how to get Avast 4 to start

[northernguy]

How do I get Avast to actually start working?

It is installed. I have successfully updated it.

I just don't know how to get it to start scanning my email.

The accompanying inline manual gives a pretty good idea of what should be done but no clue as to how to actually do it.

As per instructions I rebooted after telling it I wanted the standard configuration but it is not resident on the task bar nor is it scanning email in or out.

Is there a help page online that gives screen shots and other helpful information on using Avast rather than going to online forums.?

[essexboy]

If you are using xp it is automatically configured.  Left click the "a" ball, click the bottm button that says more details then on the left you should see internet mail click on the icon  and it should say provider is currently running

[northernguy]

Thank you for your timely reply.

That's just the problem. There is  no ball on the task bar.

I had a new hard drive installed to supplement my old one. I had expected that the old content would be laid on to the new one in it's entirety but that is not the case. I have to reinstall my old programs as apparently they can't work from the slave drive.

Accordingly I'm reinstalling Avast. I had Avast pro before which appeared as you described. For simplicity's sake I downloaded the home version so that I could get it up and running quickly and then deal with the registration issues around avast pro later. Unfortunately, it is not turning out to a simple matter to quickly get Avast up and running.

It is sufficiently installed to get updates but not enough to present an icon on the desktop or in the task bar. I found a graphic display panel which indicated that I should take  a number of specific steps to configure Avast but did not describe how to do it. 

I'm running xp on a new 160gig h.d., 1 gig ram

When I send or receive email there is no indication that it has been scanned by Avast.

[CharleyO]

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Perhaps you got a bad install of Avast. Try going to Add/Remove Programs , select "Avast" and then "Remove." At that point, you should get a dialoge box where you can scroll down and select Repair. You have to be on-line for this to work. This should repair the possible bad install. Anyway, it should not hurt to try this. Hope it helps you with your problem!   


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[Lisandro]

I have to reinstall my old programs as apparently they can't work from the slave drive.

Are you just copying the files? It won't work... you need a backup software.
Maybe XXClone could do the job for free for you (http://www.xxclone.com/)

I found a graphic display panel which indicated that I should take  a number of specific steps to configure Avast but did not describe how to do it.

First focus on get it working and only then try to configure and tweak your installation. 

When I send or receive email there is no indication that it has been scanned by Avast.

To see if avast! is scanning emails, check one of these points:

1) Is the avast icon (the special one of email scanning) be shown in the system tray?

2) Is your email header with the lines X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0XXX-X, XX/XX/2005), Inbound message and X-Antivirus-Status: Clean? (Right click the message, choose Properties and Details)

3) Are clean notes added at the bottom of the email? (Internet Mail provider settings)

[northernguy]

I thread subsequent to this one suggested using xp's add/remove program option of changing a program to get Avast to repair itself by going online.

I wasn't aware of this function but having used can report that in the case of avast it works perfectly.

Avast has been repaired without uninstalling and reinstalling. It is now resident on the taskbar.

It is scanning my email as indicated by displaying full headers on my email. However there is no footer displayed on messages which was evident and reassuring on all messages on my previous install which was avast pro.

Now that I have basic working  I will download the pro version and apply my registration key (which fortunately I still have).

I want to thank all participants for their efforts on this forum. Without it Avast would be unusable.

[rstandi]

Hi,

Just had the same problem.  The answer was right in the support FAQ under blue avast ball does not appear.  Hope this helps

here's the link

http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-other-questions.html#idt_1602