Outlook addin hanging with Avast 4.8

[BJReplay]

Uploading DUMP as requested.  Hope it helps.

[Vlk]

An interesting dump indeed.

Could you please try the following?

When the problem is simulated (i.e. Outlook is hung),

1. disable avast self defense (avast Settings -> Troubleshooting page)
2. stop the Standard Shield provider (click the avast (a) ball icon, click Details >>, scroll to Standard Shield and click Terminate)
3. dump the process ashServ.exe and upload the dump to our ftp site.


BTW can you please also post the contents of the file <avast>\data\log\error.log?

Thanks
Vlk

[jjthomas]

It would be useful if anyone of you could dump the Outlook.exe process at the moment Outlook is hung.

Seems like Avast was updated and the problem went away.  Build is 4.8.1169, if that helps.

-JJ

[romanom]

I have had the same issue, intermeddiately.

I have Avast and Live Maps (http://outlook.maps.live.com/minisites/local/outlook/default.aspx) plugin/addin, no other non-Outlook plugins/addins in Outlook 2007, and I'm running Vista Home Premium SP1.

I have the latest release of Avast, 4.8-1169

2 Things I noticed:

1. After ending the Outlook process with taskmanager, (BTW - there are 2 outlook process running when this happens), and restarting Outlook I get the Avast plugin warning, but I also get a waring for the Live Maps plugin for MS Outlook. 

If I disable Avast plugin, but leave Live Maps running, Outlook does start normally.  This "leads" me to believe that Avast plugin may have a compatibility issue with other Outlook plugins that access a network or the internet.

2. While Outlook was "hanging"  I terminated the the INTERNET MAIL module in On-Access and BAM Outlook immedaitely stopped hanging and started.  I then restarted Internet mail and there where no issues, YET!

The problem seems random and I can't reproduce it at will, when it happens again I will disable Internet Mail and see if I get the same result.  If I don't then I will deactivate Live Maps and see what happens.

Clearly the Avast plugin works in isolation, but it seems to be incompatible with something else in Outlook or MS Exchange.

FYI: Live Maps addin, allows Live Maps to be used and saved in Outlook calendar appointments, it does access the Internet as if you where using a browser.

[BJReplay]

When the problem is simulated (i.e. Outlook is hung),

1. disable avast self defense (avast Settings -> Troubleshooting page)
2. stop the Standard Shield provider (click the avast (a) ball icon, click Details >>, scroll to Standard Shield and click Terminate)
3. dump the process ashServ.exe and upload the dump to our ftp site.

I'll see what I can do.  The PC that I dumped from is the last one running a 4.8 version - it works around 75% of the time without major issues.  However, when Outlook (or IE) is hung, getting avast to do things via the tray icon can be a problem: for example, if I right click, and choose Stop On-Access Proection, it hangs until Outlook starts responding again: when Outlook starts responding, it then starts displaying the messages as each provider closes.

That means I might not be able to do steps 1 and 2 when Outlook hangs (though of course dumping ashServ.exe and posting error.log will be easy).

Do you want me to try this with the latest 4.8 beta, or the current version I'm runing (1187)?

[igor]

The thing is that you won't be able to dump ashServ.exe process with Self-defense enabled (you'll get Access Denied, I think).
Maybe the 1st item can be performed beforehand (but it's just a pure guess, I didn't see the dump or talk to Vlk about it, so I don't know if the self-defence features is/isn't a part of the problem - maybe it won't reproduce with self-defense off).

Regarding the versions... well, I'd say try with the one you have right now, if it succeeds (to simulate and dump), try to update to the latest one and retry the issue (if it reproduces again, the later dump would be enough).

[BJReplay]

An interesting dump indeed.

Could you please try the following?

When the problem is simulated (i.e. Outlook is hung),

1. disable avast self defense (avast Settings -> Troubleshooting page)

Done -but ahead of time as suggested by igor above

2. stop the Standard Shield provider (click the avast (a) ball icon, click Details >>, scroll to Standard Shield and click Terminate)

Done

3. dump the process ashServ.exe and upload the dump to our ftp site.

Done - see 34586-ashServ.rar (currently uploading - 32.9MB)

BTW can you please also post the contents of the file <avast>\data\log\error.log?

Done - included in the rar

Thanks
Vlk

No Probs.  Was running 4.8.1192 VPS 080512-0

I didn't get a hang until about the fourth or fifth time I started outlook.  I can't be sure, but the problem seems more of an issue after resuming from standby / hibernation.  As a rule, I shut-down outlook prior to standing by / hibernating - and in this case had done so.

[DavidR]

There is now a new program update, 4.8.1195 so it might be worth your while doing a manual program update again. This is a regular program update as the beta trial is now at an end, the update will convert the beta to the regular version.

[jjthomas]

Just got the Outlook hung problem.  I clicked on "stop all on access protection" and outlook "unhung".   Just after outlook unhung I got a popup showing an appointment that is due in Outlook.  Shortly after that I got a another popup from avast!: Unspecified error in AAVM Module.  This is a workday fo me so I can do too much more troubleshooting right now, but I wanted to pass on the latest.

I am rebuilding a RAID5 array and moving several Gigs of files across two different drives, i'e I'm really hammering my drives right now. 

The only other thing I've notice is that Windows Defender is running.  It had previously been disabled.

I hope this helps.

I'll try to look more into things later.

-JJ

[BJReplay]

Was working OK with 4.8.1195, but 1201 is exhibiting all the same problems again.  I've reverted to 4.7, but uploaded dumps and advised Vlk.

Not happy (again).

[calico]

hello,

glad to have found this thread.

under slightly different circumstances, i am having much the same problem as has been described earlier.

i have been using avast for more than a year now, on xp and now vista. have never had any trouble at all with it. yesterday i allowed the automatic update to 4.8.1201 to install and now whenever i startup outlook 2003 with the avast outlook addin enabled, outlook just hangs forever with the outlook splash screen displayed at the point where the avast splash screen would normally appear. it will hang forever until i click on the window at which point it crashes. on next restart it wants to disable the avast addin. doing so allows outlook to function normally.

following some of the suggestions here, i disabled the only other add-in i have installed in outlook, which was my nokia mobile phone manager add-in. i also stopped the internet mail module of avast.

with those things done, i've been able to start outlook up okay with the avast addin enabled and the outlook module in avast running. i still want to restart a few more times to make sure. i'll post again if something goes wrong.

my setup:

outlook2003 with some internet (POP) mail accounts (i.e., gmail) and some SMTP mail accounts
latest avast build 1201
windows vista ultimate 32 with sp1
hp dv6275us laptop
2G RAM
intel centrino dual core proc

hope this helps find a solution. let me know if more info needed.

thanks all.

[ianh64]

Please add me to the list of affected users. AVAST 4.8.1201 which downloaded this morning. Since then, Outlook 2007 is impossibly slow to open or send emails - ie when scanning. During this time, you can see the avast blue icon. It is taking about 2-5 minutes to process each email, including sending. Once the email is processed, its all fine.

Temporarily I have disabled the Outlook/Exchange provider form the Avast Icon in the task bar. Its all running fine now, albeit with limited virus scanning.

Definitely something happened with the 1201 build that I took this morning. Outlook was working fine before that.

How do I revert to prior version of AVAST?

Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1, 4GB RAM. Office 2007. AVAST 4.8.1201.

[mec]

After installed the version 4.8.1201 I have also had problems with outlook 2003 on Windows xp sp3.
Sometimes, but not always, when I open Outlook, the application freezes and in the windows register events  I have an Outlook application hang - event 1002.

With the preceding versions of Avast had never happened.

Note: I use Outlook with two accounts: a POP3 and an IMAP account.

mec

[calico]

i forgot to ask also: how do i revert to a prior version of avast?

or would you recommend just hanging tight for a few days because it seems like something that might be resolved fairly easily/quickly?

thanks

 

[Lisandro]

i forgot to ask also: how do i revert to a prior version of avast?

It's not a good idea to downgrade... Anyway, I suggest an installation from the scratch:

1. Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.
2. Boot.
3. Use Avast Uninstall for complete uninstallation.
4. Boot.
5. Stay off-line (not connected to Internet)
6. Install again the old version: http://filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
7. Boot.
8. Register avast (insert the registration key).
9. Uncheck the programs updates (set to manual).
10. Only then connect to Internet (go on-line).
11. Check and post the results.