Boot time scan

Hi.

I recently had a problem regarding a phis. I was told to activate my windows and had to insert my credit card information. Avast and an antispyware saved my ass. I used a boot time scan from avast to remove it so I could use my computer again.

Now, the boot time scan is grayed out. How come this has happened?

I did search for this issue, and I found out that you cannot boot time scan on a XP/vista 64 bit. Well, I am using XP 64 bit. I know I did do a boot time scan before on this system. It also says in task manager that it is running 32 bit (?), so it should be able to make a boot time scan, right?

I do not know why, but I suddenly got mad and wanted all my anti thingy’s to run a complete system scan, and for some reason I cannot get avast to scan more than 1,2k files. Then it stops. It does not crash, it just stops scanning there. It does not stop the scan, it just stops scanning any more files.
Is this a known problem?

No, the fact that avast is natively 32bit (which can run on 64bit OS) doesn’t mean you can run a boot-time scan, the point is you have a 64bit OS and that is currently why a boot-time scan can’t be run.

It is being developed for the new version of avast, but it won’t be in 5.0, but possibly version 5.1.

Where is it stopping ?

What is your firewall, strange I know ?

It is stopping at the file number 1225. When it comes to that number, it just stops.

I have only windows firewall but I disabled that since otherwise I can not play online in some of my games, even after making a exception.
So, currently, no firewall.

But What I do have of anti spyware things is:
SUPER Anti spyware
Uniblue registy booster
Malwarebytes anti-malware

As the only things running.

I also turned off windows update since I installed my windows (like 2 years ago), and have never used it (God I hate that waiting time and those warnings in my taskbar!).

I have been searching around, and I cannot seem to find anywhere posted when the new 5.0 comes (nor the 5.1). Has there been made a date yet?

I also turned off windows update since I installed my windows (like 2 years ago), and have never used it

excuse me ??? or did you just turn off the automatic update and do the check manually ? or are you telling us that you haven’t updated Windows since you installed it two years ago :o :smiley:

ps: don’t insist too much on the boot scan thing ;), avast bootscan as mentioned by David isn’t compatible with 64 bit OS, and won’t be before V5.1 is out probably. 5.0 comes after the holidays…so very early next year. 5.1 later, can’t tell when at all.

Yes. I did not update my windows at all. Or well, I remember installing 64 updates when I installed windows, but that is it.

I never check manually for updates, and I do not want to use my time on that. And as it is for now, there is probably 9999 updates available.

Also, I have never seen a computer get more stable, nor more safer to use by installing updates.

Actually, I stopped installing updates since I was repairing a friends computer. I installed like 100 win XP 32 bit updates, and then we had to format it. It got so slow and actually unusable. I do not want that to happen with my computer. I do not have a backup drive big enough for all my backup yet.

Here is one reason to update you OS

QUOTE Microsoft Security:

Is my computer infected with the Conficker worm?
Probably not. Microsoft released a security update in October 2008 (MS08-067) to protect against Conficker.

If your computer is up-to-date with the latest security updates and your antivirus software is also up-to-date, you probably don’t have the Conficker worm.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/Conficker.aspx

Unfortunately a number doesn’t help, I was thinking of what folder it stops in if it was the same one always ?

Then it could be a very large file in that folder that it may be getting hung on or just takes a very large time to scan.

You certainly like to burn the candle at both ends, don’t use windows updates and turn your firewall off at times.

Pondus: I am pretty sure that I do not have any worms. I checked with SUPER anti spyware. It deleted some cookies and 3 other stuff I can not remember, but it was not harmfull. And to be honest, I really don’t want to spend 10 hours in updating my computer, only to find out that it will to so slow I have to format.

DavidR: I use drive E as windows drive. It scans my B drive where I have all my movies and such. This drive is a 500GB with only 1,5GB left of space on it. I stops when it gets to the movie folder. I can not see witch file it is scanning, it just stops there.

Well, we are in the Christmas time, so why not burn some candles?

Anyway, As I wrote to Pondus, I really don’t want to spend my time on updating windows. As for the firewall, it has been turned off since I installed my windows, witch is about 2 years ago.

so why bother with any security software after all, ditch the AV too ;D

There is nothing stopping you from doing a selective scan, @Folder Selection’ instead of all Local Disks, select the partitions you want scanned and don’t select the movie folder.

Logos: Because I had a phis on my computer. I HAD to activate windows, otherwise I could not use my windows. Then I had to insert credit card information. Microsoft has nothing to use that for. It was here where I installed avast to get my system cleaned. I have thought of uninstall it, but I might as well let it run, it has cached allot I was downloading as virus.

DavidR: That does not help he scan my movie folder. Not sure there is anything in there, but I just never scanned it.

Now, I let it stand for like 3 hours while I was playing cs 1.6. Can it really be that after 3 hours it only scanned 200GB? It seems slow to me. When I scan with SUPER anti spyware it usually takes an hour to scan C: E: and B: drives.

I have in total 1,1TB of files on my computer. And as I said, only 1 hour for SUPER anti spyware.

SAS doesn’t scan files greater than 4MB, so you really can’t compare the two scans.

On my system a Quick SAS only scans 7000 or so files, where a standard scan without archives (if you are enabling archives, I wouldn’t bother they are inert) scans 4 times as many files and I don’t have a huge amount of data.

You have never clearly stated what type of scan it is that you are doing, Thorough, with archives ?
Thorough is also by its design very thorough (it scans all files) and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate. Archive (zip, rar, etc.) files are by their nature are inert, you need to extract the files and then you have to run them to be a threat. Long before that happens avast’s Standard Shield should have scanned them and before an executable is run that is scanned.

I have only ever done a Through Scan with Archives once shortly after installation just to ensure a clean start state, but with XP for example avast will do a boot-time scan after installation if you select it, this I believe will be quicker and reasonably effective. Like everything in life things are a compromise.

In the window of the scan it shows the last file scanned, that should give a reasonable idea of the folder it is in and the likely next file if it follows the same sort of order as explorer.

Detection of SAS is much much lower than a full antimalware product like avast.
So, two scannings can’t be compared.

Oh okay, I see, thanks.

I have enable archives scanning and set it to thorough scan. Since I just for a month ago got avast as the first anti virus on my computer for 2 years. But I am very sure that I did a boot time scan to remove that phis I had. And as you say, boot scan is faster.

However, I set it to normal scan and see where I end up. Thank you for your time to explain it.

You’re welcome.

A Standard scan without archives should make a considerable difference I believe.

Bad thing having an unpached XP computer go to SP3 at least as Trojans will get in the ports as you are online on the web it is like driving a car over glass and sooner or later you will get all four tyres punctured! ;D

DavidR: I will try that. Thanks.

Bbob1: Well, I do not believe anything can come in as it is now. Avast scans everything that I download and open. If the virus is in the avast database, then it will surely be deleted. No need for SP3 then.

To paraphrase a popular Idiom:
A fool and his computer are soon infected
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/a+fool+and+his+money+are+soon+parted.html

look Jelle, your way to deal with your computer won’t convince anyone here but yourself. No firewall, no win/update, no service pack, and in normal times no AV either, this is suicidal. Your windows install should be ditched and redone from scratch with everything needed. I wouldn’t use a system like yours even if I was paid for it.
Now I agree, but this is the XP exception (doesn’t happen on Vista), that a service pack install can be a disaster. I’ve seen it happen with SP2 on XP. But there’s a solution, and it’s called slip-streaming >>> if it’s still available there was a software to merge your current WinXP CD with SP2 and make a new install CD out of that. Worked like a charm for me.
Since I haven’t used XP for ages, I don’t know if SP3 has the same issue, but I doubt it. MS must have learned from their SP2 errors in the meantime (I assume you already got an XP/SP2 CD …if not, I’m not sure if SP3 requires SP2 or SP1 already installed, see here: http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp ).
Once service packs installed, there won’t be as you said 9999 updates … and windows updates don’t slow down PCs unless your system is already broken somehow. This just doesn’t exist.
Do you seriously think MS makes update for fun or just to make the users feel better or what ??? NO. These updates are there to fix security flaws as they happen and they are discovered, AND USED BY MALWARE. So please drop the bs and understand that all this is not bloatware, all this is needed for stability and security reasons that you must acknowledge.
No firewall is mad, and tweaking a router’s firewall (or did you turn this one off as well ?) won’t do the job unless you’re a qualified technician, which is not your case, and unless your router offers the needed tools, which is not always the case. So you do need a software firewall to control inbound and connections and avoid that your system might be used as a relay by web hackers, to control outbound connections to avoid trojans from connecting, all this exist and happen, browse this forum and others, and enjoy the feedback.
Every time I have checked computers from friends who didn’t bother to protect their systems properly, I found malware, and OS slow downs because of the presence of malware. That’s a reality. A computer is not a freaking TV that you can turn on and off and expect to keep running properly forever. It needs maintenance, on a regular basis, updates, scans etc…
Oh one last thing, use an AV in a permanent way too :wink: If your system had been in use the way you described for two years, chances are it is infected with at least tens of spyware. Up to you if you don’t want to change that. But then why come and ask for help here when you don’t respect the most basic rules, doesn’t make sense ::slight_smile:

My original xp cd disk is SP1 and you can download a full SP3 SETUP FILE from the web and jump to SP3 if your windows product key is valid without installing SP2.