AVAST Free 6.x Won't Load

[balls69bc]

Received notice that my AVAST Free 4.8 was expiring in a couple of days and a graphic giving me 3 choices (Free, Home, Professional) popped up.
Wasn't connected to a broadband internet at the time so declined.
Less than 2 days later, when connected to a fast internet, tried to do IVS update in hopes of prompting the return of said graphic. Turns out my signatures were already up-to-date, so no graphic.
Decided to go to avast.com and download the latest free version (6.x), ran the setup program - almost everything agrees with the sequence shown in the support area (i.e, I believe the installation was successful). Was asked to restart my computer (Windows 2000 Pro SP 4, Firefox 3.6.15) 'now' or 'later' and I chose 'later'. Was also asked if I wanted to schedule a full scan at start-up and I accepted. Did a little more work, closed the laptop cover and left it til morning. This morning, I closed all other programs and then restarted. The scan I had scheduled ran at start-up [found two WIN32: Spyware-gen files (WINNT\System32\KKK.dll and winnetdd.dll) which, being protected files, I chose to ignore]. The Desktop didn't show up right away and I ended up with a shortcut on my desktop but no Avast (orange ball) in my System Tray. Have tried double-clicking on the shortcut several times to no avail. Task Manager shows that a program AvastUI.exe is running but I see no signs of it. MY Alwil Software folder is now empty and my Avast Software folder has numerous sub-folders with files in them.
I probably should have just used the Avast 4.8 'Program Update' selection to do this but the upgrade 'offer' was far from clear so that's 'water under the bridge' now.
Any ideas what's happening and suggestions on how I can get back on track? Thanks for your help!

[Dieselman]

Should have read the system requirements first.

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab2

Operating Systems Supported

    Windows 7
    Windows Vista (any Edition excl. Starter Edition)
    Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or higher)

[zerospam]

Should have read the system requirements first.

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab2

Operating Systems Supported

    Windows 7
    Windows Vista (any Edition excl. Starter Edition)
    Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or higher)

It's trivial for the installer to determine whether it's being run on an unsupported platform by calling GetVersionEx . This is just a bug.

On the OP's problem, make an image backup of your disk, run the 6.x uninstaller, reboot, and try reinstalling 4.8.

[Dieselman]

System requirements should always be read by any user.

[doktornotor]

Avast v6 works perfectly fine with Windows 2000 SP4. I would recommend to download the uninstall tool, run it for both v4 and v6 in safe mode, reboot and then install Avast 6 again.

[DavidR]

- Win2k and avast 5.0 (and presumably 6.0) see:

Please make sure you have the Update Rollup 1 installed (it's required for avast! 5):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B54730CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en

[balls69bc]

- Win2k and avast 5.0 (and presumably 6.0) see:

Please make sure you have the Update Rollup 1 installed (it's required for avast! 5):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B54730CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en

Had hoped to see a little more 'traffic' on this topic since no one has yet waded in on the issue of the KKK.dll and WINNETD.dll files listed as Spyware by the scheduled start-up scan (BTW, how can the start-upscan run when Avast 6.x Free won't?).As far as the Windows 2000 Rollup 1 update goes, it is a large chunk of 'fixes, a big download on dial-up (over 38MB) and, since I have always had 'Windows Update' enabled, why wouldn't I already have received all of these 'patches' (I checked the first 8 or so and I don't have them but I don't understand why not)? I am always reluctant to download a bunch of stuff supposed to help since, in my experience, it sometimes just makes things worse. DavidR, can you tell me where (other than from Igor) it says that Avast Free 5.x needs this Microsoft update towork and can you confirm that it also applies to Avast Free 6.x? Thanx

[doktornotor]

To make this short - Avast will fail to install otherwise. Valid for both v5 and v6. Being you, I would be glad that Avast still supports W2000. 

[YoKenny]

See:

The supported operating systems for avast! Pro Antivirus 6.x and avast! Free Antivirus 6.x are Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher (any Edition, 32-bit or 64-bit), Microsoft Windows Vista (any Edition, 32-bit or 64-bit) or Microsoft Windows 7 (any Edition, 32-bit or 64-bit).

https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=750#idt_01

[=SKY=]

Avast v6 works perfectly fine with Windows 2000 SP4.

+1

[DavidR]

@ balls69bc
Since Igor actually works for Avast Software and is one of their senior developers I tend to believe what he has said. Se if you can get a friend with broadband to download it or try a public library if they have broadband Internet access.

If you do a forum search for you will see other instances of this where the installation of the installation of update rollup 1 for win2k resolved their problem.

[balls69bc]

To make this short - Avast will fail to install otherwise. Valid for both v5 and v6. Being you, I would be glad that Avast still supports W2000. 

The installation of Avast Free Antivirus 6.x seemed to go fine(no error/compatibility messages of any kind), it just won't run. Seems to me, Avast should include the requirement for Rollup 1 under 'System Requirements' e.g., Windows 2000 Pro Sp4 + Rollup 1. Also, if it really is required, I would have thought Free 6.x would not have installed on my system (see doktornotor's 11 04 02 8:56:00 PM comments) and that I would have received some kind of error message about the missing Rollup 1. As I have said, I don't understand why I wouldn't already have Rollup 1 since I have always had 'Windows Update' on and downloaded all of their 'critical' patches.

Since it appears that I can still go back to using Avast Free 4.8, that may be the easiest(and safest) thing to do. Anyone know how long Avast is going to continue providing IVS updates for Free 4.8? And, yes, I am very glad that Avast still supports Windows 2000 Pro, I just wish that the migration path from Free 4.8 to 6.x had been more clearly laid out for us users.

[doktornotor]

Well, v4 is dead and vastly inferior to v6. I really do not see what is so horribly hard about downloading and install the Rollup 1 package from MS. You should have installed it about 6 years ago anyway. Also, you have also kinda run out of time not only with avast v4, but with W2000 as well.

[SafeSurf]

Anyone know how long Avast is going to continue providing IVS updates for Free 4.8?

It was supposed to be discontinued at the end of 2010, but now it will be any day now.  Therefore, you will no longer receive virus definition updates unless you update to a newer version of Avast and upgrade your system so that it will work properly.

[balls69bc]

Well, v4 is dead and vastly inferior to v6. I really do not see what is so horribly hard about downloading and install the Rollup 1 package from MS. You should have installed it about 6 years ago anyway. Also, you have also kinda run out of time not only with avast v4, but with W2000 as well.

As long as Avast lists Windows 2000 Pro SP4 as a supported platform, I don't think I should have to apologize for having an 'older' system. The fact that Avast Free 6.x apparently requires additional software, which is NOT mentioned in the requirements, is what has apparently caused my difficulties. Once again, I would simply like someone to offer a straightforward answer as to why Avast 6.x would appear to have installed successfully (with no notifications to the contrary) w/o Rollup 1 when 'doktornotor' said that wouldn't happen and why I wouldn't already have Rollup 1, since I have always had 'Windows Update' enabled and was regularly receiving updates until about 9 months ago (end of MS support cycle?). As far as to why I am reluctant to now download something it appears I should have already had, I have found, sometimes through a difficult and time-consuming experience that, when it comes to computers, "a little knowlege can be a very dangerous thing". I need to understand and 'logic-check' as much of what I am being told as possible ('put the pieces of the puzzle together') since I have to live with the consequences.