frustrated and stuck

[ncsmom]

Hi  I am new to posting in the forum but I have been doing lots of reading.  That being said, I am still not able to fix my problem.

I have been running avast for over a year with the occasional hiccup here and there.  However somewhere in the past month or so my avast blue icon disappeared.  It took a while before anyone noticed (4 teenagers whose main interest is MSN). Of course as soon as we woke up, we found avast in our program files and ran  the virus checker. 13 virus's later I thought we were fine.  But the blue icon was still not there.  If I went to the main avast screen I could see that the resident protection was disabled. Despite numerous times of moving the bar to standard or high, it would not come back on. It always went back to disabled. I finally uninstalled avast and downloaded and installed a new copy. This worked fine until I turned the computer off, then we had the same problem. Again, the only way to get resident protection was to reinstall the program.  Which as you can imagine is frustrating.

I have searched the boards and tried everything suggested, from repairing the program to manually activating ashdisp.exe (which did put the icons back but they had red X's though them).  I have tried running the avast tweak program from "techs" files, but am still stuck.  I have tried to attach the ashdisp to my start menu but again no luck.

Is it possible avast just hates me and has ran away from home?

Help please, the mental health of four teenagers apparently depends on their ability to download stuff.

Lynn

[DavidR]

What is your OS ?
Do you have any other security related programs, such as AdAware, Spybot S&D, SpySweeper, or any program that might interfere with start-up entries ?

Check out this FAQ answer on the avast web site http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-other-questions.html#idt_1539 try that and let us know how you get on.

If you haven't already got this software (freeware), download, install, update and run it, preferably in safe mode.
1. Ad-Aware
2. Spybot Search and Destroy
3. Spywareblaster Don't install this until you are clean.
4. Ewido Security Suite If using winXP. or a-Squared free if using win98/ME.

[pepeaida]

Just for the record, is your Avast edition the free home version?...Remember is good for around 14 months and u have to reregister it again, ask one of their pros and maybe thats the issue..
Luck

[DavidR]

Good point pepeaida, one I forgot to mention, although at some point I believe you should have got a warning from the avast program and possibly one from the Windows Security Center if you have updated version of XP.

Right click the avast icon and click about avast, check the Updates Expiration date and if needs be reregister and you will get a new registration key, avast! 4 Home Registration

[CharleyO]

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Yes, good catch, pepeaida!   

On my first reading, I also missed this ......

I have been running avast for over a year with the occasional hiccup here and there. However somewhere in the past month or so my avast blue icon disappeared. It took a while before anyone noticed (4 teenagers whose main interest is MSN).

... and with 4 teenagers, it would be very easy for Lynn to know nothing about warnings until ...

somewhere in the past month or so

... it was much later.


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[pepeaida]

4 teenagers, no wonder...I have 9 granchildren, I know what u mean LOL
 

[ncsmom]

Hmmm, lets see.

I am using XP.

I have uninstalled the old program, installed a new version and registered it all in the past two weeks, so that should fix the "outdated" problem.

Yes I have anti spyware but it has been on my system as long as everything else, so I cant imagine that would be the issue now...but then hey you never know.

Any other ideas or suggestions you can toss at me?

Lynn

[DavidR]

I assume by you comment "Any other ideas or suggestions you can toss at me" that this hasn't resolved the red X issue ?

Have you visited the avast.com link I gave in my first reply and tried what was suggested there ?

What processes are running in windows task manager associated with avast, they will begin with ash or asw, see the image, click the column heading to place in alphabetic order (arrowed).

Although your anti-spyware may well be old, can you tell us what it is ?

[CharleyO]

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Most anti-spyware must also be updated occasionally (once a week is recommended). This is true of Ad-Aware, Spybot-S&D, Ewido, and many others. Spyware/adware/malware all change just as virii do and, thus, new definition files are needed.


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