Author Topic: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?  (Read 13679 times)

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NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #30 on: December 20, 2013, 08:13:04 PM »
So I assume you never ran the uninstall tool. Could you check in Device Manager>View>Show Hidden devices>Non-Plug and Play Drivers if you can any drivers with a yellow triangle related to Avast...


-Noel

Offline CraigB

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #31 on: December 20, 2013, 08:30:22 PM »
The tool referred to was made by ReZjoR ( an Uberevangelist of this forum ) specifically to remove some of the remnants that the standard cleaning tool doesn't remove, if you don't want to use the tool then I suggest you run a search in explorer and regedit for "Avast" and remove the leftovers manually as I do, depending on what system you are running you maybe required to take ownership of some of the leftovers before they can be deleted.

The freezing you are referring to during install with the emergency update is itself looking for updates before completing the install, how long have you waited with this freezing ?

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #32 on: December 20, 2013, 08:42:09 PM »
I left it stuck there for 20 minutes.  It did not complete.

I suspect - though haven't confirmed - that Avast may have made itself dependent on some web site other than Avast.com, in which case those sites may be blocked by our Internet setup.  Not long ago I noticed that the site (CNET was it?) Avast points to from their installer page required access to some very questionable adware sites before even allowing the download.  That's just wrong.

But this does beg some questions:

  • WHY does a product like this have an installer whose success is based on an online connection, but which has no self-timeout?  The Internet has been around long enough that people know there can be failures.
  • WHY has the quality of this product suffered so much in recent history, and does that degradation also affect its efficacy as a security product?  It used to truly be "set it and forget it".  I've used it since 2005.

Solid advice to search manually.  I have been in RegEdit doing this, actually, since the install failed.

I *may* give it one more try today, but really, what a waste of time this is / has been.  I could have had a couple of new software features coded today.  The folks complaining that Avast! needs to do a better job before release aren't wrong!

-Noel

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #33 on: December 20, 2013, 09:03:32 PM »
If this does NOT work for you, it would be very helpful if you could post your logs.

C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\Setup\setup.log.
That's not even close to where it puts its logs.

A search turned it up here:  "C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Persistent Data\Avast\Logs\Setup.log"

Here's what was logged:

http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Setup.log

As you can see, there's nothing illustrative about the root cause of the problem.  Only thing is, the last line reads:

[19:49:38] [info   ] [system         ] [ 5632: 6392] Executing '"C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\AvastEmUpdate.exe" /installer'.

And there it just sits.  By the way, the ONLY way out of this is to log off or reboot.  The installer CANNOT be terminated.

I could switch over to testing in a virtual machine, where maybe I can put in something like Wireshark or Fiddler to see if AvastEmUpdate.exe is trying to access a site that's blocked, and if so which one.  But will Avast! pay me for my time to do this?

-Noel

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #34 on: December 20, 2013, 09:42:11 PM »
Okay, so here's the bottom line on this stuck AvastEmUpdate.exe thing:

Avast! cannot be installed with the hosts file from this site installed:

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Apparently AvastEmUpdate.exe MUST be able to access a site that's blocked (sent to address 0.0.0.0) by that hosts file.  Or maybe the size of that file is confusing something.  The list of sites in that hosts file are considered "parasite" web sites.  Temporarily renaming the hosts file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc to something else will allow the Avast! installation to complete.

This begs the question, though:

Should one suspect Avast! of nefarious activity with a parasite web site, or mvps.org of a mistaken addition to the "blocked sites" list?

-Noel
« Last Edit: December 20, 2013, 10:10:20 PM by NoelC »

Offline Alikhan

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #35 on: December 20, 2013, 10:37:20 PM »
Did the online installer work for you though?
Windows 10 Home 64-bit • Avast Free (latest stable version) •  Malwarebytes 4 Premium (On-Demand) • Windows Firewall Control • Google Chrome • LastPass • CCleaner • O&O ShutUp10 •

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #36 on: December 20, 2013, 10:45:34 PM »
No, as I showed above it stalled just the same.

With the mvps.org hosts file temporarily disabled the standalone installer worked.  I suspect the online installer would have as well.  I am (somewhat reluctantly) giving Avast! another try.  After the reinstall I have been able to make the setting that is reported to block notices stick.

Since the hosts file replacement is arguably as effective as running Avast! Antivirus for blocking badware, I suggest the Avast people need to get on the ball and figure out why the two can't live together as they have for years.

-Noel

Offline essexboy

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #37 on: December 20, 2013, 10:47:49 PM »
For IE 8 and above then there really is no need for the modified host file as MS has most of them covered in the registry

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #38 on: December 20, 2013, 11:47:28 PM »
If you say that, chances are you haven't used it and seen the difference first hand.

-Noel

Offline Alikhan

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #39 on: December 20, 2013, 11:51:13 PM »
If you say that, chances are you haven't used it and seen the difference first hand.

-Noel

I've messaged your setup.log to a dev and they will be looking into it.
Windows 10 Home 64-bit • Avast Free (latest stable version) •  Malwarebytes 4 Premium (On-Demand) • Windows Firewall Control • Google Chrome • LastPass • CCleaner • O&O ShutUp10 •

NoelC

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Re: Can I See NO Pop-Ups From Avast if I Buy the Suite?
« Reply #40 on: December 21, 2013, 12:38:39 AM »
Thanks.  With the information here they should be able to reproduce the problem easily.

-Noel