Avast WEBforum
Other => Viruses and worms => Topic started by: Aphex23 on November 04, 2010, 02:20:38 AM
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Everytime I restart my computer, when Windows starts I get an error message saying that avast can't start because it's missing some file "ashbase.dll" or something like that, I know it starts ashbase. Anyways, I've tried re-installing avast a million times by now and everytime it still stops after setup and just crashes. Also when Windows (XP) starts I get an error message about internet explorer closing, and often I can't even open IE because it immediatelly crashes and generates an error report. I also get a similar error message for Microsoft Windows everytime I restart. When I try to download avast the first time it says I need to go to internet options and delete temp internet files. So I do, then when I try again after setup when installation is about to start it simply crashes without an error, athough sometimes it gives me this error again:
An error 1006 (000003EE) has occurred.
Last performed operation was:
opening the self-extract archive
Try to download setup file again.
If you use internet explorer, clear it's cache before downloading:
Start->Control Panel->Internet Options and Delete Temporary Internet Files.
I'm not sure what the deal is but obviously something serious is going on with my PC and it won't let me download avast, use IE half the time, and crashes windows upon restart. Is there anything I can do to find out what this is or to fix it? The only protection I have been able to keep for my PC is Spybot and that never detects anything. I even tried downloading AVG and that doesn't work either.
Any help would be appreciated.
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So did you successfully remove CA antivirus, as per your indicated problem (and offered solutions) in this thread? (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=65529.msg553355#msg553355)
One of the removal tools linked/pointed to by Pondus should have done the job.
How full is your hard drive?
Have you removed temp files/run the disk clean utility at all?
Try running MBAM again, (update it first) and if it detects any malware, post the log here, or indicate otherwise.
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Yeah, I tried both CA remover tools and they both went through the process and I haven't heard anything about etrust ez antivirus since that. I also tried that uninstaller mentioned in my previous thread but I guess the removal tools worked because I didn't find anything.
As far as my harddrive... it's bad. I only have 55.8 GB of space ON my harddrive, so there is typically less than 2 GB free any given day but I am constantly downloading/deleting torrents so it varies.
I tried Malwarebytes again and it didn't catch anything as usual. The only time it ever caught anything was the first time I used it, then it found like 10 or so infected files.
Anyways... any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. This thing is driving me CRAZY constantly closing internet explorer. I have to open it about 20 times or so before it will get past this thing and actually stay open for awhile, but it always winds up closing eventually.
- Aphex23
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As far as my harddrive... it's bad. I only have 55.8 GB of space ON my harddrive, so there is typically less than 2 GB free any given day but I am constantly downloading/deleting torrents so it varies.
That will most likely be the reason.
You need to move some of your files (pictures, movies, music etc) somewhere else, to CDs or an external hard drive, and free up some room.
Not only will you be able to maybe install another program by doing this, but your performance will improve slightly, too, and a disk defrag won't take so long.
Carry out a disk cleanup, using the inbuilt utility, and get rid of all temp and temporary internet files.
Basic houseclean is what's needed. Have fun.
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Ok so I deleted enough files to have 5 GB free, deleted temp and temp internet files, and restarted. Still getting all the same problems. I realize that's still not a lot, I plan on going to buy some blank CD's tomorrow to transfer all my music to. I know that takes up about 20% of my harddrive. When I run defragmenter it says it needs 15% free disk space to run properly, but it lets me use it anyways. It's currently in progress i'm hoping it will help a little. Just thought I would update while I can use IE since it's so difficult to keep it from crashing.
Any other ideas would be great too while I work on this, thanks for the help. Hopefully it works. -crossing fingers-
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Defragging is unlikely to gain you very much extra space as the physical file still takes up the same space, any saving would be minimal and would be dependant on the cluster size 4KB is the usual size so there isn't much wasted space if fragmented.
The main reason it mentions the 15% requirement is so it has room to move things around whilst it defrags.
You have to strip data off the HDD on to an external storage source, be that a USB HDD or flash drive or CD/DVD. Once you do that you really should be considering a larger hard disk and either install that as a second HDD on the system or have a tech transfer the data (clone the old drive to the new one). This isn't a simple task (why I suggest a tech) as some software including windows may retain information about the old drive (unique ID) so you may need to re-register or activate some software.
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Yeah, I did the defrag it maybe created about 15 MB free space. I was doing a little research and found a microsoft help page that recommended resetting internet explorer's customizations. I did this and now internet explorer seems to work ok (though this was just one restart). I still can't download avast I keep getting the same error mesage about 'asbase.dll' so i'm hoping that tomorrow after I can get some cd's and transfer my music i'll have enough space.. though I don't see how that's going to change the missing file error message about avast. But then again, I don't know very much about computers.
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After you transfer all your music, and other files that you planned to transfer to CD's, clean your machine up and defrag it (housecleaning). Reboot.
The error message you got was most likely due to not having enough memory on your HDD. But let us know how you do after you transfer things and do your PC housekeeping if you still get this message. Otherwise, you might have to consider getting an external HDD, as mentioned earlier. Take it one step at a time.
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Right, here's a couple of ideas, just to double-check you are carrying out a procedure that at least I know works, because it's the one I use. I'd be a little surprised if you don't have enough disk space available now, though it's still a possibility.
Go to the Avast download page (http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab4) and click on the download button below the row of grey tabs for Multi language (50MB) or English (48Mb).
Save this file to your desktop.
Go here (http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility) and download the Avast uninstall utility (aswClear5.exe) Save this to your desktop.
Run the uninstall utility. Reboot. Run the installation file by double-clicking on it. Follow the prompts, and reboot when prompted to.
Please let me know how you get on. And if you don't "get on", let me know what happens, the error, and at what step of the process it happens.
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Wow... it's a miracle everything works! No error messages, no problem with avast, internet explorer seems to be working fine. Thanks soooo much for the help you guys, first time I can use my computer without going insane in a loooooong time. I'll still transfer all my music to CD's to save more space but hopefully this lasts.
To recap how each problem was fixed:
Internet explorer stopped crashing after using the microsoft help tip about resetting all customizations of IE.
avast! started working properly and longer gave an error message after following the procedure Tarq57 lined out about saving the download to my desktop, using the uninstall utitilty in safe mode, restarting and downloading avast.
Microsoft Windows error message stopped coming up upon restart after cleaning up my harddrive as recommened by Tarq57, DavidJR, and SafeSurf.
So once again, thank you so much for all the help everyone.
- Aphex23
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Glad to hear that everything is now working. :D You will need to keep your PC housekeeping up to free up the memory (keep a clean machine).
Give yourself a few days and see how things go. When you feel that your issue is resolved/fixed, please go back to the first open post in this topic, click the modify button in that Post and change the title/subject, add [Resolved] to the beginning of the title so this thread can be closed.
Feel free to come back any time you need help, to learn something new, or just to ask questions. We are here 24/7 for your convenience. Thank you for allowing us to assist you.
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You're welcome.
One other tip, get the system restore space used under control as that is one of the biggest resources hogs I know, I have seen them get up to 1.5GB and larger for large Hard Disks, as windows allocates a 12% of your hard disk space. This can be reduced To change System Restore settings (http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/app_system_restore_hss_settings.mspx?mfr=true), check out the Allocating more disk space to System Restore section. Although this mentions allocating more the same instructions can be used to reduce the size.
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You're welcome.
I like it when things work. Any more help or advice needed, feel free to ask.
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So... 5 days later and all my problems are back. Avast is back to not being able to download any new updates, I get this error message when it tries: 'last problem encountered: package is broken.' Internet explorer is back to crashing and giving me an error report, typically when I try to watch any kind of streaming video, or go to a website that uses a lot of flash. I guess it kind of sounds like another not having enough free space sort of problem but I'm still working on freeing up some extra space, I'm still at about 5 GB rather than the 2 GB or less I had when I made this thread. The only problem that hasn't shown back up is microsoft windows crashing, closing all of my applications and giving me an error report, though that could change since all of these problems are coming back day by day.
Sorry for having to bring this thread back up, I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen again.
Anyways, once again any help or ideas whatsoever would be greatly appreciated. :(
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How long since you last ran a disk cleanup?
Try downloading ATF cleaner from their download page (http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25) (or direct download here (http://www.atribune.org/ccount/click.php?id=1) ) and save it to your desktop.
Run it by double-clicking.
Select all, except those you may want kept, such as cookies, history...those don't take up much space at all.
Anything "temp" is up for deletion.
See how much that removes.
Did you follow DavidR's advice, to reduce the system restore percentage?
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I tried running disk cleanup someone mentioned it but I waited two hours and it got stuck at a certain percentage, meant to try it again later. I will do it when I go to work this morning. That ATF cleaner really helped, it deleted 947 MB of crap... that's crazy I didn't know I had that much extra stuff. Also yes I lowered the system restore percentage awhile back to about 25% of what it was at. Thanks, I'll let you know if anything changes when I get back this afternoon.
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You really are just postponing the inevitable you need to upgrade your hard disk as this will continue to happen, as there really is not enough working space in your system.
Another area to look at is the pagefile.sys as this too can gobble up large chunks of your hard disk, normally it is advisable to allow windows to manage this size. But it is a flexible space bit it can grow to over twice the size of the memory installed.
What is your OS ?
How much memory do you have installed ?
Another area to look at is the avast log/report files, etc. as one of them can get very large and that is aswAr1.log (in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Alwil Software\Avast5\log winXP location).
That file in itself can be GBs in size, this is the anti-rootkit scan, it is recreated every time that the scan is run, usually when you run an on-demand scan that includes it and the higher the sensitivity the more files it scans and the greater the size. It isn't appended but overwritten so it should find a balance according to what you have on your hard disk that is being scanned.
This application, now has a section to clear old avast logs, however, if you have XP it isn't looking in the right place, so doesn't find anything (OK for Vista and win7) - CCleaner - Temp File Cleaner, etc. (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/)
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Tarq57,
Oops, for some reason I thought you meant the error scan not disk cleanup. But I do the disk cleanup about once a week, did it again and there was a few MB's.
DavidJR,
I wish I could upgrade my hard disk, first of all I don't really know how, second I probably can't afford it. In a really tight money situation.
Where is the pagefile.sys located?
My OS is Windows XP Home Edition. As far as memory, I have the 55.8 GB that came when I was given the computer (after my parents used it for a few years). I went to the aswAr1.log file, it's only 3 KBs. Also I use ccleaner on a regular basis, though I never knew it had a section for avast that I cant use.
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You haven't reported your RAM only the hard disk size which is what you answered. This is important as it is that which is important for the pagefile.sys file settings.
It isn't so much where it is located, you can't delete it as it is in use, but you can check its size. From the My Computer, select System Properties, Advanced tab, Performance section, Settings Button. From the next window select the Advanced tab and that will show the current quantity of hard disk space taken by it in the Virtual memory (that is what the pagefile.sys is used for).
Clicking the Change button, will show where that space is allocated and if it is system managed (the default) or Custom (experienced user setting or under guidance) or No paging file (totally NOT recommended), see image2.
I have mine set to a min and max size, a minimum of the amount of RAM I have installed and a maximum of half the size of ram again. I have done this to have a minimum size where that pagefile.sys doesn't fluctuate in size (causing possible hard disk fragmentation). I have never seen it exceed the minimum file size I have set.
In all honesty, I don't know if you should go messing with it and leave it at the System managed size. But it rather depends on how big the pagefile.sys gets, it is normally located in the C: drive and is a hidden file.
A hard disk is relatively cheap and you could probably pick up a 120GB - 250GB one for $30-$50, if you don't know someone that can clone your existing drive and transfer it to the new drive and fit it then a PC shop would probably cost the same again or higher ($50-$100). However adding it as a second hard disk would remove the need to clone the existing hard disk and reduce cost if done in a shop. Then all you need to do is move everything that isn't the Operating system or installed Programs to the second hard disk.
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Ok, I couldn't find it under My Computer but I went to Start>Control Panel> then followed the rest of those steps and found it. But yeah I'm not sure exactly what info you need so here is all of it, Im a little nervous messing with it so if I need to change anything just let me know:
Paging File Size (MB): 384-768
Space Available: 4378 MB
Initial Size (MB): 384
Maximum Size (MB): 768
Total paging file size for all drives -
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 765 MB
Currently allocated: 384 MB
Neither 'System managed size' or 'No paging file' are checked.
As far as a new hard disk, if it's that cheap I could do it but not for another month and a half, I don't know anyone anymore that can clone the existing drive, etc. (atleast nobody I trust to do it) so I'd definently have to take it to a shop.
So why are all these problems just occurring now? I've been on the brink of basically no hard drive space for years and everything worked fine till about a month ago.
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Right-click "my computer" and select "properties". (An alternative way of getting to the same window is to go to the control panel and select "system".)
Near the bottom of the "general" tab, under "computer",copy the info on processor, and (particularly) RAM.
Your page file has been set rather low, it would seem, and if it has been set by someone who knows what they're doing, your RAM is probably 512, or possibly 256. This is pretty marginal for an XP computer attempting to run current software.
In general computer usage, do you get messages on screen about Windows running short of memory?
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Yes, that Max and Min would have to be set by someone and has been said should be based around the RAM you have, which we don't know. So we can't say if this figure is suitable for your system.
The major thing is that it isn't massive, in this case it would be using a minimum of 384MB and a maximum of 768MB of the available space on your Hard disk.
You could enquire at a shop how much it would cost to clone and replace your existing disk or simply install it as a second hard disk and you move your data to the second hard disk. If you bought the hard disk from the shop it is likely to cost more than purchase from an on-line source.
Only one memory management option can be checked, you can't set either of those and be able to set a Min and Max figure also.
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- First off my old problem with windows OCCASIONALLY shows up when I run VLC media player (as in, not much of a pain in the $%& yet). It crashes, sends error report, but now I get an extra pop up that says: Error Report Then 'Dr. Watson PostMortem Debugger.' It then closes VLC, Utorrent, any folders I have open, but usually leaves a couple of random things open.
Tarq57, here is what it says under My Computer > General:
System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002, Service Pack 3
Compaq Computer Corporations
Compaq Presario
Intel (R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00 GHz
1.99 GHz, 512 MB of RAM
Other than that it just says registered to 'my name' and below that a long number with dashes. In reponse to whether or not I get a message about Windows running short of memory, I used to until I tripled the harddrive space I had previously. Now I never get it. Just the same problems with Avast not being able to download new updates, and internet explorer crashing when I try to watch any sort of streaming video, site with too much flash, etc.
By the way, regarding the comment about the RAM being pretty marginal for for an XP attemption to run current software, the truth is I really don't run much if any current software. Mostly I just download songs, movies (then deletet them after watching so they dont take up space). Other than that I play online poker and that's about it.[/color]
DavidR,
You sort of lost me with all that, but does that mean i'm basically screwed until someday I can afford a hard disk + installation?
Also I forgot to mention this, I don't know if it has anything to do with these problems but when I use Ccleaner, everytime I run the registry option it leaves me with the following problem even when I have chosen the 'fix it' option multiple times:
C:/ProgramFiles/Adobe/Acrobat 7.0/Reader/AdobeUpdateManager.exe"AcRd87_0_9-reboot 1
Registry Key: HKCU\Registry\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
My understanding is that it's only used to open .pdf files. Does this mean I can just delete this thing and forget about it then?
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By the way, regarding the comment about the RAM being pretty marginal for for an XP attemption to run current software, the truth is I really don't run much if any current software. Mostly I just download songs, movies (then deletet them after watching so they dont take up space). Other than that I play online poker and that's about it.
Could you open the task manager (ctr alt del) and select "processes", ensure the bottom left box "show processes from all users" is ticked, and report the number of processes running, please?
If you could expand the task manager and take a screenshot to post here, (you may want to edit out your username from some of the listed processes) that would be better still.
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Ok, hopefully these aren't too distorted or anything, I'm sure everyone knows by now how computer illiterate I am by now. At first I forgot to check 'all users' but then when I did absolutely nothing changed, (just fluxuates a little regardless of whether it's checked) so I went ahead and posted the original ones since there was no real difference (I have no other users on this computer). If you still need it though please let me know.
(http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/SemiCharmed69/WindowsTaskManager2.jpg)
(http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/SemiCharmed69/WindowsTaskManager1.jpg)
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Try disabling the Spybot Teatimer.
That might well remedy a lot of problems.
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How do I do that? Just use the end process option under processes, or is there some other way of disabling it?
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No, don't do that.
Been a while since I had dear old Spybot installed, but (as with most running processes) it's best to do it via the program options.
That means opening Spybot, you might have to select the advanced menu, and locating the real time protection area. If I remember correctly there are two resident options. One is the teatimer, I can't remember the other, sorry. But remove the tick from both of them. Close the interface.
Another way would be to remove Spybot completely. Before doing that, any immunization that has been applied by the program should be undone. Do you use spybot at all? Did you install it yourself?
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Ok, still having trouble finding any real time protection area. I went under advanced and searched around, all I found was under Advanced > Tools > System Startup, then there was a long list of programs, one of them was:
Key: HK_CU: Run [User 5-1-5-21-3508293876-720897496-4103935507-1008]
Value: SpybotSD TeaTimer
Command Line: C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
Also under the 'Resident' tab it gives two boxes to check or uncheck:
Resident "SDHelper" [Internet Explorer bad download blocker] active. (This one is checked)
Resident "TeaTimer" {Protection of over-all system settings} active. (However this one is not checked, it says in the notes it was deleted in the startup user entry on this date, so I re-checked it until I know whether or not this is what you are talking about).
Also, if I were to remove Spybot completely, how do I undo the immunizations? I use that function everytime I use Spybot (although I can't remember the last time this program actually found anything whatsoever so I have no problem with that option). And yes I installed it myself.
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OK. Hang on, I'm going to install it myself to refresh my brain. I should be able to post back in about 10 minutes.
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I believe you can do it this way:
Uninstall Spybot S&D w/Teatimer: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html). In addition, you need to go into Advanced settings to disable the resident protection (2 areas to possibly disable – Teatimer and some IE blocking), then de-immunize if the immunity has been set. That takes a minute or more sometimes. The run the program’s own uninstaller, which should be in the Add/Remove Programs.
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Here's a few screenshots.
The first shows how to undo the immunization. Press the undo button (circled red). This may take a few minutes.
The second shows how to get into the advanced settings. Do that if you haven't already. You have to "OK" your way into there.
The third shows where in the advanced settings to deal with the teatimer and other resident. (Tools>resident, where I've red-arrowed). Go there, and make sure that the two boxes (boxed in red) are unticked. (I think you may have been in another area - maybe "system startup" when you looked.)
Once all that is done, you can uninstall the program via the control panel, or follow Safesurf's link for directions.
I quite like the motivation of the Spybot author, and feel it is probably a useful application, still under development, but in all truth, I think the free version of MBAM (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) used as a demand scanner probably beats it. Hands down. A view shared by others smarter than me also.
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Alright, sorry for delayed reply. No changes whatsoever. This is sooooooooooooo frustrating, I just want to be able to update avast and be able to use my internet without going out and buying a bunch of crap to add on to my computer but apparently I can't. This thread is running quite awhile now, if you guys think you can't resolve this without me having to go out and spend money then I guess it can be closed because I just don't have the money.
Plus, I have so many folders under program files and about 90% of them I don't recognize, some of themn over 300 MB large. Is there any way I can figure out whether or not deleting certain folders will screw up my computer further or clear more space? Somehow my hard disk space has gone back down to 4 GB instead of over 5 GB. I don't want to transfer my few favorite bands music from my computer because all I can use are CD's to put them on, so what happens when I want to make a mix while im playing a game or doing something else in my room? I have to switch CD's to hear dofferemt songs almost defeating the purpose of even having more space. I'm on the verge of giving uo.