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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: pete.goss on May 03, 2011, 05:46:44 PM

Title: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 03, 2011, 05:46:44 PM
Hello,

What do the following files do and why can't they be deleted?

 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Temp\_avast_

05/01/2011  11:56 AM                 0 unp200690649.tmp
05/01/2011  11:55 AM                 0 unp68159271.tmp
05/03/2011  09:18 AM                 0 Webshlock.txt

My registry cleaner, CCleaner, hangs when it encounters these files, so I've excluded them from deletion. I would still, however, like to report the problem to Piriform, once I understand what the above files are and how they function in AVAST.
Thanks...
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: Lisandro on May 03, 2011, 05:49:23 PM
Temporary files used by avast to scan.
Can't be deleted as avast is running and it's self defense module is on.

Edited: Igor's correction.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: CraigB on May 03, 2011, 06:35:17 PM
What version of windows and avast are you running ? the older version's of avast ie(5.1) used to be detected in ccleaner but iv not seen it's return in the later 6 version's.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 03, 2011, 07:34:25 PM
I'm running version 6.0.1091 on Vista Home Premium 64 SP2. Why are zero byte temp files being included in self-defense mode? Wouldn't it make more sense to code exclusions for these files or let users do so in the GUI?
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: igor on May 04, 2011, 02:15:46 PM
The folder is not included in self-defense. So, the fact that they cannot be deleted means they are still open / in use.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 04, 2011, 07:22:05 PM
Hi,

I don't think so because 2 of the 3 files were deleted normally once self-defense mode was turned off. Webslock.txt appears to remain open. Please check the code to ensure your intended result. It's not an urgent issue, as CCleaner can exclude the _avast_ temp folder from deletion. Another suggestion is to create these files in the Avast folder in Program Files rather than in the Windows\Temp folder. Doing so would avoid issues with a variety of cleaning utilities.  Thanks...
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: igor on May 04, 2011, 07:27:09 PM
Sorry, but making the temp files elsewhere doesn't make any sense - that's what the TEMP folder is for.
If every program created its temp files in their program folder, and even better - under random names, then there would be not cleaning tools whatsoever, because there would be nothing recognizable to clean.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 04, 2011, 08:42:32 PM
Ok, but if they are temp files shouldn't they be easily deletable? I'm only trying to suggest some options. Developers can choose the one that works best in some future release. Avast is such a good program that I really don't mind the workaround in Ccleaner. Sorry, I am just one of those guys who is always looking to perfect code.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: DavidR on May 04, 2011, 09:01:30 PM
Not when they are in use as has been said.

However I don't know what your CCleaner settings are but it shouldn't be removing files less than 24 hours old to prevent trying to remove files that might be in use.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 04, 2011, 09:28:19 PM
Right. Ccleaner is set to delete files older than 24 hours, yet it attempted to delete the 3 temp files mentioned but couldn't -- hanging in the process. Strange.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: Nesivos on May 04, 2011, 10:24:54 PM
My C:\Windows\Temp\Avast directory has 1 file for zero bytes.

Just ran a scan Quick Scan that finished 7 minutes ago.



Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: DavidR on May 04, 2011, 11:14:50 PM
Right. Ccleaner is set to delete files older than 24 hours, yet it attempted to delete the 3 temp files mentioned but couldn't -- hanging in the process. Strange.

What other security software do you have installed ?

The reason I ask, after a successful scan of the unp999999.tmp files placed in the _avast_ folder they should be deleted. The only file that should be there when the web shield and your browser are running is the webshlock.txt file and that would be in use and less than 24 hours old, so I don't know why ccleaner is even looking at that.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: pete.goss on May 05, 2011, 02:03:18 AM
The only other security software I have installed is Comodo firewall (5.4.189068.1354) without its antivirus module. CCleaner is version 3.06.1433 for 64-bit.
Title: Re: Temp Files That Can't Be Deleted?
Post by: DavidR on May 05, 2011, 12:09:30 PM
OK, I'm just wondering why these two unp99999.tmp files were still in there, commonly this is because another security application locked the file/s to scan them, which would block avast from removing them after having scanned the .tmp file it placed in there.