Confused.. [slow/freezing on-demand scans]

[aarangio]

Hi ya,

I don't know what's going on...but it's a good thing i think but when Avast does a scan of my system it is scaning through files I have removed completely...well i thought anyhow.....
would anyone know of any free software i could use to get into my system to remove these traces as one of these traces keeps freezing up Avast so i have to keep cancelling the scan.....

much appreciated any help,

Adrian 

[Vlk]

What do you mean, keeps freezing up Avast? That shouldn't be the case!
Does it lock up completely? How long did you give it before you canceled it? What file does it show as currently scanning when the freeze up occurs?

thank Vlk

[aarangio]

Hi ya Vlk,

actually it's the same problems i posted  a few days ago if you remember...... a folder with smallville episodes in it....I even do a scan on just that folder and it freezes and the CPU runs at 100% and i've left it for up to 4 minutes and I've stopped it....but I am noticing a thunderbird File that is freezing on the scan as well...but I'm trying to delete it with no joy....
I have Zonealarm but I'm not using it at the moment on XP.....Microsoft Antispyware running....and Skype....
I've removed Antivir from my system with a few remenants i can't remove either and I've reinstalled Avast again.....

thanks for any help if possible..

Adrian 

[igor]

OK, first we should find out what is being scanned (if anything).
Please, go to the program settings, turn on the creation of the report file and let everything (even OK files) be included there. Then, scan the folder again using Simple User Interface. When the scan seems to be frozen, check the end of the report - what does it show there? If you wait for a minute, does the report change?

Also, how big are those smallville episodes?

[aarangio]

Hi ya igor,

thanks for the help.....

The Smallville files are roughly 350MB each and there is about 9 Episodes.....

Here is the end part of the report you asked about....i have put in where it first starts at Thunderbird which i can't find any where to delete and from there onwards the CPU 100% , ashSimpl.exe 22500k....

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\mailViews.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\mimeTypes.rdf

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\mousegestures.rdf

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\panacea.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\prefs.js

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\secmod.db

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\virtualFolders.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\xpti.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\akxhpoco.default\XUL.mfl

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\profiles.ini

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\Thunderbird\registry.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\TuneUp Registry Editor\regbookmarks.trb

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\gbacklinks.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\gcache.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\gsearch.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\gsimilar.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\gtranslate.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tuarch.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tumrcheck.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tuofinw.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tutrans.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tuzoomin.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Application Data\TuneUp Software\TuneUp Utilities\Web\tuzoomout.htm

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Cookies\index.dat

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\aswclnr.exe\[UPX]

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\aswclnr.exe

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\BitComet.lnk

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\CCleaner.lnk

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.lnk

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\PC Adware-Spyware Removal.lnk

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Skype.lnk

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Smallville\smallville - 4x06 - transference lol www the-realworld de xvid.avi

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Smallville\smallville 4 11unsafe.avi

• is OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Smallville\smallville 4 14.krypto.avi

• is OK

Infected files: 0
Total files: 5537
Total folders: 432
Total size: 1.5 G

*
* Task stopped: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 7:02:38 PM
* Run-time was 2 minute(s), 11 second(s)
*

Also I waited for a minute and there was no report change....

Hope you can help....

Thanks in advance,

Adrian 

[igor]

According to the report, the scan simply scanned all the files and finished.
What makes you think it got frozen? (i.e. what did you expect the scanner to do more?)
Or, do you say that ashSimple.exe kept on using full CPU even after it finished the scan (in 2 minutes 11 seconds)?

[aarangio]

Hi ya igor...

thanks for the reply.....

Firstly the scan was not complete as i stopped it because the CPU was running at 100% for at least 1.5 minutes of that time.....i stopped it as my PC was screaming help and it hadn't even began with the Smallville files.....also i did a scan the other day and left out certain folders and i scanned at least 120 000 files compared to this scan i showed you incomplete....

thanks if you could help me on this....

Adrian 

[igor]

Well, I was trying to say that the scan was finished (either because it finished itself, or because you stopped it) - so, waiting for another minute couldn't really have changed anything.

What kind of scan did you run? (Quick/Standard/Thorough)? What CPU do you have?
For a thorough scan, the whole files are scanned - i.e. they have to be read. Reading a few gigabytes of AVI files may take some time, of course...
So, if you use a Thorough scan, I suggest to switch to Standard one (and keep the scanning of archives on).

[aarangio]

Hi ya igor,

oops!!.... sorry, my mistake.....

I did a thorough scan...... CPU is Intel(R) Pentium 4   2.80GHz.....512RAM.....

Problem is to scan those AVI files my CPU is at 100% and my PC is screaming and I'm sure that can't be good.....so i have to stop it after a few minutes as i don't know what damage this may be doing to the PC......

I've had to do a scan by bypassing the Smallville files and ticking anything else in the scanning files i could tick and archives but i would be much happier scanning those Smallville files and not having to tick everything one by one to do a scan....

But archives is getting stuck on a Thunderbird file as well which i have found in Hidden Files, i will delete that happily to stop that however it was hidden is it safe to Delete that or will that do something to XP....

Thanks helping igor,

Adrian

[igor]

Well, scanning of gigabytes of data certainly can take some time - using CPU and causing heavy disk activity.
If you want to use the thorough scan, you can suppress scanning of the AVI files (that can be considered "safe") by putting the corresponding mask into the list of avast! exclusions (in the program settings). It could be (for example):

C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\Smallville\*
or
C:\Documents and Settings\Adrian Arangio\Desktop\*.avi


Can you describe more in detail the Thunderbird problem?
Thanks.

[aarangio]

Hi ya igor,

thanks for getting back to me,

I'll try the idea about the smallville folder/files when i get back to my PC however if it isn't scanning those files is there a chance a virus or something might be in there or could put it self in there and mess with my system.....

The Thunderbird file problem is similar to the smallville problem.....it gets stuck there and the CPU hits 100% for a while and i close it down......I have found that folder in Hidden Files, i will delete that happily to stop that however it was hidden is it safe to Delete that or will that do something to XP....

thanks again igor,

Adrian 

[igor]

I believe you don't have to worry about a virus in AVI files - that's why I wrote that they can be considered safe.

As for the hidden Thunderbird file - well, it's hard to say if it's safe without knowing what file it really is. Try to look it up in avast! report file, and maybe later in Explorer; its name might give us a clue on what it is.

[aarangio]

Hi ya igor,

I did what you said to do about suppressing the Smallville scan and i got a full scan in....great...

The Thunderbird hidden file/folder is just a Thunderbird folder as in FireFox and Thunderbird...so I am assuming it is a hidden folder but i can still delete it?....can you help??

After the full scan i came up with a load  scan results saying unable to scan....what do i do about that ?

Thanks for your help again,

Adrian 

[igor]

Well, it's really hard to say anything for sure without seeing the corresponding part of the report at least (the filenames may give us a hint).
In general, it's perfectly normal that some files cannot be scanned (for example, because they are password protected or locked by the operating system) - usually nothing to worry about.

The same applies to the Thunderbird folder - if any files are being scanned there (hidden or not), they will be logged in the report file.

[aarangio]

Hi igor,

thanks for that.....I was just wondering the Thunderbird file is just a folder full of Thunderbird settings i made when i installed it but as i have removed it  shouldn't it be safe to remove it even if it is a hidden folder as i created it......    ....and hopefully that would stop the scan locking at the Thunderbird folder....removing that problem....

igor as a matter of Interest one of the IT people at my job said it is okey for the CPU to run at 100% for up to 30 minutes and it shouldn't effect your PC....would you know if that is true??

Thanks for all your help once again,

Adrian