Unable to update

[lesrhar]

Hi all,

Last week my Avast Free Antivirus stopped working: the "UI Failed to load" message appeared and the taskbar icon said that the PC was not protected.  I followed the instructions in this article (https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Troubleshoot-Antivirus-UI-Failed-load) but they did not help.

I then downloaded the Uninstall utility, uninstalled Avast and re-installed it. However, I have been unable to update the virus definitions. A light blue bar appears and swings from left to right and back again in the progress bar while the message "Checking for updates" appears. The bar never travels simply from left to right across the screen. After about 5 minutes the bar stops swinging, a green checkmark appears and it says "Virus definitions are up to date   Last update received on 3 January 2019 15:16 (ver. 190103-4)

Surely that is not the latest definition file?

The firewall (ZoneAlarm) is manually configured to allow all Avast processes full access to the internet. That has not helped. The OS is 32-bit Windows 7 Starter, and the native Windows defences are turned off.

Any suggestions? Is there anywhere one can manually download a definitions file, save it to the desktop and then manually install that file?

It is only Avast that does not update; Malwarebytes has just updated without any hassles.

Thanks in advance for your help (and apologies for being so long-winded!)

[bob3160]

Is that a typo on your part Mine shows 190203-4

[lesrhar]

Hi Avast Überevangelist,

No, not a typo.

Here is a screenshot, with the relevant areas highlighted (hope it works):


Thanks for the response

[bob3160]

Clean Install of Avast:
https://goo.gl/4Ptzkf
If you need additional help with the Clean Install, watch this:
https://youtu.be/p-h3myRD51A

[mchain]

...The firewall (ZoneAlarm) is manually configured to allow all Avast processes full access to the internet. That has not helped. The OS is 32-bit Windows 7 Starter, and the native Windows defences are turned off.

Any suggestions? Is there anywhere one can manually download a definitions file, save it to the desktop and then manually install that file?

It is only Avast that does not update; Malwarebytes has just updated without any hassles.

Thanks in advance for your help (and apologies for being so long-winded!)

See Avast Help for supported OS versions here:  https://support.avast.com/en-us/article/Antivirus-FAQ 
Click show details to expand list of supported operating systems. 

Windows 7 Starter does not show as supported.  http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/windowsxp/articles/978/1/Difference-between-Windows-7-Starter%2C-Windows-7-Home-Basic-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium

You could be seeing vpn 20190103 as the latest vpn update because that is the day when version 19.1 was made live. 

Your vpn may not update automatically because Avast may not support your Windows version.  It does support Win 7 Basic.

See VPN updates here for your version of Avast:  https://www.avast.com/download-update  Worth a try to see if your vpn does update manually.

[lesrhar]

Huh.
That could be... I never even thought of checking the operating systems that were supported.

I've been running Avast Free Antivirus on this machine with Win 7 Starter for a few years without any hassles. Till now. It was only after being forced to use the new program that the trouble started.

If only there were a way to roll back to ver 18....

Or a way to download a definitions file from Avast and install it from a saved file (one used to be able to do that in AVG way back when; dunno if that is still an option now that it is owned by Avast).

It seems I may have to change software 

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions/

[lesrhar]

Sorry, missed the link you gave.

I tried it, with mixed results. It updated the program, but not the irus definitions:



It's interesting that the taskbar icon and status screen now show the green tick and "You're protected" message instead of the warning that the virus definitions need to be updated.

It seems I need to find new AV software

Thanks for all your help, everyone.

[TheSharku]

Sorry, missed the link you gave.

I tried it, with mixed results. It updated the program, but not the irus definitions:



It's interesting that the taskbar icon and status screen now show the green tick and "You're protected" message instead of the warning that the virus definitions need to be updated.

It seems I need to find new AV software

Thanks for all your help, everyone.

Your program is also outdated.

[lesrhar]

Hi all,

This saga gets stranger by the minute...

After fiddling with some other products decided to try Avast again. I like Avast and have been using it for years. But, as you may remember, it would not update any definitions.

When reinstalling I clicked on the online installer I'd downloaded (by accident, meant to launch the offline installer.)

Decided to let the program install anyway. After installing I noticed a lot of internet activity, but only Avast was running. It was updating virus definitions!! Now the updates appear to be working again.







I have no idea why it would not update after using the offline installer, but does update after using the online installer....