Constant Avast disc access but no scan running

[adamn]

My hard drive light is constantly flashing, my computer is bogged down, and Sysinternals Process Monitor shows Avast is the culprit.  I have not initiated a scan, the avast logo is not animating (it is set to animate during a scan), it is not time for a scheduled scan, nothing new was added to the system.

Whatever Avast is doing it's been doing it for several hours.  Nothing in the UI indicates there is any current activity of any kind but it is clearly Avast that's performing the disc access.  How can I see what's going on and stop it?

[igor]

Can you share the Process Monitor log? (I mean a PML file - a piece that contains the disk access)
Hopefully we could see the stack and learn more.

[adamn]

I tried to attach the file but got this:

"Your attachment couldn't be saved. This might happen because it took too long to upload or the file is bigger than the server will allow.
Please consult your server administrator for more information."

The file is only 2mb.

I tried rebooting several times and did two cold starts but upon booting the disc activity continued with no indicator of what is going on.  I also tried to suspend the Avast process via Sysinternals Process Explorer and by stopping the service in Computer Management / Services but I kept getting access denied messages even though I was logged into the administrator account.

Why is the Administrator account not able to suspend the process or stop the service???

Since I couldn't suspend or stop the service to see if it actually was Avast causing the disc access, I finally uninstalled Avast and restarted the computer.  Now there is no anomalous disc activity. 

Devs: If avast is engaged in any activity, scanning, updating, whatever... put in a screen showing what's going on, don't make us guess.

[DavidR]

@ adamm
Where did you try to attach this ?
If in the forums, it only accepts certain file types if this was a .pml file (as Igor seems to indicate) this wouldn't be accepted in the forum attachments.

I don't know if changing the file type to .log or .txt might corrupt the .pml file I don't know (Igor probably would/could).  If it would you could possibly upload it to a file sharing site and PM or email Igor with the link to the file.

[adamn]

I sent igor a link with the logfile.

[DavidR]

Thank you, hopefully that will help him.

[igor]

The program seems to be copying a (huge) log file C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\log\Browser-Cleanup.log and turning it into C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\log\Browser-Cleanup.log.old

I can't say why the log is so huge (if you could post a few lines from it first, it may tell us a bit more).
I suggest to navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\log folder and remove that huge log(s). If the copy is already in progress, it may not be possible to remove the file at the moment - booting to Safe Mode should help in that case.

[adamn]

Since i had to uninstall the program to get it to stop scanning, it deleted the folder where the Browser-Cleanup.log file was.  I reinstalled the program and so far the disc access is back to normal.