P.C. "Unsecured"

[WillFred]

Hi, clever people! My P.C. is running Windows "Vista" 64-bit (Whatever that means; I'm an amateur at this game) I have had paid-for Avast P.C. Security for several months, and have been happy with it.

However, yesterday, when I switched "On", I got an on-screen message, in the side bar, saying that Avast is "Unsecured. Fix now". When I open the Security Centre I get the options to switch on Window's or Avast's firewall. When I try to set up the latter I get a message saying: "File System Shield provider not found". I haven't the slightest clue as to what that means! The only good news is that Window's own firewall was easily re-installed, so I think the P.C. is safe now, as far as that goes() Meanwhile, the "Unsecured. Fix now" panel in the side bar is still visible, and my Avast system seems to be inoperative.

Help and advice will be very gratefully received, thanks.

[Hermite15]

hi,

and what happens when you just click on the fix now button on Avast gadget? ... anyway you can still open Avast and try to turn on the file shield if it's off. Doesn't really matter what Windows security center says, as long as Avast really runs you're good.

[Hermite15]

oh yeah, if nothing works, go to your program list in Windows, click on Avast and choose "repair", then reboot.

[ady4um]

Just in case, after the "fix now", you should reboot. The same as with the "repair" method, as logos indicated, please reboot before testing if it worked.

Please report back.

[WillFred]

Thanks for your interest, guys!

I followed the advice from LOGOS and AD4UM, and got as far as the AVAST "Repair". When I click on that I got a panel reading: "Error processing package. Please use full update" There are boxes to tick/click on, for: "OK" & "Viewing". Means little to me, I'm afraid!

I can't update AVAST as all access to any action seems to have been cut off. I can get the interface up on screen as usual, but nothing works from there.

If I can trespass on your collective good will, can you advise me from there, please? (Un-install / Re-install???)

[ady4um]

Which edition of avast are you using? Free, Pro or Avast Internet Security?

If you don't know, can you check it in the main GUI of Avast -> maintenance -> "About avast" (or avast tray icon -> about avast)?

[Sitka Larry]

I'm in the same boat as WillFred. I too have a windows Vista 64 bit machine.

I am having this same problem beginning today. The previously mentioned solutions produce the same results as WillFred noted; "File System Shield provider not found" when I try to restart the Avast, and "Error processing package. Please use full update" when I try the repair option in the control panel.

This seems to coincide with a recent Avast update, but my windows 7 laptop, which is also running Avast is having no problems.

I ran MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, a full scan and it found no problems.

To answer another question someone asked WillFred, I'm using Avast Internet Security

[Jeffy Jhon]

First check if there is any third party security softwares installed on your computer, and remove them.
Try to repair Avast from the Programs and feature and restart the comp
if it doesn't help , uninstall and re install avast.
thank you

[WillFred]

Again, thank you everybody for your interest in my situation; I'm really grateful.

In answer to ADY4UM,I'm using AVAST Paid-for Internet Security. It's been running without problems since I installed it in mid-September this year. This followed on from a month's free trial - very satisfactory.

I note that another correspondent, Sitka Larry, is having the same problem now, with Windows Vista 64-bit. Could that mean that the difficulty arises at AVAST's HQ???

I await the results of your collective wisdom - thanks a lot!

[ady4um]

@WillFred,

This is for WillFred ONLY, and for this time ONLY. For anyone else (and for anyone reading this in the future), please do NOT follow the instructions, as the differences between each cases are meaningful enough.

So, WillFred, please download http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_ais.exe. Once you have it in your system, close any other programs, right click on the downloaded file and "run as administrator". Once the installation finishes, please reboot.

If you have or HAD any other security tool, this step may not be enough. After the reboot, please test and report back.

[Cranbry]

Same thing happened to me on all of my computers. Vista 32bit, Win7 32bit... The latest update broke my Avast installation on my older Vista32 desktop so I kept ignoring the prompts to upgrade my Win7 machines. I finally tried it today and it did the same thing. Repairing doesn't work, you have to re-download and reinstall. Any way to avoid this in the future? It's a lot of trouble to go through for that "marketplace" tab.

edit: Sorry, my problem is with the Free edition of Avast. I just noticed OP was referring to the paid version but it sounds like a similar problem with the updates.

[iyogisolutions1]

Hi,

  Since the avast! repair didn't work, then we need to reinstall avast! from scratch.

1. Download the latest version of avast! Uninstall Utility and save it.
       You can download it from http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear.exe
2. Download the latest avast! version that you have purchased and save it.
3. Uninstall avast from Control Panel. Reboot after that.
4. Run the avast! Uninstall Utility saved on 1. Reboot after you run it.
5. Make sure that you dont have any other security software in the computer. If you have, please remove them using the specific removal tools.
   You will get them from http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/
6. Install avast! using the setup saved on 2. Re-Boot again.
7. Check the status and post back with the results.

[Cranbry]

I've had to do this a few times because of that update - It seems to work if you just download and re-install over top. No need to uninstall or reboot before doing so.

[iyogisolutions1]

I've had to do this a few times because of that update - It seems to work if you just download and re-install over top. No need to uninstall or reboot before doing so.

Hi,

    If you reinstall over the top, it may invite more problems.. So we never recommend that.

[ady4um]

I've had to do this a few times because of that update - It seems to work if you just download and re-install over top. No need to uninstall or reboot before doing so.

If you reinstall over the top, it may invite more problems.. So we never recommend that.

Although saying that no reboot is needed sounds "too much" IMO, I would not say that installing over the top is "never" recommended either. It is true though, that a clean installation (after removing ALL remants) usually solves most problems, when the problems are dependant only on avast.

In fact, sometimes the repair of avast fails, and installing over the top (and rebooting) could solve the problem without the need to re-configure avast anew.