Hi Everyone:
I have an external hdd (drive f), and when I set Avast to scan local disks, it scans C, then hangs up when it gets to F. I tried to exclude F in the exclusions section, but same thing. It says it’s still running, but it hangs and doesn’t give me a report on C. I have to close the program then, and it doesn’t register than a scan was done at all. Can anyone help? 
A couple of questions:
What is your operating system?
How do you “close” the program when it hangs?
What exactly did you put to the list of exclusions?
Can you scan the drive F: alone?
What happens when you choose to scan selected areas (instead of local hard disks), and select all the drives (including F:)?
Is there anything special about this F: drive?
Wow! - didn’t expect a reply this soon - another night owl?
OS is XP Pro
I closed once with the 'x" on the interface and once with Windows Task Manager
I excluded F:
I didn’t try F alone, because hard disks automatically includes C and F
I didn’t try selected areas (duh - maybe I will now) I saw the word “folders” and disregarded it
The F is a backup external hard drive, so theoretically everything is clean before it goes there
Thanks so much for your fast reply!!
Wow! - didn't expect a reply this soon - another night owl?Welcome to this board. Get used to fast replies if you hang out here. ;D Night owl? hmm it is 10.30 am here ;D Don't forget the internet is worldwide.
Have you tried chkdisk before running Avast to see if there are any problems?
Night? Not anymore… around noon here
If it can be closed by the ‘x’ from the interface, it’s not really frozen…
Try to put F:* into the list of exclusions.
Well, I meant scanning F: using the “Folders” option.
I didn’t mean viruses… I was rather asking if there’s anything special about the drive F: that it may not be scanned correctly (filesystem, special hardware, special content… don’t know exactly).
I just tried using the folders, selected the C drive, and it worked fine - sorry for being so stupid! This forum was down for awhile, so I’m just now getting back.
I had just run a chkdisk and it was fine.
Yes, worldwide - isn’t it wonderful? I used to be a Napster user before they started suing everyone, and I am a night owl - up at nights, sleep during the day like a vampire (lol). Anyway, I was amazed at the people I was getting chatty comments from were from the other side of the globe until I figured out everyone was asleep here (USA). I’m a little slow - it takes me awhile (lol). I’m a little embarrassed these days to admit I’m an American.
Where are you all from? Everyone writes English so well. Embarrassingly, I don’t do so well in other languages.
Another question since I seem to have an audience: At the end of my scans I always get about 350 or so files that couldn’t be scanned - password protected - they are from docs and settings, sb recovery.ini. It’s looks like spyware or adware, but I’m afraid to delete it, thinking it may be from one of the spyware programs I have installed: Adaware and Spybot S & D. Any ideas?
The program certainly shouldn’t behave as you described… if it does, it’s a bug that should be fixed.
Could you please try the previous suggestions (e.g. running a scan of F: drive only) to see if the problem appears as well?
We (i.e. the company - ALWIL Software) are from the Czech Republic, located in Prague. The users of this forum, however, are from everywhere
Yes, you’d probably find lots of posts on the forum about it. Some programs, especially anti-ad/spyware programs, keep their data files in password-protected archives (ZIP, usually). avast! isn’t able to scan these files (that’s why the password protection is there) and it notifies you about it. You don’t have to worry about them - it’s absolutely normal.
Off-topic with regard to your “main” concerns, but in reply to this specific question …
I don’t think we ever did anything similar here, but over at the Wilders Security forums there’s a “Where’s everyone from?” poll with fascinating results. And I imagine if we did something similar here (in “Off Topic” – but I don’t YaBB supports polls), the results would be at least roughly similar.
Over there, N. America plus Europe combined account for about 85 percent of members who responded, with the others literally all over the world including no less than 2 in Antarctica.
Apparently, the problem is with the F Drive. I tried scanning it, and it just hangs there. When I try to stop the scanning process, it locks in limbo. If I use the “x” to close, it says a scan is running. It’s scanning the C Drive properly, though.
Thank you for all your help. I am amazed that your understanding of English is so flawless - better than many here!
Hello, Mike. I was always amazed at the places I would chat to people from: USSR, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Australia, etc. - none from Anarctica (lol) that I know of. Everyone did a good job with English as well - amazing (to me at least).
Could you try to go to the program settings, turn on the creation of the report file and set everything to be included there? (all kind of errors and OK files). Then, run the scan of the F: drive again… when it “locks” and you stop it, check the report file - maybe it tells us something useful.
Btw, what are your settings (sensitivity) of the scan? Do you have the “Scan archive files” option checked?
I set the report to check all, but it didn’t generate anything but start, stop, and run times.
I have it set for a thorough scan and the scan archive file is enabled.
I have to go to bed now - I can’t even see straight anymore.
You don’t need to spend any more of your time on this - the C drive is all I really need to check. I thank you heartily for all the time you HAVE spent with me.
It seems that the scanner simply didn’t find any files on the F: drive and just quitted…
I know it’s a stupid question, but is there anything on the F: drive?
OK guys, now I need the same help. Mine hangs up everytime I do a scan. It stops somewhere (not always the same number) in the Windows\system32\drivers scan and just hangs. When I eventually try to click off with the “X” in the right hand corner I get the “program not responding” note coming up. I went online and did a Panda Active Scan 5.01 scan and nothing showed up. Also Ad-AwareSE and Spybot S&D show clean so I am relatively sure it is not something bad on the machine. Could it be related to the SP2 or Yahoo! upgrades that I have installed? I am running avast the same way I always do: Scan c: drive in thorough scan mode without scanning archives.
additional info: Restarted in safe mode. Still hangs up some where near file 280 in “drive programs”. Task manager shows 100% usage. 98% ashSimpl.exe and 2% taskmgr.exe.
Also, Windows Firewall is popping up wanting to deny access to VisualZone even though Windows Firewall is turned off. Could this be related?
That’s amazing, Gene, that the windows firewall is trying to interfere even after it’s activated!
The difference in your problem and mine, is that my scan never starts (0 scanned), but when I hit the “x” to close it indicates (and shows on the interface) that it IS running. I can leave it indefinitely, and it just stays like that.
Igor - yes, my f drive is full of a ghost hard drive backup (maybe the ghost is hiding - lol) and backup files from the C drive.
Well, I finally got it to function properly. I first went to repair in the Add/Delete section of Control Panel. Did not solve the problem. It still hung up after a few files. So, I uninstalled and reinstalled avast! from my “security” CD. Now it runs fine. Must have been a corrupted file. When I ran my first scan I did find a Win32:Kuang2 trojan in imscan.dll however, and sent it to Virus Chest.
Maybe this will help you, louisemains.
Gene…
Thanks, Gene. That might be an option after I download SP2. I think I’m going to leave it alone for now.
louisemains
Reading what Gene J just posted, I’d get rid of the problem before installing SP2. Thatway at least you know any new problems are SP2 related and not a possible combined problem. It’s a lot easyer to to a complete un-install of Avast! and a re-install then to have to unistall SP2.
Just use the Avast! Complete Uninstall Utility
Thanks, Bob. I really think the problem is with the F drive, not Avast. I hate to be vulnerable to an attack for the time it takes to download - about an hour with broadband? I read an article recently that said it took an unprotected machine 20 minutes (I think) to be attacked after it was first set up - pretty alarming! If the problem were with Avast, why would it scan my C drive without problems. The problem starts when it comes to F.