End of support for Windows XP/Vista

[bruce_b]

Out of curiosity: I only use File, Web & Behavior Shields in Avast Free on both Windows 10 and XP PRO computers.
Will the Full Offline Installer still let us install just those under Windows XP or is the XP compatability just limited to
some of the other features that not everyone needs or uses ?

[Asyn]

Will the Full Offline Installer still let us install just those under Windows XP or is the XP compatability just limited to some of the other features that not everyone needs or uses ?

FYI: Offline installation is officially no longer supported on Vista and XP (since V17.4) because new CEF (only one bundled in offline installer because of size) is not supported there and the online installer will download the correct CEF version.

[MartinZ]

you will need to use online installer

[bruce_b]

I currently do use the Full Offline Installer on both XP & Windows 10 computers. It always installs the latest build on both computers. Personally, they should get rid of the On Line Installers as they can and have for some users, caused issues with the program installation or upgrades.

[REDACTED]

I have a very efficient PC running Widows XP SP3 on a Samsung 850 Pro 128 SSD.  It has a well set up data disk and until a few months ago ran perfectly.

I have been using Avast Free for several years on this arrangement with no problem.

The problem I have now is that it freezes randomly on boot just before the desktop loads.  It will not load any icons.   A reboot or forcing another instance of Explorer in Task Manager solves the problem

This problem appears to me to be due to the last two “Program Updates” of Avast.   It now interferes with the boot process.   I am assuming that Avast does not “fully” support XP, at this moment in time which I can understand as support is ending.   I run a minimal Avast as well.

I have completely re formatted the SSD and loaded a fresh Windows XP and associated programs.   

This did not solve the problem.   

I have run “bootlog” and there seems to be drivers loading several times when the problem is there as well as when it boots OK.

I would appreciate any comments on my problem before I uninstall Avast and try another Virus checker ( that may still support XP ).

[bruce_b]

You do know that Avast is set to do a Rootkit Scan on startup ... Maybe try turning that option OFF and see how it does. I run Avast Free 18.5.2342 on a Dell Dimension 8200 with a P4 @ 1.8Ghz and 2GB RAM and do not see that issue.

[REDACTED]

Thanks for the reply.

I tried that first up, but it did not solve the problem.   I also disabled the "Raw Disc Access" as well, but again every 10 to 15 boots, the screen freezes just before the icons are shown.    I have even replaced the Explorer executable in case it was corrupted.   I feel some Avast Thread / driver is getting in the way just before the desktop loads.   Because it is random and takes so long to re appear, uninstalling Avast or disabling all 4 modules I use will take too long to test.

[bruce_b]

I only use File, Web & Behavior Shields in Avast Free ... Try just using those 3 and see what happens.

[REDACTED]

I am using that 3 plus the email shield which is still a very "lean" Avast AV setup.  I also use a lot of "exceptions" to again lighten the load of Avast on the system.   Up until now, Avast has been the best AV for XP in my experience.  I tried most of the others
( on a separate XP build ).

   

[DavidR]

You do know that Avast is set to do a Rootkit Scan on startup ... Maybe try turning that option OFF and see how it does. I run Avast Free 18.5.2342 on a Dell Dimension 8200 with a P4 @ 1.8Ghz and 2GB RAM and do not see that issue.

This is going back a long way, but at that point the ant-rootkit was run 8 minutes after boot, so that shouldn't impact on boot.

@     pjkilmister
Two things you could try:
1.  AvastUI > Settings > Troubleshooting - Enable the Load Avast services only after loading other System services.  Whilst this really shouldn't impact that much on boot, some have found a benefit.

2.  Delay the avast update so it happens a reasonable time after boot.
For this you need to edit the Avast5.ini file using notepad (no other text editor) and you need to disable the Self-Defence-Module first.

There should already be an [InetWD] section in the avast5.ini file, some of the fields may already be present, but the one you need is the AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300 one, this delays the auto update check for 5 minutes and should make a difference.

[InetWD]
AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300
AssumeAlwaysConnected=1
RASWaitSeconds=300
UpdatePeriod=240
UseRAS=0

All of these line entries are in my avast5.ini [InetWD] section on this XP Pro SP3 system.

[REDACTED]

Thank you for these ideas.

I did as you suggest.  The entry "AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300" in the avast5.ini file was not there, so I included it.

This now my section of the avast5.ini file

[InetWD]
UpdatePeriod=240
UseRAS=0
AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300


Your avast5.ini file has a few extra entries.

AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300
AssumeAlwaysConnected=1
RASWaitSeconds=300
UpdatePeriod=240
UseRAS=0

Do you think I should ad the extra items, line 2 & 3 ?

As a side note, since doing these mods, I enabled the "bootlog" in XP.   The fist two boots looked good.  There was no multiple loading of Windows drivers as has been the recent case, and the two boots have the same number of entries.  Before the number varied.

I will run this for a few days and post a progress report.

Again, thanks for these tips.


Regards

Peter

[DavidR]

@  pjkilmister
You're welcome.

Do you think I should ad the extra items, line 2 & 3 ?

You should be OK without them, the important one (AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=300) to delay the update check you now have.

Just monitor as you have said, if required you can push the delay back further to 400, 500 or 600 (10 minutes) if required, but that probably won't be necessary.

[REDACTED]

I have noticed one thing that bothers me.   

With the mods I have done, the Avast Update services load as soon as I get the desktop when I check with Task Manager / processes.

Actually two services load, avlaunch.exe and avemupdate.exe, they stay resident for 30 odd seconds then drop out of the task list.

One of two scenarios, if these are loaded as the process runs, it does just that, and the mod on time delay did not work.

Or that they load at boot as before and the Avast5.ini mod prevents the update process from running for 300 seconds ?

Still no hang at the end of the boot.

Appreciate your thoughts on this.

[DavidR]

The mod on the time delay is completely different, that is the regular VPS updates.

The Avast Emergency Update (avemupdate.exe) check it to check if there has been any emergency update issued.  This is done outside of the regular update, if there was a problem with the regular update that required fixing/it was broken, then that couldn't be done.  Ordinarily there wouldn't be an emergency update waiting, so it would not be doing much other than checking.

The avlaunch.exe is a new function, so I'm not completely familiar with what it does exactly.  My thoughts are that it is an Avast component check to ensure they are running/launched correctly.

I don't sit at my system with a stopwatch or task manager, etc. loaded looking for trouble.  Unless something is a problem and it is recurring then I go looking.

[REDACTED]

I do not sit at my PC on a Forum giving expert ( Uberguru ) advice with or without a stopwatch as a reason for being.

I would have thought you would know exactly what “avlaunch.exe” does, its been in the Avast software for years.

Perhaps Avast should give you some proper training, including basic knowledge of their software ( and what each major file does )

For others watching, the update still happens within a minute of the desktop loading.  I looked at the time of the update and the time on the PC.   I did not need a stop watch for this !

It seems clear to me that avlaunch.exe starts the update process.