Everytime I start up Windows XP, Avast asks to restart my computer, why?

[City Builder]

Hi,
I had some issues with some malware that I believe was taken care of and may or may not be related to this situation.

Starting yesterday, everytime that I start my Windows XP SP2 computer, there is an Avast popup window asking me if it's okay to restart my computer and that Avast! needs to restart my computer.

I've opened task manager to see if maybe it's coming from another program spoofing as Avast, but it's coming from the ASHDi something something avast program in the task manager because when I shut down that process, the request to restart goes away.

Has anybody else been experiencing this, or more importantly, how do I stop this, short of switching to another AV product?

Thanks,

[DavidR]

Operating system restart needed by avast message - First check the contents of the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\setup.log file, which should show you why it thinks the reboot is needed.
This may be solved, in some systems, by deleting the file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\reboot.txt

If that doesn't resolve it check this:
You can also check this registry entry (right after computer restart):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager, if it contains "PendingFileRenameOpertaions".

Check its contents and if there's only "reboot.txt" from avast4\setup folder, delete PendingFileRenameOperations, don't delete any other key.
Back-up (export) the registry key before you edit/delete, just in case.

[City Builder]

Thanks,
I've checked the Reboot.txt and it's blank, and there isn't a pendingFilerenameoperations in the registry.  But then again it's not currently asking me to restart at this very moment.

When I reboot or the next time it pops up the request to restart, I'll check the reboot.txt file and see what it contains if anything.

This time around, when I started the computer, it popped up the request and I allowed it, then when it booted up again from the shutdown it popped up the request again and I allowed it again, then it happend a third time and I denied it.

So next time I'll know to check those two places and try to find out what's causing it to want to reboot if anything.

Thanks for your time.

[DavidR]

If the reboot.txt is present even it blank it is probably best to delete it or rename it to rebootold.txt. Once you have done that (rename or delete) I would suggest you reboot and test rather than wait for your next reboot.

[City Builder]

Hi,

I renamed Reboot.txt to OLDReboot.txt and was planning on restarting to see what happened but got caught up in work.

I just got another notice from Avast telling me that it needs to reboot my computer.  So I went back into that folder and there is now a new Reboot.txt file.

It's contents however have nothing in it, it's completely blank.

So it would seem that somethings creating this Reboot.txt file and I would hope and suspect that it's Avast but why?

What do I do to stop this?

Thanks,

[DavidR]

I would suggest that you try a reinstall, uninstall, reboot, install, reboot.

It would probably be best to first Download the latest version of avast http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again. Use that when you reinstall.

[evann]

avast was always asking to restart for me, i tried reinstalling it several time and the same error kept happening.  i may have found the fix.  in outlook under trust center, then under add-ins, avast was disabled, when i reactivated avasts plugin in outlook i have not had avast asking to reboot.  hope this helps for other people as well.

[Lisandro]

avast was always asking to restart for me, i tried reinstalling it several time and the same error kept happening.  i may have found the fix.  in outlook under trust center, then under add-ins, avast was disabled, when i reactivated avasts plugin in outlook i have not had avast asking to reboot.  hope this helps for other people as well.

Thanks for reporting. Although it's strange that avast Outlook plugin will ask for continuous restart...

[Beryle]

I am having this same problem and I also use Windows XP with SP2 installed.  I have tried uninstalling, repairing, reinstalling and cleaning the contents of the avast folder but nothing seems to work.  When I try to delete the reboot.txt file from the setup folder, it won't allow me to do it.  Any help would be appreciated.  If this can't be solved, I'm afraid I'll have to trade avast for another antivirus product as I can't have this interferring with me working all the time.

I will upload my setup.log file for your perusal.

[bizzybody]

Uninstall Avast, reboot then do a CUSTOM install with only the Standard Shield. See if that works.

If you're running any other protection software before installing Avast, disable it or turn it off first. If you're running Spybot, rightclick the SD Resident icon in the tray and click Exit. For the especially paranoid, disconnect from the net before doing this.

I only run the Standard Shield with Avast and Spybot Search and Destroy. (I don't need e-mail scanning because I only use web-mail that has server-side scanning.) Together they're fast and SMALL and don't slow things down.

[DavidR]

I am having this same problem and I also use Windows XP with SP2 installed.  I have tried uninstalling, repairing, reinstalling and cleaning the contents of the avast folder but nothing seems to work.  When I try to delete the reboot.txt file from the setup folder, it won't allow me to do it.  Any help would be appreciated.  
<snip>

The instructions you are trying to follow were from almost a year ago and things have changed in avast since then. When you try to delete an avast file, you will bump into the avast self-defence module and you need to disable that to delete the reboot.txt file. Program Settings (right click on the avast 'a' icon), Troubleshooting, and disable the Self-Defence module. Then you should be able to

When you say your having the same problem, which one do you mean as there are two slightly different issues, one relating to the problem being resolved by the disabling of the Outlook plug-in, so which is your same problem related to ?

Personally I don't believe a custom install (with only the standard shield) will make any difference (that is avoiding a symptom and not treating the problem), so any reinstall should be a normal install. Unless you are going to do a clean reinstall (using the avast uninstall utility) to ensure all registry entries are cleared.

Download the latest version of avast http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again. Use that when you reinstall.

Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, find it here and save it to your HDD.
1. Now uninstall (using add remove programs, if you can't do that start from the next step), reboot.
2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility, reboot.  If step 1 failed it may be necessary to run this from safe mode, once complete reboot into normal mode.
3. install the latest version, reboot.

@ bizzybody
The fact that you only use web mail doesn't make the Internet Mail provider redundant, set to High sensitivity it could be your first indication of an undetected/hidden spambot on your system as it comes to the part with its own SMTP function.

[Beryle]

The problem is I am getting a prompt to reboot my pc not only on startup but also when a virus definition is updated.  I am getting sick of this and personally, I think Avast is not doing enough to fix this as there are obviously alot of people getting this error and the only solution the Avast team is offering is uninstall, use the Avast cleanup utility, reinstall, etc.  This isn't enough.  The problem is still persisting even though I have followed every step listed here and also in other threads.

I have since added Windows XP SP3 to my computer to see if it fixed any of this but it's still an ongoing problem for me.  I have since downloaded another antivirus program and will be doing away with Avast until somebody from the Avast is prepared to create a fix for this problem that not only myself is getting but many others as well.  I have seen in other threads that the team from Avast isn't prepared to fix this problem at all and to me, this isn't good enough for the users of Avast Antivirus Home/Professional Edition.

[DavidR]

If this were truly a problem effecting lots of people as you say then this forum would be lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree about it and this clearly isn't the case.

Now I don't know if you followed the latest clean reinstall instructions I posted or if you just jumped ship.

This clean reinstall also using the uninstall utility (belt and braces) is just not uninstalling but ensuring the all registry entries are gone because the reboot instruction is contained in the registry and this is preferable to asking a user to go rooting around in the registry deleting stuff.

[Lisandro]

Beryle, can you try two commands and see what you get?

chkdsk /R

and

sfc /scannow

Also, did you have any other antivirus before avast? Which one? How did you uninstall it?

[Beryle]

If this were truly a problem effecting lots of people as you say then this forum would be lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree about it and this clearly isn't the case.

Now I don't know if you followed the latest clean reinstall instructions I posted or if you just jumped ship.

This clean reinstall also using the uninstall utility (belt and braces) is just not uninstalling but ensuring the all registry entries are gone because the reboot instruction is contained in the registry and this is preferable to asking a user to go rooting around in the registry deleting stuff.

I have done what you mentioned in your last post (and more) but I'm still getting the same error/problem (Avast needs to reboot).  I have noticed on this forum that this topic (not particularly this thread) has been going on since Oct/Nov last year and for some people (myself included) still hasn't been resovled.

Tech? I am doing what you suggested now and will let you know of the results.  As for the previous antivirus, I haven't had any except Avast even after I've reformatted several times.  I usually put avast straight back on (it's one of the first things I do after I reformat).  Will let you know of the outcome.