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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: Saito S on February 25, 2011, 06:40:57 AM

Title: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on February 25, 2011, 06:40:57 AM
So I have the latest update of ver. 6 (it just updated earlier tonight), and I've had nothing but good experiences with avast so far.  And I have Windows XP Pro sp3.  However, I've been experiencing major slowdown and other problems with my second hard drive (H drive), which until recently has worked fine.  So, one of the first things I thought of was to scan it with avast... but it refuses to complete the scan.  It gets maybe 100+ MB scanned, then it just freezes on whatever file its currently on.  It still SAYS it's scanning, and the time elapsed continues to count up, but nothing else will change; the % indicator stays at 0, and the amount of data scanned will not change, and it will not move on from whatever file it gets stuck on. 

So, just to test it out, I tried to run a scan on some folders - some small, some large - on my main (C) drive.  The scan... worked, kinda.  I'm not sure it IS working right, tho: I hit "start", and almost immediately, it jumped to "Scan Completed - No Threat Found."  It would do this both on folders that were nothing more than several hundred KB, and on folders that are 5 GB+.  Additionally, after "scanning" the folder, the results returned say folders scanned: 1, files scanned: 0, amount of data tested: 0.0 B.  And the scan run time is ALSO zero.

Is this RIGHT?  Somehow I doubt avast can actually scan 5.84 GB in less than a second.  And all those results saying "scan complete", yet "stuff scanned: basically nothing"... it has me worried.  Coupled with the fact that I want to scan this H drive to see if I can begin to diagnose whatever is wrong with IT, and it's pretty frustrating.

So!  Basically it boils down to 2 questions.  One, what I described with scanning 5.84 GB in a second and saying "0 files/0.0 B" for what was scanned... that's not normal, right?  And two: has anyone else had the problem with a scan of a specific folder (hard drive in this case) just getting stuck on one file after several seconds?  And of course, any ideas on how to fix that problem are welcome. 

Yeesh... thanks in advance for any help!
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on February 25, 2011, 07:31:27 AM
Hello Saito S and welcome to the forum.

What previous version of Avast did you upgrade from?

Did you have previous antivirus (AV) on this machine prior to Avast?

What other security software, including firewall (FW) do you have?

What kind of scan are you doing?  Quick, Full, Custom, Boot?
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on February 26, 2011, 06:05:22 AM
Hello Saito S and welcome to the forum.
Thanks   ;D
Quote
What previous version of Avast did you upgrade from?
Hmm... I thought I saw a log of previous updates somewhere in the program, but now I can't find it.  Not sure how to tell... it's currently on 6.0.1000.
Quote
Did you have previous antivirus (AV) on this machine prior to Avast?
I did have Norton (yes, I know), but I got rid of that and installed Avast in April of 2010.  Been using it since then with no problems, until these last couple of days. 
Quote
What other security software, including firewall (FW) do you have?
Spybot: S&D.  The only firewall I use is the Windows XP one. 
Quote
What kind of scan are you doing?  Quick, Full, Custom, Boot?
Specifically, scanning individual folders/drives, via the "Select a folder to scan" option in the "Scan Computer" section in the main avast window.  Didn't think to try a Custom Scan, which seems kind of obvious... I blame the insane week I've had.  But after reading your post, I decided to try it... it seemed to work fine.  I still find it odd that it can scan a 5.84 GB folder instantly (is Avast really THAT fast?), but it actually returned the correct number of files scanned and amount of data scanned (instead of saying "zero" for both) this time, so hey. 

So apparently, it's a problem with that specific option, the "Select Folder to Scan" option.  Which is freakin weird, but at least I can create custom scans to get things done.  Still trying to troubleshoot my hard drive (not my C drive where Windows and my programs are, fortunately, but still); accessing the drive is slow as molasses now.  At first, I noticed it with watching videos, but even just opening Explorer windows pointing at folders on the drive is quite slow.  I recently installed Dragon NaturallySpeaking on my computer to test it out, and I used that drive... I decided not to keep it (partly because it caused a lot of slowdown and seemed pretty glitchy), but I can't help but wonder at the timing.  These problems didn't start till I installed it, and have unfortunately persisted even though I got rid of it...

One other thing I noticed.  After successfully scanning my 5.84 GB test folder, I created and ran a custom scan on a folder full of videos on the H drive (which is, of course, the drive with the issues).  So we'll see how that goes (gonna take a bit to finish, as this folder is much bigger), but iTunes (which is stored on C, not H, as are all the music files) was playing when I started the scan, and every now and then, the music gets a little choppy and static-y.  I don't recall this happening before... I've never read anything suggesting that running a program while scanning is a particularly bad idea (as long you are not accessing the very files/programs being scanned WHILE Avast is trying to scan them), but I must admit that despite being decent with computers in general, I'm not very good knowledgeable when it comes to anti-virus or other security software.  So... basically, IS it a bad idea? 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on February 26, 2011, 06:14:12 AM
Instead of doing a particular drive scan or a Custom scan, in general since Avast is always scanning your machine, you really only need to do a Quick scan...unless you suspect something.  Then do a Full or a Boot-time scan. 

Try doing a Full scan and see what happens.  If Avast does not seem to be working correctly, let us know.

Question:  You said that you have SB.  Are you also using TeaTimer (TT)?  This has created conflicts for others using SB with TT and Avast and uninstalling it has resolved the problem.  Let me know if you are using TT and I have instructions on how to uninstall.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on February 27, 2011, 05:30:21 AM
Instead of doing a particular drive scan or a Custom scan, in general since Avast is always scanning your machine, you really only need to do a Quick scan...unless you suspect something.  Then do a Full or a Boot-time scan. 

Try doing a Full scan and see what happens.  If Avast does not seem to be working correctly, let us know.

Question:  You said that you have SB.  Are you also using TeaTimer (TT)?  This has created conflicts for others using SB with TT and Avast and uninstalling it has resolved the problem.  Let me know if you are using TT and I have instructions on how to uninstall.
So... strange results here.

First: I DO have TeaTimer, apparently.  I wasn't even aware of it (like I said, when it comes to anti-virus and security software specifically, I'm... not as adept as I'd like to be).  Checked in the Task Manager, and the "TeaTimer.exe" process is running.

I did the full scan, and it... worked?  It was still pretty weird. It started off fine: the full scan began, and scanned through the entire C drive in a reasonable amount of time.  Then, when it got to the H drive, it was still scanning, but VERY VERY slowly.  In just a couple of hours or so, it went from 0% to 60% (this was while it scanned the C drive); once it started on the H drive, it took almost twelve hours to get from 60% 75%.  Then, another weird thing happened: I was monitoring it (not constantly, with it taking that long, but generally, just looking at the results every 10-30 minutes), and at one point, I looked up and it was just DONE.  The last time I had looked at it, it had almost reached 80%; given how fast it had(n't) been going, there's no way it could have gotten all the way to the end in half an hour.  So I'm not sure what happened there.  It did say it had scanned the entirety of both drives and found no problems, but I'm not sure I can trust it.

Clearly, there IS something wrong with the "Select Folder to Scan" option in Avast, but I'm not that worried about that if the full scan works; thing is, I'm not even sure if it IS, given what I described above.  Of course, this all could still be a problem not with Avast itself, but with whatever is going on with the H drive in general.  I still have no idea WHAT is wrong, exactly, but maybe it's compromising Avast's ability to properly scan the drive?  Of course, that's a bit of a catch-22, since running a proper virus scan is one of the steps in determining what the problem is in the first place...

Thanks for your help so far SafeSurf; it's appreciated.  Hopefully I can get this figured out.  And, I know this is an Avast forum, but ANY thoughts/suggestions/similar experiences, etc. relating to my overall problem are also appreciated (which is the extreme slow speed of anything being done with the H drive: browsing files in explorer, opening files, and apparently scanning the drive with Avast too).  Hope there isn't anything physically wrong with the drive...   X_x
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Daris on February 27, 2011, 08:36:06 AM
Het Guys...You said you had Norton or Symantec..But you Uninstalled it...How did you go about uninstalling it? eg. Did you download the Norton removal tool?
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: doktornotor on February 27, 2011, 09:09:02 AM
First: I DO have TeaTimer, apparently.  I wasn't even aware of it (like I said, when it comes to anti-virus and security software specifically, I'm... not as adept as I'd like to be).  Checked in the Task Manager, and the "TeaTimer.exe" process is running.

Disable this, at minimum. This is bound to cause never-ending issues, completely broken code. (I would get rid of Spybot altogether, does not add any significant security these days, frankly.)
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on February 27, 2011, 10:58:39 AM
You said that you have SB.  Are you also using TeaTimer (TT)?  This has created conflicts for others using SB with TT and Avast and uninstalling it has resolved the problem.  Let me know if you are using TT and I have instructions on how to uninstall.
TT will cause problems based on feedback from other users, so I do suggest that you uninstall:

Uninstall Spybot S&D w/Teatimer: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html).
- How to disable Spybot-S&D (temporarily).  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/disable.html (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/disable.html) .  Even though it says temporarily, the resident parts of SpyBot Search & Destroy must be enabled manually if disabled in this manner.  TeaTimer doesn't load into memory at all when disabled.  Reboot your machine.

In addition, if you want to be sure that Nort0n is off your machine, it can't hurt to run their uninstaller as well http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20080710133834EN
 (http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20080710133834EN) then reboot.  However they are known to leave remnants behind, and you should go into Safe Mode > Search > type in Symantec (and again do another search and type Norton, then the actual software you had like NAV) and see if anything comes up in Advanced Mode.  If it does, you can delete it and empty your recycle bin in Safe Mode, then reboot.  If you are unsure what the file is, right click on the file, which will bring up the file Properties, and it will tell you.

See how your machine acts after running these uninstallers separately then rebooting.  You may also want to clean and defrag your machine afterwards. 

Let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.



Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on February 28, 2011, 01:05:27 AM
Thanks for all the replies! 

Daris and SafeSurf: Yes; I forgot to mention it, but I DID run Norton's wacky uninstaller program (seriously, the hoops you have to jump through to get rid of that thing...), but I will search for Symantec/Norton as suggested. 

Re: Spybot... guess I'll just disable it for now.  I might uninstall it... doktornotor, when you say it doesn't add anything significant these days, is there another program you would recommend instead for anti-spyware/malware? 

Re: clean and defrag the machine... should I assume by "clean" you are talking about using something like CCleaner? (Remember, total noob with this stuff here).  I did defrag the H drive, actually... when I ran the tool, it said defragging wasn't needed at present, so that is apparently not the problem.  I also tried "checking for errors", but that just hung after getting maybe 25% of the way through the process (which doesn't surprise me all that much, given the slowdown whenever I try to access the drive in ANY way). 

I have had the thought of backing up the contents of both hard drives to an external (just to be safe) and then trying System Restore.  Not gonna do that just yet, though.  How might I check for physical problems with a hard drive?  I do have to consider that possibility. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on February 28, 2011, 10:07:05 AM
Yes, uninstalling N0rton does make you jump through hoops!  I've had to remove it from many machines and I know how bad it can be. :P

A good replacement to start for uninstalling SB would be MBAM (Malwarebytes) http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (http://www.malwarebytes.org/).  There is a free on-demand or a paid resident version.  Many of us here use it and it is compatible with Avast.

To clean your machine, yes CCleaner Slim version http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds) would be recommended.  It also has a registry cleaner/fix and you can make a back up prior to fixing temporarily in Documents or on a USB.  The Slim version is not on their web site now as they are updating their versions but should appear in a day or so.  If you download the full version, only download it as a "Custom Install" so you do NOT download any toolbars and carefully look at what you are downloading...e.g. uncheck anything you do not want to download like ebay and any browser toolbars.  The Slim version has no toolbars.

I would suggest defraging your entire system.  There are many defrag tools, but one that also does a boot-time defrag would be best.  A free one that is quick and light on your system and used by our malware removal expert is Puran Defrag http://www.puransoftware.com/ (http://www.puransoftware.com/).  You would do a regular defrag with Puran, then a boot-time defrag.  Also, during the boot-time defrag, it does a system check (not a complete diagnostic check).

I suggest that you uninstall SB and TT (not disable it) since this could be conflicting with Avast, as well as running CCleaner and defragging your machine, with reboots in between.  If you are still having problems after this, then an Avast Repair might be worth a try or a complete uninstall/clean install...but I will await your reply as to how your machine responds to the uninstall of SB w/TT and cleaning/defrag first.   

I tend to think the root of this problem is not Avast, but something causing Avast to run slower.  The only way to know is to troubleshoot.  Should this fail, then I will have you submit a mini-dump file to Avast, which I will instruct you to do when we get to that point.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: YoKenny on February 28, 2011, 03:47:34 PM
A good replacement to start for uninstalling SB would be MBAM (Malwarebytes) http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (http://www.malwarebytes.org/).  There is a free on-demand or a paid resident version.  Many of us here use it and it is compatible with Avast.
Definitly un-install SB as it is inferior to MBAM.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 01, 2011, 05:24:13 AM
Yes, uninstalling N0rton does make you jump through hoops!  I've had to remove it from many machines and I know how bad it can be. :P

A good replacement to start for uninstalling SB would be MBAM (Malwarebytes) http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (http://www.malwarebytes.org/).  There is a free on-demand or a paid resident version.  Many of us here use it and it is compatible with Avast.
MBAM it is.  I've actually heard of it, but never used it, so I'll give that a shot. 
Quote
To clean your machine, yes CCleaner Slim version http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds) would be recommended.  It also has a registry cleaner/fix and you can make a back up prior to fixing temporarily in Documents or on a USB.  The Slim version is not on their web site now as they are updating their versions but should appear in a day or so.  If you download the full version, only download it as a "Custom Install" so you do NOT download any toolbars and carefully look at what you are downloading...e.g. uncheck anything you do not want to download like ebay and any browser toolbars.  The Slim version has no toolbars.
Oh yes; don't worry, I'm not THAT much of a newb, haha... I always watch for extra crap like toolbars and whatnot when installing anything. 
Quote
I would suggest defraging your entire system.  There are many defrag tools, but one that also does a boot-time defrag would be best.  A free one that is quick and light on your system and used by our malware removal expert is Puran Defrag http://www.puransoftware.com/ (http://www.puransoftware.com/).  You would do a regular defrag with Puran, then a boot-time defrag.  Also, during the boot-time defrag, it does a system check (not a complete diagnostic check).
The program (Puran) can run both the standard and boot-time defrag?  Or did I mis-read that and I need another program for the boot-time defrag? 

And hm... I did a normal "Windows" defrag, but I take it this is better.  Not that surprising, really. 
Quote
I suggest that you uninstall SB and TT (not disable it) since this could be conflicting with Avast, as well as running CCleaner and defragging your machine, with reboots in between.  If you are still having problems after this, then an Avast Repair might be worth a try or a complete uninstall/clean install...but I will await your reply as to how your machine responds to the uninstall of SB w/TT and cleaning/defrag first.   

I tend to think the root of this problem is not Avast, but something causing Avast to run slower.  The only way to know is to troubleshoot.  Should this fail, then I will have you submit a mini-dump file to Avast, which I will instruct you to do when we get to that point.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.

So...  This may be a bit long, but I want to get all the info I can out there too see for any who might be able to help.

I'm certainly game to run a defrag with this program.  As I said, you and the others posting here seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, certainly more so then me.  But I do worry that the defrag might take... days, potentially.  I'm not even sure how long.

The problem has been with accessing data on the H drive... almost ANY data.  Windows Explorer windows hang and delay, .avi's won't play without stuttering and freezing all over the place (though, bizarrely, .mkv videos stored on the drive - though they take an eternity to start - play fine once they are going), etc.  I'm just glad the problem is with H and not C, but I agree with you that the problem is likely not with Avast itself.  Whatever is wrong with the H drive (and I still have no idea what is wrong or what caused it) is simply affecting Avast. 

So, should I just start the defrag, and if it slows WAY down when it hits the H drive to the point where it could take days to finish (and that it what I am expecting based on what's been happening)... well, what would you do in my position?  Stop it and try something else?  Let it run and hope it actually finishes, even if it DOES take days?  And, as I mentioned before, I worry that there may be physical damage to the drive... would running this defrag be a good way to start diagnosing that, or is there anything else in particular I'd want to do first? 

While I do want to be able to know that Avast is working properly, I think it's easily understood why finding out what is wrong with this hard drive is just as important to me.  I know this is an Avast forum, technically, but I've gotten helpful and friendly responses here so far; any help on the general subject of diagnosing the drive, as well as figuring out what is going on with Avast, is greatly appreciated. 

In the meantime, while I wait for further replies from this thread, I will uninstall S&D, download (and run) MBAM, try CCleaner and Puran... as I said, I'm not sure how well any process that requires accessing or scanning the H drive will go, but we'll see. 

Thanks again to all. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 01, 2011, 07:24:46 AM
You are on the right track.  Please do the following in this order:

1.  Uninstall SB w/TT per the vendor's instructions I gave you and reboot.

2.  Run CCleaner to get rid of the crap on your machine before you go any further.  Also run the registry cleaner.  If you feel uncomfortable with the fix (since you uninstalled SB, there will be a fix), make a back up in Documents and keep it for about a week until you know everything is fine. 

3..  Download and install MBAM.  Make sure you update it prior to doing a scan...you will always need to update prior to scanning to make sure you have the most up to date definitions.  Should any infection appear, make sure you put it into quarantine (do not delete it or take no action).  Quarantine is similar to the Avast Virus Chest.  If MBAM asks you to reboot your machine, do so.  If any infection is found, please cut and paste your MBAM log into your next post so I can review it.

4. Download and install Puran, which is more thorough than the Windows defrag.  Each drive will appear and need to be defragged separately.  I would do your H-drive last since this appears to be your problematic drive.  Once you are done with your regular defrag with Puran, there is an option under Boot-time defrag in Puran to select "Restart-Defrag-Restart-Disk+Check."  Select this option.  The amount of time depends on how much you have on your machine and when it was last defragged.  It will reboot probably twice, and yes it will take a longer.

Let me know how things work out after doing the above.  We're here to help you with everything.  :)

Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 01, 2011, 09:26:38 AM
Thanks SafeSurf!  Going to start on all this tonight, though I imagine the total time required to get all this done could stretch out over a couple of days, especially if various scans/clean-up of the H-drive takes as long as I think it will.   :P  I'll post here again with the results. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 01, 2011, 09:30:31 AM
It will go quicker than you think.  ;)  Let me know if you run into problems.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail) on March 01, 2011, 02:37:23 PM
Guys, just one short thought: what kind of drive is the H-drive? Internal? What size? What age? What type?

If it's a relatively new drive, then it might well be a 4k-format drive. When you need to read a lot of data from that one on a Win XP system (like a virus scan does), it is crucial that it had been partitioned correctly. (E.g. Western Digital offers a special tool to do so, even afterwards the initial partiotioning) The WinXP own partitioning will not do so by default!
If you fail to align the partition correctly, performance will break down extremely.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/04/01/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/2 (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/04/01/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/1)

A quote from above link (page 6):
"One thing that hit us while testing was how slow the new EARS disk was after installing Windows XP before running the WD Align utility. The installation took notably longer than usual, and the disk ground to a complete halt when tried to install the chipset drivers upon the completion of the OS install. Rebooting and running the WD Align straightaway cured the issue, and we didn't need the software at all after that. Every time a new partition was created, the WD Align utility had to be run, but at least it only had to be run the once, and not continually as a background service."
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 03, 2011, 08:16:19 AM
So... some mixed results. 

CCleaner ran without a hitch; I ran both the normal and registry cleaners.  MBAM, though... different story.  I ran a "full" scan of my C drive, and that went fine, though it did find 2 infected files (more on that below).  However, when I tried to run the scan on the H drive, it went REALLY slow as I expected, and could not finish.  On Tuesday night, and then again tonight, it made it about an hour in (at which point, it had scanned 50,000+ "objects"), and then the program just hung forever, ultimately needing to be closed with task manager.  So, whatever is up with the H drive is confounding not only Avast, but MBAM, too.    :P

Haven't tried Puran yet, so I'll give that a whirl.  SafeSurf, here is a screen of the finished results after the MBAM scan of C:
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4898/mbam3111.jpg
and the log:
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6734/mbamtextlog3111.jpg



As for this:
Guys, just one short thought: what kind of drive is the H-drive? Internal? What size? What age? What type?

If it's a relatively new drive, then it might well be a 4k-format drive. When you need to read a lot of data from that one on a Win XP system (like a virus scan does), it is crucial that it had been partitioned correctly. (E.g. Western Digital offers a special tool to do so, even afterwards the initial partiotioning) The WinXP own partitioning will not do so by default!
If you fail to align the partition correctly, performance will break down extremely.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/04/01/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/2 (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/04/01/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/1)

A quote from above link (page 6):
"One thing that hit us while testing was how slow the new EARS disk was after installing Windows XP before running the WD Align utility. The installation took notably longer than usual, and the disk ground to a complete halt when tried to install the chipset drivers upon the completion of the OS install. Rebooting and running the WD Align straightaway cured the issue, and we didn't need the software at all after that. Every time a new partition was created, the WD Align utility had to be run, but at least it only had to be run the once, and not continually as a background service."
As far as I recall, I used only the standard Windows partitioning on the drive.  But I got the drive quite a while ago (at least seven or eight months), and - until these slowdown issues that started last week - have had no trouble with it.  I must admit I have not taken the time yet to do any more research on 4k-format drives, something I'm unfamiliar with, nor do I know if this drive is one or not (a quick search on WD's site didn't reveal anything).  But it's probably not a bad idea to put up this info anyway, so: it's a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB internal drive, 3.5", model # WD1000LSRTL. 

I did try Dragon NaturallySpeaking out for the first time right before all this started... the program worked decently well, but was a resource hog and tended to be crashy.  I don't know if that has anything to do with this or not (the program, which was on H, was already uninstalled before I made my first post here), but the timing is awfully suspicious. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 03, 2011, 08:26:25 AM
Well, at least we know you had malware on your C:/drive.  We still don't know what's on the rest of your machine.  :P

Give Puran a try.  After that, give that you found malware, I'd like you to check the information on the first post of this thread under Virus/Worms for you to check your machine for malware: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0 (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0). 

Follow the directions for obtaining the OTL logs (save them as ANSI and not Unicode).  When the OTL scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt.  Post the two (2) OTL log as an attachment (Additional Options > Attach > Browse (the logs will be on your desktop > Post). 

After you post and get back to me how the Puran defrag went, then I may need to refer you to our malware expert.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail) on March 03, 2011, 09:16:03 AM
Okay, so I found out that your WD10000LSRTL is identical to WD1001FALS which does not use the Advanced Format (4K-format).

So this is definetely not the cause for slow operation.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 03, 2011, 09:20:16 AM
Thanks Zyndstoff for looking into that.  Perhaps we are dealing with malware.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail) on March 03, 2011, 09:23:23 AM
Thanks Zyndstoff for looking into that.  Perhaps we are dealing with malware.

Yes, that may well be. It would be strange though to slow down just a secondary drive?
It could also be a symptom of dying hardware...
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 12, 2011, 11:31:46 PM
Well... been leaving this thread alone a little longer than I meant to.  It's been an insane week.

So, here's the situation now.  As I mentioned, Avast and Malwarebytes both gave up before being able to finish scanning the H drive (Avast pronounced itself done, but clearly hadn't actually scanned the drive; MBAM just froze).  Windows defrag and disk error-checking suffered similar fates.  Puran, however... well, I'm not sure HOW to characterize it's performance.  It hasn't given up, so that's good.  Note "hasn't" instead of "didn't": yes, it's STILL GOING.
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3292/puranhdrivedefrag.jpg

That screenshot was taken ten minutes ago.  It's been on "1%" on the "Filling Gaps" process for days.  But it's not frozen; it IS moving from one file to the next, continuing to work... it's just doing it at a legendarily slow pace.  

I had Puran defrag the C drive first, just to test it out.  It finished the entire thing in a reasonable amount of time, a few hours as I recall.  So then I pointed it at H and started it up again.  The initial defragging process on H took a lot longer; almost three days.  But that's NOTHING compared to this "Filling Gaps" process.  

So... what should I do?  Surely, the next step cannot be to simply wait this out.  At this pace, it could take literally months to finish unless it speeds up at some point.  Clearly, something is SERIOUSLY wrong with this drive... but what?  Is there something else I can do?  Should I let Puran continue, or just stop it since this eternal scan probably isn't going to be worth anything?  Is there something I can do to specifically check for physical damage to the drive?  

Kind of at a bit of a loss here...   :-\

One other question: just out of curiosity, and because through all of this I'd like to increase my own level of expertise when it comes to troubleshooting this stuff: Zyndstoff, how exactly DID you determine that my drive doesn't use the 4k-format?  I couldn't find anything about it on the WD site (actually, I couldn't find my drive at all, by the exact model number; I seem to recall that at the time I bought it, the same thing happened.  The model number on mine seems to just be the "retail store" version of the one on their site, since they are the same spec wise, as you mentioned). 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: doktornotor on March 12, 2011, 11:41:55 PM
Well, I would suggest to download the HDD diagnostic utility from WD, burn the image to CD, boot from it and let it check the drive. (Before you start, you could with another SATA cable first because the diagnostic takes quite some time.)

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1001FALS&x=15&y=11
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 14, 2011, 02:56:00 AM
Well, I would suggest to download the HDD diagnostic utility from WD, burn the image to CD, boot from it and let it check the drive. (Before you start, you could with another SATA cable first because the diagnostic takes quite some time.)

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1001FALS&x=15&y=11
Do what with a SATA cable...?

As for that tool... thing is, I'm familiar with the concept of disk images, but that's about it.  I know nothing about how it works, or what exactly I need to do, and the user manual on the download page is busted (it's a PDF that just gives me this "the file is damaged and could not be repaired" message).  Dunno what kind of instructions are contained in the program.  But according to the site, I will need to reboot my computer to install the thing anyway, which brings me to my next question.

I assume restarting the machine would mean that the Puran defrag of H would need to be stopped entirely, meaning that if I wanted to do it again later I'd have to start over.  Is there ANY point to letting it continue to run?  Any advantage to trying to let it finish, or should I just stop it?  I'm inclined to just stop it, at this point; as I said, at the rate it's going, I'll be lucky if it's done by June.  Simply waiting for the results and then proceeding with further diagnostic/repair efforts from there is not an option.  So, what say you all?  Time to stop it and move on to other steps?
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: doktornotor on March 14, 2011, 05:50:40 AM
Do what with a SATA cable...?

Replace it with another one.

As for that tool... thing is, I'm familiar with the concept of disk images, but that's about it.  I know nothing about how it works, or what exactly I need to do, and the user manual on the download page is busted (it's a PDF that just gives me this "the file is damaged and could not be repaired" message).  Dunno what kind of instructions are contained in the program.  But according to the site, I will need to reboot my computer to install the thing anyway, which brings me to my next question.

No image. Burn the "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD)" bootable ISO to CD, boot from it and run the HDD diagnostic. Forget about Puran, this is not caused by fragmentation and running it won´t help in any way.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 18, 2011, 04:31:00 AM
Ah, I misunderstood you at first, but that was a good suggestion on the SATA cable, since I didn't think of that myself.  But unfortunately, that wasn't it either... putting in a new cable didn't change anything.

As for this program... where do I find the "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic"?  I downloaded the program from the link, but couldn't find anything like that.  So, if anyone can point me in the right direction, it'd be much appreciated.   :)
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 18, 2011, 07:21:15 AM
I agree to stop the Puran defrag at this point.  It appears that you are having a HDD issue.  Try doktornotor's suggestions to see if this helps.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: doktornotor on March 18, 2011, 07:59:39 AM
As for this program... where do I find the "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic"?  I downloaded the program from the link, but couldn't find anything like that.  So, if anyone can point me in the right direction, it'd be much appreciated.   :)

You need to burn the image to CD/DVD (as image, do not burn the ISO file itself as in just adding the file to CD - it will be useless), boot from the CD and run the diagnostics. Read your favorite CD burning application help for instructions.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 18, 2011, 09:01:16 PM
As for this program... where do I find the "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic"?  I downloaded the program from the link, but couldn't find anything like that.  So, if anyone can point me in the right direction, it'd be much appreciated.   :)

You need to burn the image to CD/DVD (as image, do not burn the ISO file itself as in just adding the file to CD - it will be useless), boot from the CD and run the diagnostics. Read your favorite CD burning application help for instructions.
Burn WHAT to CD? 

What I got from the website you linked to was "Acronis True Image WD Edition".  What exactly do I burn to CD?  The entire program?  I cannot find anything called "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" (or anything with "Lifeguard" in the title, for that matter). 

As for a CD burning program, I don't even have one.  All I ever burn is music (I just use iTunes) or straight data, in which case I just use the Windows CD burning tool.  I've never NEEDED to do anything more complex than that.  The Acronis program itself has options to "create bootable rescue media"; should I just use that?  What's the difference between "creating bootable media" on a CD, vs. "creating an ISO disk image"?  Also, the Acronis help files (which don't have very detailed explanations of the various options) make it sound like creating an ISO image can ONLY be done on a DVD specifically, not a CD (I don't have the ability to burn DVDs at the moment, only CDs). 

Basically, I cannot stress enough that this is all completely new territory for me. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: doktornotor on March 18, 2011, 09:14:56 PM
Last try:

1. Go to http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1001FALS&x=15&y=11
2. Click on the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) link
3. On the next page, click on the Download button next to Diag504fCD.iso   
4. Once downloaded, burn the downloaded image using whatever suitable application, such as ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download).
5. Reboot your PC, boot from the CD, run the diagnostics.

If you can't follow the above, then sorry but I really don't have the patience nor the time to explain over and over again such simple instructions like how to click on a link on a website to download a file.  

Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Nesivos on March 18, 2011, 10:55:13 PM
@Saito S

Form the drive images you linked to above it is clear that your drives are way over capacity.

Very good rule of thumb.

Limit your disk drive usage to 50% of the logical and physical drives with at least 50% free space.  Though some will say that you only need 10% - 15% of free space my experience has been 50% is a safe number.  You appear to have about 15% - 20% free, but my personal experience is that at that percentage of free disk space you are going to have some major slow downs in a number of disk intensive programs especially if the C: drive is below 20% which yours appears to be.

Also, if you are using Windows Backup and Restore to backup up the Windows Systems Image you might want to check how much disk space these files are taking.  They could be taking up a lot of unnecessary space if you have a lot of them on your hard drive.  They could also be defragmented which will make it more difficult to defgrag the rest of your hard drive if you do not have a lot of free space on that drive.








Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Saito S on March 19, 2011, 12:42:31 AM
Last try:

1. Go to http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1001FALS&x=15&y=11
2. Click on the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) link
3. On the next page, click on the Download button next to Diag504fCD.iso   
4. Once downloaded, burn the downloaded image using whatever suitable application, such as ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download).
5. Reboot your PC, boot from the CD, run the diagnostics.

If you can't follow the above, then sorry but I really don't have the patience nor the time to explain over and over again such simple instructions like how to click on a link on a website to download a file.
 
There's no need to be rude.  When I clicked on the link you posted the first time, it simply gave me a "Page not found" error.  Refreshing it and trying again took me here:
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

Obviously that's not the page that it's supposed to link to, but at the time, I didn't realize I WASN'T where I was supposed to be.  I clicked on a link, it took me to a page.  Clicking on it NOW takes me to the right place (here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1001FALS&x=15&y=11).  So I don't know what happened before.  Perhaps that part of their site was down.  Whatever the case, the ONLY things on the page I was taken to the first time (besides a wall of text) were links to download Acronis True Image and the user manual for the program (which, as I mentioned, didn't work anyway). 

I appreciate the help, but there's no need for condescending sarcasm.  I said I had no experience with recovery software and tools; I never said "I'm an idiot".  I downloaded and installed three different programs as suggested by others before you even posted; obviously I know "how to click on a link on a website to download a file."  That comment in your last post is unproductive and only makes you look like an ass.

Anyway... I will try using this diagnostic tool, now that I can see where to get it.
@Saito S

Form the drive images you linked to above it is clear that your drives are way over capacity.

Very good rule of thumb.

Limit your disk drive usage to 50% of the logical and physical drives with at least 50% free space.  Though some will say that you only need 10% - 15% of free space my experience has been 50% is a safe number.  You appear to have about 15% - 20% free, but my personal experience is that at that percentage of free disk space you are going to have some major slow downs in a number of disk intensive programs especially if the C: drive is below 20% which yours appears to be.
Hmm... I don't know about all that.  I've been operating this way for some time, and haven't had any problems until now.  And the C drive is the one with less free space, proportionally, yet it's perfectly fine.  The only problems are with accessing the H drive specifically.  Plus... I know it's important not to jam a hard drive with TOO much data, but to some degree, there is only so much I can do about keeping a minimum of free space around; I have a certain amount of files that take up what they take up.  I have slacked off on making sure old files that I don't need anymore are deleted; I'm sure I can free up some space by going through and taking stock of my files, and deleting what I don't need.  But I doubt I can free up 50% of my total HDD space. 
Quote
Also, if you are using Windows Backup and Restore to backup up the Windows Systems Image you might want to check how much disk space these files are taking.  They could be taking up a lot of unnecessary space if you have a lot of them on your hard drive.  They could also be defragmented which will make it more difficult to defgrag the rest of your hard drive if you do not have a lot of free space on that drive.
I don't believe I've used such a backup option; as I said, I know very little about disk imaging and haven't ever attempted to create one. 
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: Nesivos on March 19, 2011, 03:49:28 AM
I don't know if your "H" drive is a separate drive or not or internal or external.

Nonetheless, let me elaborate.

1. Check your scans.  Select a scan.  Click on "Show More Detail"----Click on Settings--------Click on Performance.  If there is a a check mark in the lower of the two boxes this could be slowing down your scanning. 

2. Open Task Manager before you scan.  Under "Options" set it to "always stay on top".   Click on "Performance".  Start your scan and follow the memory numbers at the bottom to see how much memory, cache etc you have available as the scan goes along. See if the "Available Physical Memory" falls below 50% of "Total" Memory.  Also follow how much cache is being used.  If you "APM" is getting too low and you are using a lot of cache a disk drive that is as full of yours will slow down the scan.

3.  You can try the same thing when you run a defrag.  In addition, if you have a disk that is 75% or more full and highly fragmented that will cause problems trying to defrag the disk.  This is especially true if you have some large files, like a Windows System backup or two or even more on the hard drive.  The reason for this is your drive may not have enough un-fragmented space to place an un-fragmented file in it that the defgrag software is trying to defrag.

4. If you have an available USB port and don't mind spending the money to buy a hard drive, I would recommend that you purchase one.   Then I would go to your "C" drive and move all or a good chunk of your "Personal Data" files to the new Drive.   I would also move a chunk of your files off of "H" drive onto the new drive.  If you don't have an available USB port and don't mind spending the money to buy a HDD then I would suggest buying a USB hub in addition to the HDD.  Check out what is available on Amazon.  Great prices.  I buy all of my computer hardware accessories from them and rarely have had a problem.
Title: Re: Having issues trying to scan folders with avast! 6...
Post by: SafeSurf on March 19, 2011, 08:07:53 AM
@ Nesivos,

The OP is unable to defrag the H drive as we have attempted this already.  The C drive has already been defragged without problems.

@ Saito S,

I do agree that you probably have too much on your H drive, and that moving as much as you can off this drive and either onto USB flash or another HDD or an external HDD or your C drive is your best option. 

You can put exe. files (plus other files) on USB flash drives, as I do this to save space, but I would also suggest that you vaccinate your USB's and machine with Panda USB Vaccine (compatible with Avast).  http://research.pandasecurity.com/panda-usb-and-autorun-vaccine/ (http://research.pandasecurity.com/panda-usb-and-autorun-vaccine/) and it can be run on any drive on your machine for removable devices.  You are given the option to "vaccinate" your machine, which means to disable autorun.inf malware from infecting your machine, and you can enable it again (although I wouldn't).  Plus you can "vaccinate" any USB/flash or removable device so that it cannot infect your machine. 

Did you ever uninstall Spyboot w/TT?  If not, please do so (see my Post #12), and also run MBAM (Malwarebytes) just to be sure we are not dealing with malware; I don't think we are but I want to make sure.  Please cut and paste your MBAM log once completed.

Try moving as much as you can from your H drive to other drives or devices and see what happens (including the video you have on there). 

Also check to see how much space you are using for system restore and reset it for the minimum amount needed for your OS to speed things up. 

After you do this, run CCleaner, then reboot.  Then try to defrag both the C (first) and H drive again.  If defragging the H drive takes longer than several hours, stop it, and try the Puran Boot-time defrag: "Restart-Defrag-Restart+Disk Check" and this should only take less than an hour.  If you have problems with the boot-time scan, stop it and report back.  Thanks.