there has been an issue with the latest version of Avast and a lot of Dell computers, many had to use safe mode to uninstall Avast. Should anyone have this problem uninstall AVAST then try doing a re-install they are working on the fix and it should be pushed out already. There may be other brands having the issue but most were Dell. If you have not updated AVAST to the latest VERSION you may want to hold off for a week or so, no big hurry the old version is still fine.

here is one of the treads on the AVAST forum issued today about the new update for version 5 that is supposed to fix some of the problems, but as you can see many are still experiencing problems. I know several people have just gone back to 4.8 for now till they get the bugs worked out. I am still on 4.8 for now. Avast 5 pre-release program update [5.0.393] in case anyone needs it this seems to be what they are suggesting as the removal tool on the forum avast 5 removal tool

The Avast software stopped my downloading anything from www.gimp.com. My computer froze and I tried to shut down Avast and it came up looking for a password. I haven't seen this before either. Now when I click on any Avast Icon on any part of my computer, there is a dialog box that asks for a password!! I have tried uninstalling the Avast software; I need a password to uninstall it!??? I think Avast sees Gimp as a "virus", but the password created for this account doesn't work on my computer. It does work on the other two computers. (But not my laptop.) I can't even update the Avast software, so it is of little use in the longrun!!! I called Avast and they say it works on 2 out of the 3 computers, so tough DoDo!!! To put it nicely!!! Thanks for the attempt at help! Any other ideas????? Ayn

I'm not sure I understand the problem, Gringo. Are you saying that the recovery partition/reserve is completely gone from your system? That it was accidentally removed/deleted? Off the top of my head here are a few of thoughts. > Perhaps the hard drive is failing. If that's the case...back up your system asap and get a new hard drive. > If the hard drive is OK...the only way I know to get the recovery partition back is to do a reinstall of your operating system...from scratch. If this is required...again...back up to a disk whatever you want of your existing system because a reinstall will return your system to what it was when it came out of the proverbial box. > You can try sfc. /scannow from Command Prompt as Administrator. It might help but I don't give much hope for it. However...the end result of this type of scan might give you an answer...or a clue...as to what's wrong and why it disappeared. If you get more facts...please post them. I doubt that this problem had anything to do with Avast but I wasn't looking over your shoulder over the last several days when you've been dealing with the Avast issue. Translation...I don't know what you did before you ran the Avast tool I posted.