I’m new to this forum, so apologies if I’m posting in the wrong place.
I recently updated the free Avast! program and everything appears to have gone well. However, I just noticed there are two Avast! related files - aswVmm.dll and aswVmm.dll.sum - on the root directory of my hard drive. On checking, I discovered an older aswVmm.dll file where Avast! is installed.
My question is, do I delete the files from the root directory, move them to the Avast! folder (overwriting the existing file), or do I leave well alone?
I’m using Windows 8 and don’t have those files on the root C:\ drive.
I suggest that you rename those files. once done, reboot your system and make sure avast is still runing
without any problems.
If that’s the case, you can remove those now renamed files. If not, restore the original names, reboot and see if everything
is back to normal.
I think they are probably files that didn’t get cleaned up after an install.
I have both of them in my avast folder, I can recall doing a patch some time ago, but I don’t know if it was for this particular fix/patch.
Well the - aswVmm.dll and aswVmm.dll.sum files in conjunction are generally used for a patch update, the .sum file aswVmm.dll.sum is used to prevent avast’s integrity check replacing the patched/fixed version of aswVmm.dll with an old version.
Are yours the same date/time and file size as the ones in my avast folder ?
aswVmm.dll.sum doesn’t appear in the Avast! folder at all, but aswVmm.dll in the folder is 20.5Kb and dated 09/05/2013.
The files that were on my root directory are dated 07/07/2013.
aswVmm.dll is 21Kb
aswVmm.dll.sum is 1Kb
The root directory files having a more recent date made me wonder if Avast! was updating properly, but Avast! itself is telling me it last updated within the last hour, so it seems to be updating as it should. Current version is 130709-1.
The point is that these files aren’t routinely in an avast update (virus definitions) or in a program update as there would be no requirement for the .sum file as the aswVmm.dll would be included in the avast integrity checking function.
These are more normally seen in a user applying a fix/patch, have you done/attempted to do this ?
There is a possibility that this could occur as a result of an avastemergencyupdate, but that should have placed both files in the avast program folder as mine are.
Have you been getting any errors/bsod related to the aswVmm.dll file ?
I made and reversed a few changes to Avast! settings, specifically attempting to block a couple of websites, but nothing along the lines of applying patches.
It’s also possible that I’ve lost my Internet connection while Avast! was updating, which I guess would have left files behind. I wouldn’t have thought they would be left on the root directory, though.
Nothing that I can think of that would result in them being placed in the root c: folder. If any such update failed I would expect it not to have placed them anywhere or partially (one of them) in the correct folder.
If you aren’t getting any avast errors or bsod relating to the aswVmm.dll file, then could probably remove them as they wouldn’t be doing anything being in the c: root folder instead of where they would normally be, in the avast program folder…
What avast version are you using, 8.0.1489 is the latest ?
What is your operating system ?
I’m using 8.0.1489, running under Win2k (on a very old machine).
It’s actually the root of G: which is where I have Windows and my program files installed, but I don’t suppose that should make a difference.
In any case, I moved the files over 6 hours ago and haven’t noticed any problems, so they’re about to be deleted. As for how they got on the root folder, I’m happy to leave that as a mystery.
OK, it shouldn’t make any difference, they really shouldn’t really be in the root folder of the OS (as they wouldn’t be active or doing anything there), but the avast program folder.
