Severe bug report: 17.7.2314 GUI hangs on XP

[loungehake]

Comodo Memory Firewall is actually buffer overflow detection/prevention software for computers which lack hardware DEP support of which my Athlon XP 3000+ processor powered PC is an example.

[bob3160]

Thanks. Good to know.

[REDACTED]

Good to hear it works for you, loungehake.
The magic question is still: Why does it work on some XP Pro SP3, and on some other XP Pro SP3 it doesn't?
As I already mentioned, besides my XP Pro SP3 machines I have also one (but only one) XP Home SP3 in my small park, that is also kicked by avast GUI. Does anyone have experiences on this?

[Eddy]

I don't want to say goodbye to avast, but I don't see another way.

Well, keep avast and say goodbye to XP

[REDACTED]

Well, keep avast and say goodbye to XP

Yes, if the mountain doesn't come to the prophet...
If it just would be so easy...

[REDACTED]

So, a couple of reinstallations later we are not wiser than before.

What we know so far is:
The problem occurs on "relatively native" XP SP3 machines, i. e. equipped with IE6 and without .NET framework (which is due to its version variety and overall bugginess unlikey to be base for a serious antivirus program at all).
The problem occurs both on XP SP3 Pro and Home editions (of the latter one we have just one machine in the park).
Simultaneously other XP users (with at least partially "unnative" systems such as IE8 being present there) stated Avast being working.
The problem occurs with Avast 17.7.
The problem doesn't occur with Avast 17.5. (and most likely not with 17.6.).

The result of the problem is the inaccessibility of the main GUI window, which results in the inaccessibility of the virus container, manual scans and Avast tools.

The configuration GUI is still fully accessible.

I did as much testing as my boss allowed me. Deadline is end of October - if Avast doesn't work then again, I'm forced to leave Avast. Which I really would like to avoid, because I like Avast. So please anybody help.

[bob3160]

[REDACTED]

@bob3160:
Nice one. Virus container access. When in panic (panicking, because I'm afraid due to a lack of virus container accessibility I cannot reverse a false alarm resulting in quarantining important files), I get blind. Thanks for this hint.

[bob3160]

You're welcome.

[REDACTED]

It's time for a conclusion, to have an easy overview of the bug status.

Bug description:
The main GUI window hangs on the "Status" page. Avast has then to be killed by a task man and manually be restarted.

Bug occurrence:
- The bug occurs with Avast 17.7.
- The bug doesn't occur with Avast 17.5. (and most likely not with 17.6.).
- Reinstallation and cleaning doesn't help. It's a bug in Avast.
- The bug occurs on "relatively native" XP SP3 machines, i. e. equipped with IE6 and without .NET framework (which is due to its version variety and overall bugginess unlikely to be base for a serious antivirus program at all).
- The bug occurs both on XP SP3 Pro and Home editions (of the latter one we have just one machine in the park).
- Simultaneously other XP users (with at least partially "unnative" systems such as IE8 being present there) stated Avast being working.
- After one month already, there is still no official statement from Avast company's side.

Known workarounds so far:
- Access to the virus container: Use SysTray icon context menu. This brings you to the main GUI window, "Virus Container" page, which works as normal.
- Access to Avast tools: Open "Virus Container" page as described above; from there go to "Tools" page.
- Access to messages: Open "Virus Container" page as described above; from there go to "Messages" page.
- Access to settings: Use SysTray icon context menu. This brings you directly to the settings window, which works as normal.

Still needed workarounds:
- Currently there is no access to the "Manual Scans" page. Therefore, manual scans can't be started or even configured.

Solutions welcome!

[REDACTED]

Nobody any solution?

Does the dev team know about this issue?

[REDACTED]

Does anybody know, if the upcoming version 17.8. will fix the problem?

[rocksteady]

Just to chip in that I am one of those that has 17.17.2314 working fine on XP SP3 Pro. I didn't need to do anything special just normal update when this version was released.
The GUI is slow to fully load, as documented by others and is by design. I find it no different from running on Win10, except some peculiarities with SmartScan, but that is another story and subject of a separate thread.
Ed

[loungehake]

Ditto. I have Avast free 17.7.2314 working fine with Windows XP on two PCs. I was thinking to myself how well-behaved it is, better in fact than previous versions. Both systems are POSReady security patched and fully up-to-date.

[REDACTED]

My last post from November 19, 2017, 09:49:45 PM was removed, I don't know why. So I copy it here:



Hello to everybody,

I have good news to share:

Since my last post I installed 17.8.2318, build 17.8.3705.0, observed it for a while. I'm sure now the bug is gone, and that on all our XP machines (including the Home Edition). Same for my personal XP system at home.
I don't know why, but I'm glad about it and wanted to share this.

Thanks to every contributor!