Author Topic: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me  (Read 10089 times)

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r2baruch

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Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« on: December 12, 2005, 09:36:32 PM »
There is a similar thread for Win98, which I reviewed, but it seems appropriate to start again.

I recently installed avast home on PIII with 256MB RAM, Win-ME, DSL connection, OE6, IE6, everything fully patched, spywareguard, sygate personal firewall, and some other misc. security programs e.g. winpatrol, spyware blaster etc.

The computer seems to be fine while I am working, but if I leave it even for a few minutes it freezes and the only way out is to press the reset button.

I tried removing the tray icon (mentioned in a similar thread on Win98), bur that didn't help either. 

I rather like the program and am willing to have a little (but not a lot of) patience to solve the problem, but if not then with regret I will have to switch to another program.

Previously I had Norton which I uninstalled cleanly followed by a comprehensive registry cleaning with a registry tool.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Starfighter

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2005, 05:57:10 AM »
Is avast's VRDB enabled?  If so, as an experiment, turn it off (disable), see if that helps.

Also, go into avast's program settings (right click on blue "a" icon in taskbar)--prg. settings is the 4th from the top of the menu... then, under Troubleshooting, switch odbc database to xml storage... then reboot... that helps sometimes.

I just installed avast! on a friend's home computer which has Win ME.  Avast! worked perfectly fine.  No crashes, no problems whatsoever. 

If all else fails, uninstall avast, then re-install it with a fresh copy of avast.  Your original install could have been corrupted.

 

« Last Edit: December 13, 2005, 06:07:08 AM by Starfighter »

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2005, 05:02:58 PM »
OK, I will give it a try and let you know.
Thanks.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2005, 05:44:54 PM »
As Starfighter mentioned you may wel have to reinstall avast and although you have used a registry cleaner to rid yourself of NAV, it is harder to get rid off than the plague.

Another link worth looking at which is a program removal tool, which can remove a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2005, 09:29:42 PM »
Starfighter's suggestions didn't help.  Now I will try DavidR's suggestion to look for NAV remnants and then reinstall avast. However SymNRT doesn't work for NAV2003.  A quick search in the registry does indeed reveal additional keys which I will try to remove without causing damage.
I will let you know how I progress because I can't continue this way much longer with repeated resets and scan disk.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2005, 09:42:27 PM by r2baruch »

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2005, 09:55:32 PM »
Starfighter's suggestions didn't help.  Now I will try DavidR's suggestion to look for NAV remnants and then reinstall avast. However SymNRT doesn't work for NAV2003.  A quick search in the registry does indeed reveal additional keys which I will try to remove without causing damage.
I will let you know how I progress because I can't continue this way much longer with repeated resets and scan disk.
Baruch, David is fully right. Trash left behind by NAV could prevent avast from working and even Windows from booting with another antivirus.
If you did not suceed, try to overinstall Windows Me at first time (you won't lose your data and programs), just to be sure the problem can't be corrected without formating and starting all over again.
We'll here for help...
The best things in life are free.

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2005, 10:35:13 PM »
I have attached a few of the registry keys and values for symantec that still exist in the registry.  There appear to be many more like it.  I tried another registry tool and it didn't find them either.  I found them by manually searching the registry.

To the best of my recollection ME does not permit overinstall the way 95 and 98 did but only reformat, but I will look for info on the Microsoft site.

In the meantime I have uninstalled and reinstalled avast and am now stopping for the day.  I will see the condition of the computer tomorrow and let you know.

I appreciate your assurances of readiness to assist, and hope we will be able to resolve this.

Starfighter

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2005, 03:47:37 AM »
You may want to run Norton's "Rnav2003.exe" program that gets rid of those pesky Norton registry entries.  Also, in your Add/Remove panel, not only do you have to remove Norton Anti-virus, but also Symantec Live Update (which is under a different heading).

Rnav info:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1#_Section1

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2005, 08:49:05 AM »
Thanks again.  I will give it a try when I get home this afternoon.

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2005, 05:58:09 PM »
Hello again,
Here is the current update:
Reinstalling avast from a new download didn't solve the problem.
Running Rnav.exe did not remove the symantec registry entries that I posted previously.
Live update (Norton) was previously removed when I uninstalled the NAV program.

What next?

By the way, I think that before I removed NAV, it allowed some viruses in.  I did a complete scan immediately after installing avast. Avast removed one virus, but I am not sure about another.  Before installing avast, the computer was definitely showing signs of virus infection which I do not see now, but could there still be a virus around that avast did not clear?

The computer freezing seems to becoming more frequent and severe.


Starfighter

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2005, 06:24:14 PM »
r2baruch,

Just to clarify things... please advise us -- if you remove avast! does your computer still experience any freezing/crashes?   

Question is... is it software or your hardware failure....

To test for hardware failure:
Does your computer pass Memtest86+?
download here: http://www.memtest.org/
(run it for at least 5 passes)

and Prime95:
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
(run for 24 hrs)...

r2baruch

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2005, 07:37:47 PM »
This may take a while, but I will get back to you.  With your help I do feel that I am progressing towards the solution.
Thanks.

Starfighter

  • Guest
Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2005, 09:40:04 PM »
For a background on how to run Prime95 properly, read this:
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=33850.0

and info on overclocking (but is useful to troubleshoot hardware failures in general too): 

http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=40413.0


r2baruch

  • Guest
Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2005, 07:38:22 AM »
I haven't done the hardware checks yet, but I have more info about the computer's behavior that seems to point to a malware problem.

1.  The computer freezes even with avast uninstalled.  I think, but am not positive, that the freezing occurs when no work is being done but at least so far not while actually working.

2. The computer has started rebooting itself from time to time.

Before uninstalling avast, I did a complete (standard) scan including archives but did not find anything.  At some point I did an online scan, maybe Bitdefender and that also did not find anything.

In the meantime I will see about the hardware checking, but the computer's behavior does seem to point to software problems.  It occurs to me also that the problems with Norton NAV that caused me to remove it may have been related to this problem and not to NAV.  However, in any case I do not intend to reinstall Norton.

Would a HIJACKThis report be of any help?

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Avast causes sytem crash Win-Me
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2005, 03:36:13 PM »
Would a HIJACKThis report be of any help?
It won't hurt.

I haven't done the hardware checks yet, but I have more info about the computer's behavior that seems to point to a malware problem.
The computer freezes even with avast uninstalled.  I think, but am not positive, that the freezing occurs when no work is being done but at least so far not while actually working. The computer has started rebooting itself from time to time.
In fact, we must admit, Windows Me is very unstable.
I do recommend that you overinstall it. Your programs and data will be preserved.
You will only have to update (windows updates) lately.
I tried to manage more than once Windows Me installations... it's guess and try...
I think Me is the worst Windows version ever  :P
The best things in life are free.