vrdb eats room on hd?

[Tarq57]

You can disable the VRDB generation. Right click the system tray icon, select VRDB, mouse through to the appropriate setting.
I don't know whether it will damage the installation to delete the actual Avast INT file or not.
I would assume that a brand new install of Avast with the VRDB disabled from the start would have a non existent or very small INT file. That may be the way to go.
But I don't really understand why you would want to.
If your disk is so full that 20-30Mb reclaimed is going to make a difference, it's way past the time you should have acquired more storage.

[DavidR]

I don't think so. It will add up slowly, replacing old information with new as files are updated, and adding more information as system files are added. That's my take on it, anyway. Mine is at just under 29Mb, and I've had Avast on the computer over 2 years. Tiny percentage of disk space, really.

is there an option where I can delete the added files that were generated if I chose too?

It retains three copies (within that file), constantly dropping the oldest generation, so If your system is relatively stable, e.g. you don't constantly add new software it will reach a level and will stay in that area.

However, if you are a squirrel constantly storing nuts (new software) the last of your problems with regards HDD space will be the VRDB integrity file but the amount of space taken by the software added. The avast.int file is a drop in the ocean compared to your software.

[alphaa10]

I am running XP Pro on a U160 18 GB SCSI HD, and space for XP is at a
premium.

Normally, I run with about 3 GB to spare. and am very careful of installing
too many programs on the drive. (To keep space demands to a minimum,
I maintain my desktop and swap files on other volumes.)

When I realized the value of the VRDB in a future recovery, I innocently
presumed Avast would not require a huge amount of HD space for the VRDB,
since the VRDB is not an actual "copy" of the critical files.

After reading assurances from various forum posters that the VRDB was only
a few MB, I activated the VRDB feature by specifying "Generate VRDB Now!"

That was a mistake. Previously, I had about 3 GB of headroom on my 18 GB
HD, but now I have 1.5 GB-- very close to a crisis with a Windows boot drive.

Actually, I am overdue for one, and that is why I post this message.

What I need now, according to my reading of previous posts, is to remove
the single file avast.int, then reboot, and perhaps find all my missing 1.5 GB
available as headroom, for the original total of 3 GB free space.

Already, I have removed the file (copied it to another volume, just in case).
Rebooted, checked that the file was gone, but found no change in available
free space-- still 1.5 GB.

From all appearances, Avast creates many files associated with the VRDB--
not all visible to Windows Explorer set to reveal hidden, even system files.
What else could account for the sudden, gross increase in occupied file space
after generating the VRDB?

SUMMARY OF WHAT I NEED NOW--

1. Which files to remove to eliminate the VRDB added bulk, without damaging
Avast (latest version)? I want the VRDB to have a minimal space profile--
letting me recover the 3 GB free space that I had before generating the VRDB
on-demand.

2. If there is no way to do "surgery" on an installed Avast, is the simplest
approach to remove and then reinstall Avast?

3. But even if I UNinstall, then REinstall, that still might leave some hidden files--
which is the problem. If I UNinstall Avast, and do not gain 1.5 GB more free
space, where should I look for the remaining VRDB files, to remove them?

[.: L' arc :.]

. But even if I UNinstall, then REinstall, that still might leave some hidden files--
which is the problem. If I UNinstall Avast, and do not gain 1.5 GB more free
space, where should I look for the remaining VRDB files, to remove them?

 You may try using avast! Uninstall Utility to completely remove avast.

 You may optionally disable VRDB now since it could not keep up to most of the threats that's why it would be dropped for the feature lineup in avast 5.

[Lisandro]

alphaa10... VRDB will die in less than one month... It's an obsolete technology. You can disable it.

[alphaa10]

So, when is the version without VRDB expected? Thanks for your advisory.

[alphaa10]

... (I said) 3. But even if I UNinstall, then REinstall Avast, that still might leave some hidden files-- which is the problem. And if I UNinstall Avast, and do NOT gain 1.5 GB more free space, where should I look for the remaining VRDB files, to remove them?

(then you said) You may try using avast! Uninstall Utility to completely remove avast...  You may optionally disable VRDB now since it could not keep up to most of the threats that's why it would be dropped for the feature lineup in avast 5.

UPDATE--
I uninstalled Avast, removing it "successfully" via Control Panel/Add-Remove. This left only the Alwil folder and an Avast configuration file (to permit reinstallation, if desired). But there was no increase at all in free space after a reboot.

I reinstalled Avast, hoping the installation might "recapture" some files the preious installation had lost track of, somehow. Finding no change, I promptly disabled VRDB generation, but still got no increase in free space after a reboot.

Next, I used the Avast-supplied utility you suggested to wipe the folder location of everything, but after reboot, there still was no increase in free space-- I am left with the same 1.77 GB of free space I found after originally issuing the command. "Generate VRDB Now!".

Any other ideas on why completely removing the VRDB files (at least, in theory) has no effect on reported free space? Or where remaining (hidden?) VRDB files might be found?

[DavidR]

It has no effect because the VRDB hasn't gobbled up your HDD space, the VRDB isn't a back-up, it doesn't make copies of your files. It creates (Generates) a database containing information on the files that it covers (system, executable files, etc. not all files) to enable it to attempt repair.

The VRDB holds that information in the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\integ\avast.int file, even when disabled that file would still exist (so no limited gain in HDD space. However, the VRDB file avast.int would be measured in MBs not GBs, before I disabled the VRDB and removed this file, it was only a little over 12MB.

[alphaa10]

DavidR-- I understand your claim that the VRDB requires only MB, not GB. That innocuous profile is the way VRDB was presented by all I consulted before deciding to use the VRDB, and there is no reason to suppose anyone would make that claim if he did not believe it true.

But the matter is not resolved. There is no other rational hypothesis for losing 1.5 GB of free space immediately after issuing the command, "Generate VRDB Now!". No other operations of any kind were in-process, with no internet/network, and all was focused entirely on the VRDB operation, so it would complete as quickly as possible.

Generally, I have been pleased with Avast! and have recommended it to my clients. But every program has occasional rogue behaviors reported from the field, and this MAY be one of them.

In any case, at least one other poster has reported the same problem with losing space in VRDB-related activity. At the risk of "post hoc, ergo propter hoc", this may need some further attention from Avast coders-- if that problem is not already involved in their decision to kill VRDB in version 5.
 

[DavidR]

Sorry but there is no logic to that either, regardless of when it happened, before or after doing a generate now as the VRDB has a limited sub-set of files that it protects and the limited information on the files (not copies of the files) is stored in the avast.int file and nowhere else.

So unless the avast.int file is 1.5GB then that isn't the culprit.

There are over 90 million avast users and if there was any possibility of this being the case then these forums would be awash with this and in the five and a half years on the forums I simply haven't seen that. If by at least one other has found this you mean the original poster, then that was an assumption on there part which was cleared up.

The reason there will be no VRDB in version 5.0 is nothing to do with what you suggest, it is simply that this is old technology, which when first implemented was very effective. Now however, today's virus infections are much more difficult to repair as they are frequently encrypted and the existing VRDB methods I believe aren't effective against that.

[BILL G]

   Is the Recycle Bin Empty?

[alphaa10]

   Is the Recycle Bin Empty?

RE: Missing 1.5 GB Free Space

Thanks for your interest, Bill, and thanks to all others who offered insights and assistance. I am happy to report I have found a workaround which bypasses the whole issue of the sudden loss of 1.5 GB of free space, after running "Generate VRDB Now!".

As you have read in preceding posts, I already have been informed the file avast.int is the file directly involved in the VRDB, and that file is never more than a few MB in size. I also have been told there are no other (hidden) files.

That leaves the matter of accounting for the sudden loss of 1.5 GB of free space (after running VRDB) a mystery, but since I was approaching critical congestion on this drive, I had to do something immediately.

The workaround was simply to use an excellent (free) utillity called "Tree Size" (www.JAM-software.com/customers). Tree Size permitted me to review the entire drive (some 16 GB of data) with a relatively fine-grained search for space-robbing files and folders, some of which were duplicated elsewhere.

Tree Size permitted me to drill down on each directory/folder to make sure everything inside (1) belonged on the drive and was not duplicated elsewhere and (2) at least the major folders had retention value.

In the end, I managed to unload about 4 GB of material which could be placed elsewhere-- leaving me with some 11.7 GB of solidly OS-bound data, and 5.18 GB free space.

And since I routinely run most of my desktop activity on a much larger IDE drive, and have pointed XP to that location, matters are back to normal.

The space issue after running the VRDB is first problem of any kind with Avast! after running it for about three years without significant problems.

BTW-- In answer to your question, I never leave anything in my Recycle Bin. But that is a good question because the user community-- believe it or not-- is still somewhat divided on what "Recycle Bin" means.

Years ago, after I had cleared the RB of one user who had complained of a slow system, he nearly hit the ceiling of his office-- "Wadidja do THAT for!?"

I told the user I was sorry, I had presumed recycle bin contained files to be discarded.

"Why do ya think they call it a REcycle bin!?" he demanded.

A very hard question to answer.

[BILL G]

   I look at mine as a Garbage Bin. All Deleted Files go there. When it is at 1-2GB I scan it for Files I want to save.  Then I Erase it with 3 passes. I took a fast look at Tree Size.  It looks like a very good  Program .