Avast 4.7 failure on WIndows NT 4.0 Workstation

[thesilentman]

Dear Avast Support,

I have a friend using Windows NT 4 Workstation with Servicepack 6a installed. She used to have the Avast 4.6 but after the automatic update of the software she  received  messages that Avast couldn't update anymore. Avast Icon dissapeared from the taskbar and while trying to access it from the start menu
windows was asking her how to open the file. We tried removing it fropm the add/remove programs but it was not possible so we used the uininstall utility. After uninstalling, we downloaded the new version again and went to set it up but we got a failure with the attached log file.


The setup program did finish without prompting for a restart and after a restart for testing we got the following message.

System process - unable to load device driver
=======
(RED X)
\systemroot\system32\driver\aswMon.sys device driver could not be loaded. Error status was 0xc0000034.
[OK]
=======


I guess that this is some kin of issue that is related only to windows NT, but you folks at Alwil Software will need to check it out. If you need any further info or testing please contact me.

Thanks a lot for your help in advance,

Best Regards,
Frank

[Vlk]

Can you please check that the file C:\Winnt\system32\driver\aswMon.sys is really there?

Thanks
Vlk

[thesilentman]

Thanks for your quick reply, vlk.
I'll check that tomorrow and let you know.
The thing is that, as I stated in the beginning,  after the upgrade to the 4.7 version avast stopped updating with error messages and in the end did not work at all. So everything started with the upgrade to the new version. It did work before without any problems.

Best Regards,
Frank

[rfrapp]

I have the same problem.  What happens is that the Avast folders, and everything under them (\program files\alwil software\avast\*.*) have the permissions changed to something NT 4 does not recognize and will not allow either the administrator/owner or avast itself to access.  This makes it hard to update or run ;-)

By taking ownership back, and setting permissions on the folder and all subdirectories, it will work until the next time Avast updates, and then the problem recurs.

I installed the only older version I had from June 2005 and set it to manual program update and automatic virus db update and it seems fine for now.  I wish I had the last version (Feb 2006) as it worked fine.

[thesilentman]

rfrapp,
Thank you for the information about this . I'll check this thing with the permissions.
Maybe this is also helpful for the avast team.

BTW I have the fEBRUARY version somewhere.If you like I can send it to you.

Best Regards,
Frank

[thesilentman]

Hello Vlk, rfrapp.

I can confirm exactly the same behaviour and permission thing as rfrapp is describing. 
Vlk , I forgot to check the existence of the file aswmon.sys but I think that the roblem is more complex than that. I discovered the existence of a folder named "%systemroot%" and also a folder wihich looked like "_Avast_". I'll try get my friend on the phone so I can give you more details.

Best Regards,
Frank

[jleezer]

Old versions can be downloaded from http://filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

[Vlk]

For anyone who's facing this problem: could you please try out a prerelease version of the upcoming update that should fix the problem? If so, just let me know.

Thanks
Vlk

[thesilentman]

I can try it, please send me the link

Best Regards,
Frank

[Vlk]

Uhh, you're a night owl, right?

I'll send you a link as soon as the update is built, which will be in about 45 minutes.

[gschabel]

I too am running Windows NT4 SP6a experiencing the same Avast 4.7 failures / problems with permissions disappearing. 

No difference to what has been described here thus far.

Please forward the pre-release link to me as well, as it is not listed under "beta" on the Avast website.

Thank you.

Glenn Schabel
gschabel@yahoo.com