Author Topic: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)  (Read 27841 times)

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Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #30 on: September 27, 2010, 02:26:56 PM »
Done and done. Thanks  :)

Offline CraigB

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #31 on: September 27, 2010, 04:10:33 PM »
Now back to the original problem, is avast still not updating auto or manual?

Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #32 on: September 27, 2010, 04:42:44 PM »
Nope. Still not doing it. Just tried to force a manual. It is still not connecting to the server.

Offline CraigB

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #33 on: September 27, 2010, 06:30:17 PM »
Nope. Still not doing it. Just tried to force a manual. It is still not connecting to the server.
I only have one last idea and that is to delet temp files in users/ appdata/local,if that dont help im at a wits end and will have to get the more experienced users to figure this out.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2010, 08:50:20 PM by craigb »

AdrianH

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #34 on: September 27, 2010, 06:56:43 PM »
Look in users/app data for avast! or alwil folders to see if there are old ones left. Also check your hosts file, Win sys 32/ drivers/hosts ( or similar) and see what is in there.


Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #35 on: September 28, 2010, 01:41:42 AM »
I will try both suggestions when I get back to my computer at home and let you know the results.

blackeyedgurl

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #36 on: September 28, 2010, 06:59:42 AM »
Cael:

You are not alone.

I had previous versions of avast and all of a sudden one day I started getting errors regarding updates. No one could tell me why they were happening or how to stop them. I uninstalled, repaired, reinstalled, ect... and nothing helped or fixed the problem. So I completely got rid of avast.

Today I uploaded the newest version of avast, hoping that the problems were fixed. NOPE.

My first attempt at automatic update resulted in the following error:
Cannot connect to download758.avast.com

So I turned off auto updates and tried to do it manually. Same error.

To say I am disappointed that avast! still hasn't fixed this problem is an understatement.

I am hoping someone can figure it out. Because I love the product, but I hate that I can't update it.

IBM Think Pad  XP SP2
No infections (as per malwarebytes and an avast! scan)
Connected through high speed cable internet
No firewall outside of Microsoft's which is turned off

Update settings:
Manual Update (otherwise it is constantly erroring out on me) for definitions
Ask When Available for program update
Proxy settings: Auto detect (using internet explorer settings)

I did email avast! customer support when I experienced my first round of problems, I never received a reply, even tho I sent them 3 emails over the course of a month.

I do not have the most updated version of IE, does anyone think that this may be causing issues with the proxy settings? I only tend to use firefox, so I don't even know how old my IE browser would be.

Any thoughts? Cael is not the only one, I know of several people who have gotten rid of this software for the same reason.

I would really like to find a resolution so I can continue to use this software, which served me well for years!

-A

Offline CraigB

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #37 on: September 28, 2010, 08:24:22 AM »
Cael:

You are not alone.

I had previous versions of avast and all of a sudden one day I started getting errors regarding updates. No one could tell me why they were happening or how to stop them. I uninstalled, repaired, reinstalled, ect... and nothing helped or fixed the problem. So I completely got rid of avast.

Today I uploaded the newest version of avast, hoping that the problems were fixed. NOPE.

My first attempt at automatic update resulted in the following error:
Cannot connect to download758.avast.com

So I turned off auto updates and tried to do it manually. Same error.

To say I am disappointed that avast! still hasn't fixed this problem is an understatement.

I am hoping someone can figure it out. Because I love the product, but I hate that I can't update it.

IBM Think Pad  XP SP2
No infections (as per malwarebytes and an avast! scan)
Connected through high speed cable internet
No firewall outside of Microsoft's which is turned off

Update settings:
Manual Update (otherwise it is constantly erroring out on me) for definitions
Ask When Available for program update
Proxy settings: Auto detect (using internet explorer settings)

I did email avast! customer support when I experienced my first round of problems, I never received a reply, even tho I sent them 3 emails over the course of a month.

I do not have the most updated version of IE, does anyone think that this may be causing issues with the proxy settings? I only tend to use firefox, so I don't even know how old my IE browser would be.

Any thoughts? Cael is not the only one, I know of several people who have gotten rid of this software for the same reason.

I would really like to find a resolution so I can continue to use this software, which served me well for years!

-A
You should definatly upgrade to sp3 as sp2 is no longer supported and if you are running an older browser than ie8 you should also upgrade this for safety and then retry avast and if no luck place you post's here in the forum where you will recieve help alot faster and one of the more experienced members might get you to send a crash dump log for them to analyse.

SafeSurf

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #38 on: September 28, 2010, 10:55:48 AM »
You should definatly upgrade to sp3 as sp2 is no longer supported and if you are running an older browser than ie8 you should also upgrade this for safety and then retry avast.
I agree that both the original OP and blackeyedgurl need to upgrade from SP2 to SP3 as this opens them up to a huge security hole.  Also, check your other software and browsers to see if they are up to date with free Secunia Software Inspector http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/, which will give you the vendor's director download in case you need to update your software.  Many of us scan our systems weekly since software is changing constantly.

@ Cael,

I agree with everything craigb has suggested.  Please check to see if you have the Microsoft Visual C++ Package installed on your machine.  Look in Add/Remove Programs to see if you have Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package listed.  If not, download the file (see below for links) and restart your machine.  You most likely should have 2 files on your machine -- 2005 and 2008.

When folks are having troubles with Avast installs and similar it could also be a dependency problem. Make sure you have Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package installed and updated BEFORE you attempt to install Avast.  Actually this is good general advice anyway, for maximum compatibility and in order to avoid problems with applications written in Visual C++ it is always a good idea to have all the C++ redistributables installed and fully updated.  Many programs require them to function properly; one important example is ATI drivers.  It is often seen when the installs went bad or were unable to install the drivers because of either missing or not updated C++ Redistributable Package.
 
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=766a6af7-ec73-40ff-b072-9112bab119c2

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=2051a0c1-c9b5-4b0a-a8f5-770a549fd78c&displaylang=en

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a7b7a05e-6de6-4d3a-a423-37bf0912db84

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x64)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=bd512d9e-43c8-4655-81bf-9350143d5867

Let us know if you have this on your machine already or not.  Thank you.

Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #39 on: September 28, 2010, 11:01:53 AM »
OK.

********************
Craig.

There is no users/ appdata/local.

I have All Users/Application Data but there is no Local folder in it. I did a CCleaner earlier and all my temp internet files and all cookies, history and the like were deleted as part of the clean up, if that is what you were looking at deleting.

There is also a <individual user>/Application Data but again, no Local folder in it. That one is clean too, as it is my normal user account that I use and CCleaner cleared that.
*********************
AdrianH.

There is a Alwil Software folder in my All Users/Application Data folder. It has only Avast5 in it.

My Windows/System32/Drivers folder does not have a Hosts folder. There is a etc folder with the following files in it:

hosts
hosts.msn
imhosts.sam
networks
protocol
services

That's it
**************************

Anything else you guys need?

Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #40 on: September 28, 2010, 11:06:04 AM »
Safesurf, MS C++ is there, both 2005 and 2008 versions. In fact, I have 2 x 2005 versions installed, for some bizarre reason.

Also, I do not have problems with my ATI drivers.

Blackeyedgurl did mention something that might be of bearing: I am using Mozilla Firefox 3.5.13 as my primary browser, if that is of any importance.

Offline CraigB

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #41 on: September 28, 2010, 11:14:41 AM »
OK.

********************
Craig.

There is no users/ appdata/local.

I have All Users/Application Data but there is no Local folder in it. I did a CCleaner earlier and all my temp internet files and all cookies, history and the like were deleted as part of the clean up, if that is what you were looking at deleting.

There is also a <individual user>/Application Data but again, no Local folder in it. That one is clean too, as it is my normal user account that I use and CCleaner cleared that.
*********************
AdrianH.

There is a Alwil Software folder in my All Users/Application Data folder. It has only Avast5 in it.

My Windows/System32/Drivers folder does not have a Hosts folder. There is a etc folder with the following files in it:

hosts
hosts.msn
imhosts.sam
networks
protocol
services

That's it
**************************

Anything else you guys need?
I forget that your on xp and it doesn't show up the files the same way it does in win 7, SafeSurf might have a better idea about this.

SafeSurf

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #42 on: September 28, 2010, 11:28:26 AM »
Cael,

You definitely need to upgrade FF to 3.6.10.  It sounds like you have a lot of outdated software and browsers.  All the more reason to run the Secunia scan.

But from FF, click on Help in the upper toolbar > Check for updates.

Cael

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #43 on: September 28, 2010, 11:40:27 AM »
Safesurf, I have updated FF to 3.6.

It is not surprising that I have a lot of older software. I run a lot of legacy programmes and I have my OS where I want it: stable. MS products have a history of going catastrophically wrong when upgraded, especially where legacy programmes are concerned.

On top of that, I had a run in with MS about its stupid Windows Genuine Advantage nonsense. It is not an "advantage" when it hijacks your internet connection to send data about your system and usage back to MS. The customer service idiot keeps telling me that it is harmless and should be installed, totally ignoring my instructions to let me know who to get rid of it when it was halfway installed (managed to stop it in time). In the end, he just said that it cannot be done, which was absolute BS. I terminated it manually (it was, amongst other things, stuck in my Startup folder).

Since then, I have been extremely suspicious of the automatic updates feature on my Windows.


Secunia just completed its scan. Only 3 updates required: SunJava 1.5x and two Adobe Flashplayers 10.x
« Last Edit: September 28, 2010, 11:41:58 AM by Cael »

SafeSurf

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Re: Still have problems with Avast 5.0.677 (free download version)
« Reply #44 on: September 28, 2010, 11:55:21 AM »
So you now have FF 3.6.10?

And after running PSI, you updated the insecure software it identified?

The problem with insecure software is that it leaves you very vulnerable to security holes, and unfortunately the bad guys are getting smarter and quicker at trying to do nasty stuff to our machines making it hard for us to keep our machines clean unless we take extra precautions.  I understand how you feel about the MS updates, but you can select "Custom Install" and pick which ones you want, which I would suggest, otherwise you are not installing the many security patches that you need.