XP will not boot until Avast service is disabled

[Blaine B.]

I do not recall if I am able to boot into safe mode or not.  I know the using "last known good configuration" will allow the computer to boot, but will cause the Avast service to become enabled.  And then it cannot be enabled unless I do a repair installation.

[cooby]

@Blaine B,
Can you answer the question I asked you on page 1 in reply #8. Simple Yes or No will do.

If No, a reason why would be interesting to hear, but you don't have to tell.

[Blaine B.]

It is the same installation I installed on my Vista machines.  No boxes checked except for English.

So you are saying this is an "incomplete" installation?  Do I need all of the 3 check boxes in the left column checked to be full?  What if I don't want web protection?

There are three choices, for web, file, and email protection.

What is required for a bare minimum installation?

[cooby]

When you install no shields - I consider it incomplete. But I'm not the authority here.
Three shields are: File shield, Web shield, Mail shield.
IMO File shield must be in. It's the main antivirus thing for real time watch and/or for scans.
Web shield protects you from bad URLs and trojans and junk on a web page.
Mail shield is only for when you use email client (Outlook, Thunderbird...). If you only use web mail (yahoo, google ...) you can uncheck it.

Browser protection is one of the Tools - not relevant here.

[Blaine B.]

I will install on my own XP SP3 machine right here.  With nothing checked in center column, only file shield checked in left column, and english checked in right column.

Oops, sorry, I didn't mean browser protection "tool"....I meant the web shield....in my previous message.

[cooby]

Take a look here how you can later manage those shields when you need to enable, disable etc
http://www.getavast.net/support/turn-off-shields
Screenshots in the web page are current.

[Blaine B.]

I installed Avast on my own XP system.  I only selected the file shield protection.

I restarted twice and did not have any issues.

The only thing is that it looks like Avast is scanning every time I open a program.  I can see the little Avast logo's animation every time I open something.

This may slow things down a little bit.

But overall the program is still very light.  Only two open services.  Less than 47 mb of memory utilized, though.

[schmidthouse]

It may be light BUT you only have "extremely limited" protection.
Why only lock 1 door in a house that has 3 doors to lock(the Shields)

[Blaine B.]

Well, you have convinced me to install the most basic protection.

I don't use an email client.  And I don't want another layer "protecting" me from my browsing.

Which is why I oped out for those two.  But I also added the file protection service to my Vista lap top as well.

on Sunday I will add this protection to my Father's lap top and I will tinker around with his XP desktop.

When I uninstalled Microsoft Security Essentials and Avira I used both of their respective registry cleaners.  But I did not use them in safe mode.  Perhaps leftover files are conflicting with Avast and causing Windows not to load???

I am unsure what else it could be on his system, considering that Avira does not conflict with my own XP SP3 system.

[cooby]

Web shield stopped trojans few times for me before they had a chance to infect. That was on my safe sites, which happened to get infected. I'd use it if I were you. And DavidR mentioned once that Mail shield makes sense for an event when some trojan wants to start mailing out things even if you don't have a client.

Uninstalling AV stuff
Stay away from registry cleaners, unless you really must use.

For most AVs, uninstalling by the product's uninstall in Add/Remove is not enough. If you need clean uninstaller use these links. Also read their instructions as they tell if need to be done in safe mode. And many give you no feedback for many minutes before the final success and a reboot request.

Avast uninstaller - you may need to use it if the original installation got really messed up
http://www.avast.com/en-us/uninstall-utility

Other AV uninstallers
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=46021.0
http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN146

I used MSE only once for few days, and it uninstalled cleanly in Add/Remove. Not a trace in the registry when I checked against this list which also includes their uninstaller
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/wiki/mse-protect_start/uninstalling-microsoft-security-essentials/316493c2-8885-46b0-afba-28ebd45c0838

Avira safe mode uninstaller did an excellent job.
Norton/Symantec from OEM installations always leaves some junk behind, but is harmless junk.

[Blaine B.]

It is the uninstaller utilities that I am referring to when I talked about a registry cleaner to remove traces of my previous MSE and Avira installations.

The Avira tool is called "avira_registry_cleaner_en" and the MSE tool is called "MicrosoftFixit50535."

I can try running them again in safe mode.

[Blaine B.]

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=137154.0

This sounds similar to my issue.

[Blaine B.]

No luck.  I uninstalled Avast through add/remove programs.

Then I booted into safe mode and ran both the Avira and Avast uninstaller tools.

Booted back up in normal mode, re-installed Avast.  Rebooted

Stuck on the loading screen.

Exactly the same symptoms as before.

Restart, "use last known good configuration," then boots back up to the desktop, but Avast complains that the service is disabled.

What could this be?  I find it odd that Avast works fine on my XP machine, but not my Father's.  Both have fresh installs of XP SP3 after a complete format from nearly the same time (only a few days apart.)

[Blaine B.]

?

[cooby]

Perhaps if you describe more clearly how it's "stuck on the loading screen" and for how long, and does it end up in BSOD if so what's the message.

Maybe even run OTL and essexboy or Eddy might take a look and see some driver conflict on that machine.

How do you get to last known config? Does Windows suggest it? Do you get in somehow or other?

After you do last known config have you tried just clicking on the avast icon on the desktop or from Start>ProgramFiles>Avast... and perhaps then Avast will start its service after a bunch of updates.