Avast won't start

[keista]

I recently downloaded avast onto my computers.  Everything is working great on the computer with Windows 98.  On my Windows XP computer, I can't open avast to do a system scan.  It starts with the memory and startup test, and then I get a windows message box that 'virus scanner encountered a problem and needs to close'  I sent the error report, and microsoft says that they and you are aware of the problem, but I haven't found any reference to it anywhere in FAQs or this forum. 

My tray icons seem to be working fine, and I'm able to do quick scans by right clicking, but I can't open it up for a full scan.  Please help. 

Thanks
~Enjoy Life!

[YLAP]

Tried to repair the installation? Add/remove programs, find avast and press remove, choose repair option (must to be online). maybe it will help...

[keista]

Thanks, tried all that.  Didn't help.  I even tried all the different compatability settings in properties, but that made matters worse.

~Enjoy Life!

[Lisandro]

Maybe the best will be unistall, boot and start again...

You may try to open the <avast>\data\avast4.ini file and in the [Common] section, change the item Database=ODBC to Database=XML. This could prevent the Microsoft Jet drivers from accessing the database... does it have any (positive) effect?

[keista]

Tried uninstalling and reinstalling 3X.  Didn't help.  Tried changing DATABASE=.  Didn't help.

Finally got completely frustrated, and started to get creative.  I reinstalled it with minimal functions.  That worked.  Apparently the problem is with the skins.  I now have everything loaded but the skins, and it works fine!     I'm so brilliant sometimes, it scares me!  LOL 

Thanks for all the help.

[Lisandro]

Apparently the problem is with the skins.

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 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...

For some reason, ActiveSkin (the 3rd party library avast uses for skinning) does not seem to be working on your system. As a workaround, we may disable skinning in avast - that should solve the problem.

To do that, open the file <avast>\data\avast4.ini, look up the [UserInterface] section, and add the following entry:

StartWithSkin=0