Since you have a 64-bit machine, you cannot do an Avast boot-time scan with the current version, however this will change with the newer version(s) coming out in the future.
You can also try doing an Avast Repair first (assuming this is NOT malware) to try and fix your problem:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.
If this fails to fix your problem, then we need to look for malware as a possible cause. You can still get malware many other ways these days unfortunately.
In the meantime, what Pondus (the previous poster) was suggesting with MBAM, was that this is a
free on-demand scanner that works differently than Avast in checking malware. Many of us use it here and it does not conflict with Avast; it gives us a different opinion and we use it to help diagnose problems.
If you could please run Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) to give another opinion for malware:
· Download
free http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (the blue button) 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 boxeso
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.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.