Avast Antivirus is one of the most popular anti-virus and anti-malware software suites around. They offer a great free option, making the software a go-to for many users who don’t want to pay for more premium anti-virus programs.
By and large, the software works well and utilizes a simple GUI (graphical user interface) to ensure the user experience is clean, easy, and trouble-free.
However, one common issue users report is that when they open the software, instead of the regular GUI, they simply have a blank white box. If this is happening to you, don’t worry! We’re going to cover what causes this issue and how to go about fixing it.
Why your Avast user interface is blank?
There are several reasons why your Avast software may open up to only show a simple white box. Most of the time, it’s due to a corrupt installation or registry file.
However, simply re-installing the software is often not enough, as there are residual files left over that continue to cause issues.
Let’s walk through all the most common causes that will make your Avast software appear white, and then we’ll go through how to fix it!
Software bugs
As many users of Avast Antivirus have reported experiencing this issue, it’s safe to say that the problem doesn’t always lie in the hands of the user. Sometimes the software just experiences some issues, which cause an initialization failure.
Avast recommends following the AVG repair steps, which will oftentimes work out simple bugs and issues.
Some users report that this fixes their issue, while others continue to experience it, which may indicate that the problem lies elsewhere, and you should perform additional troubleshooting steps to ascertain what the issue is.
Not enough system resources
By and large, Avast Free Antivirus is fairly lightweight software and shouldn’t overload your system. However, particularly on older machines that don’t have enough RAM, they will not have enough space in order to load the GUI elements, which will leave you with a plain blank box upon starting the software.
In this case, there are some steps you can take to disable certain, unnecessary startup programs in order to give your system the resources it needs to run the software.
Conflicts with other antivirus software
If you are using multiple types of antivirus software, they can very easily interfere with each other, preventing one or even both from working correctly.
Antivirus software needs access to your system in order to monitor your computer’s activity and keep an eye on any potentially dangerous executables. So, when you have multiple antivirus software trying to grab at your machine, they will often fight each other for access to your system.
Not only that, but antivirus software can be a bit of a resource hog, even when you just have one of them, so using multiple instances is a surefire way to cause resource issues.
Despite the perception that more is better, in the case of antivirus, you just need to stick to one.
Corrupt installation
Antivirus suites receive updates more than any other type of software around, as they need to keep up to date and on the ball with the current malicious threats that are floating around.
This makes it very easy to have the software working one day, and then suddenly there’s some corrupt data that stops it from loading correctly.
Oftentimes, a simple re-install or repair of the software doesn’t fix it either, as there may be residual registry files that are re-used upon reinstallation. In this scenario, we have to do a full clean install to make sure all the files are in working order.
Outdated software
Much in the same vein, although updating itself can cause issues, not keeping your antivirus software up to date is also not recommended, as your operating system will also update.
This can cause the software to have compatibility issues as your OS continues to update. You need to make sure your antivirus is also up to date in order to ensure smooth operation between software and operating system over a long period of time.
How to fix Avast user interface not displaying
It may seem like there are a lot of potential causes for your Avast Free Antivirus software displaying a blank white screen. However, the process of eliminating this issue is quite simple and does not require any real technical knowledge.
Follow through the next steps in order to restore your Avast antivirus software to full working order.
Restart your computer
It might seem like an obvious step, but you’d be surprised how often rebooting your system can work out small issues like this.
The first thing to do is fully close down the Avast software, and then fully shut down your computer.
Boot the computer back up, and if Avast is configured to open automatically, it should open by itself with a working GUI. If you have disabled automatic startup, you will need to start the software manually.
Some users have reported that this only fixed the issue for them temporarily and that it came back after some time. If this is the case, then continue reading.
Ensure both Avast and your OS are up to date
As operating systems continually update, Avast also needs to receive frequent updates to both ensure it’s up-to-date with the current malware threats around, and that it’s going to cooperate with your operating system.
The first thing to do is update your operating system:
- Click on your start menu.
- Type in Windows Update Settings.
- Click the “Check for updates” box near the top.
If there are any pending updates to your system, they will download automatically, and you will be prompted to restart your computer.
Once that is completed and you are sure your OS is up to date, then you can update Avast:
- Right-click the circular Avast icon in the bottom right of your taskbar.
- Avast will start to check for updates and apply them.
- Once this has been completed, restart the machine.
“How does this work if my software isn’t displaying?”
Despite the graphical user interface not loading, oftentimes the antivirus software is still running just fine and will update as normal.
In some rare cases where the software is not functioning at all, you can download both the latest Avast software directly from the website, as well as the latest virus databases.
Remove any conflicting software
Avast antivirus must have full access to your system in order to function correctly. Therefore, if you have any other antivirus software present, such as McAfee, it will interfere and cause conflicts with Avast Antivirus.
To remove any other antivirus software, please follow these steps:
- Press Windows + R key to open the “run” prompt.
- Type appwiz.clp in and press ok.
- This opens the “add or remove programs” wizard.
- Locate the antivirus software you wish to remove.
- Press “uninstall.”
- Follow any on-screen prompts to remove the software.
- Once the process is complete, restart your computer.
Disable unnecessary startup programs
Often, Windows will be set to launch a bunch of small programs on startup. These can all contribute to hogging your system’s resources without you knowing it, and in some cases, this might not leave enough left for Avast to do its job.
To disable these unnecessary programs, press CTRL + ALT + Del, which will open up the task manager. If you don’t have access to it, you can follow these steps.
Navigate to the “startup” panel and locate any pieces of software that you don’t need to have launched every single time you turn your PC on, right-click the process, and click “disable,” and Windows will no longer launch it without your knowledge on startup.
Don’t worry about disabling a system-critical process here either. Windows will tell you if you’re disabling something you shouldn’t be.
Repair Avast
Before we go ahead and start fully reinstalling Avast, they have provided a helpful “repair” option that can often help fix smaller issues, such as GUI display issues.
Navigate your way to the “add or remove programs” wizard like before, and locate the Avast software. This time, there should be an additional option next to “uninstall” called “repair.”
Click this, and then follow the on-screen prompts. Windows will check your Avast install for any issues and correct them for you.
This option works quite well and in many cases will solve the problem.
Fully reinstall Avast antivirus
In some cases, there may be a deeper issue with your Avast software, and it needs to be completely wiped and reinstalled to ensure all the files are in good working order.
You can do this in a similar fashion to the step we mentioned about removing other Antivirus software suites.
However, there may be residual windows PC registry files that don’t get wiped with a simple “uninstall.”
If you are not confident in doing this yourself, you can use something like IOBit Uninstaller, which will help you locate and remove all residual registry files and allow you to perform a true clean re-install.
Once this is complete, simply re-download the software from the Avast website, and install it as normal.
Use the support forum for additional assistance
If none of the above methods have helped you, it may be a more technical issue that needs resolving by a trained Avast support employee.
Fortunately, Avast has a very helpful forum where you can post your issue, and other users and Avast support personnel will assist you. They may ask for things like computer logs and additional information about your computer. This is totally normal, and they will also provide easy steps on how to obtain this information.
