This is for a full scan of my hard drive. It gets to C:, about 7% in a standard scan and about 18% in a thorough scan, and then just hangs. It works okay if I run it in Safe Mode but that isn’t always convenient. A manual scan of an individual file or folder works fine though.
Browsing forum threads suggest that my use of Zone Alarm Free as my firewall is probably the culprit but I’d welcome advice on how best to proceed. I’m considering switching to another firewall but wish to resolve this issue first.
God, ZA again it seems to be cropping up with hangs in avast scans.
Try this Program Settings, Exclusions, add this ?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log I think that this the file that causes the issue (seen in a number of topic in the forum). Check in the c:\System Volume Information folder ad see if that tracking.log file exists, from memory I think that is the file name.
The ? question mark is a single character wildcard which will allow this exclusion to work in any partition, so you don’t have to create multiple exclusions of you have more than one partition.
Yes, sorry about that! I’ve been a contented user of ZA Free for years before now but then I was of AVG too ;).
Try this Program Settings, Exclusions, add this ?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log I think that this the file that causes the issue (seen in a number of topic in the forum). Check in the c:\System Volume Information folder ad see if that tracking.log file exists, from memory I think that is the file name.
Okay that exclusion matches with what was stated in another thread. I add it to Avast yes? What am I actually doing by doing that though please? I’m naturally cautious where a firewall is concerned, you see. Also, I’m not sure what you mean by System Volume Information folder. I assume it’s part of Window’s system files but can’t see it in there, nor in ZA or Avast’s foders.
The ? question mark is a single character wildcard which will allow this exclusion to work in any partition, so you don't have to create multiple exclusions of you have more than one partition.
I have two internal drives - the first is Windows and programs only, the second is My Documents only - plus an external drive for backups only. I take it this ‘fix’ would stop ZA borking the Avast scan of any of these drives?
You are excluding the scanning of the tracking.log which we believe is the cause of the hang-up and yes you add it.
The System Volume Information folder is a part of the windows system restore and for some reason ZA has placed a file in there and by its name it is tracking something (what I haven’t a clue) and because it is a log it must be logging something (again same answer, plus what and why, $64,000 question).
The windows system restore when enabled places a System Volume Information in all partitions (not sure about external drives though, it would depend on if it was permanently connected), I don’t know if ZA subsequently places a tracking.log in them all, but that one exclusion would work for all partitions and drives.
That is the idea to avoid the conflict by not scaning the .log file.
Apologies for the late post to that effect. The first scan I rang after the fix got past where it was hanging before but then decided to hang near the end of the scan. So in an effort to establish the problem I ran all six of the possible scan permutations which took awhile, especially with real life intervening. Of course the law of the sod being what it is, all six scans ran perfectly.
I recently had this tracking.log problem too (although I’m not using ZoneAlarm). I couldn’t even right-click it1 without explorer freezing. I fixed it by:
Turning off System Restore
Deleting2 the System Volume Information folder (Windows will make a new one)
Turning System Restore back on
I had never had this problem before, but maybe tracking.log got corrupted when I recently migrated to a new hard drive (using Seagate DiscWizard v11.0.0.8142).
Incidentally, it also seems to have fixed a freezing problem I was having with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (which also started just after changing my hard drive).
The DLT Client service monitors activity on NTFS volumes and stores maintenance information in a file called Tracking.log, which is located in a hidden folder called System Volume Information at the root of each volume. This folder is protected by permissions that allow only the system to have access to it. The folder is also used by other Windows services, such as Indexing Service. If the DLT Client service is disabled, you won't be able to track links. Likewise, users on other computers won't be able to track links for documents on your computer.
