how to disable avast home from the command line? vista upgrade issue

[aminoxol]

Hi all,
I'd like to know how to disable avast home from the command line. the reason is that I upgraded  from XPMCE to VistaUltimate without disabling avast(!) and I got  a stop error in the very first boot.

[sded]

Can you boot into safe mode and disable it from there?

[alanrf]

For an OS change - I believe the need would be to uninstall avast while in safe mode. 

If you have the install file for avast fine, if not and you can download it it in safe mode then do so. 

On a reboot (for total safety disconnected from the network) then re-install avast.  avast will require a system restart - connect to the network and restart.  avast will then update the virus definitions to current.

[aminoxol]

first, thanx to both of you for your time
the problem is that i cannot go into safe mode because the vista instalation did not finish (i was so close...., it all happened when i was asked for my password) so i think my only hope is to boot from the dvd and open the comand prompt

[alanrf]

Did you, by chance, create a full backup before you started the OS upgrade?

[aminoxol]

yes, but i dont want to think about spending another 5 hours. maybe the command line disabling will do it in 5 minutes

[alanrf]

The avast structure (and that of other similar products), involving basic level drivers, is not - as far as I know - amenable to the kind of command line operations that you hope.  We can wait for input from the avast team directly but I regret that I believe they will not provide adequate comfort.

Forgive the "cold water" but I think the best would be to restore (I am surprised at 5 hours - my Acronis True Image restore - rarely required - takes less than 30 minutes for my basic system recovery) your system, uninstall avast, and then proceed with your OS upgrade again. 

I understand this is not your preferred route, I regret the extra work it means to you but it represents the basis on which you will move forward and I am sure one that you wish to be as reliable as possible,     

[Lisandro]

so i think my only hope is to boot from the dvd and open the comand prompt

This is not possible at this time... you won't be able to use a command prompt at this time... you're using Vista...
This is not an avast limitation, Vista won't allow that operations... you even have a recovery console...
But it should allowing booting in Safe Mode even if you haven't logged on even once on Vista... maybe I'm wrong.

I still think that Alanrf's suggestions are the only way now...

[aminoxol]

i did a restore overnight so now im working on xp again. i m not sure if i will upgrade to vista any time soon.
btw it wasnt possible to go to safe mode from the first boot, the message i got was something like "'cannot enter safe mode, the installation is not finshed"
once again, thank you all for your time

[Lisandro]

Thanks for the experience (living and learning...).
For sure, if you want to upgrade again, run the Vista compatibility test and uninstall the programs that requires a new installation after Vista is running.