Avast repeatedly scans the same file every time it's run

I’m working in a project in Xenko (game engine), and every time I build the project, avast scans the asset compiler over and over again. This makes the build hang 90% of the time, which is very annoying. How do I get avast to stop scanning this file?

The file is SiliconStudio.Assets.CompilerApp_ExecServer.exe for Xenko 1.6.7b. It’s located in C:\Program Files\Silicon Studio\Xenko\GamePackages\Xenko.1.6.7-beta\Bin\Windows-Direct3D11 once Xenko 1.6.7 is installed.

I’ve tried adding the modifier C:\Program Files\Silicon Studio\Xenko\GamePackages\Xenko.1.6.7-beta\Bin\Windows-Direct3D11\SiliconStudio.Assets.CompilerApp_*.exe as an exclusion, but it’s still scanning it.

If the file gets modified on every compile, that is the reason. avast! sees it as a new unknown file and scans it.

You need to exclude it from File System Shield:

Settings → Active Protection → File System Shield → Exclusions

You might also want to exclude it from DeepScreen/CyberCapture:

Settings → General → Exclusions → DeepScreen (or in the future CyberCapture)

Use asterisk to exclude any numbers or letters that aren’t persistent and change regularly so you don’t have to correct it constantly.

It was already added to the first one. Adding it to DeepScreen didn’t do anything either. Is it because the full file path is too many characters?

Since this is the asset compiler, there is no reason for it to be modified except when installing a new version (even then, it’s added in a different folder instead of modified).

Have you also ticked all 3 flags as well next to exclusion path?

Yes.

@sealed interface - it sounds as a bug. Would you mind to help us to analyze it better with “debug logging” setting on? It’s in Settings > General > Maintenance. When you turn it on, please reproduce it and send us support package - https://www.avast.com/en-us/faq.php?article=AVKB33#artTitle , let us know the package ID.

Maybe adding “C:\Program Files\Silicon Studio\Xenko\GamePackages\Xenko.1.6.7-beta\Bin\Windows-Direct3D11[b]*[/b]” into Settings > Exclusions will help ?

Because Xenko 1.6.8 was just released, patching 1.6.7, I can’t actually test this on 1.6.7. Avast does not have this issue with Xenko 1.6.8. Essentially, the patch made this bug irrelevant.

-Facepalm-

So, exclusions now work fine with 1.6.8 ? Looks like it was Xenko issue after all. Would be smart investigating why this was happening with 1.6.7 to know better why certain things go past exclusions anyway, what causes that exactly…

I don’t think exclusions have anything to do with the fix (1.6.8 is in a different folder than 1.6.7). I think it was simply avast bugging out about one particular file. If I were to run the file again, it probably would do the same thing. However, since the asset compiler works in junction with the code compiler, testing is really tricky.