Hi,
Using avast and really like it!
But I found my C:\ shrinking lately… I’ve look and found that avast was using 6 GB of space in “C:\Windows\Temp_avast4_” !!!
I can I recover this disk space and tell avast not to use more than a certain amount??? I think it is the VRDB, and it is surely usefull, but not taking all my disk space! I have 100 MB left on C:…
thank you
No it’s just temp files from archive scan… But avast shouldn’t be leaving these files.
You can delete these files. Please run a scan again and check if there’re any temp files left after the scan finishes. There were some bugs in earlier versions of avast that were causing this but these should be fixed in current builds. Are you using the latest version (4.1.418)?
Thanks
Vlk
It’s certainly not VRDB. According to the path, it contains temporary avast! files created during the scanning of archives (then it unpacks them).
You can certainly delete the files…
Of course, it would be nice to find out what kind of archives is causing the troubles (normally, the temporary files should be automatically deleted, of course). Can you watch the TEMP folder when you are performing a scan and try to find the file (archive) that’s causing avast! to leave the temporary files on your disk? Thanks!
Argh, Vlk was faster again 
Hi,
I use the latest version HE (4.1.418) and and i have the same mistake 
I use XP pro
And could you try to find out what particular archives are causing this problem, please?
Just delete the avast! temp files and during the next scan, check if any files are left again. You can also scan only a particular folder (instead of all the disks) to narrow the problematic area somehow…
I just checked my temp because I scanned lately and also checked the “scan inside archives” option. (I have mostly RAR-archives on my HD but maybe some others too)
The avast!-temp-directory was empty on my HD. (btw: using latest avast)
Hi,
thanx for all your responses!
I’m using the latest build (418) but it is updates from past builds, so it could have been an old bug, corrected in latest build, that I just found out about.
I’m not at home in the moment, this weekend I’ll do some test about wich archive type it could be.
thank you again.
This makes me think of a pb i had with temporary files, so i post it here. I have a small OS partition (c:), with only some 500 mb of free space, and when i scan within archives, it unpacks them in my windows temp folder, which is in the C partition… sometimes it just doesn’t fit and i have to abort scan. :-\
My question is, is there a way to assign a specific folder (like in my other partitions) to archives unpacking, instead of the default windows temp folder ? I looked in the ini file and in settings and didn’t find this feature.
I know it is possible to assign another temp folder to windows, but i don’t like much this kind of OS tweaks. ;D
I have XP pro and avast home edition 4.1.418
How about simply setting the whole TEMP folder to some other partition?
You can change system TEMP variable:
XP: Control panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables > Edit
Win 9x: define TEMP= in autoexec.bat file
You should also use a disk cleaner (I suggest BeClean: you can configure almost everything to be cleaned, includind any folder or the temp folder).
Ok i’ll change system’s temp variable. Thanks for all.
Still occuring… with v4.1.418 I still have temp files that takes up 1Gb…
Maybe I’ll check to see wich type of archieve it is…
Me too, it’s something wrong…
I have a lot of missing files on windows\temp_avast4_\ folder.
Maybe it’s related to the Screen Saver module as I do not run any scan last days :
I’ll be happy with a word from the programmers.
I’m afraid we are waiting for a word from you
We really need to know what archives cause this problems (and what is so special about the particular ones)… otherwise we won’t be able to simulate it.
Well, I cannot say what archive. I can only see a lot of unpack files into the temp file and, definitively, they are related to the Screen Saver module.
There is something wrong because the files left behind by this module are not deleted.
They are under C:\WINDOWS\Temp_avast4_\unp________ where the space are numbers. :-
Maybe I can analyse the ‘last’ scanned file to see if the remained ones ‘belongs’ to it.
I think the module does not delete the temp files after the their scanning but, maybe, at the end of the whole proccess and something is wrong.
If it help, a password is set to ‘wake up’ from the screen saver.
Technical,
Which screen saver are you using (or is that unimportant?).
I just checked my _avast temp file but it’s empty.
MY VRDB is set to only update when computer is idle if that makes a difference???
I don’t use the screen saver thing. I set avast! to run twice a day, at specific hours.
I’ll try to figure what type of archieve it is…
Is your avast screen saver module on or not?
I think the screen saver is irrelevant in the case.
I tested: empty the temp folder, do not run anything, wait the screen saver and after some time stop it… files are left behind
I think there is nothing to do with VRDB…
I had a files about 540Mb, so I’ve looked at my archieves whitch was about that size, and I scaned them manualy (left mouse bouton in explorer, then select “scan…”) and nothing appeared in the C:\Windows\Temp_avast_ ! Maybe since I was logged on the temp folder is somewhere else… Maybe the problem occurs when nobody is logged on and the temp folder is C:\Windows\Temp…
When you’re using an interactive scan the TEMP folder is somewhere like
C:\Documents And Settings<your_name>\Local Settings\Temp
Note that the Local Settings folder has the hidden attribute so you won’t see it in Explorer with its default settings…