4.7 on XP SP2: start up suddenly takes forever

[1st_Moon]

In the process of temporarily adding two additional harddisks to my system for backup/testing purposes I realized that Avast suddenly seems to hold the whole XP startup routine. I.e. when the desktop comes up as fast as always I have the icon just sit in the tray with the red circle with a line through it. From then on it takes about 2+ minutes till the red cirle is gone and Avast is operational, which usually happened within seconds.

Curiously enough only after that my Kerio personal firewall service shows up with it splash screen, usually it's on of the first things I see right when the desktop comes up. Somehow Avast seems to wait for something not allowing any of the regular services in the background to work, I even cannot connect to another PC in my LAN, since the network is not available yet. How come?

BTW, I've checked the avast4.ini cause I thought it might be similar bug to the one I'd experienced some time ago but this time the database type is set to SQLT.

[NickGolovko]

Avast Asynchronous Monitor depends on Remote Procedure Call service. If it is busy or smth else, avast services may wait for it.

And you know, anti-viruses like avast don't need their interface loaded to stop viruses...

Still it is strange, I'd say - avast can't influence Kerio. 

[Lisandro]

From then on it takes about 2+ minutes till the red cirle is gone and Avast is operational, which usually happened within seconds.

On Windows Events (Control Panel > Administrative Tools), is there any service error logged there?
Try Startup Delayer to control the Windows startup (Windows 98\Me\2k\XP) that does not follow a strict order.
They will manage the execution of programs that are automatically started by the operating system at logon time. Instead of executing many programs at once (causing your OS to spit and sputter and attack your hard drive), StartRight will give the OS time to execute the program before running the next program. The OS should become much more responsive almost imediately after logon.

Since avast! version 4.7.807 the Standard Shield has a feature called do not scan system libraries (by default on) that dramatically decrease the number of files scanned during computer boot.

Curiously enough only after that my Kerio personal firewall service shows up with it splash screen, usually it's on of the first things I see right when the desktop comes up. Somehow Avast seems to wait for something not allowing any of the regular services in the background to work, I even cannot connect to another PC in my LAN, since the network is not available yet. How come?

You need to go to 'Logs & Alerts' page of settings of Kerio and disable the option to 'resolve address'. Sorry, I've used Kerio in the past, I can't post a screenshot anymore.

[1st_Moon]

On Windows Events (Control Panel > Administrative Tools), is there any service error logged there?

Yes, apparently I jumped to conclusions blaming Avast 

 I've received this error message:

Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network, or that your network is functioning correctly. If this problem persists, contact your network administrator.

DETAIL - Access is denied.

Well, gonna try to read something about how to fix this...

[Lisandro]

Yes, apparently I jumped to conclusions blaming Avast 

Never mind... we're here to help, if we can.

Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded.
DETAIL - Access is denied.

Are you running a local profile (I mean, loggin into a local account in your computer)?

[1st_Moon]

Yes, and that's what weirding me out. I mean, why is my local profile not available when I'm already logged in to the desktop? And how come I do have the the proper access rights about 2 minutes later?

[igor]

Would this help?

[mauserme]

Would this help?

Is it just me?  I don't see a link or anything.


EDIT  Never mind.  My color blind eyes don't always see things the way they should be seen.

[Lisandro]

Is it just me?  I don't see a link or anything.

The link is there... http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=23283.msg194668#msg194668
But maybe your forum theme is *changing* the appearance... 

[mauserme]

But maybe your forum theme is *changing* the appearance... 

Thanks Tech, but it really is my eyes.

I know the text color changes when its a link but if its against the darker background I can't see much difference.  Usually I can tell where the link is from the context of the post (and by hovering the mouse, of course) but in Igor's post I thought there should be something below the text, not within it.

Not a biggie ...

[DavidR]

This is one of the reasons why I use the ALWIL NEW Theme as my forum theme, it has a light background that provides good contrast and is fine with most colours. Except in the case of a certain those who occasionally highlight the text in Yellow, almost invisible on a white background but great on a black background.

[Lisandro]

This is one of the reasons why I use the ALWIL NEW Theme as my forum theme, it has a light background that provides good contrast and is fine with most colours. Except in the case of a certain those who occasionally highlight the text in Yellow, almost invisible on a white background but great on a black background.

Me too 

[mauserme]

I'm trying.  Really, I am.  But it just doesn't help 

Unless you guys have some new cones for me I think I'm stuck with the situation.

[DavidR]

Sorry we can't help with the cones, what theme are you using ?

I tried one of the darker ones, Helios and it is almost invisible.

In cases like the 'Would this help' you have to have an idea that there might be a link in the text somewhere, I frequently run my mouse pointer along a line to see if it changes to the little hand pointer, indicating a link.

[1st_Moon]

Would this help?

Is there any theme that does underline links the old-fashioned way rather than having them just coloured differently?

Your tip did help a little. I realized that the WebClient service which offers this functionality

Enables Windows-based programs to create, access, and modify Internet-based files. If this service is stopped, these functions will not be available. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

was stuck at 'starting' so I set it to 'manual' and rebooted.

This time it took notable less time to get from the desktop to having both Avast and Kerio started. However, the event manager still shows the same error mentioned above for every boot.

For a test I created a new user and logged on as such but I still got the userenv-error. So there's got to be something with the access rights for all users...