12.1 WXGA
Graphics Card Type Intel GMA950
Graphics Memory Up to 224 MB mb
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That looks like an adequate system now we need to undo what the microsoft techie did as all they want to do is to prove that it is not a Microsoft problem.
A repair of avast! is recommended.
So you need System Explorer to see what is taking up the system resources:
http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org <== I use 1.5 version
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YoKenny
Systemexplorer installed - what am i looking for ?
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Look in Performance in Processor Usage for the spikes that will show you what application is running if you hover the mouse pointer over the spike.
Did you do an avast! repair re-install?
Maybe its a good idea to get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) then update it then run a Quick scan and let it remove all it finds:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Post its log here after it completes.
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Thanks again. Looked in taskmanager and there are no Ash.anything running.
In my selective startup there is an ashDisp but it is not ticked to run at startup. If I tick that it will run at startup but what is ashDisp. There are no other Ash programs in there.
As mentioned my Reply #6 states the ashDisp.exe is the icon but has zero protection behind it.
The Selective Startup really is a troubleshooting tool, to effectively ensure your system boots, but it isn't something to use for normal day to day use as too many functions won't be running (like in safe mode but not so severe).
There is no way I would run my system in selective startup for day to day use, but this is your system and it has to be your choice, but don't be too surprised if you happen to get infected.
@ Tarq57
I don't know if the selective startup doesn't override the items in the Services tab, after all that is what I believe the selective startup is meant to do. Where the Normal Startup - Load all device drivers and 'services,' presumably those listed in the Services tab od msconfig.
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@ Tarq57
I don't know if the selective startup doesn't override the items in the Services tab, after all that is what I believe the selective startup is meant to do. Where the Normal Startup - Load all device drivers and 'services,' presumably those listed in the Services tab od msconfig.
I'm not sure myself.
But one thing I've noticed is that after removing some items from the startup list in msconfig (qttask and other unwanteds) but without altering anything in the general tab, it has defaulted to "selective startup", and no services were disabled or reset to manual, except for the ones I set in services.msc.
Screenshot for details.
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That really is weird, but then again there is on category Custom option, which would be a Normal Startup with any changes you make to other sections of msconfig.