A couple of questions about starting my MacBook Pro.

[intheflow]

1) How do I uninstall an old version of Avast to I can put in a newer version? When I start up my computer, Avast opens and says I can't proceed without a new key. I got a new key, but when I click on the start-up box saying I need a new key, it doesn't give me an option to put in a new key number. It just keeps telling me I need a new key. I thought I uninstalled the damn thing, but it's still there on start-up. :shrug:

2) Is there any way to change my default email? I can't afford and really don't want a Mac email account. Is there any way to stop the Mac Mail from popping up when I start-up the computer?

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks! :hi:

[Pierre.Suave]

1. answer me this

can you start the computer or does avast prevent that?

second, just open mac mail, delete the account for .mac

[intheflow]

4. I can start the computer.

I just found out how to stop Avast at start up, so I'll try the new key now and see how that goes.

[intheflow]

7. Tried everything suggested in this thread,

nothing has worked. I checked off a box in preferences to keep avast from launching on startup, but it still launched.

I'm not sure where to delete the .mac email account. I tried bringing my Yahoo account in there instead, but it says the Yahoo account doesn't respond to it. (And really, I'd prefer not having email in my face when I start-up.)

[NoQuarter]

2. To stop Mail from opening at start-up:

System Preferences > Accounts > (Your user account) Login Items > select Mail and "subtract" it from the list.

You should be able to simply run the installer for avast and replace the older version. Otherwise an application deletion software will probably be necessary to locate and trash all the associated files:

App Delete ($5.00) http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/
App Zapper ($12.95) http://www.appzapper.com/ (costs a bit more, but you get to see a list of all the associated files and where they are located. You can actually select which things to delete, because sometimes you just need to get rid of a preference file (.plist) which is not always named intuitively and can be hard to track down.

[intheflow]

5. Oddly, it doesn't list mail in the login items.

Though it did list avast, so I was able to stop that at start-up. Will try to run the installer again and let you know.

[NoQuarter]

3. It sounds like you may be confusing the Mail application

with a .Mac account. If you didn't ever sign up and activate (pay for a subscription) .Mac, you don't have a .Mac (now Mobile Me) acocunt.

The Mail application is not automatically connected to this service. It will collect email from wherever you tell it to.

The application preferences for Mail is where you enter whatever email accounts you may already have; Yahoo!, Gmail, etc. The Mail application will then download mail from these accounts directly to your Mac.

[intheflow]

6. I don't have a .mac account, never did.

But still the mail system pops up with my account being intheflow.mac. I never said it wasn't connecting to the internet, only that the application opens automatically on start-up. I haven't been able to find any place where I can change the .mac to my yahoo account. :shrug: If I could do that, I wouldn't care if it popped p on start-up.

[NoQuarter]

8. With Mail running,

choose Preferences from the Mail drop-down menu open at the top of the screen.

Under Accounts, add your Yahoo account to the sidebar by clicking the "+" (plus) button. (It will ask for incoming and outgoing server, type of authentication, etc. Yahoo! should provide these somewhere in their support pages.)

Click "Advanced" and be sure to check "Enable This Account"
If there is a MobileMe account listed in the sidebar, delete it with the "minus" button.

To make the Yahoo account THE default account, choose Composing from the toolbar of the Preferences window and select the account from the "Send New Mail From:..." drop-down list.