Hello, just a quick question, the log files located in C:\ProgramData\Avast Software\Avast\log is taking up a lot of space. It’s at 9.3 GB now. Is it safe for me to delete the content of the log folder?
In the past, some people have said that not all logs should be deleted because some may have important information used by the software so I just wanted to make sure.
I use Avast Premium Security under the Avast Ultimate pack if it makes any difference.
Thanks.
I’m using Avast Free on Win10 so there is likely to be less, given fewer components.
But at 216MB Size or 224MB Size on disk - that is a massive difference.
Do you happen to have Debug Logging enabled - Menu > Settings > Troubleshooting > Logs - Enable Debug logging
My whole C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software folder and subs is only 820MB on disk.
If you peruse the logs can you make any sense of what may be generating so many entries? With Avast Premium, I’m at 160MB in that folder. Something isn’t right.
I would say yours is more like it, so I’m surprised by the 9.3GB size for “Jamie2020”.
I don’t think 150MB is that great especially with the Avast Premium, which is even smaller than mine for Avast Free.
I don’t get unduly concerned by the .log files.
I just wonder if a System Restart for “Jamie2020” might clear some - but I look forward to an answer if he has debug logging enabled.
Avast Free user. Mine is 149 MB and 155 MB on disk.
Any chance you can post a screenshot of the properties window of the folder? As Lano alluded to as well, when you go into the folder do you see any exceptionally large files? In mine, the largest file I have is about 16 MB, but the vast majority are les than 5 MB with many being less than 1 MB.
I also have the .private folder within the log folder, but the permissions on it are restricted so I can’t see how big that one is.
To answer everyone’s question, the “Enable debug logging” is OFF. I have set it to off for as long as I can remember. Though I do seem to recall certain updates of the software turning ON certain features that I had set to OFF. For example, recently the software decided to automatically update certain programs on my PC that had available updates. Something I have always done manually. I wonder if these instances of logging is related to that.
The biggest log file is at 1.6 GB, with many others in the 200MB range.
In any case, the setting still shows that logging is OFF.
So back to my question, can it be safely deleted?
See - what are mdmp files - Google Search
From the screenshot, the file type it appears that you have been or had been having problems with your Avast Premium installation (the dates in the screenshot are relatively old a few months) and are dumps of data relating to the problem ?
Because that is the likely reason they are created. As to if they are safe to remove (I honestly can’t), being in that location and being dump files Avast’s Self-defence module it likely to kick in. You would have to disable that, but I don’t know the possible consequences of doing this.
Presumably you have done many restarts in this time frame of the dumps. As a first step I would suggest trying an Avast Repair (followed by a system restart) to see if it can resolve the cause of the problem/error that caused the dumps to be created.
I have tried to draw some Avast attention to your topic.
Yeah…that’s been happening to a lot of people.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
How would I do that myself? in past experiences, the only time I’ve had someone from Avast reply to me was when I was having trouble with executing payment 
I’m a bit reluctant at repairing my Avast Software, especially if repairing it involves me losing my custom settings for things like firewall, exceptions, etc. To be clear, I currently don’t have any issues with the current version of my Avast software.
Will wait and see a day or two if someone else has any other ideas or input.
After that maybe I’ll just take the plunge and erase the damn things. Avast has been glitching a lot this year.
You’re welcome.
The Repair shouldn’t touch your settings - it certainly hasn’t done so on my installation when I used it.
Now you can save your settings (Just under the Repair option I mentioned):
Menu > Settings > General > Troubleshooting > Backup your Avast Settings.
Avast has been glitching a lot this year.
The result of which are these dump files.
My entire Avast folder is 167MB with Premium
You know best I do not know a lot about log files so go ahead
Vous pouvez tout saisir une fois dans le dossier “Log” [CTRL+A], et faire supprimer tout [SUPPR]. Certains fichiers en cours d’utilisation resteront et ne pourront pas être supprimés. C’est normal ! Il s’agit des éléments system dont l’application “Avast” garde actifs et sécure, avec le dossier “.private” lui même. Ceux-ci ne peuvent et ne doivent donc pas être supprimés.
Ces fichiers ne devraient plus représenter qu’entre 50 et 100 Mo selon votre configuration.
Les fichiers log se reformeront au fur et à mesure de l’utilisation et des besoins de l’application.
Cette manœuvre de suppression ne doit pas être faite trop souvent, car, à chaque fois, cela ralentira Avast et donc votre système d’exploitation qui reformera les fichiers qui lui sont indispensables pour “re”-travailler correctement et normalement.
Bien à vous.
I am happy with any action you think would be best for my computer & me. Colin
Hello!
Seeing Jamie2020’s post, I searched that directory and look what I found, it takes up more than 16 GB !!!
How can I recover that space?
Obviously there is something wrong with my Avast Ultimate and my Windows 7 Professional!!!
Can someone help me please ???
Attached screenshot!!!
Thanks!
Jamie2020’s problem was as a result of many resulting in very large .mdmp dump files containing lots of data about those problems.
You can’t just jump in and delete them as theses are likely to be protected by the Avast Self Defence module.
I suggested an Avast Repair as a start point:
https://community.avast.com/t/log-files-taking-up-a-lot-of-space/850557/11
So have you been having a lot of problems with your installation as your small screenshot doesn’t show any.
You could try that, however you don’t say what Avast Version number you have as windows 7 I believe is no longer supported - https://support.avast.com/en-au/article/antivirus-windows-7-faq/#pc
Essentially you would be on an older supported version - but if for some reason you updated Avast you may end up with problems.
Thanks DavidR!
As they suggested I saved the Avast Ultimate settings and then did the repair, but nothing changed
Finally, I selected the entire log directory, deleted all its contents and as you said, Avast Self Defense prevented deleting some, but now the log directory is around 1.5 GB, which is more reasonable!
I send a final screenshot of log directory!
Thank you so much!
