Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: DoubleDiamond on August 04, 2010, 02:21:36 PM
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Hi hopefully someone will be able to help me
I have run Avast for ages very successfully and always been happy with it. A few days ago it stopped updating - I kept getting error messages that updates were not successful and when I visited the link it kept saying unable to connect. I tried repair and update from the control panel and still no joy, so I decided to uninstall it and reinstall - not one of my wiser decisions it seems!
Now when I try to install I am told that I need to run Windows 2000 service pack 4 or higher - I run Windows XP service pack 3!
I had a horrible virus about a week ago which I thought I had got rid of but am wondering if there is a residue which is causing this?(it was antivir solution pro sent to me via a messenger link - horrible little b***er that took a day of safe mode, scanning and turning the air blue)
Any suggestions on what I can do to resolve this would be most gratefully received. Thank you
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A clean install might resolve the problem.
- Download the latest version of avast, 5.0.594 http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download (http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download) and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again (if you didn't save your last download). Use that when you reinstall.
- Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe find it here (http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility) and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for both 4.8 and 5.0). - 1. Now uninstall (using add remove programs, if you can't do that, no add remove entry, etc. start from the next step), reboot.
- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility from safe mode, first for 4.8 if previously installed and then for 5.0, once complete reboot into normal mode.
- 3. install the latest version, reboot.
It may be worth running some other scans first:
If you haven't already got this software (freeware), download, install, update and run it and report the findings (it should product a log file).
- 1. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM), On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe (http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe), right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.
- 2. SUPERantispyware (http://www.superantispyware.com) (SAS). On-Demand only in free version.
Don't worry about reported tracking cookies they are a minor issue and not one of security, allow SAS to deal with them though. - See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie).
Also available a portable version of SAS, http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html (http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html), no installation required.
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David
Thank you so much for replying so promptly and so helpfully
I followed all of the recommended steps, and Avast is now back on my system (hoorah!!), but it is still unable to update - I just keep getting error messages every time I try. It seems like a few folk are having this problem but I am not sure what to do to resolve this so any additional advice would be most appreciated
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No problem, glad I could help.
What is the full text of the error message ?
What is your firewall ?
Does it allow avast.setup internet access ?
- If it does delete the entry for it and do a manual update, this should force the firewall to ask permission again.
Welcome to the forums.