avast! vs System Restore XPSP2

[Gillie2tat]

No it's not SP2 - Roper has SP2 but I don't.  And we're both getting this.

[Lisandro]

Is it the problem with sp2... ?

If so, you should find a way to correct it as SP2 is on the majority of the systems right now and I won't expect that Microsoft change anything in their patches

[S.Z.Craftec]

Good point Technical. No one from Microsoft will change anything regarding this, for them "little" issue. I don't have problems at all on my system with Windows XP Professional SP2, but my wife's system with Windowx XP Home Edition, same thing with system restore is happening just like mentioned before... as soon as I disable avast! on her machine, everything works great.

Everybody should know by now that I am the greatest avast! addict, and I won't let anyone bash avast! ever ! Everyone should know that by now, including you Eddy... but this time we really have an issue. I'm not trying to make this look like I blame avast! or something, but we all want this product to be the best like it always was... it's just, if we find something that doesn't work, or doesn't work as we expected, we should act right away, report that and let Alwil crew fix that as soon as possible... of course, if they can reproduce that problem on their machines... I'm not telling that I'm 100% sure we need to blame avast! for this, but sure something needs to be checked, because final release is very close... better to check than sorry...

Oh yes, I forgot to tell, both systems are home built, my creations and I never had any problems with Windows or avast! before. I don't have them now, but this issue is something that doesn't bother me to much, but sure it's something that needs to be checked as soon as possible...

On my wife's computer, there is software firewall (Sygate), Ad-aware SE, Spybot, and avast! - no other additional unnecessary security programs installed. She is connected through my hardware router/firewall. Windows is XP Home Edition out of the Microsoft box with SP2 installed from Microsoft web site... I keep system restore disabled on both computers, but on her when I try to enable it (just in checking purposes), it happens... at first whole system freezes, except mouse pointer... you can not click on anything on the screens... not even on START button... then after few seconds (15-30) mouse pointer freezes too.

I started to believe that something could be connected to what kind of HD we have inside our computers, and how avast! and Windows handles different types of hard drives... it may sound stupid, but I can not think of anything else right now... my wife's HD specs:

ATA Device Properties:
      Model ID                                          WD Caviar SE 80 GB ( WD800JB )
      Serial Number                                     *****************
      Revision                                          77.07W77
      Parameters                                        155061 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 600 bytes per sector
      LBA Sectors                                       156301488
      Buffer                                            2 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
      Multiple Sectors                                  16
      ECC Bytes                                         74
      Max. PIO Transfer Mode                            PIO 4
      Max. UDMA Transfer Mode                           UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
      Active UDMA Transfer Mode                         UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
      Unformatted Capacity                              89436 MB

    ATA Device Features:
      SMART                                             Supported
      Security Mode                                     Supported
      Power Management                                  Supported
      Advanced Power Management                         Not Supported
      Write Cache                                       Supported
      Host Protected Area                               Supported
      Power-Up In Standby                               Not Supported
      Automatic Acoustic Management                     Supported
      48-bit LBA                                        Supported
      Device Configuration Overlay                      Supported

Cheers !

[Eddy]

pk,

all systems I tested with have SP2.
Having XP Home or Pro also makes no difference here.
Whatever I try (settings, disabling/enabling etc etc), it just keeps working.

[bob3160]

en-abeling System Restore locked my machine up tighter than a ducks.......
Required a hard re-boot. After the reboot, System Restore was still not activated.
I have Norton GoBack on my system and therefore don't need System Restore. I only tried to en-able it for testing purposes. Test FAILED. :'(

[Eddy]

Starting to wonder if this is related to a specific (hardware) driver or piece of hardware that is installed........

[S.Z.Craftec]

I told you Eddy, nothing is like we want to bash on avast!

We love it more than anything and I don't know is there anything out there that can make me abandon my beloved antivirus. I don't even wanna test another product of this kind   , and I like to test many other products just to see how everything works shoulder to shoulder with another software on my machine. Of course, after testing it, I just restore my previous system point with my Ghost image file and that's it... ( I don't like those registry changes and key leftovers, hehe)

But, really something is wrong with System restore feature and avast! this time... something is fighting inside, we just need to find out what...

Cheers !

[Gillie2tat]

No no-one is bashing Avast, just that several people have reported this issue - not everyone is getting it but some people are and it's nothing to do with SP2 because I have SP1 and I'm getting it.  You're spot on, this is something that needs to be fixed and the only way it can be fixed is for people to post their system configurations until something matches up.  We haven't enough evidence at the moment.

I had a problem with software from another excellent company who were making graphics plugins, I reported it, they said that two people had now reported the same thing so it was an issue and they treated it as such - they were great, got it fixed and sent me the new version no problem.  That's what this is about:)

[Lisandro]

I have Norton GoBack on my system and therefore don't need System Restore. I only tried to en-able it for testing purposes. Test FAILED. :'(

I usually had it too but now I can't enable it again. I have to uninstall. So it's not Norton GoBack related...

[Gillie2tat]

No it's not because I don't have that on my system:) it might be something to do with one of the Restore functions within it and XP though if both programs are having trouble.

[Eddy]

But, really something is wrong with System restore feature and avast! this time... something is fighting inside, we just need to find out what...

If it was just system restore and Avast, than either noone should have this problem or everyone. There is more going on here that has to do with it imo.

[galooma]

I can only agree with Eddy on this one.
System restore stopped and restarted in around 30 seconds without a hitch.
Would a HJT log from all those having problems help?
Maybe there is something in common that might show up

[Lisandro]

Would a HJT log from all those having problems help?

Nothing related in my opinion...
I'm clean for a long long time... It shouldn't be any infection, it's another thing but, believe, it freezes completely  

[Roper]

Listen folks I really seriously do not want to insult anyone here or bash avast!, my intent is to be helpful after all it would be no skin off my nose to dump avast! go with another and forget this entire saga.

The fact is this is an avast! problem and looking to find blame in OS or drivers or other factors is bordering on denial and it does not inspire confidence (and confidence is everything in security software) if the method of dealing with shortcomings in the software is to look for reasons to say there is no problem.

My systems are absolutely clean of all nasties and are kept in tip top working order, they function perfectly in all regards except this one.

Even though I do not have the time to be messing about on this sort of thing I have installed trial versions of three other payware antivirus programs as well as Antivir and AVG (only one at a time of course) on one system (my XP home box) to see if any of these exhibit problems in any way similar to this and none of them do.

The problem only occurs with avast! and only with On Access Protection running.

The fact that it only occurs on some systems and not all is not an indication that it is not a bug in the program.

[S.Z.Craftec]

Roper, Again, I'm totaly with you on this one... we shouldn't stop with this untill we find out what's going on. Giving up is not an option, right ?

HJT ? No problems at all... I don't have any single key inside HJT log file that doesn't belong in there. Everything in 100% under control. Not even stupid IE add ons or similar stuff in here. My system is clean like so few systems out there. I take care of so many systems in this area, and I'm asuring you that no one takes better care of mine and my wife's system. I really care about all these security related issues. I'll repeat, I can turn off and turn on system restore on my system million of times, without single glitch... on my wife's system, 2 times it will hang on turning system restore out of 5 times...

Cheers !