Full virus scan stops after just 1 folder

[wwc]

I have been running the free version of 4.8 and have never had a problem.  I had not done a full system scan for 3 months, so I made sure I had the latest software and virus database and started a full scan.  It scanned one folder and stopped.  The folder was \WINDOWS\System32\Drivers. 

There is no indication that anything is wrong.  No viruses were found.  The resident scanners appear to be working normally.

I tried the "scan selected folders" and selected every folder on the C: and D: drives, and it only scans the same folder.  If I specify any other folder, it scans 0 files in 0 folders.

I disabled Diskeeper, which defragments files in the background, but it didn't help.

Rebooting didn't help.  Rebooting in safe mode, I couldn't see the Avast skin to start a scan, so I gave up on that.

Before Avast, I bought Bit Defender but was disappointed in it.  I want to buy the full version of Avast, as soon as I get this straightened out.  Should I uninstall/reinstall Avast?  Or do something else?

cpu:  AMD Athlon 64 3500+
mem:  1 GB
sys:  Win XP Home, SP3

[igor]

What exactly do you mean by "stopped"?
Does the scan freeze (i.e. it seems to be still in progress, but the number of scanned files or progress isn't changing anymore), or it "finishes" the scan in the usual way? How did you start the scan - what sensitivity did you use?

In safe mode, you could use the skinless interface of avast! GUI - ashSimp2.exe

[wwc]

Sorry I wasn't clearer, it just finishes in the normal way, showing it scanned 366 files in one folder in 3 seconds.  Nothing locks up or freezes, it's as if I told it to only scan that folder and nothing else. 

It didn't do that in July.

[wwc]

and the sensitivity is set to high.  I tried unchecking the "scan archive files", but it made no difference.

[Lisandro]

Are you using BitDefender at the same time as avast?
Did you uninstall BitDefender to use (and install) avast?

[wwc]

I did have Bit Defender before I installed Avast.  I uninstalled Bit Defender, then installed Avast, and I was able to do full system scans.

Bit Defender has left some annoying traces in my system.  There are a number of Bit Defender services still in the Startup tab of msconfig, all of which I have disabled just in case.  Also, when I look at the properties of a file, the task pane offers me an Avast scan of the object, and also a Bit Defender scan.  Choosing Bit Defender doesn't seem to do anything though.

I did load Ad-Aware recently, could that be part of the problem?  Is there an Avast log I can look at after running a virus scan?

[Lisandro]

I did load Ad-Aware recently, could that be part of the problem? 

I don't think so... ad-aware is not the top most nowadays... on contrary... maybe you could test SuperAntispyware or MBAM.

Is there an Avast log I can look at after running a virus scan?

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). We would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that we could fix the problem.

The report file created (if you turned it on in program settings) will be (default location) at <avast4>\Data\Report\Simple User Interface.txt

[wwc]

I fixed the problem -- it was the operator...   

When I checked the "Exclusion" settings I found that both hard drives were excluded.  I had never even looked at this menu before, so I don't know how they got set.  I removed the two entries and everything works now.  Sorry to have bothered you.  Thanks for the help.

[Lisandro]

Well... makes sense at least.
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