Avast VRDB strange behavior causing flickering taskbar

[IgotNoIdea]

On the system tray icon, I have avast vrdb icon set to merged and to generate when computer is idle, however, it's behaving rather strange. The icon continuously disappears from the system tray icon and then shows up... yeah just like I said, it'll go away and then come back to the system tray even when I have it set to merged with avasts icon, which it causes my taskbar to flicker when it shows up, every time. I have no idea why it's doing this. It didn't do it before, that is before I deleted the original partition on my computer, but still... it's supposed to be merged and not be showing up individually like it is and acting all strange. Any help would be great, otherwise I guess I need a new anti-virus.

[CharleyO]

***

Even though you have the icons merged, the vrdb icon will be seen when it is active to let you know it is working.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.


***

[Tarq57]

Hi Igni (hope you don't mind)
Welcome to the forum.
Please post your operating system, computer specs, advise if the taskbar is set to "hide inactive icons", what partition it was you deleted and why, and what AV you used before Avast.
Also, any other security applications running (firewall etc.)

Wrote this as Charley O posted. He's quite right; the VRDB icon will separate from the "a" icon when generation is taking place. (Shouldn't make the taskbar flicker, though.) The moment you move the mouse, or use the keyboard, the VRDB icon will vanish; the Avast icon should stay where it is.

[IgotNoIdea]

Well I kinda solved the problem, I had my taskbar on auto-hide, so it would flicker when VRDB would not only split, but DISAPPEAR and REAPPEAR, so when it would reappear, that would cause the flickering on my hidden taskbar. Also, VRDB would automatically run even when my computer wasn't on idle (recall I have it to run when my computer is on idle)... weird. Anyways, I just put it to run on screen-saver and that seemed to stop VRDB from running on its own. I have Windows Vista Ultimate with 2gbs of ram, 640 GPU, 2.4 ghz dual core processor, with PC Tools Firewall Plus, and I just deleted a partition that had Vista Ultimate to restart from beginning. I guess it was VRDB running on its own, and disappearing and reappearing which was causing my auto-hidden taskbar to flicker. Still, I don't get why it kept disappearing like that, is it suppose to do that?

[Eddy]

Since you have set it that way, yes it is normal behaviour.

[Tarq57]

Sounds normal. It will generate for a bit, then in between generating will re-merge itself instantly with the Avast icon. And maybe when it's generating, the taskbar decides - in some idiosyncratic binary process known only to the collective robotic intelligence that MS is -to hide it, even though it's doing stuff. I don't really know. I have experienced the taskbar going to auto-hide on an application that's running, which is partly why I've set the taskbar not to hide stuff. I want to see what's there.

[bmtphoenix]

I'm having the exact same issue with the taskbar unhiding and rehiding repeatedly.  Just came over to Avast from AVG because AVG was insisting on real time scanning my streaming audio, using 40% of my CPU.

Mine also disappeared when I set it to build on screen saver, which is a temporary solution I suppose but not normal operation I would think.

Vista Ultimate 32 bit
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3GHz)
4 GB RAM (yes, I know, hush)

Makes no difference if the taskbar is set to automatically hide icons or not, tried both.

Merging the VRDB icon with the main icon causes it to sort of bounce back and forth.

[Lisandro]

VRDB stores the necessary info to restore executables (*.exe, *.com) files.
VRDB is not a backup system, the stored information is very small (not the whole files).
Besides, only Win32 executables are processed.
VRDB is a generic method, storing file parts that are often target of virus infections. Actually, VRDB scans all the local hard disks for executable files and stores some info about them. VRDB is not a backup system, the stored information is very small (not the whole files). Besides, only Win32 executables are processed. The VRDB data are stored in <avast>\Data\Integ\avast.int

It's an old feature that will disappear in avast 5... so I won't worth that much.
If you merge the icons, the 'i' icon will appear only when VRDB is being generated each 21 days (by default).
If you set it to be generated by screen saver time, yes, the 'i' icon won't appear as the screen saver is on top...