Avast problems

guzzbuzz

Hi, can anybody help or advise please.

Im running a desktop PC, win 7. Using the Avast free version.

For some reason the Avast user interface is not loading on start up and im getting the message "AV SERVICE IS NOT RESPONDING"

I called Avast freephone number and they remotely accessed the PC and said i have a number of issues and basically tried to get me to pay to fix them. I said Id call them back as i didnt think it was worth paying.

When they accessed the PC remotely they went into REGEDIT and said there is a program called "CHROMIUM" and that was causing issues in the background of my PC

They also went into something called autorun "SYSINTERNALS" (https://www.sysinternals.com) which showed files highlighted in yellow and pink and said they are causing issues too

Driver tool kit
FXDRV32

And the 3rd one i cant make out but it appears to be a system 32 file of some sort


So what should i do? Manually try and remove the files they said are harmful, remove Avast and get something else or last resort pay them then money? (i dont really want to pay them anything as im pretty sure this is easily fixed!)

Any advice please?

Neil_Jones

First port of call for any software problem:

Uninstall it from Control Panel -> Programs & Features, restart the machine and then reinstall it.

Chromium shouldn't affect Avast, though as its basically Chrome in different colours.

giraffe69

How about removing Avast (thoroughly), installing, say, Windows Defender and see if that resolves the problem.
Are you sure it was Avast you contacted and who went in to your files?

guzzbuzz

Neil_Jones wrote: »

First port of call for any software problem:

Uninstall it from Control Panel -> Programs & Features, restart the machine and then reinstall it.

Chromium shouldn't affect Avast, though as its basically Chrome in different colours.

Thanks, i thought i needed to use the avastclear tool to completely get rid of it? I think i recall taking it off once before via CP but it didnt completely get rid....

guzzbuzz

giraffe69 wrote: »

How about removing Avast (thoroughly), installing, say, Windows Defender and see if that resolves the problem.
Are you sure it was Avast you contacted and who went in to your files?

I think i already have windows defender, i did just check and it says its off, maybe Avast turned it off when i installed it

Yeah i went to Avast.com and got the technical support number from there so im sure it was them (although i did think twice when they asked for remote access!)

Tiexen

you should also use CC Cleaner (The Free version) it can also remove programs

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

guzzbuzz

Tiexen wrote: »

you should also use CC Cleaner (The Free version) it can also remove programs

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Thanks, i already had that but forgot to run it.

So i ran malware bytes (it didnt pick up anything) i ran CCleaner and now ive completely removed/uninstalled Avast

I tried to turn on windows defender but it said "this program is blocked by group policy" whatever that means?!
Windows firewall is turned on and seems to be running ok.

Anyway, should i just install something different apart from Avast or should i give Avast another go?

DoaM

My suggestion would be to install Bitdefender Free AV.

The "group policy" thing will probably be a registry entry. Open regedit, go to the top and then search for DisableAntiSpyware ... if this exists and has the value of 1 then change the value to 0. This might allow Defender to start working.

guzzbuzz

DoaM wrote: »

My suggestion would be to install Bitdefender Free AV.

The "group policy" thing will probably be a registry entry. Open regedit, go to the top and then search for DisableAntiSpyware ... if this exists and has the value of 1 then change the value to 0. This might allow Defender to start working.

Thanks, the value was already set to 0

I will try bitdefender free AV then i think

grumpycrab

You should find out why Defender doesn't work (may be Avast's fault; Bitdefender is good though)...
1. bring up command prompt (with Admin priviledges)
2. type WITH ""
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe"

guzzbuzz

grumpycrab wrote: »

You should find out why Defender doesn't work (may be Avast's fault; Bitdefender is good though)...
1. bring up command prompt (with Admin priviledges)
2. type WITH ""
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe"

Thanks, i tried that but it just brought up the "this program is turned off" pop up box, in windows, and then asked it i wanted to turn it on which brought up the same "this program is blocked by group policy" message