Booting failure

[Foggy]

Yesterday I received a message from aVast that I needed to restart my computer for the update to be active. I chose later and forgot about it until last night it showed up again. I chose to delay until I was going to log off for the night.

This morning when I tried to boot up my computer I got a message that either I had added new programs or done something to make booting up impossible. It said I would have to reboot in safe mode and correct the problem. It then proceeded to back up what I had and took about 30 minutes then booted itself  in safe mode and told me I would have to restore to factory settings to get back to my programs. I did this but now have no anti virus program installed . Have lost access to a lot of documents and had to reconfigure, printers, ISP's, etc.....I am back to where I was when I bought the computer...almost 4 years ago...lol....how do I repair what the update did to make booting impossible?

I also tried to reinstall my home Avast program and it told me my key code was invalid.

[Foggy]

I see people reading this post but no one responding. A lot like my unanswered emails to the company. Two questions.

1. Is this not a forum to provide help for aVast users by company technicians?

2. Is it normal not to be able to contact any company technical support personnel by any means at this company?


The reason I ask that last question is I was unable to find any phone numbers to contact a real live human being. I came across this anti virus program when I took my computer in to have the power supply replaced in my CPU after an electrical storm. They commented on how long it took my computer to boot up. I told them it had been that way ever since I had installed the Kaspersky antiviral program . Most likely because when I had it installed we had a heck of a time removing the Norton program that was on it and was sure there was residual files that weren't completely removed with the available uninstall method and tools.

They responded to that remark by running a Norton removal tool and uninstalling Kaspersky and loaded it with the aVast program. I had been very happy with  aVast  until this last update and the subsequent booting failure on restart. I do not mind paying for a product, so it being free was not the reason I chose it. But service is a reason I choose pay for a program. I would gladly pay for that service. I guess what I am saying is I feel like I am getting what I pay for here but actually less....I just lost a lot of documents and am now typing away in a company forum giving them free experience about their product.

lmao, now I'm starting to feel used.

Seriously I do need and would like some help.

[Tarq57]

As a user who does not hesitate to recommend Avast, all I can say is sorry, but without any authority.
This was caused (apparently) by a corrupt VPS update, which appears to have now been put right. This is one of only two posts I have been able to make to the forum, I reckon because the forum servers were overwhelmed by demand from users such as yourself.
Since you have restored the original factory settings, I don't know if it is possible to restore your computer to its prior state. Maybe try system restore? Perhaps someone who knows more about OEM machines will know how to do this. (I've never used on. I have a desktop, and installation disks for all software, including the OS.)

 I think that restoring to factory settings may have deleted everything and every file you have placed on the hard drive since you've had it. If there is a chance of restoring any of these files, (that's assuming a system restore does not work) it would be helped by not using the computer, so that any files that re recoverable are not over-written.

 One thing about restoring it to the factory condition, is that there is likely to be a trial version (probably of Norton) still present. The latest version of the Norton Removal Tool (for use after using add/remove programs>uninstall) can be found here.

 All the AV's have their hiccups from time to time.(AVG had a lot of seriously disgruntled users when they brought out version 8. Norton, about a year ago, released an update that prevented users of Chinese-language OS from booting. Given that a fair percentage of the Windows installations in China at the time were probably pirated, that definitely raised the eyebrows of the conspiracy theorists.)
 This appears to have been a rather large hiccup - it's all over the web. It certainly is not going to stop me from using Avast, but I am fairly interested to know what caused this glitch.

 I don't know how many other AV companies have good phone support, for cases like this. Quite likely, if you'd had an AV with a support line available, you probably wouldn't have been able to get through, anyway.

[Foggy]

Thank you Tarq for your response. I was notified by Michal, a support Technician from avast, and here is what he had to say about my situation.

This  behavior is usually caused by having more antiviruses installed simultaneously. We don´t recommend to use two or more antiviral programs at the same time. It can cause many problems and the operating system may become unstable. Also the results of virus scan can be affected.

To remedy the situation, uninstall all the other antiviruses except avast! from your computer in safe mode, please. If it won't help, uninstall avast! in safe mode.

If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me again.


Now this was in response to my query of what to do and he should of been knowledgeable enough to realize I had recovered to factory default, as I had informed him in my mail to avast support. I am sure when I initially booted into safe mode and returned my computer to factory default that the 30 minutes it took backing my system up, it has cached it some where. Hopefully it is not all lost.

I also informed him I had no anti viral or malware programs other then theirs to my knowledge on my computer at the time of boot failure because they had removed them before installation of avast(the computer technicians that replace my power pack and installed avast). Now if AOL or Firefox added some when loading their programs I do not know. Usually they ask if I want to load theirs and I always say no, because of problems I have had in the past with Kaspersky running so slow.

I also am without any anti viral program at the moment because the key code they sent me when I renewed after the 60 day trial is no longer valid. I had saved it on AOL. He did not respond to that part of my mail. Only the booting failure as you can see. I have not given up on avast. I hope they have not given up on me.

In response to your remark on Norton being on here with factory default, you are correct. I will no longer do business with that company and immediately uninstalled the program and used the Norton uninstall tool to completely rid any trace of that program. I was a very unsatisfied client of theirs and will not return to their products. I hesitate to use the words never but am about as close to never with them as one can get. heheheh...I have lived too long to know never, and always, are both very long times and one never knows what circumstances can arise to make those words have to be eaten.

I responded asking for a key code to reload the program. I hope they respond.....I also inquired about how to find my old configuration and how to restore it and hope to get a response to both questions. I do not mind running a beta program and expect there to be a few hiccups along the way.

Thanks again Tarq and this is the first time I have been able to log onto the forums since yesterday as well.

[Tarq57]

Foggy,
were you running Avast 4.8 or Avast5 Beta?
In any case, a full reinstall, having restored the computer to factory default/uninstalled Norton, should do the job.
I don't know how you'd find backup files the computer may have created as part of the restore, but I agree with you; that sounds promising.
Do you still have you AOL email address?
See top of this page.

[Foggy]

I was running the free one, I guess that is 4.8 version, which I thought was a beta since it is offered free. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I did get that version reinstalled and most of my updates performed but am concerned with a lot of personal memos and pdf files I had saved . Most of the stuff I lost was replaceable but not some of it. Especially correspondence and a few programs I would at least like to have access to. I'm just glad I am not actively day trading any more. That would of been disastrous. If I had been, I doubt I would of ever tried a free antivirus program. My sympathy to those that have lost valuable time and money from this company error. I would be pretty po'ed to say the least. From what I have read it looks like my timing was bad to have updated and then logged on. If I had never logged off this may of never happened to the extent it did.

There is no doubt in my mind that the false positive released in this update and my system failure to boot aren't positively related. I am sure lack of open recognition by the company of the extent of this error is due to legal repercussions. I would not like to be in their shoes at the moment. I just need to get some help retrieving that information. I have gotten little help from tech support so far. I imagine I will have to contact outside help if theirs isn't coming forth shortly.

To answer your question, yes I still have my AOL email account and fortunately some of my correspondence is still in there.

[Tarq57]

Foggy, you could try Recuva, by the makers of Ccleaner, to attempt recovery of lost files. If they haven't been over-written with fresh data since they were deleted, I think there is a reasonable chance of finding and restoring them. It could be a laborious process, though, typically the program will find thousands of deleted files, and you have to work out which ones might be the ones you need, from names that are not always present in the presentation.
If you have a different partition on your disk from the partition your wanted files were originally located, install Recuva to that partition. You don't want to be writing more data to that disk than you absolutely have to.
I'm no expert in its use; I use an imaging program to take regular backups of the entire hard drive. (Hint hint nudge nudge  )
(Which means: "Good idea". Not "nyah nyah".)

My 2p is that if you are using a free program, unless it's stated in the EULA, you aren't really entitled to formal tech support.
Glad this forum is generally so good; wish I knew more about how to help.

[Foggy]

I down loaded the Recuva program and all my data is stored on the the computer but unrecoverable by this tool. I am sure (at least I hope) That data is partitioned and saved. The only problem is when I try to recover the data my last date that I can recover is dec.3, 2009. I need some one with more knowledge then I have to help me retrieve it, if that is even possible.

I was curious about something though. aVast has never asked me to restart my computer to make my update complete until the day before my booting failure. Seems a little weird to me, or is that the regular protocol to make up dates operable? This was such a severe error in my situation it may be I'm just paranoid.

I am a relatively new user and have never had such a bad episode caused by any product I have ever used in the last 20 or so years.. It seems to me that missing a spyware or malware virus would be trivial in comparison. A total system meltdown and a complete loss of loaded data and programs is not a pleasant incident. I know this is a free product that was recommended to me by my ISP and computer service business. I am definitely letting them know what happened.

I also know I can't expect much from support here because it is a free product. I feel that this has not been handled well and very unprofessionally how they have notified us about what has happened. Basically no support to users from their technicians. Just a cursory non committal note that was very non specific and not enlightening on how to remedy my problems.

The old saying seems to apply with aVast. You get what you pay for and the only one to blame for my problems is myself. I let my computer service man install the program....I will be sure to pass on what has happened to me to them as well.

Thanks Tarq, you have been very helpful.

[Tarq57]

I was curious about something though. aVast has never asked me to restart my computer to make my update complete until the day before my booting failure. Seems a little weird to me, or is that the regular protocol to make up dates operable? This was such a severe error in my situation it may be I'm just paranoid.

I have seen a prompt for restart following updates a couple of times before, but it is a bit rare, to be sure. I'm not quite sure why it occasionally does that, but most updates do not require a restart. Unless it was a program update you were talking about? It was updated to 4.8.1368 within the last week or so. That was purely coincidental.

Now I'm re-reading your original and subsequent posts, and thinking: did you at any stage get a virus alert?
The faulty update that detected a lot of legit files as malware may actually not have affected you.
What Michal said is a perfectly normal explanation, and without the distraction of the recent update problem would certainly have been the first explanation I'd have looked at.
There is a specific tool to remove Kaspersky, also. I've read reports that it can be problematic to remove. Depending on how the tech that removed it did so, it is possible, I guess, that this was the sole cause of your problem. Trouble is, without a bit more expert analysis you'd never know, for sure.
I suggest taking the computer to a repair shop that has the capability of locating and extracting lost data. Hopefully it is backed up in a system partition somewhere.

[Foggy]

You asked: Now I'm re-reading your original and subsequent posts, and thinking: did you at any stage get a virus alert?

To answer that question , no I did not. I just got an alert that said your computer has been updated but will require a restart to be activated. Then if asked me if I wanted to do it now or later. I recieved that same message several times that day and evening. I kept delaying it until I logged off for the night.

To answer the other question about Kaspersky removal. The technician at the computer shop removed it using a removal tool for Kaspersky just as he did with the Norton removal tool, and I am sure it was completely removed. I was there and watching while they did it. I did not have a problem for the 10 or 11 weeks I was running aVast. Just coincidentally after logging off and making the new update download operable.

Thanks again for your response and concern. 

[Tarq57]

Been thinking about it for a while, and I confess I have no idea why a simple update requiring a restart should have damaged you Windows installation.
The only thing I can think of that might (possibly) have done this is if you cleaned the disk, using any cleaning utility, after the update was downloaded and before restarting, and even then I don't know if it would have an effect.
I recommend you get in touch with the computer manufacturer, see if there is some kind of backup partition on it; see if any of those files that are important to you can somehow be recovered.

I agree it is unlikely to have been as a result of the FP issue. The timing of the post, and similarity of your symptoms led me to jump to a premature conclusion, sorry about that.