Author Topic: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe  (Read 4791 times)

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avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« on: December 30, 2008, 03:25:37 AM »
Hi,

I wanted to scan my entire hard drive and all it's partitions but it keeps getting stuck at 8% where Zone Labs .exe is. Zone Alarm is my firewall and I've heard avast doesn't work well with Zone Alarm.

How do I get avast to scan past Zone Alarm so it scan my whole hard drive.

Thanks so much.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2008, 02:40:56 PM »
If you use ZA firewall and avast you should exclude the scanning of the tracking.log which we believe is the cause of the avast hanging up.

For the Standard Shield provider (on-access scanning):
Left click the 'a' blue icon, click on the provider icon at left and then Customize.
Go to Advanced tab and click on Add button. Write there:
?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log

For the other providers (on-demand scanning such as the screen-saver or the Simple User Interface):
Right click the 'a' blue icon, click Program Settings.
Go to Exclusions tab and click on Add button. Write there:
?:\System Volume Information\tracking.log

The System Volume Information folder belongs to Windows System Restore and for some unknown reason ZA has placed a log there. Shame on ZA...
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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2008, 08:32:35 PM »
Thank you for your help.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to anti virus programs.

When I LEFT click on the "a" for avast down on the tool bar I get a screen which says in bold letters Resident Protection then under that Pause, Terminate and Sensitivity. There's no "Provide" button on the left. It just says avast 4.8.

Did you mean I should RIGHT click on the "a"? If I do that I see a drop down menu which says Pause Provider and Stop Provider but no just plain Provider.

I'm not sure what other providers or Simple User is but before I change any settings if I may please verify that once I get to Add - is the very first thing I type in a colon or a question mark? Do I type in :?:\System (space) Volume (space) Information\tracking.log - or start with the question mark followed by a colon? Do i have spaces as indicated above? Is it case sensitive so I need to use initial caps?

Thank you so much for all your patience and help.

Offline DavidR

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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2008, 09:45:12 PM »
Click the Details.... >> button it expands the window to show all providers.
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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2008, 02:52:11 AM »
Hi David,

Thank you. That was helpful. I can now see the various providers.

Which one do I choose? Web Shield? Standard Shield? Network Shield?

Is the very first thing I type in a colon or a question mark?

Do I type in :?:\System (space) Volume (space) Information\tracking.log - or start with the question mark followed by a colon?

Do I include spaces as indicated above?

Is it case sensitive so I need to use initial caps?

Thanks so much for your help.

Offline DavidR

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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2008, 02:56:05 PM »
You choose the one that Tech said, Standard Shield, it is there that you can exclude the file that is causing the problem, reread Tech's instructions in Reply #1.

Just copy and paste the string as Tech typed it because that is what the folder is called including the spaces (including the ?).

The ? is a single character wild card, located at the start it means it will apply to all partitions which have a System Volume Information folder, so you don't have to create an entry if you have more than one partition on your hard disk.

e.g.:
C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
D:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
etc.

Windows file and folder names aren't case sensitive
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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2009, 12:07:30 AM »
David and Mr. Tech from Brazil,

Thank you both so much for your help and patience.

It ran 100% now but I have 3 follow up questions.

1). While it was doing a Thorough scan it said that the Archived files were disabled.

Do I need to enable them and do a Through scan on them as well?

2). It found 12 viruses/worms/trojans even though I have avast running all the time and get the auto updates. How come that happens? Shouldn't avast be catching them before I do a Thorough scan?

3). I thought some malware needed to be quarantined and not deleted because deleting them actually activated some? So, how do I know which malware to quarantine and which to delete permanently?

And exactly how do I quarantine malware using avast?

Thank you again so much for all your help and generosity.

 Happy New Year!


Offline DavidR

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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2009, 12:36:38 AM »
You're welcome.

1. There is a check box to check that selects archives for scanning also, in the window that pops-up and you select the sensitivity of the scan on that window is the select archives box.

Thorough is also by its design very thorough (it scans all files) and perhaps a little overkill for routine use, were a Standard scan without archives should be adequate. Archive (zip, rar, etc.) files are by their nature are inert, you need to extract the files and then you have to run them to be a threat. Long before that happens avast's Standard Shield should have scanned them and before an executable is run that is scanned.

I have only ever done a Through Scan with Archives once shortly after installation just to ensure a clean start state, but with XP for example avast will do a boot-time scan after installation if you select it, this I believe will be quicker and reasonably effective. Like everything in life things are a compromise.

2. They could well have been on your system before avast was installed, but avast is constantly adding and modifying signatures to detect malware.

What is the infected file name, where was it found e.g. (C:\windows\system32\infected-file-name.xxx) ? 
Check the avast! Log Viewer (right click the avast 'a' icon), Warning section, this contains information on all avast detections. C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashLogV.exe

3. Deletion shouldn't activate anything - However, deletion isn't really a good first option (you have none left), 'first do no harm' don't delete, send virus to the chest and investigate.

that's 4 questions :P
4. When you/avast detects malware, selecting Send to Chest is quarantining the file.

A Happy New Year to you too.
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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2009, 01:18:08 AM »
Hi David,

So, when that big grey, scary box pops up alerting me that it's found malware there's some place to send to chest in that pop up box?

I get so nervous I hit delete so I can get the boogers out of my life.

I seem to only recall a Delete or Delete All.

I'm not sure how to investigate them. Can I generate some kind of list of the files avast found and then send that list to avast tech support for diagnosis and advice of what to do?

I did a screen capture of the 12 which avast just found.

Is there a way for me to upload that JPEG of the screen capture here? I have no idea what they mean.

Thank you again for all your generous help.

Offline DavidR

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Re: avast - home won't scan past Zone Labs .exe
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2009, 02:43:20 AM »
It depends on what big scary gery box you are on about as there are different detections.

1. The Web Shield that only gives Abort connection as an option.
2. The Standard Shield which gives multiple options, Move to Chest, Move/Rename, Repair, Delete, etc. the recommended option is normally Send to Chest.
3. The only time there is a Delete All option is in the Boot-time scan and that isn't a big scary grey box but a blue screen with multiple options.

There are also alerts for the email scanner (Internet Mail provider) just to further complicate things ;D
You will notice my images might differ in colour, etc. to yours as my skin may differ from yours.

Investigation is a) post here as you have done, b) search google for the file name and see if it is commonly associated with malware, etc. and you can also check with another scanner.

You could also check the offending/suspect file at: VirusTotal - Multi engine on-line virus scanner and report the findings here the URL in the Address bar of the VT results page. You can't do this with the file securely in the chest, you need to extract it to a temporary (not original) location first.

- When you click the Reply button, there is an Additional Options link, this expands the options to attach a file, that can be an image file or a text file (.log or .txt).
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