Avira anti-virus free has a splash screen on startup as opposed to the nag screen to upgrade to paid version.

I tried to find a way of disabling the startup splash screen using the Techspot Search FAQs option, but it only seemed to cover the nag screen rather than the startup splash screen. Therefore I Googled it and found the following link from Avira telling how to disable it... here. It listed the following three steps:

When I did this, it did not stop the splash screen without the following modification.

In step 3, I had to replace the letters min at the end of the key with nosplash, rather than just add /nosplash.

Would appreciate anyone else's feedback on this.

How was your spacing when adding this entry? It looks to me like it's it may be a space followed by forward slash followed by nosplash> like this:avgnt /no splash
avgnt space/nosplash instead of avgnt/nosplash.

Give that a try,

If it still doesn't work, I found this recommendation to someone asking the same question on Wilder'sSecurity Forum:
SplashKiller - http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/SplashKiller/index.html

SplashKiller lets you hide those splash screens that appear when an application is loading.

Key should read:
You can copy\paste this into HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\avgnt

Thanks for that kimsland. It's easier to see with the full entry. There is a space.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the feedback.

Hi Kimsland,

I understood the modification shown in the Avira article to read exactly as you have shown it, and had already modified the registry key likewise, but it didn't work. Just in case I had made a mistake, I copied and pasted the new key from your response into the avgnt registry key; that is:

Unfortunately, it also did not work. As suggested by BobbyBye I had also tried putting a space after min to read:

min/ nosplash and also min /nosplash

Neither of these worked on either XP Pro or Vista Ultimate.

As mentioned in my original post the only way I could get it to work was to replace the min with nosplash at the end of the key. The final version of the key that worked for me was:

"C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avgnt.exe" /nosplash

I ran Avira after making this modification and it still worked OK.

Did you actually do a trial run with the modified key as you've shown it, because I can't understand why it wouldn't work on my PC?

Sorry I just want to be clear (seeming I run Avira !!)

Did your way work? Or not?

I confirm my way did not, for you, on Vista

When I open Avira, then check Help-> About->Version
Mine says: 8.2.0.334

Is that the same as yours?



2 Qs asked

1. My version of Avira free is the same as yours. ie 8.2.0.334

2. It has all the lastest updates.

3. Your way did not work.

4. My way did work.

I found out my way by trial and error. Since making my last reply, I went back and tried the key modification every which way, and the only way I could get it to work was to replace the min on the end of the key with nosplash.

After doing this the splash screen was gone and Avira ran fine.

Attached is a notepad I wrote for my own information showing step by step exactly what I did.

Attached Files

Disable Splash Screen Avira.txt (448 Bytes, 27 views)

Thanks

I'll get rid of Min and reply back in about 6 hrs ( )

From one 'bear' to 'another': I can't see going to all this trouble just to get rid of a splash screen!

Says the support member that spends hours on one log

Hey, if you all want to work on this, go for it! Seems to me that it's a minor annoyance. This is Post#11 to turn off a splash screen!

You're right Bobbye it's true it is a minor annoyance, but so was the AVG nag screen, and the Zone Alarm nag screen, and the.... nag nag nag till you scream! My screen looked like a kaleidoscope on start-up mainly because I use freeware, and I do this because I'm an aged pensioner on a peanut butter budget.

Anyway, thanks for all the input gang.

Poppa Bear, just letting you know that I though of you this morning when the Nod32 slash screen came up! But you know, it tells me that it has started and that I am protected. This is comforting.

Hi Bobbye

As one bear to another, I can't bear any more...Joke... LOL!

Seriously, fair comment. Guess it's good to know it is there and working. I'm probably a bit sensitive in reacting to these screens. Also a bit of a perfectonist.

Recently had a recurring Windows notification when I logged off, saying that a program had not initiated. The message didn't stay up long enough for me to identify which program it was. Couldn't rest until I found out.

It's an ill wind that blows no good. In my search for the culprit, I developed a technique to simplify finding it using msconfig. Using Selective Start-up, I unticked everything in Start-up but it didn't stop it. Did the same in Services and it stopped it, but then I had to identify it.

Since there were mega items in Services, it would have taken forever to untick and re-boot to check each one individually. Therefore, I unticked the last 50% and re-booted. This didn't stop it, so I then knew it was in the first half of the items. I then unticked half of the first 50% which narrowed it down to 25%. Repeating this process it went to 12.5%, 6.25% and finally 3.12%. In short, I isolated it in about 5 reboots.

The culrprit turned out to be a plug and play, but I didn't know which one. Consequently I uninstalled them one by one, and it turned out to be Samsung Magic Tune for my LCD monitor. Since this wasn't an essential program, (the same adjustments can be made using buttons on the monitor), I simply unistalled it, and hey presto the problems gone... and my sanity was restored!

Well that kills another 10 minutes of the wee hours... it's 1.02am in Perth West Aussie. Regards PB

Bear, you really went the long way round to resolve the problem. You have a dual boot and both Windows XP and Vista have the event Viewer which is an outstanding help in checking for causes of Errors. I will give you the benefit of my "awesome" knowledge! I've given the information so often, that I decided to set up a 'tutorial':
:

Hey Bobbye,

Wow! Now that article is something really worth knowing!

Forget splash screens, I never even knew "Event Viewer" existed. Brilliant!

Unfortunately my knowledge of PCs is not generic but limited to the areas that have got my attention, like problems, challenges or some times just plain curiosity.

Will be using that facility in future to resolve problems, and post details to Techspot forum if I need help in understanding any given warning or error messages; or how to resolve a particular issue arising therefrom.

Long live your "awesome knowledge" data base. Cheers PB

Poppa Bear, I have turned so many users on to the Event Viewer, I decided to write it all up so they could understand what a valuable tool it can be. Keep it in mind- it can save a time of time chasing down a problem!

Hopefully you took a look at what it shows!

Hi Bobbye,

Re your last post and your question:

Yep have had a good look. Really interesting to know what's going on, but no problems at this point. Amazed that I have been into Computer Management heaps of times, but for reasons unknown, never took any notice of Event Viewer, but only the program I wanted at the time, like Disk Management for example. The Knowledge Base in my overloaded brain has just been updated.

Had to laugh. Got an email from a PC friend who said: "Microsoft are bringing out a small wireless computer chip that a dentist will implant in your tooth and it will download info straight from cyber space into your brain!"

I came on the Event Viewer in my early days of Windows XP. I have a habit of doing a right click> Properties on every thing I can find on a new computer. SO I found my own Viewer and it looked so red, I though maybe I killed the system. But I took a lot of time checking things out, eventually got things calmed down. But learned of the information that can be use there.

I think maybe because it's in the Administrative Tools, some users just don't check it out. But it has helped me help others by finding the cause of what's happening and usually the resolution.

And Black Viper became my hero! Services was next after the Viewer. Resetting some Services made a difference and saved some start-ups.

Got a big chuckle about the MS chip form the dentist! It is possible they may go that way some time! Nothing would surprise me.