My experience with Avast

[Tremaparagon]

Hello Avast community!

Avast just saved my ass today and I feel like I need to share what happened with someone, and this seems like the best place to do it, so I made an account.

I had Microsoft Security Essentials installed and I was browsing the web when I suddenly get some errors and pop-ups from MSE. Basically MSE isn't working, and I can't even get it to run after re-installing it. Clearly something is wrong with Windows, not the installation of MSE, so I look around and notice that Windows Update as well as Background Information Transfer Services are missing. I look around on the internet for a while and after a couple hours of trying fixes, nothing works. So I install Avast and replace MSE. After that I restart.

And it got worse. After the restart, I can't log on to windows other than in safe mode. My computer boots, but it just sits at the welcome screen indefinitely if I try to log on without using safe mode. I try a few fixes for a couple hours and nothing works. At this point, I use safe mode to transfer data to an external, as I'm getting ready to just call it quits and restore my computer to its factory state using the manufacturer's utility (this is a laptop, and it didn't come with a windows CD so I can't repair my installation, and I had never made a restore point myself).

However, as I navigate to system restore in safe mode, I notice that Avast created a restore point before I installed it.  SCORE!
I restore my system and then I am able to log on normally. I try a simple Windows Update fix and one for BITS, both of which didn't work before, but now work just fine. I replace MSE with Avast, restart, and my computer is back to normal!

I know creating a restore point like that is in no way unique to Avast, but I was sure happy when I found it.

[bob3160]

I think you just learned a lesson as to why one should only use one Anti Virus at a time.
Installing avast! without first removing the Antivirus Program that was already installed on your computer
can lead to all sorts of problems.
Glad you realized the problem and took care of it.

[Tremaparagon]

I actually thought I didn't have two installed at the same time. Sorry if I was unclear in my post, but I used Revo uninstaller to get rid of MSE before starting the Avast installation. However, I did not restart my computer before starting the Avast installation, so I guess MSE was not completely removed. That's why, after the restore, an MSE process was still running. Still, I believe that little overlap was not what caused the logging on problem. From looking up fixes to the windows issues I was having (windows update and BITS missing, both happened before downloading Avast), it is my best guess that those were related to being unable to log on. You're definitely right about multiple antivirus programs though. Maybe if I did restart after removing MSE and before starting Avast I would have been able to log in.

[Reikki]

When removing an antivirus program, it's best to uninstall it using the official uninstall tool (after uninstalling via add/remove programs). Otherwise, some pieces could be left behind, and those pieces could conflict with other antivirus programs.

You can find a list of tools for uninstalling antivirus programs here: http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/