[NOT SOLVED ] Avast free virus definition updates make full my hard drive

[igor]

In the path C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\ Log  there are 3 files .mdmp ( minidump I suppose, report of something gone wrong ) in three different and old date with different big dimension. 274Mb, 257 Mb, 412 Mb, respectively on 13th may 2017 , 2th june 2017 and 22th may 2017.

Those are some old crashdumps - you can just remove them, they're useless two years after it happened.

In the path  C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\REPORT i found maybe the problematic files. I suppose that these files are growing up every virus update, and I have seen that these files are modified/upgraded every day.
Today, FILESYSTEMSHIELD.TXT with 395 Mb and the gigantic WEBSHIELD.TXT with 1.5Gb ( imho to big )

Well this doesn't have anything to do with definition updates.
Normally (= unless some settings get changed) those reports should only have records of virus detections (which you hopefully don't have that many) and a record of the shield being started and stopped (so usually a few lines each time the computer is started and shut down).
Can you post a few lines from the end of the report files so that we can see if anything unusual is there?

[giulio_toffoletti]

Reported to Avast. Remember, this is the weekend.

Hi Thank you so much for all. Wait is not a problem. If is possible to understand what is appened and solve ^_^ Ever ty for the support to all 

[giulio_toffoletti]

Hi Giulio,

seems you've some remnants of older Avast versions on your system.
I'd suggest a clean install of V10.4 - let me know if you want to try that.

Hi Asyn, ty for the support I will leave the clean installation for the last solution. Because I had bad experiences with the unistall of this antivirus... and i prefer, ever if is possible to know if a clear install can be a solution. For example, due mi cpu limitation with the sse2 istruction, without the fix of Igor ( great ty ) after the clean install i had the same problem with the use of the virus definition. This is the last solution

[giulio_toffoletti]

In the path C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\ Log  there are 3 files .mdmp ( minidump I suppose, report of something gone wrong ) in three different and old date with different big dimension. 274Mb, 257 Mb, 412 Mb, respectively on 13th may 2017 , 2th june 2017 and 22th may 2017.

Those are some old crashdumps - you can just remove them, they're useless two years after it happened.

In the path  C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\REPORT i found maybe the problematic files. I suppose that these files are growing up every virus update, and I have seen that these files are modified/upgraded every day.
Today, FILESYSTEMSHIELD.TXT with 395 Mb and the gigantic WEBSHIELD.TXT with 1.5Gb ( imho to big )

Well this doesn't have anything to do with definition updates.
Normally (= unless some settings get changed) those reports should only have records of virus detections (which you hopefully don't have that many) and a record of the shield being started and stopped (so usually a few lines each time the computer is started and shut down).
Can you post a few lines from the end of the report files so that we can see if anything unusual is there?

Hi and thank you. I try to do this. i'm not sure if my pc can open the big txt... I will try it as soon as possible.  with only 1gb of ram ... notepad is not available for use this big file. I must use an text editor. I hope that the pc don't crash during the operation.

One question. Is normal the dimension of this file? Why without the definition update i don't lose disk space? Thanks. I'm confused now.

[bob3160]

Notepad has restriction that Wordpad doesn't have.

[giulio_toffoletti]

In the path C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\ Log  there are 3 files .mdmp ( minidump I suppose, report of something gone wrong ) in three different and old date with different big dimension. 274Mb, 257 Mb, 412 Mb, respectively on 13th may 2017 , 2th june 2017 and 22th may 2017.

Those are some old crashdumps - you can just remove them, they're useless two years after it happened.

In the path  C:\document and settings\all user\dati applicazioni\ALWIL SOFTWARE\Avast 5\REPORT i found maybe the problematic files. I suppose that these files are growing up every virus update, and I have seen that these files are modified/upgraded every day.
Today, FILESYSTEMSHIELD.TXT with 395 Mb and the gigantic WEBSHIELD.TXT with 1.5Gb ( imho to big )

Well this doesn't have anything to do with definition updates.
Normally (= unless some settings get changed) those reports should only have records of virus detections (which you hopefully don't have that many) and a record of the shield being started and stopped (so usually a few lines each time the computer is started and shut down).
Can you post a few lines from the end of the report files so that we can see if anything unusual is there?

Hi and thank you. I try to do this. i'm not sure if my pc can open the big txt... I will try it as soon as possible.  with only 1gb of ram ... notepad is not available for use this big file. I must use an text editor. I hope that the pc don't crash during the operation.

One question. Is normal the dimension of this file? Why without the definition update i don't lose disk space? Thanks. I'm confused now.

Hi. I repeatly tried to open the file Webshield.txt with Wordpad ( tank you Bob3160 for the suggestion ) but also with the most powerful pc at my home it's impossible. After any hours of work, Wordpad ( the laptop is an acer wit an amd a8-7410 8 gb ram windows 10 home 1803) stop to respond and crash.

What can i say is that in this days without virus definition update i don't lose space on the hard drive.
so i can onli think that all the problem is related with the update process. I can try nothing because every attempt make me lose space anc this space is not recoverable.
I don't know if is a file that's grow, or that are more files hidden, I don't find any file to delete to recover this space.

I can't use the avast uninstaller and install the last version for the not sse2 pc of avast because I am not sure if that program will delete all files and bring me back this " ghost " space. And the problem can be repeat it. Igor fix the update for the version not ss2 capable. So maybe the problem is not solving by me. ( sorry for the english ).

at the end i have no idea. I know only that only update is space definitively lost. Where what, i don't know.  Sorry, but now is very complicated for me solve this problem. Ty to all for the help 

[igor]

I suggest to use Total Commander by Christian Ghisler. OK, maybe I'm biased, personally I can't imagine having a Windows system without it... it's a file manager (something like Explorer, but with two panels) and its internal viewer (used when you press F3 on a file) doesn't load the file into memory, so you can instantly view files that are gigabytes in size. Now I assume there are other similar tools (i.e. viewers - not editors - that don't have to load the whole file into memory)... I just know about this one.

Those report files should not be that big. Whether it's connected to the disk loss, I don't know - but on the other hand, I can't think of anything else, so I'd focus on what is doable right now.

[bob3160]

I suggest to use Total Commander by Christian Ghisler. OK, maybe I'm biased, personally I can't imagine having a Windows system without it... it's a file manager (something like Explorer, but with two panels) and its internal viewer (used when you press F3 on a file) doesn't load the file into memory, so you can instantly view files that are gigabytes in size. Now I assume there are other similar tools (i.e. viewers - not editors - that don't have to load the whole file into memory)... I just know about this one.

Those report files should not be that big. Whether it's connected to the disk loss, I don't know - but on the other hand, I can't think of anything else, so I'd focus on what is doable right now.

I imagine that Irfanview would also fall into the category of a viewer. I know it opens image files but also works on text files.
https://www.irfanview.com/

[DavidR]

<snip quotes>.

I imagine that Irfanview would also fall into the category of a viewer. I know it opens image files but also works on text files.
https://www.irfanview.com/
[/quote]

A little OT, I have been using irfanview for years and never knew that it could open text files

[bob3160]

@DavidR,
We are never too old to learn something new.

[giulio_toffoletti]

I suggest to use Total Commander by Christian Ghisler. OK, maybe I'm biased, personally I can't imagine having a Windows system without it... it's a file manager (something like Explorer, but with two panels) and its internal viewer (used when you press F3 on a file) doesn't load the file into memory, so you can instantly view files that are gigabytes in size. Now I assume there are other similar tools (i.e. viewers - not editors - that don't have to load the whole file into memory)... I just know about this one.

Those report files should not be that big. Whether it's connected to the disk loss, I don't know - but on the other hand, I can't think of anything else, so I'd focus on what is doable right now.

I imagine that Irfanview would also fall into the category of a viewer. I know it opens image files but also works on text files.
https://www.irfanview.com/

Hi and Ty to all. So I have used TC ( I remember Norton commander, that I have used many many many many years ago, on windows 3.1 and something similar 20 years ago on linux ). Unfortunately is shareware, but for the moment, it's ok, for the future, I will search something similar free. Using F3 on the file webshield.txt i see a long list, like a chronology, of the website I've visited. I think that the file it's so big because it contains the activities since 2011... over 8 years of daily navigation on the web...   
I've try to save the file ( i don't know how create a report file smaller then the original ) but total commander stop to respond  Press F3 on the file and then cli on save as create I think a file identical as the original. A quick look dont' say me nothing strange. To much voices to check, but what I see is a web address with an ok at the end.

Since I don't make virus update i verify the dimension of this file. It's grow up every day around 50-150 kb daily. Imho more i navigate more it's grow up 

So, the problem remains. There is something particular to search? I want to remember that all the problem started on 6th feb ( the problem with the file aswdef.ini ). Since this day only the problem with the aswdef file it's solved.
What is sure is that the virus update make me lose space on the disk, space that i can't recover or find. I have no idea. And I'm not sure that a clean installation after the use of the avast uninstall utility will be a solution. I have some doubt also for the version available for the not sse2 capable cpu. :/

[igor]

If your WebShield (or FileShield) report contains all the visited/scanned items, it sounds like you have the "OK files" Report file option enabled for those shields. That shouldn't be enabled by default - it's mainly just for debugging purposes. Normally, only Infected files should be enabled there (and possibly some errors, not sure).

You can check the settings and disable the "OK files" option for those reports...
Plus, you can delete those reports (stopping the corresponding shield may be necessary to do that), it's certainly no needed to occupy the disk by that.

[giulio_toffoletti]

If your WebShield (or FileShield) report contains all the visited/scanned items, it sounds like you have the "OK files" Report file option enabled for those shields. That shouldn't be enabled by default - it's mainly just for debugging purposes. Normally, only Infected files should be enabled there (and possibly some errors, not sure).

You can check the settings and disable the "OK files" option for those reports...
Plus, you can delete those reports (stopping the corresponding shield may be necessary to do that), it's certainly no needed to occupy the disk by that.

Hi. I have done what you said to me. I put in the Trash folder the webshield.log file. All the log options were set on enable by default. Now I have a new webshield.log file " clean ".
But the main problem remains. And i can't believe there's no solution. I can delete the mdmp files, I can delete the trash folder. But this are old files. The dimension of the webshield log is normal with this settings. I stayed since the 27th march with the update of the definition set to manual. Today I made a manual update of the virus definition. Again the same problem. I've lost 400mb of space. Before the update the free space was 2.60 gb, after 2.20 gb. And this thing is a very big problem. In the virusdef folder, now there are two subfolders the oldest ( 178 mb) and the last (179 mb ) and the aswdef.ini file.
So avast is unusable. something goes wrong on every update. The antiviru it correctly updated, but some files remains and occupies space on the disk. I don't find those files, and i have no idea how to solve the problem. windows search don't help me. What was the problem with the sse 2 instruction and the update? After the fix it seem's that all goes worse. And i repeat that I'm not sure that uninstalling and upgrading can be a solution. I have fear to lose only space, space that I can't recover in no way.
Now I'm hopeless.     

[Asyn]

See Reply #59 and let me know if you want to try it now...

[giulio_toffoletti]

See Reply #59 and let me know if you want to try it now...

Hy Asyn TY again for the support, but i can actually answer like post #62 
due a very very bad experiences thi is really the last solution.
Anyway can you confirm that tha procedure is the following ( is not my fist time ):
1) Windows running in safemode
2) Avast uninstaller
3) Cause my particular configuration the offline setup on this link.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=164936.msg1322691#msg1322691 answer #36

I have fear of a failuro on this procedure. It's already appened twice... I' lost all... It was not possible remove the remains of the antivirus and install a new antivirus. And at the moment, i have problem in my life and for me is impossible to format the pc.    Two backup, one to old and one with the problem. But ty, i know that you are here if i need help