Am replacing BitDefender on several of my computers with Avast Home for now…if I like it, will go to the Professional version. I have several computers on which I’ve loaded Avast to test it and they seem to work fine with ONE exception. My main desktop at home will not run a full system scan. After some research, I find it’s always stopping on the same folder. If you attempt to pause Avast, it will show as “not responding” in task manager and you have to reboot the system. There is no disk activity and it is obvious that avast is locked up. I have XP Pro SP-3, a 3GHz Intel processor, and 2 GB memory. The other systems that avast is working on are very similarly equipped as the one that DOES lock up.
What I have done in an attempt to solve the problem:
ran chkdisk to be sure all was in order there
ran sfc /scannow to make sure all was in order there
defragged using PerfectDisk
created a new folder, copied all the information in the “lock up” folder to the new folder and deleted the old folder…this would preclude any “bad spots” on the disk being the problem
I can actually run a virus scan on JUST the folder and it completes correctly. However, if I run an entire computer scan, it will always lock up on that folder. I’m going to try moving the folder to another disk and seeing if it will complete if that folder is not involved in the scan.
Any other suggestions on why this might be happening? Any programs I have on the computer that is “locking up” during the scan are also on the other computers that work fine. I have Spyware Doctor on the offending PC, but also have it on my computers that are working fine, so I don’t see that as the problem.
Let me add, I am using Avast 4.8, build 4.8.1229, database 80729-1 which was the most current when I wrote this post. On access scanner is generically set to HIGH, and I’m doing a THOROUGH scan with Archive Files being checked. There are no events shown in Event Viewer nor in the Avast Log File, other than two unrelated files that are “password protected and can’t be scanned” that shouldn’t appear in the log because I have them listed in the scan exceptions. Hope that answers all the up front questions.
I also have an almost identical problem with the recently purchased Home Professional edition.
My system locks up at the same location as well, but the lock occurs at a point after some malware has been located and I have taken the recommended action of sending it to the “virus chest.”
I was in contact with the support people at avast and they had me try a number of things…ultimately I had no malware/spyware/adware/viruses on my system. What apparently is happening is…under the right conditions, avast cannot scan an empty folder. I found that the scan SHOWED to be locking up on a particular folder. However, I found the NEXT folder to be scanned was empty. I put an empty .txt file into that folder so it was no longer empty and from then on, the scan has run with no problems.
That’s rather strange, scanning an empty folder can hardly lock-up (unless the underlying disk filesystem structure is somehow corrupted).
Could you try to dump the scanner process when it’s frozen? The description how to do that is e.g. here.
Note: avast! self-defense has to be disabled first (avast! settings / Troubleshooting page), otherwise it won’t be possible to create the dump.
Thanks.
I tried running the scan to point where where it has hung up on 2 prior occasions and this time it finished the scan. So, I don’t know what the problem was.
If it locks up again, I’ll try that. However, once it is locked up, if you try to stop or pause the scan, Avast will show as “not responding” in Task Manager and will progressively drain all the resources of the system. IF it locks up and you stop or pause the scan, you MUST reboot, or your system will not work properly from that moment on.
I’m finding all sorts of interesting things about Avast as I go along. I have another computer that was VERY slow on the internet if Avast was running. Doing a scan could take 9 or 10 hours, which on a 60GB drive is a bit ridiculous. Turned out the Intel ProSet Wireless software was having problems. I uninstalled it and used the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration and now the computer scans quickly and is very fast on the internet. Once I get all the “bugs” out of the systems I have, I’m thinking Avast should do a great job. Will let you know if I have any more lockups on the one computer this post was originally addressing.
Well the “empty file” theory was just a fluke. After two successful runs of the Avast program, it began locking up again. It seems, however, that if, while it’s locked up, I shutdown Spyware Doctor, then it continues on with no problem. Apparently a conflict between the two programs. Interesting since I have Avast and Spyware Doctor…same versions, same settings, working on four other computers with no lockups. Not sure I want to provide the dump file that was mentioned earlier…seems like there is a lot of personal information from the disk saved in that dump file and having not read it all through completely, not sure it’s something I should be sharing. Am putting exceptions in Spyware Doctor to see if it can get along with Avast on this one computer I’m having problems with.