Tech Tip

I use Avast! antivirus, which is a free program that's fairly popular.  I did an update today, and after my system rebooted, I got an error message from Windows Action Center that said Avast! was turned off -- even though the program was installed and seemingly running fine.  Clicking on the option to "trust" Avast! did no good.

I did a search and found that this seems to be a somewhat common problem, or at least a problem that is unknown.  A few solutions were proposed, one of which seemed to work for most people -- reboot your computer three times -- but I was working and didn't want to take the time at the moment to try that.  I kept searching.  And I found a solution from a tech website that I tried...and it worked.

Since I figure that other people use Avast! anti-virus, they too might come across this same problem -- if not now, then perhaps in the future.  Here's the solution.  (Will it work each time?  Who knows, but it worked here.)

It's odd, I don't know why it works, but...it worked.

1. Right-click the avast! icon in the System Tray.

2. Hover your mouse over "avast! shields control."

3. Click Disable for 10 minutes.  (You'll get a warning that you're unprotected.)

4. Click on the Windows Taskbar to exit from the avast! icon menu, if necessary.

5. Repeat Steps 1 & 2.

6. Click Enable all shields.

7. Check Windows Action Center: the security notification should be gone now.