Avast antivirus has taken control of my computer!

[jbclem]

Antivirus programs usually set up services(such as updating) so that they start up when Win2000 starts up and run
automatically. I usually stop these from running and switch them from automatic to manual. Today I updated my Avast
antivirus, and it's found a way to prevent me from changing or disabling two services that it wants at startup. In
other words, it's taken control of my computer away from me. Before I uninstall this arrogant program, can someone help
me figure out how to undo this.

What happens is that when I go into the Microsoft Management Console, and look in the Properties for either of these
services, I can change the "startup type" from automatic to manual. But when I click on Apply, or OK, a box comes up
that says "Microsoft Management Console" and "Access is Denied". I can only click on Cancel to close the Properties box
without making any changes.

Any suggestions?

John

 

[Dave Budd]

Antivirus programs usually set up services(such as updating) so that they start up when Win2000 starts up and run
automatically. I usually stop these from running and switch them from automatic to manual. Today I updated my Avast
antivirus, and it's found a way to prevent me from changing or disabling two services that it wants at startup. In
other words, it's taken control of my computer away from me. Before I uninstall this arrogant program, can someone help
me figure out how to undo this.

What happens is that when I go into the Microsoft Management Console, and look in the Properties for either of these
services, I can change the "startup type" from automatic to manual. But when I click on Apply, or OK, a box comes up
that says "Microsoft Management Console" and "Access is Denied". I can only click on Cancel to close the Properties box
without making any changes.

Any suggestions?

John

I don't know Avast, but coomon to many antivirus apps these days is a
feature intended to stop malware messing with your machine's security
settings. It will usually stop any changes to the antivirus app's
settings, unless they're done from within the app by a user with admin
rights. This is normal practice, and part of what you paid for.

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Today I updated my Avast
antivirus, and it's found a way to prevent me from changing or disabling two services that it wants at startup. In
other words, it's taken control of my computer away from me. Before I uninstall this arrogant program, can someone help
me figure out how to undo this.

This is "self-protection" to keep viruses from disabling it.
You can disable this from the settings if you don't want it.
But I'd NOT recommend doing that as a standard setting.

 

[tashfeen]

It's normal for antiviruses to behave that way, as others have pointed
out. If you think a security app isn't for you, my advice is to just
go ahead and dump it, even if it's the best in the business. From my
experience, computers are a lot like people, and they're all different
too! I personally think Avast is the best free antivirus out there,
but then again, stick to what works for you, especially for
antiviruses.

However, do bear in mind that you're likely to face similar issues
with any antivirus you try. Check out http://avscan.blogspot.com for
my blabberings on antivirus software; basically, how they fared for
me. I've tried out the major brands, including the free stuff. Best of
luck!

 

[jbclem]

The thing is, I have admin rights, and as I said I've never had a problem changing the settings of services before and I
do it all the time. I keep the startup processes to a minimum this way. I run anti virus programs manually and I
update them manually. I did it all the time with Avast 4.7, and any other programs I tried. But Avast 4.8 has changed
this and there is no mention of this in their help files, and no setting that allows me to undo the change. That's why I
was asking for help.

John

 

[jbclem]

Hi tashfeen,

I took a look at your antivirus blog, I always like to read personal opinions. Since you have tried many antivirus
programs, how did you manage to use Kaspersky...it wouldn't work for me until I uninstalled my other antivirus programs.
Was there a way around that requirement?

Have you tried out Solo Antivirus? The reason for this thread springs from my running Solo and watching it find a bunch
of Trojans that my two other software had missed (Avast 4.7 and Norton antivirus enterprise). I upgraded to the latest
Avast 4.8 just to see if it would find these new Trojans, also as a way to confirm if they actually existed. My
problems with the Avast services came from this upgrade.

I'd be interested in hearing your take on Solo Antivirus...so far every partition I've scanned, it's found something
that the others didn't..


John