I'm Clueless on this - help

[Gillie2tat]

Yes, remove the Symantec update programs if you're not running any Symantec or Norton products.  Double check that there are no other Norton or Symantec products listed in the Add/Remove Programs list before you remove the Live Update and RegUpdate.

When you right click on My Computer and left click on Properties, what does it say in the bottom right hand side paragraph below the information about XP?  In other words, what is your computer's RAM and Mhz?

And no you're not a pain in the butt, you're learning how to use your computer and we were all at your stage once.

[zeus]

emachine

W2925

Intel(R)
Celeron(R) CPU 2.66GHz
2.66 GHz, 248 MB of RAM

[zeus]

I have gotten rid of Symantec
and restarted the computer
and am still getting this :

UNKNOWN ERROR
Application cannot load skin
function "usigetskin" failed

[Gillie2tat]

OK thanks for that information, we will have to wait for Technical's expertise now.

[zeus]

Also ...how come I loss the avast icon on the task bar everytime when i restart my computer?

[Lisandro]

Also ...how come I loss the avast icon on the task bar everytime when i restart my computer?

Zeus, sorry... I mean, I won't read everything behind and will just post again. You will see if this help or not.
It's too late here to read all previous pages.

Can you try to repair your installation?
Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove
Then choose Repair function in the popup window (Repair).
You must be connected to the internet while repairing.

If this does not help, can you uninstall / boot / install / boot again?

About the "usigetskin failed" issue, if the repair does not solve it:
You will have to register ACTSKIN4.OCX
Follow the instructions:

Select START -> RUN...
Enter the following command:
If you have Windows NT or 2000:
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\REGSVR32.EXE ACTSKIN4.OCX
If you have Windows 95, 98 or ME:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\REGSVR32.EXE ACTSKIN4.OCX
If you have Windows XP:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\REGSVR32.EXE ACTSKIN4.OCX
Press OK (or Enter).
A message saying that the file was successfully registered should appear...

[zeus]

This is making me crazy ......

I uninstalled - then installed .
same as before.
Bllue icon at bottom left didn't show up - clicked on control at the bottom of your messege to get it - Unknown Error skins messege still pops up .
Went through the your last  messege and followed through with that and again
got this pop up messege : 

RegSvr32
DllRegisterServer in ACTSKIN4.OCX failed
Return code was 0x80020009

Thanks Guys

[Gillie2tat]

Did you follow Technical's last instruction?

Start-Run

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\REGSVR32.EXE ACTSKIN4.OCX
Press OK (or Enter).
A message saying that the file was successfully registered should appear

You can copy and paste the c:\windows path to be sure you've got it absolutely correct, don't try to copy type it.  Highlight the text with your mouse button then go to Edit Copy in your browser, then Start Run, click your right mouse button on the white entry box and left click on Paste in the menu that comes up.

Unfortunately this is the thing with computers, you have to keep on fiddling with different things until the problem is resolved.  We'll get there in the end, it's just a matter of being patient and keeping on trying.

You're doing fine:)

[S.Z.Craftec]

I had enough time to go through the whole thread, I mean it's not like 12 pages, it's only 4 pages. All I can see you guys running in circles... registering ACTSKIN4.OCX is mentioned at least 3 times in this thread, and we all can see that it doesn't help at all. First one who gave that advice was ODPAD, Alwil team member, and I'm not sure it even helped to the guy who he tried to help in that particular thread. Read about it in here:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=1163;start=msg6346#msg6346

As we all can see, that doesn't help at all in this case. So, any further help from Alwil team would be greatly appreciated.

By the way, uninstalling Live Registry and Live Update won't help a bit. I'm assuring you all. Just because those two components of Symantec's product doesn't have anything to do with avast! I have them both for the past 1 and a half years and I never had any single problem with avast! Of course, I never had Norton installed on this system, but those two came with Norton Ghost, and pcAnywhere (remote connection). So, the problem is not in those two, that's 100% true.

What I think, the real problem is here... Zeus installed and reinstalled Norton and avast! so many times that we can't even count it any more... who really can tell is everything uninstalled properly. By now, his registry could be full of wrong information.

My suggestion is...

1.) Completely uninstall avast! - reboot your system (this is important)
2.) download proper Norton uninstallation tool, nothing else, nothing more... (search for RejZors utility)
3.) completely uninstall all traces of Norton antivirus. Any other application by Symantec won't be on avast!'s way, believe me !
4.) reboot your system
5.) find some good registry cleaning tool (there are some nice freeware programs, just search the Google), and clean all traces of Norton antivirus
6.) reboot your system (this is also very important)
7.) now when your system is completely and 100% clean, you can proceed with cleanest avast! installation ever. Be sure to download latest version of avast! from avast! web site.

See if that helps. If this doesn't help at all, I really don't know what else to suggest except I have one more question for Zeus. Is your version of Windows preinstalled ? You've got it already installed on your computer or you installed it yourself ? Sorry if I missed some of your previous posts where you already mentioned that... I'm asking this because your answer can lead Alwil staff to finding possible solution. I've already noticed few people in these forums with same problem, and most of them had preinstalled Windows... so, there could be the key for the solution of this one...

You can't expect that everything will work without any problems, especially 'cause you uninstalled and reinstalled everything so many times. So, just calm down and try to follow my advice on this one...

Good luck and post back your results...

Cheers !

[igor]

I'm afraid the error code (0x80020009) doesn't say much more than "something went wrong"
I'd ask if you are logged as Administrator when running the RegSrv32 tool, but I'm not sure if there are many choices on the Home version of WinXP...

I really think it's ACTSKIN4.OCX problem - especially when its registration fails; but why it would fail... 
Maybe a strange value somewhere in registry... maybe Registry Monitor could reveal something? Really don't know

[zeus]

oh man guys
I am going nutty in here.
I unistalled Norton only once
(believe me I wish I can re install it)
I can't even get System Recovery to work so I could go back and get everything I did I uninstalled from Jan 4th .
I did Unstall Advast and Install  2x

[S.Z.Craftec]

Zeus, as I told you in my reply IM to your IM you sent me, just try to calm down. I know that this is annoying and this problems gives you a lot of headaches... It's actually huge problem, but I'm sure there must be some reasonable explanation for what's happening on your and some other people's systems.

I would really like to hear what our guru Ondrej (Vlk) has to say, because I really think he may have some clue about this... if not, we can still, at least try, to win this war over ACTSKIN4.OCX problem. I believe, with enough important information, Vlk and Alwil guys can trace the problem finally...

And btw, like Igor asked you in his previous post, were you logged under some account with administrator rights while installing avast! ?

Cheers !

[zeus]

yes, I am administrator.
Yes, everything was preinstalled in this computer.
 

[Gillie2tat]

And do please stay around because as S J Craftec says, other people have been having this problem and sooner or later the Alwil programmers will be able to identify it and fix it.  They don't usually take long:)

Just in case it's relevant, which firewall are you using?  And is the XP firewall switched off? (it should be if you're using another firewall, you don't need two running).

[S.Z.Craftec]

Well, for some strange reason I believe there could be the key for solving your (and some other people's) problem. That's why I asked you is your version of Windows preinstalled or not... I've noticed many people having similar problems, and 99% of them are running preinstalled Windows (!??). Maybe something strange in registry values created by those preinstalled versions of Windows (mostly with branded computers), but I may be wrong of course... people make mistakes until the very last day, so nothing weird in that...

Alwil ? Any clue maybe ?

Thanks people !

Sasha