PC gets stuck in diagnostic boot mode after installing avast antivirus

[hyperion_]

Hi all,

Today I purchased a Dell Inspiron 5559 laptop with Windows 10. I installed avast antivirus on it and rebooted, however below the big Dell logo i got a text saying "Preparing Automatic repair...", after which it went to a big blue screen saying that the PC didn't start properly, and I should try to restart or repair my PC.

When restart didn't work thrice(same thing again), I gave up and reset my PC from the advanced options menu, which caused it to wipe my C: and do a reinstall of Windows.

Thinking it to be a one-off issue, I installed avast again, however, the same thing happened again. Restarting the PC causes it to get stuck in the automatic repair mode, and it is not able to boot into WIndows.

I discovered that I have Windows defender installed on my PC already. Not installing avast seems to "fix" this problem, as I have restarted the PC several times and it is working fine. Could it be that avast and defender are clashing and causing this problem? Should I give up trying to use a third party AV and stick with defender? I've always heard that its capabilities are limited, and it should be avoided as much as possible.

Please advise.

 

[corkyg]

It is not advisable to run two AV apps at the same time. They can and do clash.

 

[hyperion_]

It is not advisable to run two AV apps at the same time. They can and do clash.

Could these clashes be serious enough to prevent the PC from booting up?

So how do I disable Windows defender? I would really like to get a third party AV up and running.

 

[bruceb]

You can follow the instructions here to disable Windows Defender:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5918-windows-defender-turn-off-windows-10-a.html
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5918-windows-defender-turn-off-windows-10-a.html
You can also do it with a program called Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4 (a program from the windowsclub) It has many other trick as well.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-4-windows-10
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-4-windows-10
Also be sure Dell did not include their own Antivirus, like Norton or McAfee .. If they did you need to remove it.

 

[hyperion_]

bruceb, I'll try those programs out. BTW, what is the general consensus on Windows Defender as it comes with Windows 10? Is it okay to use?

 

[bruceb]

I do not use it myself. I run Avast Free on my computer (a Toshiba Laptop)

 

[mikeymikec]

Windows Defender on Win10 should normally be automatically disabled when a third party AV is installed. I would google the version of Avast you're using with the version of Win10 and see whether you come across similar symptoms. Other than that, I would check the Windows Event Viewer for recent oddness.

OP, has there been any other AV installed on this computer? Most big-name PCs in my experience come with some trial version for something AV-ish. Norton do a removal tool which I'd run if it's theirs. McAfee do the same.

Obviously Win10 hasn't been out for long so I can't draw on a huge amount of experience for this statement, but I've never come across a scenario where I've had to disable Defender myself so another AV would work properly on it. I guess Win8x experience applies as well.

 

[balloonshark]

Like Bruce and Mikey have said, your Dell probably came with a trial of Norton or McAfee or some other AV. It would need uninstalled before you install Avast. I would also run the AV's own removal tool to make sure any bits aren't left behind as Mikey suggests.

Mikey is also right about Avast or most other AV's disabling Defender during installation. It wouldn't hurt to double check that is disabled though.

If Avast still doesn't work for you then try another free AV like Avira, AVG, Panda, Bit Defender, etc. Any one of those will be better than Defender.

 

[hyperion_]

Although I have been given a 15 month license for McAfee antivirus, it is not installed. At least it doesn't show up in the list of installed programs. I have a code, but I still need to download and install in separately.

 

[Ketchup]

That is strange, but plenty of other free programs out there. If you want to give it another go, install all Windows updates first, then install Avast. Out of the free ones, if I didn't want to keep Defender) I do prefer Bitdefender over Avast.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've seen big-name vendors remove entries from the add/remove programs list (admittedly it has been a while though), so I wouldn't trust to that. I'd run the McAfee removal tool just in case. Alternatively, perhaps McAfee had been installed, then removed in the normal way, yet not completely removed.

Do a screencap of the 'details' tab of Task Manager in a way that shows all the processes? (or multiple screencaps)

Can BitDefender be slimmed down as much as Avast? On the rare occasion that I don't use Defender/MSE, I install Avast free and just the file system shield.

 

[hyperion_]

Guys, is there a way to reset my Windows 10 system to a state it was in earlier using the boot menu? In case I install an AV, and something goes wrong, can I do something like a system restore and avoid having to the reset the system and reinstall Windows?

Basically, something like System Restore, but that can be done without booting into Windows, from the diagnostic menu itself.

 

[hyperion_]

Here's my processes, for mikeymikec.

 

[hyperion_]

What other free antivirus do you people recommend, other than avast? Although I have been given an year long subscription to McAfee, I feel that it would be too heavy and that's why I don't want to install it.

 

[mikeymikec]

Sorry, but I did say the details tab The information is much more compact and it doesn't rely on the vendors filling out the descriptions of their programs in a sensible manner (something they're not very good at doing a lot of the time), whereas they're usually more sensible when naming their files. Sorting the process list alphabetically would be best.

At a glance, I don't see any obvious process names that suggest say McAfee, but it could be a driver left behind by say McAfee, which wouldn't be visible in that list. In my experience there's no harm in running the McAfee removal tool even if McAfee isn't installed. These days I tend to run it every time (after the normal uninstall routine).

I'd use WIndows Defender personally. I wouldn't touch McAfee with a bargepole.

Guys - would HijackThis do a dump of the loaded drivers? It's not a program I'd normally use, so I don't know what to expect with it.

 

[hyperion_]

Here you go, the details tab. Note that "KM" is the user account name.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've never heard of fontdrvhost.exe before but it is probably legit. If you right-click on that one, Properties, go into (I think) the Details tab, it should give you vendor and version information. If that says MS and the version number approximately matches up with the version of Win10 you have, it's likely to be legit.

Otherwise the list looks clean. A precaution I would be inclined to take is to uninstall ccleaner, but I've never heard of it causing a problem like this before. However, with the feature creep of security software these days, it wouldn't surprise me if some component of Avast free and ccleaner are competitors.

Also, you could try installing Avast with only the file system shield selected on the custom install.

As for your other question, there are options like doing a system image using the backup & restore Control Panel UI, but I wouldn't have thought there would be much time saved between that and a system reset.

 

[hyperion_]

Here's the details for fontdrvhost:

My issue with System reset is that it causes me to lose all my programs. I need to spend an extra hour installing software, setting up Firefox with all my extensions.

 

[mikeymikec]

fontdrvhost - yep, looks fine.

system reset - the option I was talking about can be found in the control panel, change to small or large icons, and I think the option is found in 'security and maintenance' in the bottom-left corner (worded something like "backup and restore (Windows 7)").

 

[Ancalagon44]

I've been relying on Windows Defender for years and never had a problem

 

[hyperion_]

Update: I installed McAfee and the problem didn't occur. Maybe its an avast/Windows 10 compatibility issue that isn't known yet.

 

[mikeymikec]

Update: I installed McAfee and the problem didn't occur. Maybe its an avast/Windows 10 compatibility issue that isn't known yet.

Highly doubtful. Windows 10 has been out for more than a year, and I'm sure I would have heard of such an incompatibility (such as Kaspersky's problems with Win10 early on) by now.

Did you try installing Avast with only the file system shield?

The only other angle I can think of for "it's an Avast / Win10 issue" is that a very recent Avast update has issues with some Win10 configurations. Did you try updated installers during your troubles with it?

 

[bruceb]

I run Avast Free on my Toshiba Win 10 Home 64 bit laptop. No issues at all. I only install the basic AV no browser plug ins. I also never let it update the program while it is running. I always download the full off line installer and do a custom install, so nothing I do not want get installed. The full installers seem to work better than stub installers.

 

[hyperion_]

Highly doubtful. Windows 10 has been out for more than a year, and I'm sure I would have heard of such an incompatibility (such as Kaspersky's problems with Win10 early on) by now.

Did you try installing Avast with only the file system shield?

The only other angle I can think of for "it's an Avast / Win10 issue" is that a very recent Avast update has issues with some Win10 configurations. Did you try updated installers during your troubles with it?

I did not install with only the file system shield, because I was not prepared to waste another hour resetting the laptop if something went wrong again. And i got the installer from the avast.com website, so I'm pretty sure it was the latest version.

 

[hyperion_]

On a related note: I installed VMWare Workstation on this laptop to try out Ubuntu and it slowed it down terribly, even when not running. I removed VMWare and now its back to normal again.