Author Topic: End of support for Windows XP/Vista  (Read 283172 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline still questioning

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 6
UI won't open plus msg in tray, not fully protected (XP)
« Reply #225 on: December 29, 2019, 05:28:29 PM »
Suddenly I have a notice in the system tray that I am not fully protected.  BUT I cannot open the UI.  It will not come up.  So I am left with wondering what that means.

I tried Control Panel.  There is no "Repair" only "Change".  Did not change anything but an that which said okay after.

WHY won't the UI come up?  How do I get it to come up?

Is that message merely for me to activate one of the Shields?  I have what I want activated and do not want to change.

Running XP and not planning on changing.  Have 7 on laptop, do not like 7, 10 is spyware you cannot get rid of.  Think you  have it all turned off, there's more you can't find.  And then it will turn itself back on. 

So where does that leave me?  (Down the road will leave Windows entirely.)

Questions:

1.  How  to get the UI to come up.

2.  The message, anything urgent or just to get me to activate something or buy a subscription?


Offline bob3160

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 48524
  • 64 Years of Happiness
    • bob3160 Protecting Yourself, Your Computer and, Your Identity
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #226 on: December 29, 2019, 05:32:01 PM »
If you can't open the UI, something obviously is not right.
Free Security Seminar: https://bit.ly/bobg2023  -  Important: http://www.organdonor.gov/ -- My Web Site: http://bob3160.strikingly.com/ - Win 11 Pro v22H2 64bit, 16 Gig Ram, 1TB SSD, Avast Free 23.5.6066, How to Successfully Install Avast http://goo.gl/VLXdeRepair & Clean Install https://goo.gl/t7aJGq -- My Online Activity https://bit.ly/BobGInternet

Offline rocksteady

  • Super Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 1533
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #227 on: December 29, 2019, 07:08:21 PM »
What are you actually seeing? Also was what you saw immediately after startup?
I am guessing you see the Avast icon with an exclamation mark in the tray. Correct, or something else?
Did you also see the Windows shield come up red colour in the tray saying anti-virus may be out of date or something similar?
If so could be just definitions out of date. I have just fired up my old XP machine after some days off and had this. The Avast UI eventually opens after a few mins to invite an Update. Or can right click the icon to go to Update.
What have you tried to do to get UI to open, i.e. Desktop shortcut, Start Menu, Tray icon?

Start Menu Add/Remove Programs gives me either Change or Uninstall. Change just allows you to select Avast modules you want to use. I thought the Uninstall option gives you access to the Repair facility, but not checked this myself.

Your back-stop is to re-install v18.8 again from scratch. There are links to download this version earlier in the thread. I assume they still work.

If you are able to answer some questions above, then that may trigger more replies.



Offline still questioning

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #228 on: December 29, 2019, 07:26:06 PM »
Tried various remedies, nothing worked.  Rebooted, was able to get a popup short menu for Avast, clicked open UI.

It came up, dark with ghost blocks where words would be.  Waited a long time, closed it through Task Manager. 

Message now gone, and so is Avast icon, from system tray. 

Got icon back through Programs BUT still cannot open the UI.  Is there another way to get the UI to open instead of via the system tray?

I used to be able to get a different popup to turn off one of the shield temporarily with a timer to come back on.  Now if I needed that, I would not be able to do it.

Answering rocksteady:

Correct re exclamation mark.  No red shield.

Add/Remove gives same as gives to you.  No Repair.  Ran "Change" without making any changes, it seemed to be installing definitions.  One help page on another website said Repair is on the left panel after Change.  No such thing on mine.

Programs > Avast got the icon back in the systray.  But still no joy in opening the UI.

I hope I have answered adequately.

Oh, when I restarted, got a popup for me to "close" avastUI.exe, which  to me indicates it was running even though not opening.

« Last Edit: December 29, 2019, 07:47:08 PM by still questioning »

Offline rocksteady

  • Super Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 1533
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #229 on: December 30, 2019, 12:30:00 PM »
@still questioning.
There are 3 ways to get UI up. 1)System Tray icon 2)Desktop shortcut 3)Start Menu Programs.
If you cant get the UI up from Start Menu then something is corrupted, so you need to do a Repair or Reinstall of Avast.
If you go to Add/Remove and choose the Uninstall option, do you see Repair as an option. If so give that a try.
Otherwise all you can do is uninstall and a clean install of Avast 18.8 (for XP) from links in bob's post here:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.msg1525480#msg1525480

I was also going to suggest you saving your settings to carry into new installation, but as you have no Avast UI then that is not possible, unless you had the foresight to do it previous to the fault.

Offline Rekrul

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 44
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #230 on: January 25, 2020, 01:31:15 PM »
As someone who still has an old system with XP, I have some questions;

1. Has the version in the first message been patched so that it won't keep nagging me about updates (which won't be compatible with my system)? Or is there some flag in the update routine that will tell it "Ignore this update, it's not for you."?

2. Do I still need to register it, even though there will never be another version of it installed on this system?

3. Will uninstalling my current version, running the cleaning tool and then installing the version in the first message fix the current Avast behavior where it thrashes my C drive approximately once per hour, and tries to open every file on the drive at least once per day, even though I don't have any automatic scans set?

Online DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88897
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #231 on: January 25, 2020, 05:37:37 PM »
As someone who still has an old system with XP, I have some questions;

1. Has the version in the first message been patched so that it won't keep nagging me about updates (which won't be compatible with my system)? Or is there some flag in the update routine that will tell it "Ignore this update, it's not for you."?

2. Do I still need to register it, even though there will never be another version of it installed on this system?

3. Will uninstalling my current version, running the cleaning tool and then installing the version in the first message fix the current Avast behavior where it thrashes my C drive approximately once per hour, and tries to open every file on the drive at least once per day, even though I don't have any automatic scans set?


1.  Set Program Updates to Manual - That said I haven't been nagged about updates on my XP Pro system, but it is a month or so since I last used it.  The download links in that first post are for an XP specific installation, so it shouldn't offer an update beyond version 18.8

2.  Yes you still need to register, you're using the program and you are still getting VPS Update support.

3.  I experienced some CPU spikes (but not on the regular basis you mention) that certainly isn't the usual behaviour, as a resident AV it is only scanning active files, etc.  However there hasn't been any update  this now 'unsupported' OS version.  I would suggest reverting to default avast settings and see if that helps.  You might notice from my signature below posts that I'm using avast free 18.5.xxxx check through some of my posts in this topic and you can see why.

EDIT:
This is just one such post:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.msg1484900#msg1484900
« Last Edit: January 25, 2020, 05:45:24 PM by DavidR »
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Rekrul

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 44
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #232 on: January 26, 2020, 12:21:58 AM »
1.  Set Program Updates to Manual - That said I haven't been nagged about updates on my XP Pro system, but it is a month or so since I last used it.  The download links in that first post are for an XP specific installation, so it shouldn't offer an update beyond version 18.8

They already are, yet when it thrashes my drive and I run Process Monitor, I see entries go by (I can't think of any specifics at the moment) that give the impression that it's trying to download/install an update. It wouldn't be the first time that Avast (and other software) has tried to download and install an update against my will.

2.  Yes you still need to register, you're using the program and you are still getting VPS Update support.

I never really understood the logic of making people register a program they're not paying for. Doubly so now that they don't even intend to support older systems.

3.  I experienced some CPU spikes (but not on the regular basis you mention) that certainly isn't the usual behaviour, as a resident AV it is only scanning active files, etc.  However there hasn't been any update  this now 'unsupported' OS version.  I would suggest reverting to default avast settings and see if that helps.  You might notice from my signature below posts that I'm using avast free 18.5.xxxx check through some of my posts in this topic and you can see why.

Is there a place to download older Avast versions? The last time I downloaded an installer, was in the 7.xx range. I always used Avast's built in update to install new versions.  In the past I would have gone to FileHippo, but it appears that they no longer offer downloads of old versions, just a link to download the latest one. :(

Somewhere along the line, the built-in updater apparently screwed up. I downloaded a file that Avast's local scan showed as clean, but it turned out to be malware (luckily not a virus), When I uploaded it to VirusTotal, their version of Avast flagged it as potentially harmful. Supposedly my version of Avast was up to date, but it still told me that the file was clean.

Then there's the disk thrashing. I'll be doing something, the C drive will start making noise, I run Process Monitor and sure enough, it's Avast. 99% of the time if something is thrashing my C drive, it's Avast, and it seems to do this at least once per hour. I see lots of references to Setup in the Avast directory. Each time this happens, I seem to lose about 200-300 of hard drive space, although I'll be damned if I can figure out where it goes since the times I check Avast's directory before and after, there's never that big of a change. That said, Avast is currently taking up over 1GB of space.

Then there are the times I'll walk away for a few minutes, come back to find something thrashing the C drive and Process Monitor tells me that AvastSVC is performing a "QueryOpen" on what looks like every single file on the drive. It looks like it goes through everything in Program Files, everything in my Work directory, etc.

To be honest, I haven't been that thrilled with Avast for quite a while, I just don't know what would be better to replace it with. I hate that with every new version, they seem to add at least one new EXE that needs access to the internet. I hate that they removed the status window when doing a manual scan. I hate the way the "emergency" updater runs every single day like clockwork, even on a fresh installation. And I really hate the way they bundle Google's crap in the installer and try to trick you into installing it by pre-checking the boxes and making them tiny down in the corner of the window. I once accidentally neglected to uncheck them and while my firewall blocked the installer from downloading Chrome, it still managed to install Google's updater, which does NOT delete itself automatically if there's no Google software installed despite what Google claims. I know this because I discovered it running on my system a month later. Since there's no uninstaller for this crap, I manually deleted it, although I never was able to remove 100% of the s*** that it put in the registry.


Online DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88897
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #233 on: January 26, 2020, 01:49:45 AM »
1. If you get nags (and I haven't) then do a screen capture, so we can see why.

2.  Essentially it is still supported by the VPS updates, so I guess that gives them an idea of the numbers of XP/Vista users still using the program, that require VPS support.

3.  Outside of the download links given at the start of this topic Avast really isn't going to be promoting versions for OSes that are no longer supported.

When you get a VPS update for a period of time the defs sub-folder will increase by 200MB, periodically avast will run a housekeeping routine to remove old versions of the VPS.

Good luck in finding an AV that still supports XP/Vista (in any way) if you choose to move away.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security


Offline ThatRandomTechGuy96

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #235 on: March 19, 2020, 05:47:33 PM »
Sorry if this is late, but does no updates mean Program and Virus Definitions, or just programs.

Offline CraigB

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Serious Graphoman
  • *****
  • Posts: 11239
  • No support PM's thanks
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #236 on: March 19, 2020, 05:55:33 PM »
Sorry if this is late, but does no updates mean Program and Virus Definitions, or just programs.
If you read the first post it means no Program/Software support.

Offline rocksteady

  • Super Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 1533
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #237 on: March 20, 2020, 04:57:40 PM »
You will still get latest virus definition updates, so will be well protected.
As Craig mentions, you will not get Program version updates. That means you will just miss out on any new bells and whistles Components that Avast add to the AV Product after v18.

Offline rocksteady

  • Super Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 1533
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #238 on: June 11, 2020, 01:51:57 PM »
Avast 18.8.2356 is giving me grief on my WinXP SP3 machine this morning. WinXP does not get used much, but I wanted to check some things out.
Process AvastUI.exe ramps up and then starts hogging 50% or more CPU constant. This without the UI being open.
That constant load on the CPU is preventing much else being done.
I tried disabling shields temporarily to no effect.
I have done Repair of Avast.
Any other ideas?

(PS: I am typing this on the same machine, but booted into linux.)

Offline bob3160

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 48524
  • 64 Years of Happiness
    • bob3160 Protecting Yourself, Your Computer and, Your Identity
Re: End of support for Windows XP/Vista
« Reply #239 on: June 11, 2020, 02:09:26 PM »
Have you tried a clean install?
Free Security Seminar: https://bit.ly/bobg2023  -  Important: http://www.organdonor.gov/ -- My Web Site: http://bob3160.strikingly.com/ - Win 11 Pro v22H2 64bit, 16 Gig Ram, 1TB SSD, Avast Free 23.5.6066, How to Successfully Install Avast http://goo.gl/VLXdeRepair & Clean Install https://goo.gl/t7aJGq -- My Online Activity https://bit.ly/BobGInternet