avast 6 caused problem with Outlook Express

[JohnnyBob]

Submitting it to avast! tech support was a waste of time. Here's a copy of their reply (properly munged, of course), and my response (duly censored for bad language)...

----- Original Message -----
From: "avast support center - AVAST Software" <techsupport@avast.com>
To: <me@mydomain.com>
Sent: Friday March 04, 2011 07:32
Subject: [ASW #KJO-237663]: Message from contact form - Technical issues

Dear customer,

thank you for contacting avast! Support Team. According to the information you provide us, we investigated, that your issue isn't related to avast! software but 3rd party software you have installed on your PC. For solution please contact your 3rd party SW vendor or your PC/network administrator.

Kind Regards

"V. N."
2nd level technical support

AVAST Software a.s.
http://support.avast.com
video tutorials: http://public.avast.com/supp

Notice for UK, Canada, US and Australian users:
You can also get free phone support from our partner iYogi phone number (USA) 877-314-5079, UK customers call 0808-101-9216

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: KJO-237663
Department: 2nd Level Tech Supp
Priority: Default
Status: On Hold

Nonsense!
It's almost certainly a bug in your new Scripts Shield.
Proof: I custom reinstalled v6 without the Scripts Shield and the problem with an Outlook Express opening script error disappeared. This also greatly speeded up the avast! Updates of engine/virus definitions/program, which the Scripts Shield is probably also interfering with.
JB

[JohnnyBob]

Correction: I see now why the Updates are so slow...

The avast.setup process runs at BelowNormal priority, which means it takes much too long to complete (more than 10 minutes, rather than a few seconds). I usually have a higher priority application running with intensive processor use, which means that the avast update process can't get enough processor time to finish. So how do I set the avast update process to run at Normal priority?

[DavidR]

Well that is intentional, if it is set to a higher priority it could well impact further on your system performance, particularly on the first check after boot. Once a connection is available, avast will check for updates and that can happen relatively early on in a boot, which could slow the overall boot duration.

I don't believe that there is any way to increase the priority in the UI or in the Task Manager as the self-defence module would most likely have something to say about that.

[Dch48]

I would have to agree with what Avast! told you. It has to be a problem somewhere else. I run Outlook Express and Avast! in XP SP3 without problems. I even changed the settings to not have it go directly to the inbox and OE loads perfectly without any errors of any kind. I would suggest uninstalling all other security related apps and just leave Avast! and the XP firewall. Then see if you still get the errors. I'm almost certain you won't.

[JohnnyBob]

I uninstalled the Scripts Shield (via a custom reinstall of v6), which fixed the problem with Outlook Express, which means the cause was a bug in the Scripts Shield, as far as I'm concerned. I don't plan to do anything more. I've already spent far too much time on this silly antivirus software.