I know it's an AntiVir file, but on my other XP-box which is running AntiVir without problems, there is no 'avesvc.dll'. There was no confusion, I did it the way you prescribe. Don't spend too much time on this, cause as I mentioned, I got Avira running after repair install. There's only one drawback... The moment AntiVir crashes, normally the program shows a dialog where one can choose the StartUp type. I always select the Secure start (Early Load). I can't find this option in the Config settings afterwards... grt.