Avast Pro service stops intermittently

[GerryR]

This problem has been happening for a few days. I get the Visual C++ Runtime Error, and the Avast Pro service stops by itself. The red circle appears on the blue ball icon in the system tray. Naturally, if I try to read emails in this situation, I get error dialogs that the message cannot be scanned.

Using XP-SP2 and Avast Pro Ver 4.7

I have run Hijackthis logs and found nothing. I also tried the fre version of SuperAntiSpyWare. All diagnostics are negative, except for a few cookies. I also tried to repair the installation through Add/Remove Programs.

I can restart the service manually and the problem resolves itself for an hour or two.

I see that several other people in this forum are complaining about the same problem. I have not been able to detect any Malware that might be stopping the service. Does anyone else have a suggestion?

[GerryR]

Hmmm. No suggestions after 24 hours. Usually when more than one person has this problem, the solution appears quite quickly. Just to add to the mystery, I ran RootKitRevealer and found no anomalies.

The service was stopped this morning when I logged in (I locked the account and left the machine on all night). It has stopped on two occasions this morning since I logged in. This is becoming standard operating procedure for me now.

[CharleyO]

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Bump ... anyone have any ideas?


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[GerryR]

The clues just keep on coming. I have proven that the service fails whenever the screensaver comes on. (I was using the standard Windows XP screensaver that came with the OS.) This explains why the service never failed when I was using the machine, but only when I had my back to the screen, or had left the office.

Avast is set to generate the VRDB when the screensaver is running.

Now... Can anybody think of why the Windows Screensaver would cause the Avast service to shutdown?