Yes, I did read over that procedure, but since it involved modifying someone else's registry and then intentionally blue-screening their machine, I wanted to do a little digging first before going that route. (Am I correct in assuming that this key could be added and then removed without ill effect?)
I've gone through quite a number of steps already (removal, system cleaning, installation of new build, checking event viewer, checking Avast FAQs, providing a dump of the stalled process, etc.) as they've been suggested, and they lead no closer to figuring about what might be happening. I initially was told that Ashavast requires admin privileges to run, and that was later corrected. So I'd still like to have some idea about:
- What does the Ashavast executable require to run?
- When the process is stalled, I have to kill Active Skin Helper to shut down. Is this an outcome of the stalled process or the problem?
- When I check the security settings of the actual Avast.exe file, it indicates Read as well as Read and Execute for ALL USERS. Is that correct and is there any other file whose privileges I should be checking?
- Why would running functions as a local user via the System Tray work but the same functions not work via Ashavast.exe? Logic says it's not the function causing the issue, but something else.
- Are there any known conflicts with other applications?
Any answers your technical team would have would be appreciated. I have the sneaking suspicion that even when a full system dump is created, there won't be a definitive answer...