Avast and blank Desktop

[Buffalo]

I uninstalled Norton Anti-Virus (Part of NSW2003 Pro) several days ago and
installed the free Home version of Avast.
Twice upon first boot up in the morning, I end up with a blue screen with no
Desktop or Taskbar. (the first time I rebooted around 5 times before I got to a
normal Desktop)
Never happened before the anti-virus change. May just be a co-incidence since
that problem didn't happen until a few days after I did the switch.
During the blank screen (blue) my USB optical mouse works just fine and when I
did a ctrl-alt-del to bring up the End Program box (Win98SE) there were no
programs listed.
This morning when I booted up the first time, the same thing happened except
that when I brought up the Close Program box, Avast was the only program listed
(rather than none). I did an End Task on it, waited a minute and then pressed
the reset button. It then booted up just fine.
(this morning I had my cable modem set to Standby during the first bootup try)
I had Avast set to notify me if an update was present and to ask permission to
install it.
Today, I set it to Manual.
I also use ZAPro,SpyWareBlaster,and Adaware.
Is it possible that Avast was trying to connect to the Internet (cable) to look
for an update before ZAPro got loaded and caused this hangup?
Since this problem has only happened two different mornings, it is not so easy
for me to isolate.
Any ideas or did anyone else have this happen to them?
Thanks

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Is it possible that Avast was trying to connect to the Internet
(cable) to look for an update before ZAPro got loaded and caused
this hangup?

I've been using Avast for a couple of years, and never had this
problem (with Win2K, RoadRunner cable, and NO Norton installed, ever).

Upon a (rare) reboot, Avast will want to look for an update
immediately after the full desktop is up and running, but not before,
then again about every four hours after that.

Hearing all the stories about how hard Norton is to get rid of, I'd be
more inclined to think this had something to do with your problem.
There is supposed to be an executable program to fully wipe it out.
Don't have a link.

 

[J007]

please look on the symantec site for a special "removal" tool.
you can start HERE:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...33497f6e8a319ece88256ace0076cc02?OpenDocument

if that isn't it...look further on their site. It's out there for sure.

Norton is well known for causing problems because IF not uninstalled
completely; it will cause severe problems. This is because it "digs in"
real deep in to windows.
That is (among others) THE reason why i stopped using their product.

happy with VBA32/NOD32 now... and i NEVA EVA want to get back to
Norton again!!



JJ

 

[Tom J]

Follow the link to Norton you were given. Symantec has spyware in all
their programs that does not un-install when the program they are
attached to is un-installed. Reason enough for me not to use any
program they own. My 1st encounter with this was 3 years ago with
Turbo-Tax. At 1st they would not admit they had such a program.

Tom J

 

[Buffalo]

I have that exe program somewhere and I used it once before, plus I did a little
more to the Registry and recorded the same.
Thanks for the advice that Avast may check for an update 'after' the Desktop is
fully loaded, and not before.

 

[What's in a Name?]

I have that exe program somewhere and I used it once before, plus
I did a little more to the Registry and recorded the same.
Thanks for the advice that Avast may check for an update 'after'
the Desktop is fully loaded, and not before.

Just a note-you may want to manually delete all "symantec" folders
and run a registry cleaner like RegSeeker.
-max

--
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My Pages: http://home.neo.rr.com/manna4u/
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Registered Linux User #393236

 

[Buffalo]

Just a note-you may want to manually delete all "symantec" folders
and run a registry cleaner like RegSeeker.
-max

I'm still using such Norton programs in NSW2003Pro as Ghost,and the Norton
Utilities (Speed Disk and Disk Docter).
PS:RegSeeker is one of my favorites. I just upgraded to version 1.45 build 0505.
It does find more than version 1.35 Beta build 1203.
Thanks

 

[louise]

I'm still using such Norton programs in NSW2003Pro as Ghost,and the Norton
Utilities (Speed Disk and Disk Docter).
PS:RegSeeker is one of my favorites. I just upgraded to version 1.45 build 0505.
It does find more than version 1.35 Beta build 1203.
Thanks

Just curious - I've been using JV16 for years and I "think" it does
a good job.

How does Regseeker compare to JV16?

TIA

Louise

 

[Buffalo]

Just curious - I've been using JV16 for years and I "think" it does
a good job.

How does Regseeker compare to JV16?

TIA

Louise

No idea. But I've been told many times that any Registry cleaner program
probably causes more problems that it corrects, so , user beware.

 

[Art]

No idea. But I've been told many times that any Registry cleaner program
probably causes more problems that it corrects, so , user beware.

In the hands of unskilled users, this is no doubt the case. Most users
eventually gravitate away from using registry cleaners, and they edit
the registry, if needed, themselves.

Since I started using Win 2K (after being familiar with Win 98/ME),
I've been more cautious and reluctant to use registry cleaners.
There's a excellent registry backup tool (and a registry compactor)
available here:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

I've used them now several times on Win 2K without problems.
It's nice to be able to restore the registry back to a known good
one. And it somewhat serves the same purpose as registry cleaning
but without the dangers.

Art

http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[optikl]

Since I started using Win 2K (after being familiar with Win 98/ME),
I've been more cautious and reluctant to use registry cleaners.
There's a excellent registry backup tool (and a registry compactor)
available here:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

I've used them now several times on Win 2K without problems.
It's nice to be able to restore the registry back to a known good
one. And it somewhat serves the same purpose as registry cleaning
but without the dangers.

Art

http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

You're right about ERUNT. I've had to use it a few times at work when my
IT folks push updates while I'm in the middle of something very
intensive. NTREGOPT is also very useful.

 

[Buffalo]

Subject: Blank Desktop on Win98SE a couple of days after installing the free
version of Avast!

Thanks to all those that posted in regards to the above.
It seems that a 'faulty' and/or 'corrupt' install of Avast! was the cause of my
problem with a blank desktop.
So, if you have that problem, uninstall Avast! and then use their extra
uninstall program (aswclear.exe), reboot and then,with the very minimum number
of programs, install it again.
BTW, the uninstall program for Avast! is very thorough.

 

[Buffalo]

Subject: Blank Desktop on Win98SE a couple of days after installing the free
version of Avast!

Thanks to all those that posted in regards to the above.
It seems that a 'faulty' and/or 'corrupt' install of Avast! was the cause of my
problem with a blank desktop.
So, if you have that problem, uninstall Avast! and then use their extra
uninstall program (aswclear.exe), reboot and then,with the very minimum number
of programs, install it again.
BTW, the uninstall program for Avast! is very thorough.

It turned out that uninstallation of Norton Anti-virus seemed to cause the
problem. It got worse and worse with Avast!.
The Norton uninstall must have deleted some shared file(s) or something,
probably .dlls.
After several Avast! installs and uninstalls, I finally got rid of the entire
NSW2003Pro package (finishing it up manually), uninstalled Avast! and
reinstalled Avast!( free) and the problem repeated itself more and more
frequently.
However, everytime I tried Safe Mode, it got there fine, just not in regular
Windows.
Finally, I uninstalled Avast!, cleaned up temps, etc, scandisked and defragged
and rebooted. Took around 4 tries.
Did another Scandisk (couple of lost clusters,fixed) and then reinstalled
NSW2003Pro and now all is well.
So, Avast! was NOT the cause of the problem, AFAIK.
Thanks to all that offered to help.
Buffalo
PS:Why didn't the problem manifest itself the first couple of days after I
uninstalled?
Why did it work sometimes and not others?
What did the uninstall of Norton Anti-virus delete that was necessary?
Yes, I now have a fresh Ghost backup.