ashbug.exe

[pres92]

I have been using avast! home for quite some time.  I really like the program.  However, yesterday the auto update did not connect to the server, or there was some problem with the update completing.  In any event, I turned my machine off in the evening.  When I rebooted today, instead of ashserv.exe, ashwebsv.exe and ashmaisv.exe loading, three instances of ashbug.exe loaded.  The harddrive was in constant read/write mode.  I finally went to msconfig (win98) and unclicked all avast! links so that it no longer starts up with bootup.  After rebooting, I tried to launch ashwebsv.exe but what actually loaded, was ashbug.exe again.

Went to the website and downloaded the virus cleaner.  Ran without any problems found.

So, what the heck is ashbug.exe and why has it taken over the avast! program?  What do I do about it?  Uninstall/reinstall?

Thanks for your help.

Specs:  PII laptop, 266Mhz, 256Mb RAM, Windoze98, Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6

[Lisandro]

So, what the heck is ashbug.exe

I want to know too 
Maybe a way to inform bugs and errors (or send dumps) to Alwil

Uninstall/reinstall?

I won't be bad... Do you have any other antivirus in your system? Had in the past? Which one?
Do you use a firewall?

[Nicolas]

This may be interesting:

http://www.norman.com/Virus/Virus_descriptions/20027/en?show=destructivity

[pres92]

No firewall ... did have McAfee, but completely cleansed it from the machine before installing avast!

Thanks.

[Spiritsongs]

  Are you sure you completely cleansed your Win98 of
     McAfee !? Besides uninstalling from Add/Remove Programs,
     did you also use your computer's "Search" feature to look
     for all files and folders of McAfee & Delete whatever it
     found ? Did you also use a "registry cleaner", such as a
     FREE "evaluation copy" of "Registry First Aid" available at
     www.rosecitysoftware.com and use its "SAFE" level
     setting to remove, with backup, all its finds ?
     

[pres92]

yup ... completely cleansed the computer 2 years ago -- avast! has worked fine for over a year, until this weekend. 

so, does anyone know what ashbug.exe is and why it has taken over avast!?  and, does anyone have an opinion regarding uninstalling then reinstalling avast! as a method of dealing with this problem?

thanks.

[Nicolas]

so, does anyone know what ashbug.exe is and why it has taken over avast!?

AshBug.exe is a legit Avast file. It may come in action if something goes wrong with the program, for instance when a virus has corrupted Avast files.

That's why I sent you the link earlier in this thread. You are probably not hit by exactly the same virus, but it could be a new variant. Even AshBug.exe itself may have been corrupted.

[Nicolas]

There is a new virus in the wild attacking the virusscanners:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.beagle.cg@mm.html

Many AV don't have as yet a signature provided.

[igor]

Are there any recent unpXXXXXX files in <avast4>\Data\Log folder?

[DavidR]

If this virus (as in the links provided) is indeed killing registry entries for a whole slew of AVs processes, it is because it has administrator privileges, e.g. you are logged on to an account with administrator privileges and either browsing or collecting email, etc. with those same privileges.

If you were using either a limited user account or restricted the rights of the program it couldn't create or delete registry entries, therefore limiting the impact.

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