no avast icon in system tray - windows xp

[ady4um]

I would suggest that you download the latest stable relevant edition of avast anew. Using a Windows admin account (not a limited account), I would suggest running the installer by again, just over the current installation. After the installation finishes, please reboot and see if the tray icon shows up again.

Please report back.

[Dch48]

I've never had more than one account on any computer I've owned so I couldn't say if that causes issues or not.

[DonZ63]

Hi Dch48,

I do hope your not surfing on XP under the Admin account? Equal to pinning a red flag on your butt when your in a bull fighting ring

[YoKenny]

Hi Dch48,

I do hope your not surfing on XP under the Admin account? Equal to pinning a red flag on your butt when your in a bull fighting ring

Dch48 is not using XP but Windows 7 Home Premium 64 and Vista Home Basic SP2, IE9

[zam]

I would suggest that you download the latest stable relevant edition of avast anew. Using a Windows admin account (not a limited account), I would suggest running the installer by again, just over the current installation. After the installation finishes, please reboot and see if the tray icon shows up again.

Please report back.

Downloaded and installed on top of current version from admin. Rebooted and -- same problem.
However, avast now shows up in the list of icons when I check to hide unused icons. Unfortunately,
it didn't change the problem when I checked to show avast.

[ady4um]

Well, that is at least a progress.

Are you using some theme software?

Could you test with showing all icons (meaning "not hidding any icon"; or in other words, cancelling the possibility to hide them at all)?

In addition, please use task manager -> services -> avast service -> status column -> "running".

Please report back about these 3 questions.

[Dch48]

Hi Dch48,

I do hope your not surfing on XP under the Admin account? Equal to pinning a red flag on your butt when your in a bull fighting ring

The answer to that is that when I do use the XP machine, yes I do everything, including surfing, under one account, which is an Admin account. I am not among the paranoid. I want to be able to do everything I need to do with my machine when I want to do it and not have to jump through hoops or even worse, change accounts. I even hate UAC but am currently living with it on Win 7. As I have said many times, I've been on line since 1999 and have never been hacked or infected by anything.

[zam]

Well, that is at least a progress.

Are you using some theme software?

Not sure what that is.

Could you test with showing all icons (meaning "not hidding any icon"; or in other words, cancelling the possibility to hide them at all)?

I did that, after marking avast as "always show". For some reason, the icon isn't
appearing in the admin account (whether it's marked to hide icons or not) but it
is appearing in the user account, which is marked to show all icons and the avast
icon was marked to always show (when it was set to hide inactive icons).

Yesterday, the icon was appearing with the admin account but not the user account -
today it's reversed.

In addition, please use task manager -> services -> avast service -> status column -> "running".

In the user account task manager/processes it lists AvastUI.exe. In the admin account
it lists AvastSCV.exe as well as AvastUI.exe. There is a memory column that lists
the amount of memory the programs are using.

[ady4um]

In the task manager processes' list, you need to "show processes from all users" to show avastsvc.exe.

But I'm not talking about the *processes* tab, but the *services* tab in task manager. There you should see "avast antivirus" listed, and the "status" column should say "running". Please confirm and report back.

About the "theme" software, is some tool that lets you configure several aspects of the Windows GUI, as colors, resolution, icons, and so on.

When you use the Windows account that shows the tray icon of avast, please take note of:

1_ Screen resolution;
2_ Colors (8/15/24/32 bits, or the number of colors);
3_ Screen frequency;
4_ DPI (dots per inch) for Windows fonts.

Compare the values with the other Windows account, where the tray icon is not showing up. Are the values the same for both accounts?

I'm sorry I need to ask again, but have you cleaned the tray icon cache of ALL Windows users?

Have you installed fonts that are not intended for your EXACT version of Windows (maybe together with some other software, like Office or some Windows Live thingy)?

[zam]

In the task manager processes' list, you need to "show processes from all users" to show avastsvc.exe.

But I'm not talking about the *processes* tab, but the *services* tab in task manager. There you should see "avast antivirus" listed, and the "status" column should say "running".

Not sure how to view that - it isn't listed next to the other tabs (applications/processes/etc.)

[ady4um]

Well, probably I forgot how the XP's task manager is (I'm not seeing it in front of me, but just telling you, from memory).

The equivalent (and more appropriate) method is to run "services.msc" and select avast service -> properties -> startup type status. It should be set to "automatic".

Please try to look into the other questions too.

[zam]

In the task manager processes' list, you need to "show processes from all users" to show avastsvc.exe.

But I'm not talking about the *processes* tab, but the *services* tab in task manager. There you should see "avast antivirus" listed, and the "status" column should say "running". Please confirm and report back.

It's set to "automatic"

When you use the Windows account that shows the tray icon of avast, please take note of:

1_ Screen resolution;
2_ Colors (8/15/24/32 bits, or the number of colors);
3_ Screen frequency;
4_ DPI (dots per inch) for Windows fonts.

Resolution is 1024x768
Colors - high 24 bit
Screen refresh frequency - 60 hz (the monitor is using a generic driver - I'm
going to try to find one for the specific type.)
DPI is set to "large fonts - 120dpi"

Compare the values with the other Windows account, where the tray icon is not showing up. Are the values the same for both accounts?

Tonight the icon is showing in the admin account and not the user account. Last
night it was showing in the user account and not the admin. The settings are the
same in both accounts.

I'm sorry I need to ask again, but have you cleaned the tray icon cache of ALL Windows users?

I think I might have only done one. I'll try again. -- I ran it in both accounts
and both times it said "0 bytes removed". (I remember it said that last time as
well.)

Have you installed fonts that are not intended for your EXACT version of Windows (maybe together with some other software, like Office or some Windows Live thingy)?

I don't think so.

[ady4um]

For the purposes of testing if there is any change in the tray icon, please try changing the fonts in both accounts to 96 dpi and 16 bits colors. Then reboot and review both accounts by setting (again please) the avast icon as "permanently shown" in the tray properties.

Please report back.

Only if that is not enough, continue.

About the tray icon cache, could you please try the manual registry cleaning I posted before? Or is it that "too much" for you? Be aware that making a mistake in changing the registry may leave your system "trashed".

JFYI, if you used CCleaner to clean the tray icon cache, it is always going to show "zero bytes clean", since it is a registry setting and not a file clean up. You would still need to select "clean" in the specific item so to clean the tray cache and then reboot so to show any changes.

In any case, please report back.

[zam]

For the purposes of testing if there is any change in the tray icon,
please try changing the fonts in both accounts to 96 dpi
and 16 bits colors. Then reboot and review
both accounts by setting (again please) the avast icon as "permanently shown"
in the tray properties.

Please report back.

The icons showed up in both accounts after changing the fonts and colors. However,
when I changed it back to the usual setting, it went back to not showing up in
the user account.

Only if that is not enough, continue.

About the tray icon cache, could you please try the manual registry cleaning I
posted before? Or is it that "too much" for you? Be aware that making a mistake
in changing the registry may leave your system "trashed".

I tried the manual registry cleaning but it didn't help.

[ady4um]

For the purposes of testing if there is any change in the tray icon,
please try changing the fonts in both accounts to 96 dpi
and 16 bits colors. Then reboot and review
both accounts by setting (again please) the avast icon as "permanently shown"
in the tray properties.

Please report back.

The icons showed up in both accounts after changing the fonts and colors. However,
when I changed it back to the usual setting, it went back to not showing up in
the user account.

Let me understand, exactly which settings do you have:

A_ For Admin account? Is the tray icon being displayed correctly?

B_ For normal user account?


What you need to find out is which of the settings is the one triggering the problem, exactly.

Is it the fonts DPI? Is it the screen resolution? Is it the number of colors?

Once you find out which setting is, then which values of that settings are the ones triggering the problem?

Is the exact same setting displaying the tray icon in one account, but not in the other one? Meaning, if you set, for example, 32bit colors for BOTH accounts, then one shows the icon and the other doesn't?

Please report back. In the meantime, I'll make some test by myself (so to compare), and then we can report this to the developers.

[EDIT]
PS: Removal utilities for other antivirus:http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/
Please run it for the EXACT security tool you used to use before avast, and run it under Windows Safe Mode.

(Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to put the link in my signature)
[/EDIT]