Infinately growing file in AppData\Local\Temp\_avast_

As of yesterday, my C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Local\Temp_avast_\unpBE97.tmp file started growing uncontrollably. It consumed 100% of the available disk space. Regardless of what files I deleted to free up space to even shutdown what I was working on, it continued to consume that space–very quickly. I had to forceably shutdown Windows.

Coming up in Repair Command Prompt I was able to do analysis to find this file as being the visible issue. At present it is 42,274,095,104 in size.

Oddly enough, a friend of mine had almost an exact same issue last Wednesday, 12-4-2013, where an Avast .tmp file consumed 170GB! (same symptoms, same directory, different file name). He deleted the file, shutdown Avast, uninstalled Avast, and the visible symptom didn’t return.

I haven’t yet deleted the file. Should this be reported to Avast? Does Avast need to see the contents of the file or anything else to determine if this is a new type of virus/worm that makes Avast look bad and Avast isn’t able to detect the issue?

HELP, I’ve got to get my system back clean!

Sounds like a decompression bomb. Strange…

Hmm, it would be nice to know what triggered the creation of that file, i.e. what avast! was scanning at the moment…
The content of the TMP file probably wouldn’t be very useful.

Are there any steps I should take to try and figure it out, or just delete and move on?

If it can be deleted, then delete it - it means the file is not used anymore.

It deleted fine. I’m in SafeMode. I guess I’ll reboot and see where I get to next.