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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: paroots on August 04, 2006, 06:31:14 PM

Title: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 04, 2006, 06:31:14 PM
I am trying to install and run Avast 4 Home. I'm able to install but when configuring Avast, the computer hangs. By hang, I mean everything dies except mouse (eg, ctrl-alt-del doesn't work). Usually the hang is caused by enabling/disabling skins or changing provider sensitivity. Most other operations work fine. It's very strange. I have searched the forum and can't find anything having the same symptoms. Any clues would be appreciated. By the way, privacy is disabled in my Zone Alarm Pro since that seems to be an issue. My details are listed below:
Avast! 4 Home V4.7.844
Windows XP Professional (sp2) fully updated
Zone Alarm Pro V6.5.722 (privacy disabled)
Dell inspiron e1505 with 1G RAM
VPS updated as of today
Intel duocore 2GHz (T2500)
ADSL internet connection
Email client: thunderbird
No other antivirus software
No error messages; just hangs computer
Steps to produce: enable skins or change provider sensitivity primarily
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 04, 2006, 09:15:22 PM
But when configuring Avast, the computer hangs.
What exactly you're trying to do... in which window? which settings...?

Usually the hang is caused by enabling/disabling skins or changing provider sensitivity.
Please, isolate the two events. Let the sensitivity on Normal and choose a skin.
Is there any trouble?

Stay with this skin and then change the sensitivity...
Are there any interesting info on the avast logs?

No other antivirus software
Was there in the past? Which one?
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 04, 2006, 09:44:24 PM
Thanks for the feedback. I've done another test which better isolates the issue.  First, I shutdown Zone Alarm pro (since I've read there may be compatibility issues) and enabled Windows Firewall. Second, I installed Avast 4 Home totally clean (by restoring an Acronis True Image that was created prior to the first installation of Avast). After installing Avast, I setup several parameters (eg, always connected, etc) without problems. I then changed Resident Protection from Normal to High. At that instand the computer hung (ie, mouse works but not even ctrl-alt-del works). Hope someone has a clue how to solve.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 04, 2006, 11:03:36 PM
I then changed Resident Protection from Normal to High. At that instand the computer hung (ie, mouse works but not even ctrl-alt-del works). Hope someone has a clue how to solve.
Please, go to log settings and set 'Debug' level.
Then try to 'hang' your computer again.
Boot...
Try to see if there is any info in the avast logs (run C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashLogV.exe)

Other possibility is try to see which is the last file scanned... see ashLogV.exe  ::)
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 05, 2006, 12:28:38 PM
Thanks again for the feedback. I have set logging level to debug. I continue to further define the area which causes the computer to hang. With all sensitivities set to Normal I'm able to make a complete scan without problems. After running a scan I did the following:
  1. Set instant messenger from Normal to High - OK
  2. Set internet mail from Normal to High - OK
  3. Set Network Shield from Normal to High - OK
  4. Set P2P Shield from Normal to High - OK
  5. Set Standard Shield from Normal to High - Hangs immediately
  6. Did a cold boot (power off then on)
  7. Noted that Standard Shield now set to High
  8. Start scan - hangs on the 9435th file
  9. Put Standard Shield back to Normal
  10. Set Web Shield from Normal to High - OK
  11. Ran scan without problems

I checked the log from time to time and the only entries were under Info and Notice. Nothing seemed to relate to the problem in any way. Summary: It seems that my problem relates to setting High Sensitivity on the Standard Shield. Any additional hints or clues would be much appreciated.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 05, 2006, 01:40:57 PM
  1. Set instant messenger from Normal to High - OK
  3. Set Network Shield from Normal to High - OK
  4. Set P2P Shield from Normal to High - OK
Normal or High won't change the behavior on these providers.

  5. Set Standard Shield from Normal to High - Hangs immediately
I'll bet on a conflict: old antivirus installation, another resident (antispyware), firewall drivers conflict... something is wrong...

  8. Start scan - hangs on the 9435th file
Do you have the name and the path of this file?
Is it always the 'same' file (not the same number...)?
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 05, 2006, 01:52:28 PM
Thanks again for the feedback. Here are some points that I should make:
  1. I always start my testing from an Acronis TrueImage image which has never had antivirus software installed so there is no conflict with other antivirus software
  2. I don't think it's an issue with the scan, since the Hang takes place when switching sensitivity of Standard Shield even before a scan is started.
  3. I run AdAware, Spybot, and Registry Mechanic, but they were not running during any of the tests of Avast
  4. As mentioned, I run Zone Alarm Pro but I've found the same problem (ie, Hang) when shutting down Zone Alarm and enabling Windows Firewall.
  5. When I set Standard Scan to normal, I'm able to run a complete scan to completion without problems.

Any ideas as what to do next to isolate (and maybe solve) the problem? Is this an unusual issue?
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 05, 2006, 02:17:21 PM
1. I always start my testing from an Acronis TrueImage image which has never had antivirus software installed so there is no conflict with other antivirus software
Any antispyware? Other security program?

2. I don't think it's an issue with the scan, since the Hang takes place when switching sensitivity of Standard Shield even before a scan is started.
Well, the scan will 'read' the file and avast at High will 'detect' the file being read... so, could be, maybe, the scanning...

4. As mentioned, I run Zone Alarm Pro but I've found the same problem (ie, Hang) when shutting down Zone Alarm and enabling Windows Firewall.
Can you uninstall ZA, install avast, boot... install ZA after that?

5. When I set Standard Scan to normal, I'm able to run a complete scan to completion without problems.
Additionally, you can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report). The report file created (if you turned it on in program settings) will be (default location) at <avast4>\Data\Report\Simple User Interface.txt
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 05, 2006, 05:03:35 PM
I have uninstalled Zone Alarm Pro and enabled Windows Firewall. I then re-installed Avast and repeated the test of one by one increasing sensitivity from Normal to High in each provider. I left Standard Shield for last. When I increased its sensitivity, system immediately Hung and had to be cold booted. This convinces me that the problem is unrelated to Zone Alarm. As mentioned, my security software is:
AdAware, Spybot, Registry Mechanic, and CCleaner. None of these were running while testing Avast. Any hints or clues on what should be the next step?
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 05, 2006, 05:40:22 PM
I've asked for further help to the programmers...
Maybe you can check the folder <avast>\data\log
Are there any files called unpXXXX there  (where XXXX is a random number)?
If so, send them to vlk@avast.com
They may contain more information about the problem (maybe a link to this thread).
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Vlk on August 05, 2006, 05:45:35 PM
Hi paroots, I guess the only way to find out what's going on is to get a dump file. If you have spare time and would like to help us solve the issue, please do the following:

1. Open regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters and add a new DWORD value called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" (no quotation marks). Make its value 1 (one).

2. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery settings, and make sure the machine is set to generate COMPLETE memory dump (in the Write Debugging Information section).

3. reboot the machine

4. when the computer restarts wait for the problem to occur.

5. When the problem is simulated (i.e. the machine is "dead"), do the following: while holding down the _right_ CTRL key, press the SCROLL-LOCK key twice. This should cause the machine to "blue-screen", and start generating the dump

6. If the machine doesn't restart on its own (when the dump writing is complete), restart it.

7. ZIP the file \windows\memory.dmp (name it like cnb-dump.zip) and upload it to the following ftp site: ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming
(note you don't have read access to the site, only write).

8. When you're done, let me know.


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 05, 2006, 08:19:56 PM
I have been working with the instructions, but I do have a question. The dump file is 1 GByte in size. How will I be able to ftp that even allowing for zipping it beforehand? Thanks.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Vlk on August 05, 2006, 10:11:37 PM
1. It should be very well compressible - a one gig dump file usually zips down to some 100-150MB.

2. I don't know what your connection is like, but uploading a 100-150MB file shouldn't be a problem on anything faster than dial-up. If you're using dial-up -- oh well, I guess we're out of luck...


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 05, 2006, 10:24:34 PM
If you're using dial-up -- oh well, I guess we're out of luck...
You can use Dariolius to split the files into small parts (http://www.kanastacorp.com/dariolius.html)
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Vlk on August 06, 2006, 09:26:22 AM
OK, I have had a look at the dump, and it clearly shows that the problem is caused by a collision with another file system filter driver installed on your system, called pgpsdk.sys. Googling around suggests this driver is part of the PGP online disk encryption product. I suppose you have this product installed (?)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to proceed at this moment. It seems like an incompatibility between avast and PGP - and there doesn't seem to be any easy workaround...


Thanks
Vlk
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 06, 2006, 11:27:48 AM
Thanks for your efforts. Yes, I am running PGP V8.0, to encrypt files.

Let me be sure I understand things. I can do a complete scan with Standard Shield set to Normal without problems, but the moment I increase sensitivity to High, the computer Hangs. What does Avast do at the moment I increase sensitivity? I suspect that it's checking all programs that are loading into memory which would include PGP since it shows up in the system tray.

Does this imply the program would work fine for me if I leave sensitivity set to Normal. Is this recommended? Also, is it not possible to setup exceptions so that it ignores PGP?
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 06, 2006, 02:50:09 PM
Does this imply the program would work fine for me if I leave sensitivity set to Normal. Is this recommended?
Normal IS the recommended balance for all users (performance & protection)

Also, is it not possible to setup exceptions so that it ignores PGP?
For the Standard Shield provider (on-access scanning):
Left click the 'a' blue icon, click on the provider icon at left and then Customize.
Go to Advanced tab and click on Add button...

For the other providers (on-demmand scanning):
Right click the 'a' blue icon, click Program Settings.
Go to Exclusions tab and click on Add button...

You can use wildcards like * and ?.
I would include all files used by your encription program.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 06, 2006, 04:03:26 PM
Thanks for the feedback. I have done as you requested. By the way, I have disabled skins so my interface is different than you describe above.  Here is my question. When I go to Standard Shield provider it has 3 settings: Normal, High, and Custom. When all is said and down, which setting would give me the best protection? I was able to put it on High after adding the exclusions (ie, PGPskdServ.exe and PGPtray.exe). Once I set it to high, it Hung but after cold boot it seemed happy. Therefore, would I be best to leave it on High? Please recall that the Exclusions are not even required when set to Normal.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 06, 2006, 04:21:50 PM
Which setting would give me the best protection?
High is 'higher', best protection of course.
Normal is ENOUGH, you won't be infected using it.
Custom, as the name says, could be in the middle of High and Normal but even 'higher' than High...
I suggest Normal for you, no trouble.

Therefore, would I be best to leave it on High? Please recall that the Exclusions are not even required when set to Normal.
If I were you? Not.
I'll keep Normal without the Exclusions  ;)
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: paroots on August 06, 2006, 04:41:31 PM
Thanks. Understood. By the way, I still have a bit of a mystery. When I set the exclusions to PGPsdkServ.exe and PGPtray.exe (as discovered under 'Processes' tab of Windows Task Mangager), the program still tended to Hang although in a less dramatic way. This is when I had the Exclusions set and Standard Shield set to High. Any idea why it didn't work on High? Just wondering.
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Lisandro on August 06, 2006, 04:52:36 PM
Thanks. Understood. By the way, I still have a bit of a mystery. When I set the exclusions to PGPsdkServ.exe and PGPtray.exe (as discovered under 'Processes' tab of Windows Task Mangager), the program still tended to Hang although in a less dramatic way. This is when I had the Exclusions set and Standard Shield set to High. Any idea why it didn't work on High? Just wondering.
Far from my user knowledge... I need Alwil team to answer  :)
Title: Re: Avast 4 Home hangs computer
Post by: Vlk on August 06, 2006, 05:31:11 PM
Quote
Thanks for the feedback. I have done as you requested. By the way, I have disabled skins so my interface is different than you describe above.  Here is my question. When I go to Standard Shield provider it has 3 settings: Normal, High, and Custom. When all is said and down, which setting would give me the best protection? I was able to put it on High after adding the exclusions (ie, PGPskdServ.exe and PGPtray.exe). Once I set it to high, it Hung but after cold boot it seemed happy.



The problem is much more subtle than you may thing, and is related to the internal workings of avast AND PGP. The situation here is quite similar as with other AV programs (I mean, running avast + another AV program at the same time). With PGP, it's not so dramatic (the hang doesn't occur that often) but still the problem is there.

The heart of the problem is that Windows was never designed to run more than one such a file system filter. While there are some tricks to avoid hangs as much as possible, it is still far from ideal. We're making some changes for the avast 5 release to prevent as many incompatibilities as possible - so chances are the situation will improve over time.

Quote
Does this imply the program would work fine for me if I leave sensitivity set to Normal. Is this recommended?

Absolutely, I mean, normally, there's no reason to change the sensitivity whatsoever. The "normal" level configuration was created as how we think is the optimal balance between security and performance.


Thanks
Vlk