Avast icon vanishing

[Kiwi-cass]

I have Vista Home Basic with dial-up & have been using Avast for over a year now. Downloaded the newest version & re-registered just before Xmas & just prior to that was surfing away before I realized the Avast icon was not in the task bar so logged off & hit something on Avast in the start menu & restarted the computer & it came back & stayed.

Last evening noticed the same thing had happened again so I hit on "pin to Start" then logged off & restarted & it was there again. Today just before I logged on noticed it was not there so went through the whole procedure again.   The icon "always displayed" is ticked in customise.  It updated today when I went on with the icon showing so that part is going OK.   The 2 times the icon was gone it did not update.

[DavidR]

Try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select 'avast! Anti-Virus,' click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.

avast! icon missing - As a temporary measure until this is resolved you can create a desktop shortcut for this file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashDisp.exe (the avast icon and interface to the providers).  Right click on the file and select Send To, Desktop (create shortcut). You will need to run this after each boot until the problem is resolved.

What other security based software do you have that might block new startup entries, e.g. Spybot S&D (TeaTimer), AdAware (AdWatch), SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor (StartUpGuard or OnGuard), PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc. ?

Check the option in the Appearance tab of Program Settings. Or Make a link to ashdisp.exe in your startup folder.

[Kiwi-cass]

Thanks for that David.  Have saved the page so can follow your instructions after I log off.   I have Spybot S & D & SuperAntiSpyware & I suppose u count Windows Defender.   The previous version had no problems with the security software so wonder what happened.  I downloaded the newer version about a month before & my registration ran out about the 26th Dec but was away then so did it before I went so had been using it OK till then.

[Eddy]

SuperAntiSpyware? That is NOT a trusted software. I strongly suggest you remove it completely.

If you look at their website under "company info" it says "SUPERAntiSpyware.com is a next generation company"
Well, a little research shows that there is no company registered in the world at any of the chambers of commerce worldwide.

[Lisandro]

SuperAntiSpyware? That is NOT a trusted software. I strongly suggest you remove it completely.

Eddy, it's a trusted one... one of the best antispywares... what's wrong?

[DavidR]

Well I trust superantispyware the product, but I somehow doubt it is registered a company by that name, I don't find that at all strange. Apply the same logic to avast, the company is Alwil Software.

SAS is a product well regarded as one of the current top ranked anti-spyware and recommended at many malware support forums.

[Lisandro]

More info about the company...
http://www.superantispyware.com/company.html

[Kiwi-cass]

Well I did the repair & I did the short cut but neither worked.   Had to go back & do the rigmarole again after I logged off to get the icon back.  Just updated so ok today.   Think I should just download Avast again to my desktop if I can with my crappy signal.   Any other ideas?

[scythe944]

So you're saying the program just "stops" running at any random time while you're on your computer?

I know that viruses and malware could potentially try to shut anti-virus programs down, but if you don't have any other problems, I doubt you have a virus.

Check windows' event viewer under the application section to see if avast is failing.

Can you see the several asw----.exe's running in your task manager, even after the Icon disappears?

You can always do an online scan with Windows Live Safety scanner http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/howsafe.htm

I like to use it because it makes sure that your windows files are good too.

If that shows nothing, then yeah, I'd suggest to remove Avast and re-install.

[scythe944]

You wouldn't happen to have Spybot Search & Destroy's Tea Timer installed, would you? that could be it as well.

[Kiwi-cass]

HI Scythe944,

No when the icon is in the system tray it stays there, but the next time I turn my computer on it's gone again.

Ran Superantispyware the other day & other than some tracking cookies all ok.

No do not have Tea timer installed.

Not sure what ASW's are,  not too computer savy with tech terms. Nor how to find the event viewer.

[Lisandro]

No when the icon is in the system tray it stays there, but the next time I turn my computer on it's gone again.

Something is deleting ashdisp.exe from the startup items... it's difficult to imagine what...

Nor how to find the event viewer.

Start button > Control Panel > Administrative tools > View Events (or Events).

[DavidR]

In the Task Manager, Processes tab, order the list by clicking the Column heading for the Image name. In that list entries beginning ash or asw are likely to be avast processes, see image, report what are running.

[scythe944]

the asw's i was referring to were the actual avast programs.  If you look at your task manager (press ctrl - alt -del) and click on the processes tab, click Image name to organize everything alphabetically.

There should be a few things running by avast. such as: aswDisp.exe, aswMaiSv.exe, aswUpdSv.exe, aswWebsv.exe, and AvAgent.exe

You may not have all of those, but there should be a few running.

I'm starting to think that you don't have a registry entry for avast to run on startup, or maybe it has been removed from your startup list...

Can anyone else help out a bit more on this?

[scythe944]

woops, thanks DavidR, you explained what I just typed. Ya beat me to it!