Avast 5.0677 Free - Non-fuctional?

[TheBattman]

After the last update, Avast! quit working.

The "Scan Now" feature is gone - as no buttons or options show up in the interface.

I have tried ever suggestion on the one other thread I can find that is similar, including uninstalling completely, reinstalling, rebooting after each step, etc. 

Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
HP pavilion
Plenty of RAM

I have again uninstalled Avast! one more time, and installed Avira so I would have some protection - but would rather use Avast, if I can get it working.  I certainly am not motivated to move to they pay version if it isn't going to work any better than this.

[SafeSurf]

Hi TheBattman and welcome to the forum. 

Often times when someone is having difficulty with an AV it can be due to many things.  So let's trouble shoot to see what is going on. 

User OS:  Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

1.     What current version of Avast did you upgrade to?  5.0.677? 
2.     What was the previous version of Avast that you had on your machine?
3.     What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS?
4.     What other security software do you currently have or did you have in the past on this machine including antivirus (AV), and other security programs (including trial software that may have come with your machine)?  If they were in the past, how did you remove them (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?
5.     What are you using for a firewall now?  Windows FW or something else?
6.     When you uninstalled Avast, did you use the Avast Uninstall Utility Tool in Safe Mode or do it some other way?
7.     Did you try the Avast Repair feature?  Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Avast Antivirus > Remove > Then choose Repair function in the pop-up window (Repair).  Reboot.

You only need to reboot after upgrading.

To Uninstall Avast and do a CLEAN install: (You need to uninstall Avira with their uninstaller tool PRIOR to installing Avast, then reboot.)

1. Save a copy of newest version of Avast (5.0.677) for the version you need and save it to your HDD:
Free – http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab4
2. Download the Avast Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for both 4.0 and 5.0).
3. Disconnect from the Internet at this time.
4. Uninstall Avast through "Add/Remove Programs" through Control Panel if possible. 
5. Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 repeatedly) and run the Avast Uninstall Tool.
6. Reboot twice.
7. Install the newest version of Avast and reboot.
7. Get Internet access and update Avast definitions.
8. Register your copy or add the license key for Free, Pro, or AIS.
      Free – http://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php

After responding to my questions, I can guide you better from there.  Also please let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you. 

[TheBattman]

User OS:  Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

1.     What current version of Avast did you upgrade to?  5.0.677?  YEs - 5.0.677
2.     What was the previous version of Avast that you had on your machine? The last of the "4" line.
3.     What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS? Free
4.     What other security software do you currently have or did you have in the past on this machine including antivirus (AV), and other security programs (including trial software that may have come with your machine)?  If they were in the past, how did you remove them (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?
Some Norton product came bundled and was immediately removed via a tool from Symantec specifically for removing ALL traces of Norton. (I have had negative experiences with Norton products in the past).

I have AdAware (latest version)
I/O 360 (Installed after uninstall of Avast as a temporary check for issues - uninstalled via their own uninstaller
Spybot Search and Destroy (does not run all the time - it must be launched to do anything)
And have installed Avira (as previously indicated - using their uninstaller before I again attempted to reinstall Avast

5.     What are you using for a firewall now?  Windows FW or something else?  Windows Firewall -
6.     When you uninstalled Avast, did you use the Avast Uninstall Utility Tool in Safe Mode or do it some other way?  Yes - the Avast uninstall built in to the install program the first round of troubleshooting.  Then found the link here on another thread to the uninstall tool - which I have used under Safe Mode.

7.     Did you try the Avast Repair feature?  Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Avast Antivirus > Remove > Then choose Repair function in the pop-up window (Repair).  Reboot.  Yes - as stated before, I followed every instruction I found on the one other thread on the subject - ran the repair - it made no difference.

You only need to reboot after upgrading.

To Uninstall Avast and do a CLEAN install: (You need to uninstall Avira with their uninstaller tool PRIOR to installing Avast, then reboot.)

Yep

1. Save a copy of newest version of Avast (5.0.677) for the version you need and save it to your HDD:
Free – http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab4
2. Download the Avast Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for both 4.0 and 5.0).  Yep

3. Disconnect from the Internet at this time.
Yep

4. Uninstall Avast through "Add/Remove Programs" through Control Panel if possible.   Yep

5. Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 repeatedly) and run the Avast Uninstall Tool.

6. Reboot twice. Yep

7. Install the newest version of Avast and reboot. Yep

7. Get Internet access and update Avast definitions. Yep

8. Register your copy or add the license key for Free, Pro, or AIS.
      Free – http://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php

Yep
After responding to my questions, I can guide you better from there.  Also please let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you. 

No change -

I don't have what has become hours to diagnose something that really shouldn't be so complicated. 

[TheBattman]

Gave it one more try - following step-by-step, exactly.

After the last reboot - restoring internet access to update the definitions, I clicked the the icon in the tray, went to "update engine and definitions".  The Avast interface came up, with "initializing, please wait"... where it hung up.  A few moments later, Windows popped up a box that said "avast! Antivirus has stopped working.

[TheBattman]

After the above, I rebooted again - launching Avast results in the same - no buttons or options for "scan now", and the updating just sticks at "STEP1/2" - Initializing, please wait....

I have even turned off the Windows Firewall - didn't help.

[SafeSurf]

Please download and run the Norton removal tool to clear them  http://service1.symantec.com/support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039.  I know you said you ran it a while ago, but we have had users say they did this and this tool has found traces of symantec on their system which has caused other AV's not to work (cause conflicts).  Reboot.

In addition, you state that you use Spybot SD.  Do you use Teatimer as well?  Users have reported conflicts with TT and Avast.  You may want to uninstall per the vendor's instructions.  If you wish to totally uninstall Spybot to see if this is causing the problem: Uninstall Spybot S&D w/TT: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html .  In addition, you need to go into Advanced settings to disable the resident protection (2 areas to possibly disable – Teatimer and some IE blocking), then de-immunize if the immunity has been set.  That takes a minute or more sometimes.  The run the program’s own uninstaller, which should be in the Add/Remove Programs.  Reboot.

To confirm, when you uninstalled Avast with the Uninstall Utility Tool in Safe Mode, you uninstalled BOTH versions 4.0 and 5.0?

To save yourself time in future posts, you only need to highlight any areas you wish from my posts and click on the "Quote" button.  Otherwise, just type in your response.  Thank you.

Please download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) as I want to see if malware is causing problems with your download of Avast:
·    Download free http://www.malwarebytes.org/ for an on-demand scanner.
·    Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
·    After install, click update so you have latest database before scanning.
·    Under Settings:
o    General: Automatically Save File After Scan Completes is checked off
o    Scanner Settings:  Check all boxes
o    Updater: Download and install update if available is checked off
·    Once the program has loaded, select "Perform FULL Scan", then click Scan.
·    The scan may take some time to finish, so please be patient.
·    When the disinfection scan is complete, a log will appear in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note).
·    Click the “remove selected” button to quarantine anything found.  You will find the infection details under the Quarantine tab.
·    The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
·    Copy & Paste the entire report in your next reply.

[TheBattman]

Please download and run the Norton removal tool to clear them  http://service1.symantec.com/support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039.  I know you said you ran it a while ago, but we have had users say they did this and this tool has found traces of symantec on their system which has caused other AV's not to work (cause conflicts).  Reboot.

Done -

In addition, you state that you use Spybot SD.  Do you use Teatimer as well?  No Teatimer

To confirm, when you uninstalled Avast with the Uninstall Utility Tool in Safe Mode, you uninstalled BOTH versions 4.0 and 5.0? Yes -

Please download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) as I want to see if malware is causing problems with your download of Avast:
·    I forgot to list that previously - have it installed and have run it - nothing found.

[SafeSurf]

Please download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) as I want to see if malware is causing problems with your download of Avast:
·    I forgot to list that previously - have it installed and have run it - nothing found

Please update MBAM and post via cut and paste of the current MBAM FULL scan log.  Based on these results, I will give you further instructions.  Thank you.