avast 4.8.1296 home (on vista-64) "Splash screen for Avast! has stopped working"

[mojo mon]

when i right clicked on avast tray icon and selected start avast!anti-virus:
 it used to work (last ran around 1/11/09), now i get
 "Splash screen for Avast! has stopped working"
 reinstalling did not fix it. get same error using explorer to run ashSimpl.exe,
 however ashSimp2 runs fine???

[Lisandro]

Which skin are you using? Seems it's corrupted...
Maybe, maybe, you try to repair your installation:
Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove. Then choose Repair function in the popup window (Repair).
If this does not help, can you uninstall / boot / install / boot again?

[mojo mon]

i set DEP to be "alwaysOn" changed it back to "OptOut" voila! it works again..
raises question of why avast does DE?

[NHJ]

I have the same problem, and I was already wondering if it was just my system, since I could not find any information about this online, either here or through Google. But in my case it's been weeks if not a few months since it first happened, I am not really sure. At first I thought some virus was constantly shutting down Avast, but I scanned the computer with my laptop (over network, it also runs avast, and there it still works, the laptop runs Vista 32), with TrendMicro Housecall, with Superantispyware, and GMER and none of them found anything more than a few tracking cookies. Then I did the uninstall-reboot-install-reboot-update cycle, but that did not help either.

Currently, like mojo mon says, the splash screen stops working when I try to manually start Avast through system tray, or when I try to manually scan a file or folder through the shell. However, resident protection, and scanning downloaded files (through Firefox) still seems to work normally. I'm using the latest Home version of Avast, I am not at home right now, but I'll post the version number later. I am also running Vista 64, on a 7-month old system with a E8400 processor, 4GB ram and Vista SP1 installed and fully updated. I have not tried doing anything with DEP.

[mojo mon]

google "bcdedit nx"

[NHJ]

Yeah, I am running the same build as mojo mon. I'll try editing DEP later if there is no other way to fix this.

[mojo mon]

avast fails because of the DEP setting
 (at least thats what i saw, i think)
u need to say what yr DEP setting is?

[sst]

Hi, ...

i set DEP to be "alwaysOn" changed it back to "OptOut" voila! it works again..
raises question of why avast does DE?

---
On my Vista x64 "SP2 Beta", i set DEP to be = "Always off".
---

I use "EasyBCD v1.7.2".

-----------------------
Sylvain St-Amand (SST)

[NHJ]

Setting DEP to optOut worked here as well. Thanks!

[CHUCKANDLIL]

Having same problem and need to fix it. Could anyone explain where di I find this DEP thing ?Thanks

[Lisandro]

If you are logged on as an administrator, you can manually configure DEP to switch between the OptIn and OptOut policies by using the Data Execution Prevention tab in System Properties. The following procedure describes how to manually configure DEP on the computer:

   1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
   2. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
   3. On the Data Execution Prevention tab, use one of the following procedures:
          * Click Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only to select the OptIn policy.
          * Click Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select to select the OptOut policy, and then click Add to add the programs that you do not want to use the DEP feature.
   4. Click OK two times.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B875352&x=5&y=10

[CHUCKANDLIL]

Tbh im not a computer person I dont even know what DEP is, so where do i 'Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK'

[Reductase]

Using vista GUI... Control Panel-> System and Maintenance-> System-> System Protection-> Advanced-> Performance..Settings-> Data Execution Protection

[Lisandro]

Using vista GUI... Control Panel-> System and Maintenance-> System-> System Protection-> Advanced-> Performance..Settings-> Data Execution Protection

Thanks. I was not able to translate this pathway to English, so you've done it