HELP! New Install... windows won't load

[wgo]

:'(  HELP

I just finished installing the trial version of Avast Pro. First thing I did was to scan hard drives (80GB - formatted into 4 20GB drives).  

Avast4 found files on all drives that it said were infected  Win32.Parite virus. It could not fix them, so they were renamed and moved into the chest.... It seems that the program moved thousands of files into the chest... so many files that it filled 5 + GB with files and hung up when the drive was reported as being full....

Some of the files that it moved were windows operating files because after restarting, windows will not work.

EXPLORER.EXE is missing or CORRUPT. Reinstall windows.

PROBLEM IS AVAST FILLED THE DRIVE SO THERE IS NO ROOM TO REINSTALL WINDOWS!  

How can I restore files from the chest to their correct location if I cannot run windows?

I tried to connect another drive and manually move the files, but since they were renamed, I have no clue what they are.

HELP!!!!

[RejZoR]

Well you'll have a lot of work,and i hope you don't have any important data on infected drive.
You'll have to format it at boot-time or use a bootable CD or floppy.
Than install antivirus first! when you get into the windows.

You can save data from that disk with some Knoppix like Linux (the one which runs directly from CD) and than burn data from disk to CD. This is very fast and easy way to backup heavily damaged drive.

Lets wait a bit,so someone from Avast! team can give you better advice if possible (afterall they're experts for virus stuff)

[wgo]

I just checked the warning.log.....

Sign of "Win32:Parite" has been found in....

Does not actually say that Win32:Parite was actually found.

It appears that every... and I mean EVERY .exe file anywhere on the harddrive has been identified as having a "sign of Win32:Parite" and all of these .exe files have been moved to the chest!

How do I get them back to where they are supposed to go?
How do I decipher the info in the log to determine which file is which?

I installed AVAST on the second drive, thinking it would allow me to view the filled chest, but it does not. It will only see the chest on the new install.  

ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

[igor]

Just a guess... there should be a directory called Chest somewhere under the avast! installation directory (Data\Chest?). If you try to copy all the files in this directory (from the first install) to the second installation Chest folder and run (this second) Chest... would it help?

[wgo]

ok..... good idea...  great minds think alike...

I tried to copy the old chest file to the new avast program folder...  not enough space on 2nd drive.

I was trying to delete some of the unessential stuff on the 2nd drive.   But I cannot make enough room...  

I am now trying to copy only some of the data from the old chest folder to the new chest folder...  

[RejZoR]

Oh and little advice for next time...
Have only two partitions. One for pagefile (swapfile) and another for files.

This is good,because pagefile wont get fragmented and you wont have any space problems since there will be only one huge partition for other files.

[wgo]

Another problem....  

Since the new drive the boot disk is called C:\   so when I try to restore the file, it wants to put it on the wrong drive.

[igor]

The index file, present in the Chest directory as well, is a simple XML file - you should be able to edit the copy and fix the paths...

[wgo]

The index file is not available in the chest. As I said originally, the HD was filled before all of the files were written.

I have spent the past 12 hours restoring each individual file to the correct location. I started with 1727 files in the chest. I have restored about 900 files. This includes all (or most) of the Windows ME files. There are about 400 files that it says it cannot find, so they cannot be restored. GREAT!

Now, I have gotten Windows ME to run from the original drive. I try to run avast! in the hope that it will be able to restore the balance of the file. BUT when I run the program it tells me:

avast Warning

avast! detected unauthorized modifications of this file.
(C:\PROGRAM FILES\AVAST4\ASHAVAST.EXE)
Continuing can be dangerous. Run anyway?
[ Yes ]  [ No ]

I have no choice, so I click YES... now it tells me:

avst!:  License key is not entered.   [ OK ]

Of course I do not have a license key entered, I just loaded the trial version yesterday!

I click [ OK ] and it brings up the splash screen and the registration box.

Registration         [ X ]
Enter your license key:
______________ - _______

[ OK  ]    [ Cancel ]

I do not have a license, remember, I just installed the trial version yesterday...  so I click  [ ok ]

clicking on  [  OK  ]  brings a box telling me invalid license number!

Clicking on  [ Cancel ]  brings a box asking me if I have a valid code, if I click yes, it brings me back to the registration box... if I click no, it terminates the program.

Why can't I run the program under the demo version, after all, I still should have 59 days of trial left. Right?

What can I do to get this program running so that I can try to restore the balance of my program files?  

[wgo]

This program has my computer so screwed up it is not funny!  I have tried just about everything I can think of to get this problem resolved..... I am thinking about buying a code... but I have no real faith that that will resolve the problems this program has already caused.  

Anyone know why avast thinks my trial period is up after only one day?  

Anyone know what will happen if I try to install avast again?  

Anyone know if the free home version will work the pro version chest files?

[Vlk]

avast stores the registration information in the registry.
The registry entries probably got somehow corrupt.

Avast itself seems to be altered by the virus, hence the warning.

You can get the new registration code by filling in this page: http://www.avast.com/i_kat_207.php?lang=ENG
- the program is free (avast Home Edition).

Vlk

[wgo]

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!

Windows is back up and running.
Avast is reinstalled chest file copied into new avast folder.
Files are listed, but when I try to restore them, I get the message that the action was completed with errors!

What is the error you ask.....  

FILE CANNOT BE FOUND!

Therefore the file cannot be restored!

To make matters worse, WIN32:Parite is still on my system and Avast! CANNOT GET RID OF IT!


This program has done more harm to my computer than all the virusus I have been infected with in the past 10 years!