Lost sounds - Help!!

[grimbo]

Hi All - I have lost all audio notifications from Avast ('Home' latest version). I am running Vista Home Premium.
This is what I have done so far:
Checked all audio/sound settings - nothing is muted, all audio set at 86. Music, Windows sounds, all other audio is okay.
Went to sound applet and disabled all the Avast sounds...then reapplied them one at a time from C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\English.
In Avast program settings I have disabled sounds and re-enabled several times.
Performed a system restore back to when I reckoned it started.
Uninstalled Avast and reinstalled.
All no go.
The strange thing is that all the audio files are in the Alwil Software sub folder 'English' and play direct from there, no worries. All sounds are allocated correctly in the sound applet and all are associated with a speaker icon....pressing the 'test' button, however, produces nothing.
No recent Windows updates, except for Defender definitions updates.
Only recent addition/change...installed Skype 3.8 for Windows.
I got nowhere else to go...any help would be surely appreciated.

  thanks.....JIM

[ardvark]

Hi...

Out of curiosity, did you lose sounds precisely when you installed skype or perhaps some other program?

Best Regards...

[grimbo]

No, I'm pretty sure that was not the case. I can't even say exactly when the sounds stopped working. They don't initiate all that often and many times I have the sound turned down very low (on my stereo amplifier, not on the computer). Skype was installed on 15th September (almost a week ago) and I'm pretty sure that the sounds only disappeared over the last 3 to 4 days but I couldn't say with any degree of certainty. I just mentioned Skype coz it is the only change I have made that is even close.

   JIM
 

[grimbo]

Hey Advark - This issue is now solved...thanks to your 'hint' and making allowances for my rotten memory (C.R.A.F.T.)...I decided to system restore to before the Skype installation and guess what?....yep, the sounds came back.
It appears Skype and Avast do not play together nice....well, not in the sounds department anyway.

Thanks for your help Ardvark, much appreciated,
                               JIM

[grimbo]

Sorry People...this is turning into quite a saga. It appears I have done Skype an injustice. Long story short, after system restore and reinstalling Skype I have all the Avast sounds working. That is the good news...bad news is I have absolutely no idea why they stopped working.

[Lisandro]

It appears Skype and Avast do not play together nice...

A lot of users, including me, has this composition... I can't see a relationship with sounds and these two applications

[ardvark]

Sorry People...this is turning into quite a saga. It appears I have done Skype an injustice. Long story short, after system restore and reinstalling Skype I have all the Avast sounds working. That is the good news...bad news is I have absolutely no idea why they stopped working.

Hi...

Only the Lord knows. It could have been anything, software can be extremeley fickle and unpredictable at times. I'm glad you got it working, though!

Best Regards...