On access won't work

[Feistytutu]

I installed Avast yesterday and it worked fine.  The on access won't work this morning after shutting down the computer last night. I am running Windows 98 SE. I tried uninstalling, re-installing, re-booting several times, etc. Any help?

[DavidR]

The on access won't work this morning after shutting down the computer last night.

Are there any warnings or error messages ?
Do (or did) you have another resident on-access AV installed, if so what is it and how did you get rid of it ?

What is running when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del avast processes start with ash or asw ?

[Feistytutu]

I don't have any other AV running. There is the red line running through the icon. I tried clicking on the start on access protection and nothing happens. In the C Alt Delete it is showing ashmaisv and ashwebsv.

[DavidR]

The red line is usually an indication that there is or are remnants of a previous AV and avast has disabled elements to avoid conflict. ashServ.exe is missing from the list and that is the main scanning process, so effectively avast is disabled.

I don't have any other AV running.

The question isn't running but installed or previously installed, simply disabling a second AV won't work, services and registry entries will still be presend and avast detects that. What may be disabled can easily be enabled so avast if it finds the presence of another on-access AV (enabled or disabled) will take mesures to avoid conflict.

So would you care to answer thes questions:

Are there any warnings or error messages ?
Do (or did) you have another resident on-access AV installed, if so what is it and how did you get rid of it ?

[Feistytutu]

OK, bear with me here...I am not that computer savvy. I had Computer Associates EZ anti-virus. I uninstalled it and deleted the files from my briefcase. Now, is something called ConfigSafe an anti-virus? It was on my computer (IBM) when I bought it.  It's still there. I'm not getting any error messages.

[Feistytutu]

hmmm, so I uninstalled AdAware and now it's working. Hope that fixed it. I use Yahoo anti-spy and get rid of all cookies at the end of each day anyway.

[DavidR]

AdAware has AdWatch (if paid for and is enabled), this is a resident realtime protection and usually the only issue we have with that is with the avast icon. Without adwatch there is no conflict with avast.

So you could install adaware without adwatch.

Cookies are not a real risk and the only cookies I bother to block are third party cookies (ones that don't originate on the site I'm visiting), other than that I clear them once a week.

ConfigSafe could mess with new installations if it blocks new entries automatically or you incorrectly answer one of its prompts on system changes.

Google is your friend, http://www.weathereye.com/configsafe.html

Welcome to the forums.

[Feistytutu]

So, do I delete the 1 malware and the 1 trojan Avast found and told me to put in the chest or leave it there??

[timcan]

So, do I delete the 1 malware and the 1 trojan Avast found and told me to put in the chest or leave it there??

  Hi, just leave them there say a week or two to be sure system is running ok. They can't do harm there. BTW welcome to the forums.  tim
  oops I meant chest.

[DavidR]

So, do I delete the 1 malware and the 1 trojan Avast found and told me to put in the chest or leave it there??

Well firstly you aren't deleting it, but moving it to the chest where it can't do any harm and if needs be it can also be restored from the chest. Deletion as a first option is never wise, it leaves no further options.

There is no rush to delete anything from the chest, they can't do any harm there. Anything that you send to the chest you should leave there for at least a week or two. If after that time you have suffered no adverse effects from moving these to the chest, scan them again (inside the chest) and if they are still detected as viruses, delete them.

[Feistytutu]

Thanks David and Tim.