Avast5 GUI problem--Update Settings tab--"radio" buttons not visible

[Union_Thug]

First time posting, LONG time lurking. Let me say at this point that I am very pleased with this product, I have been using it since last August when my previous AV--AVG 8--FAILED to prevent/detect/heal/ delete or quarantine 2 infections in 3 months, it was Adios AVG, buenos dias Avast4, and now Avast5. I LOVE the new sleek GUI, I never did care much for the old look but have been impressed with your company's product since day one, and continue be to this day.

Now on to the main reason for this post:

The buttons to choose method for engine & database defs, and prog. defs are not visible. I have included a screenshot below, I'm sorry if it's too large, I'm not very good at "resizing/attaching". They are still "there", just not visible--I have to "feel around" with my mouse pointer whenever I choose to change my update settings from Automatic to "Ask when an update...". Not a major problem, it's more of a minor annoyance. Changing back to automatic is easy--just click the "Fix Now" button on the main GUI page.

Do any of you good Avast evangelists know what the problem and/or fix may be?

Avast5 latest version
Dell 2200 Notebook
XP SP3
FF 3.6  & IE8
OA Firewall
(ONLY) 512mb RAM (could this be main part of the prob?)

PS: Contrary to a popular topic from about 2 weeks ago, I DO NOT in any way shape or form think that Avast are "Thieving Ba$t*rd$"  

(Image deleted)

[DavidR]

Are these radio buttons (or check boxes) missing (not visible) from any other areas of the avast! Settings ?

Have you changed any settings in the Basic, Appearance section, e.g. the Use special graphics effects (....) ?

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.

Though I don't believe this is directly related but it might be worth ensuring all remnants of avg are gone:
- AVG8.x (or higher) Remover, download tool from here, http://www.avg.com/download-tools there is a 32bit and 64 bit windows version, ensure you use the correct one.

[olddog]

Well that's certainly weird. I've tried all sorts of screen resolution, sizing, bit depth and effects settings and I can't get that to occur on any of my XP machines.

The Dell 2200 does share 128MB of it's main memory with its video, so with only 512MB total, it doesn't have a lot to play with but I don't know whether it could cause this particular problem. Given that the button functions are apparently still working and it is just that they are not visible, it suggests a video related problem, maybe something with the video drivers. Have you tried changing the video resolution from say 1024x768 back to 800x600 to see whether that makes any difference, or perhaps try changing the color quality setting. (Control panel->Display->Settings).

On my XP machines, when you hover the cursor over an outer "button" circle, a ring inside the circle changes from the background color to a light orange color, is this occurring on your screen? Could you also post what your video settings are.

I hesitate to ask because it doesn't really seem a likely cause for this particular oddity, but how did you remove AVG before you changed to Avast, did you use the cleanup tool?. And the mandatory question, have you completely shut down the Dell since the install of V5 (not just gone to standby or hibernation) and then restarted it.

I guess the only other suggestion I can make would be to maybe try a clean install of Avast, particularly if you installed version 5.0 over the top of 4.8. First download a complete install file for the current version 5.0.462, and also the Avast5 clean up tool from the Avast site first, then uninstall V5, run the cleanup tool to remove any vestiges of V4 and V5, then reboot before reinstalling V5 from the new package.
 

[Union_Thug]

Well this is weird...and slightly embarrassing---Theyyy'rrrre Baaaa-aaack!

(Image deleted)

As quickly and mysteriously as the problem occurred, it's resolved itself.

@DavidR:

Are these radio buttons (or check boxes) missing (not visible) from any other areas of the avast! Settings ?

No, only the two I mentioned.

Have you changed any settings in the Basic, Appearance section, e.g. the Use special graphics effects (....) ?

No, I only "tweak" the updates settings, depending on the type of browsing/computing I am doing. I did, however only recently update to V 5.0.462 from 5.0.316, perhaps 2-3 weeks ago, and things were fine until today.

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.

Great minds think alike! lol-- That was what I was going to attempt as my next step had the problem persisted or had I not gotten a resolution by posting to this forum, which, by the way is another reason why I like this product. So many knowledgeable and helpful persons--like yourself--are ready and able to help.

Though I don't believe this is directly related but it might be worth ensuring all remnants of avg are gone:
- AVG8.x (or higher) Remover, download tool from here, http://www.avg.com/download-tools there is a 32bit and 64 bit windows version, ensure you use the correct one.

I agree, I don't believe it's relevant to this issue--having uninstalled AVG in Aug '09 and installing Avast4, then updating to subsequent versions, etc since then without issues. But since you (and "olddog") asked, I will address this question should any subsequent users have the same issue I described and stumble upon this post, they could safely rule this out as a cause. I uninstalled AVG through the uninstaller that came with the program--installed Avast, had "issues"-- eventually came across a "fix" on one of the forums which told to uninstall using the specialized tool for BOTH products. To do this I actually had to re-install AVG, then uninstall with the tool--then reinstalled Avast4 at the time. I also used other scanners and tools to manually search for "leftovers" from AVG and other AV's I previously had installed--(tools used: "Everything"-- RegSearch by SteelWerx--Autoruns and a few others. I actually came across some remnants of a trial version of Eset I used about three years ago.
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@olddog:

Well that's certainly weird. I've tried all sorts of screen resolution, sizing, bit depth and effects settings and I can't get that to occur on any of my XP machines.

And the "resolution" is just as weird. The possible issue with AVG was not a cause as I explained above. The possible solution of doing a clean re-install is moot at this point, but I will point out that I did not install 5 over top of 4.8--I uninstalled V4.8 using the specialized tool, did a clean install of 5., updated to 5.316, and now (2?? wks ago?) updated to 5.462.

I will attempt to address the other points of your helpful and informative reply ASAP, however I have a family "situation" to attend to and don't know if that will be any time soon.

Thank you both, DavidR & olddog (GREAT user-name, BTW) for your valuable and informative replies.
Avast Evangelists ROCK!!!

[DavidR]

No problem, glad I could help.

Well since it didn't affect other areas of the UI I would put it down to a graphics glitch, unless it were to become a regular issue. If you only have 512MB RAM and if some of that RAM is allocated/shared with an onboard graphics chip on the motherboard, that could be an area to look at.

Welcome to the forums.

[Union_Thug]

@olddog:

The Dell 2200 does share 128MB of it's main memory with its video, so with only 512MB total, it doesn't have a lot to play with...

An easy fix. Add more RAM, No? It certainly is cheap enough. I plan to do that within the next few days.

Given that the button functions are apparently still working and it is just that they are not visible, it suggests a video related problem, maybe something with the video drivers....

Ugh. Finding Drivers for someone with my limted knowledge/ experience/ and most importantly PATIENCE usually degrades into fistfull's of hair being removed from my already thinning scalp. However, I recently read about a neat tool by Kaspersky--GSI Parser (read this from Raymond): http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2009/06/22/detect-incompatible-software-malware-infection-and-program-errors-with-kaspersky-gsi/  Anyhoo, I decided to take a shot and try it. At first result, I must say I am cautiosly optimistic. If you are unfamiliar with the tool and would like to take a look at my results, go here: hXXp://www.getsysteminfo.com/read.php?file=(PRIVATE INFO REDACTED) Edit to add: It detects EVERY Avast (and Online Armor FW) file as "possibly incompatible software(s)"   I would think that this means incompatible to KASPERSKY, so no big surprise there, No? Also MBAM & SASW are listed as incompatible, again no surprise. It did give me a clean bill of health in the possibly infected category.

If you are familiar with it and have any opinions on it's usefulness/ reliability/ etc, be they good, bad or indifferent, I would appreciate it if you would share them with me/us. I will add that this tool lead me DIRECTLY to the correct page @ Intel to download a new Plug n Play driver, which I downloaded and installed flawlessly. The whole process took me about 45 minutes to complete, whereas had I attempted this on my own, it surely would have taken HOURS...with a low probability of success and a high probability of me downloading either the wrong driver or an unnecessary one.

Have you tried changing the video resolution from say 1024x768 back to 800x600 to see whether that makes any difference, or perhaps try changing the color quality setting. (Control panel->Display->Settings).

I tried that. All I can say is YIKES!!!! CHANGE IT BACK! But I do appreciate the suggestion anyway. No blood, no foul.

On my XP machines, when you hover the cursor over an outer "button" circle, a ring inside the circle changes from the background color to a light orange color, is this occurring on your screen? Could you also post what your video settings are.

Yes the same things happens when the buttons are being displayed correctly, no it did not happen when the buttons were in their mysterious "invisible" state.

To quote one of my all time faves, John Lennon: Nobody told me there'd be days like these...Strange days, indeed....Most peculiar mama.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10t32X5wvI&feature=related

Sorry so long winded here, but I would like to pick your brain, (which is clearly worth picking) while I have your attention. THX again, it is greatly appreciated.

"Thuggie"
Edit to Remove Private Info. 3/16 10:45 PM

[Union_Thug]

I suspect that RAM, or rather lack of RAM is mostl likely the "culprit", and will address that by adding RAM to bring me up to 1gig. I did swing by the Intel Driver Download site and run their diagnostic tool, which showed this result for Graphics Driver:

Product Detected       Intel® 915GM
Current Driver Installed    6.14.0010.4609

A customized computer manufacturer driver is installed on your computer. The Intel Driver Update Utility is not able to update the driver. Installing a generic Intel driver instead of the customized computer manufacturer driver may cause technical issues. Contact your computer manufacturer for the latest driver for your computer.

A subsequent visit to the Dell D&DL page @ support showed no OEM version newer than the one I have installed currently.

I have had some other graphics glitches in the last few days...Example: the lower right corner of the taskbar sometimes becomes "smudged" for lack of a better descriptive sometimes when viewing YouTube videos.

[olddog]

...If you are familiar with it and have any opinions on it's usefulness/ reliability....

Nick (I hope I have that correct),

I had a look at your results - Well it certainly produces a deal of information, and in the right hands could be a useful tool (though the fact that it tends to cast doubt on some of well known and long established competitors products is a bit sus).

A very good rule of thumb is not to use generic updates for system drivers on any branded PC, for example Dell, Compaq, Toshiba etc, as quite often these manufactures need/use custom versions to match their hardware. I work on the basis that if there is an inherent problem in a driver used in any of these branded products, particulary when the model has been around for some time, these larger manufacturers would have released an update. If they haven't, then I assume that the driver that came with the machine will do the job. If you suspect a driver might be corrupted, then by all means uninstall it and reinstall the original one again.
 
I have seen a number of different problems with on board video controllers that use shared memory, even when there is plenty of system memory to share. In most instances the on board video works well, but some software seems to manage to tangle with the memory being used by the video, and the result is generally not pretty. That said, in your situation I would increase the memory to at least 1GB. It could make a significant difference to how your PC performs.

[Union_Thug]

Nick (I hope I have that correct),

Actually, it's not Nick. This laptop was a gift from me to my Dad Christmas '05---he was Nick. He passed away a year later (esophageal cancer). Not to bore you with details, but this box sat idle in a closet for two years until I moved in w/my mom who is 84yrs & I am now caring for. I tried to send a PM to you w/this & more info so as not to clutter up the threads, but received a message saying you are not allowed to send messages.() Is there some sort of post requirement before this feature is enabled?

As for the RAM issue, a friend suggested this site: http://www.memoryx.net/ Ever use them?

Thank you again for your concise & detailed replies, it remains greatly appreciated!

Joe aka "Thuggie"

[DavidR]

- The problem comes from drive by spammers, who having registered put objectionable or commercial links in their profile signature to try and gain link promotion, etc.

There have also been cases of the PM function being abused to spam forum members, so you will notice that you can't use the PM function either.

Unfortunately because of the actions of others legitimate members suffer by the actions to prevent this spamming.