Topic: Anyone use Avast ?

[daveeb]

Mine "upgraded" itself yesterday to a brand new version which looks very different to the older one (now on ver 5.0.545). Trouble is it was OK yesterday but today it's not working. No Avast related processes are showing in task manager. I can't even reinstall it as the new version arrived automatically and overwrote the old one.

I'm starting to run out of freebie options, the only one i haven't tried is Avira. Anyone else having AV troubles with Avast ?

[sam]

what version of windows are you running?

Might be worth deleting Avast and trying a fresh install, sometimes these updates can really mess things up.

[sam]

this looks like an interesting alternative though: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20007995-12.html

[davy51]

I use onlin armour
Seems to work well without using a lot of resources


http://goo.gl/bz6Z

[daveeb]

Well i tried uninstalling/reinstalling avast and encountered the same problem i.e. it wasn't active and kept baulking when i tried to get updates. I uninstalled Avast and tried Avira with exactly the same result. Now in a mild viral fuelled panic I tried a system restore to before i installed the new Avast, and of course it couldn't restore to that date (only 2 days ago!). I finally tried MSE and that seems to have worked, a scan brought up nothing. I think MSE is OK but if anyone knows different please give me the bad news 

[Simon]

MSE seems to have a good reputation, Dave. 

[sam]

that's crazy, silly windows. I have to say since going to Linux a number of years back I don't miss the constant worry of viruses.

[daveeb]

Thanks guys  MSE seems very resource friendly if nothing else.

[sam]

we should probably update our list: http://www.pc-pals.com/smf/antivirus.php

any other recommendations anyone?

[Rodders]

Ashraf is one of the good guys and has been around for a while.  His Security Freebies page HERE is worth a read.

[sam]

interesting read Rod. I'm going to try avast on my virtual machine. I decided I wanted to play a couple of games that I was having problems installing in linux.

[daveeb]

Well i spoke too soon  When i booted up today MSE failed to load. error code 0x8007064e. I'm totally stumped on this one. I can't see any settings in Zone alarm that may be preventing essential files from operating. Any ideas ?I'm starting to think drastic options of reformatting here.

[daveeb]

Just found this in event viewer happened last night, ms knowledge base has nothing to say about it. There's also a mention about failing the genuine validation test this morning although the os passed last night to enable me to download the program in the first place.

Microsoft Antimalware Configuration has changed. If this is an unexpected event you should review the settings as this may be the result of malware.
    Old value: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Scan\SFCState = 0x1
    New value: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Scan\SFCState = 0x7

[davy51]

I downloaded Avast yesterday and ran it alongside comodo firewall/anti virus and online armour firewall and antivirus

Seems to be working fine here


I had the same problem with A-squared after an automatic update and a windows update

Its possible the update is what messed it up

[sam]

Well i spoke too soon  When i booted up today MSE failed to load. error code 0x8007064e. I'm totally stumped on this one. I can't see any settings in Zone alarm that may be preventing essential files from operating. Any ideas ?I'm starting to think drastic options of reformatting here.

after looking around a bit it might be that your previous antivirus tool wasn't fully un-installed. You might need to use their uninstall tool - http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility

To uninistall MSE run the exe with a /u flag from the command line. For example:

mse.exe /u

Then I'd give MSE another install. Not sure if this will help.

If MSE is still giving issues you could submit a ticket to MS: https://support.microsoftsecurityessentials.com/

More on running MSE, once installed anyway at the CL can be found: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/updating-microsoft-security-essentials-using-command-line/