Vocal Voices

My wife installed Avast Free Anti-virus some time ago on her laptop, but today she has a problem.
Shortly after switching on today, she had a notice appear saying that it was necessary to download amendments to Avast, which she agreed to.
The problem is that the laptop has been unusable now for over 4 hours, as it keeps saying " Do not switch off as download 1 of 2 is still being carried out".
Any suggestions?

Alarm bells here.

Do a hard reset - hold the off button till the laptop turns off, wait 30 seconds then turn it on again, choose 'start as normal' from the menu.

When the laptop reboots disable Avast! - right click on the tray icon and shut it down - I think it is under All shields.

If you do not have this go on the Internet and download Malwarebytes (
https://www.malwarebytes.com ) the Windows download is half way down the page. Run it with a full scan and follow any instructions. If it finds nothing reboot and allow Avast! to load up (automatic) then right click the tray icon and click on About Avast!.

You should get an update option, this you need. Update and run as normal then do a full scan with Avast!.

As a last resort do a System restore to before the problem and then update Avast! and do the Malwarebytes and Avast! scans.

Thanks for your prompt reply, Frank.

I pushed in the off button and counted 30 seconds as you suggested, then turned it on again.
Surprise, surprise, the laptop then started up as normal and proceeded to work OK.

Everything now appears to be working correctly.

I would still do the scans, just to be sure.

Then do the update as per the Avast! site.

Best to do the scan as WM suggests. If it turns up nothing, nothing is lost.