AVAST 2015 R4 (2015.10.4.2233)

[hillen]

I have installed the latest version of Internet Security ( whatever version is the current on Avast.com ) and now my latitude will not boot. This is the second install on this machine with two different hard drives. I thought the first HD magically died, but it appears to be the Avast install.

All I am presented with is the Automatic Repair screen for Windows 10 upon boot. No matter what I do Windows reports it cannot repair the startup.

Machine is a Dell Latitude E6230 - Windows 10 compatible with UEFI secureboot enabled. Machine works great until IS installed and then upon reboot, DOA. Like I said, I installed this twice now, both times with a different HD, same result.

Any suggestions as this version is killing the machine.

[hillen]

Here's an update for everyone.

I turned the UEFI SecureBoot off and windows will boot again. I would say this is a definitely bug of some sort as the machine has booted absolutely fine until Internet Security 2015 was installed.

This would explain why IS2015 is working on my machine ( legacy boot ) and the current machine I am installing ( UEFI with SecureBoot Enabled )

[bob3160]

Here's an update for everyone.

I turned the UEFI SecureBoot off and windows will boot again. I would say this is a definitely bug of some sort as the machine has booted absolutely fine until Internet Security 2015 was installed.

This would explain why IS2015 is working on my machine ( legacy boot ) and the current machine I am installing ( UEFI with SecureBoot Enabled )

It may be your version that's outdated. Mine is version 2.8
This should help:
http://www.howtogeek.com/196916/how-to-check-your-bios-version-and-update-it/

[hillen]

Internet Security is the latest version on Avast website.
Machine bios is up to date -- shouldn't matter for Avast.

Machine will once again not boot -- it is toast.

[hillen]

Okay, just called their FREE tech support for Internet Security and guess what -- absolutely worthless.

I cannot get the "tech" and I say that loosely -- to understand the computer is DOA after reboot from the initial  Avast Internet Security 2015 install. She proceeds to tell me that she will remotely connect to my machine and fix the issue. I once again state the Avast install caused the computer to become DOA and she can't connect to it because it's DEAD!

She then proceeds to tell me that she will bump this to Level 2 tech support which will cost me $179 !!!!!

OH HELL NO! Your software crashed the computer and you want me to PAY YOU MORE MONEY TO FIX IT!

Unbelievable freaking believable!!!!

[bob3160]

Okay, just called their FREE tech support for Internet Security and guess what -- absolutely worthless.

I cannot get the "tech" and I say that loosely -- to understand the computer is DOA after reboot from the initial  Avast Internet Security 2015 install. She proceeds to tell me that she will remotely connect to my machine and fix the issue. I once again state the Avast install caused the computer to become DOA and she can't connect to it because it's DEAD!

She then proceeds to tell me that she will bump this to Level 2 tech support which will cost me $179 !!!!!

OH HELL NO! Your software crashed the computer and you want me to PAY YOU MORE MONEY TO FIX IT!

Unbelievable freaking believable!!!!

The Phone Tech Support, even if posted on the Avast website, is from a third party.They quite often seem to be more interested in selling
their own support than giving the support they are contracted to offer.
I'm reporting this directly to Avast. Hope that gets you some help directly from Avast.

[hillen]

Thanks, but I gave up on this install of Windows 10.

I purged and moved back to Windows 7 and installed our license of Endpoint Suite Plus on it. After it crapping out twice causing me to request vendors to manually deactivate licensed software from the machine -- it's not worth the frustration.

If it wasn't for the fact I didn't have enough time to test out a competitor solution before our renewal was due, I wouldn't even be using Avast anymore. Lost all faith in them but have to deal with them for one more year and this just solidified that position.

[REDACTED]

I have noticed exactly the same issue than busp1 : Vista SP2 is freezing during browsing since
AVAST version 2015.10.2.2218.

Same here: Vista 32, computer freezes while browsing with Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. Have to force hard boot. Rolled back to 2218 and problems vanished. It seems that 2233 and its predecessor are incompatible with Vista 32.

[nalo89]

I have Vista Home Premium 32 bit with Google Chrome and IE9. Have no problems.

[REDACTED]

Hi again guys,

I've googled the web + searched the forum w/o luck. There has always being a setting that allows a standard user to use avast gui instead of just admin. Now that setting is gone i can no longer get into avast without elevating rights. I might expect they removed this setting on purpose as they no longer wish to encourage such use but is there any way to achieve what the gone setting achieved?

Thanks for any direction to the answer, info, in advance. At least I haven't had any other probs with this version on *whisper* in case M$ are listening, "XPsp3" btw the computer hasn't exploded YET!  as M$ so helpfully selflessly pointed out still even an exploded computer would be better than the HORROR that is gui mouse unsuitable  of 8   

[DavidR]

Avast has the ability to password protect the settings within the program, and essentially that would prevent limited users from changing things.
AvastUI >Settings > General - scroll down and expand the Password section.


It also has a setting to 'Limit program access for Guest Accounts.'
AvastUI > Settings > Troubleshooting - 'Limit program access for Guest Accounts.'

Not sure exactly which one might be what you are thinking of, but I don't think that it is advisable to allow limited access users into the GUI as they could change stuff without permission of the local administrator.

[REDACTED]

Avast has the ability to password protect the settings within the program, and essentially that would prevent limited users from changing things.
AvastUI >Settings > General - scroll down and expand the Password section.


It also has a setting to 'Limit program access for Guest Accounts.'
AvastUI > Settings > Troubleshooting - 'Limit program access for Guest Accounts.'

Not sure exactly which one might be what you are thinking of, but I don't think that it is advisable to allow limited access users into the GUI as they could change stuff without permission of the local administrator.

*** seems I've made an assumption this thread was about the newest current version of Avast as I couldn't see anything else like it but the new vers - just double checked cf. thread title -  I refer to near the end of the qu if relevant is 11.1.22346

Thanks DavidR  its clear to me you are addressing my question. Its also opportune to credit all the work you've done on the Avast forum year after year, I'm been reading your posts for years as I've looked for answers in here, the (exceptional) consistency of your knowledge, wisdom + civility/emotional calmness of your detailed replies has resulted in why I would remember someone from a forum I read infinitely more than I contribute to.

My written coms are frequently notoriously poor thus I apologies if my clarity in the above question had led you to  answer it from the  different point of view I intended to ask - you see I AM the LIMITED account user!  . Essentially I run a standard/LUA/ non-administrative account (combined with SRP) in XP  given the extraordinary security it provides (and 7 but with the security work M$  have done(beginning in Vista) the advantage is more debatable). Not knowing if this is of any interest or news to you for completeness I lastly just wanted to add about LUA accounts practicality - running one natively in XP is diabolical, M$ have not developed this one bit (neither in 7 but they have essentially sandboxed IE ( the main gateway for attack) called "protective mode" from the rest of the system together with  UAC vastly securing standard administrative accounts). As usual there is a nifty tiny 3rd party software (along with its genius creator) that makes running LUAs infinitely more convenient/quicker than the native software named "Surun".

My question was from the pov of the extra steps having to use surun(instead of double clicking) to open avast (just like some HW progs, Regedit etc that U have to have (the knowledge of) an(ideal) Admin to use(just like you suggest guests shouldn't be allowed use, avast thus the setting) - right click + click button in resulting box ( Similar to Vista onward UAC but the opposite way round with LUA/Surun NOTHING asks to start as there are no admin rights in an LUA except from surun.  ) My minor concern was that the days of just opening Avast in my XP LUA account  with a double click (instead of elevating privileges with surun) may be over - more a problem it seems that Avast (incl notification icon) GUI/on demand scanners now need Admin rights to work - I would at least have to start Avast with surun automatically at start up ( as I do couple OF HW monitor progs ) but its another admin rights prog for malware to snatch rights from + Avast is going to be a target for them too - but then again Avast is well defended).

Since I posted the original question Avast seemingly just randomly turned back to its previous state of being able to be run by an LUA/Standard account - perhaps there is still a setting in the reg or something. Which in turn reminded me its done this before - after I installed this version it need admin rights to start then it changed back I just can't remember doing anything in particular  except each time it changed just I wasn't changing Avast settings :/ - anyway whatever it has a workable if not ideal solution(infinitely preferable than having find another comparable/compatible AV.)

PS. Out of curiosity DavidR do you still (or until recent years)  use System Restore on XP? There's a now ancient huge thread on this forum of it being hosed by Avast. I did put my solution down( put the Avast program in a separate partition) but it was already a dead thread. Just this year I checked out of curiosity to find out if the bug in still there + it is but naturally I didn't expect them to put work into an unsupported OS.

[DavidR]

@ al2
Currently there is a beta version for the new avast 2016 version, 11.1.2236 and there are differences to 10.4.2233 the last regular release version of avast. I was trying to answer your question specifically, but the troubleshooting options for both versions above are essentially the same.

Yes running on an LUA is going to be more hassle for some functions and you have to jump through a number of hoops and that is why I went down the route of DropMyRights.

On this XP system I use an account with admin privileges - but for virtually all internet facing software, browsers, email, etc. I run under Microsoft's DropMyRights program, so they don't inherit admin privileges.

Computers still amaze me one day this doesn't work and with no modification or change of settings or other apparent reason, it starts working again. Short of the magic sponge (a reboot) and things are back to normal.

The later versions of avast are more tolerant of System Restores actions, but it is still wise to disable the avast self-defence module.
I gave up on System Restore in XP many, many years ago as it was:
A. Not 100% reliable and often had unforeseen consequences.
B. It didn't cover everything, it isn't like a backup

My preferred option for a backup and recovery strategy is hard disk imaging software, which makes an exact copy of your Partition or Hard Disk.

[bob3160]

For more information on utilizing "DropMyRights" see the following:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=19387.msg1200888#msg1200888

[REDACTED]

I am a longtime Avast user (since October 2005, back in its 4.8 days) and recently came across an issue, regarding Avast 10.4 (Build 2233) on my custom built desktop computer.

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (version 2002), with Service Pack 3 installed
Processor:  AMD Athlon (XP 2600) @2.08 GHz (Single Core as it predates any multi-core processors)
1.98 GB RAM
160 GB Maxtor Hard Drive
American Megatrends Motherboard

The issue at hand is that AvastSvc.exe uses up my machine's entire CPU (clocked at 100%) and resources, crippling my machine, disallowing me to do anything on it, when running Windows, normally.

I've tried adding the two lines (seen below) to WebShield.ini, which solved my problem in one boot, but AvastSvc.exe spiked my CPU usage and resources on the next boot.

[General]
UseStreamFilter=0

On occasions where it wasn't spiking my CPU usage to 100%, AvastSvc.exe caused Skype to become unresponsive, and ultimately crash.  I use Skype to communicate with friends, and associates of mine, and AvastSvc.exe became a detriment to Skype.

My only solution, currently was to roll back to a previous version because even the 2016 Beta has caused my desktop's CPU usage and resources to spike at 100% on boot-up.

This problem began, shortly on early Saturday, October 17, 2015, and I assumed that my computer experienced a surge, or it was infected, neither of which were the case as I scanned my machine with AVG Antivirus 2015, before installing a previous version of Avast.