Upgrading existing Avast Free install to AIS

[Gopher John]

I've purchased AIS for 3 computers, and have it installed on my laptop.

On the machine in my signature, I know that I must remove the Online Armor firewall.  I did a search on http://support.emsisoft.com/forum/53-online-armor/ and found a thread stating to remove it using Add/Remove Programs while in Windows Safe Mode and that it should remove it cleanly.  With any luck, that is true.  I have found no link for a dedicated removal tool directly from Emisoft.

Avast Free has some settings that I would like to have survive the upgrade to AIS.

1.  Will entering the license file in the existing install result in Avast Free upgrading itself to AIS?

2.  Will an overinstall of AIS over the Avast Free install work correctly, and will the settings be preserved?

3.  If I clean uninstall Avast Free and install AIS, can the saved settings be imported back into AIS?

If it weren't for my desire to retain the settings, I'd simply do a clean uninstall and then install AIS.  I do have AIS installer and aswclear.exe downloaded.  SpyBot Search & Destroy active components have been deactivated and do no load into memory at all, so it cannot cause any problems.

[CraigB]

From memory you can uninstall OA normally but it does require two reboots to remove all drivers, after removing i would still run a search for - Online armor, Emsisoft, Tall Emu and also look in Device Manager ( view hidden devices ) for OA drivers, if you want to go the extra and are confident  - search in registry for Online armor, Emsisoft to completly remove all signs from your system.

Upgrading - entering the license file into avast free should work and i would try that method before attempting other options.

[Gopher John]

From memory you can uninstall OA normally but it does require two reboots to remove all drivers, after removing i would still run a search for - Online armor, Emsisoft, Tall Emu and also look in Device Manager ( view hidden devices ) for OA drivers, if you want to go the extra and are confident  - search in registry for Online armor, Emsisoft to completly remove all signs from your system.

Upgrading - entering the license file into avast free should work and i would try that method before attempting other options.

Thanks, craigb.  I'll give your instructions a go in just a bit.  Once I'm assured that OA is cleared, then I'll try entering the license file.

[Gopher John]

Craigb,  Your instructions worked perfectly.  Thanks again for your instructions.

I created a restore point before uninstalling Online Armor (after removing a password I had  on it's UI).  Restarted to Windows Safe Mode, and uninstalled via Add/Remove Programs, did the two restarts (first was requested by the uninstall).

When I checked the Task Manager, there were no OA components running.  A search for Online Armor files revealed a OA folder with 2 small files under each limited user's "Documents and Settings" which I deleted.  Then I ran CCleaner and it found MUI keys in the registry (they wouldn't have caused any harm).  When CCleaner was run in each Limited User Account, it found start keys in the registry for OAUI and deleted them.  I then restarted and ran Regedit from the Admin account and searched for the strings you mentioned.  None were found.

I then inserted the license.avastlic file into Avast Free, and it stated that it would download the necessary files to upgrade to AIS.  When this was done, it requested a restart.  On restart, all my previous settings had survived.  That machine has just completed a full scan, and so far AIS is working seamlessly.  I'm a happy camper.

[CraigB]

All good then

[lilmomma]

thanks i need it to go faster and the pages keeps on freezing i use this and so does my son he is 16 i also need it to work for my school when i set it up i  haven't started school yet intill i get this to work right and i need the sound to work loud i can't here it that well.

[Gopher John]

thanks i need it to go faster and the pages keeps on freezing i use this and so does my son he is 16 i also need it to work for my school when i set it up i  haven't started school yet intill i get this to work right and i need the sound to work loud i can't here it that well.

Please start a new thread at http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=15.0 by clicking on "New Topic" there.

State your OS version.
Which Avast product: Avast Free, Avast Pro, or Avast Internet Security and the version number?
Your computer hardware: Processor speed, memory, etc.

Detail your specific problem.  Stating that it needs to go faster gives us nothing to work with.

Thank you.