Problems with Avast Home Edition

[DJF]

I just installed Avast version 4.8 Home Edition on a friends laptop running Vista, and it now it doesnt recognise that is connected to the internet, you cannot upgrade avast, or use internet explorer while the on-access protection is running but when you disable it, it runs fine. The computer is not new, and I uninstalled all previous anti-virus programs. It definately is not a conflict caused by the firewall, as I installed ZoneAlarm on it aswell, and I use ZoneAlarm with Avast and have done for ages on my laptop and ive had no infections to date...

Any thoughts?

[DavidR]

Sorry but ZA has previous for this sort of thing blocking application that appear in Program Control as allowed. Occasionally it appears to get a digital form of amnesia

Does it allow ashWebSv.exe and avast.setup ?
- If it does delete the entry for them, reconnect to the internet and do a manual update, this will force the firewall to ask permission again.

What were the previous AVs as this can also have a huge impact on connections, etc. even after an uninstall (Norton a point in question) ?

[DJF]

Yeh Norton and Avira, I could run CCleaner on the laptop, and so remove the old registry stuff?

[Tarq57]

Nothing wrong with Ccleaner, it might help if it nabs the right registry items, but you're better off running the appropriate tools in respect of each AV. http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/norton2008.nsf/docid/2007082908475279?Open
http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html
It may be necessary to do a total uninstall/clean re-install of Avast after running these tools, but see how they go, first. If a re-install looks necessary, use the Avast uninstall utility http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html after the uninstall.

Seems as AV's get deeper into the system - a bit of a requirement these days because of the nature of malware - more and more of them are providing these uninstall tools.

[DavidR]

I really don't think ccleaner is up to this kind of task as some security applications usually aren't that easy to purge.

The Avira AntiVir Uninstall Package & RegistryCleaner, this one from memory can find remnants of other AVs so perhaps run this one first. Take care that it doesn't target any avast files.