No files in virus chest.

[pete248]

Hello,
I run a scan last night, and told avast 5 to put everything it found into the virus chest if it couldnt repair it. This morning, the scan logs show that a few files were meant to be moved there. However, they are not appearing in the virus chest windows, there is just a large, white space showing its empty.

So i browsed to the C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\chest folder, and sure enough, there are files in there of varying sizes and an index.xml file. On opening index.xml, it seems to display the records for the different infected objects and their properties. So physically, it seems the virus chest is there. But avast doesn't seem to want to display them in the interface.

Has anyone else had this problem? I have tried a reboot, no luck.

Edit: Adding files manually seems to work, its just the files which avast sends to the chest automatically which arent appearing.

[SafeSurf]

Hi pete248 and welcome to the forum. 

1. What is your OS, (32 or 64-bit)?
2. What version of Avast 5.0 are you running?  5.0.594 is the latest version.
3. Do you have Avast Free, Pro, or AIS?
4. Do you have any other security related software on your machine currently or previously (Antivirus besides Avast, Firewall, other security software)?  If in the past, how was it removed?

I run a scan last night, and told avast 5 to put everything it found into the virus chest if it couldnt repair it.

Did you change any of the default settings of Avast?

To find the Virus Chest in 5.0 > open the GUI > Maintenance > Virus Chest.  However, if you changed the default settings and told Avast to repair first, then move to the Virus Chest, it is possible that some things did not show up there because they were not repairable. 

I would change your settings back to Move to Virus Chest as your first choice, make sure your definitions are up to date, run another Full scan and see what comes up.  If you have a 32-bit machine, also run a Boot-time scan (this will take a while to run). 

I will await your responses prior to giving you more instructions.

[pete248]

Hey thanks for the reply,
Sorry i hadn't posted more details before, it completely passed my mind! I knew there was something else 
I'm on Windows 7 64 bit, and i have the latest version of avast free (5.0.594).

I have comodo firewall and microsoft security essentials installed, although i have turned of real time protection in MSE. Also superantispyware and malwarebytes, although they are only for on demand scanning.

Previously, i have had AntiVir and Spyware doctor, although i only had antivir installed for comparing to avast, and spyware doctor i had turned off and forgotten about, so i removed that as well. I uninstalled both with revo uninstaller, which looks for leftover files afterwards, so I'm pretty sure they uninstalled completely.

As with changing the default settings, i have put repair first, then move to chest, then do nothing. The issue is that even in the scan logs, avast says it has moved the files to the chest, even though they are not apppearing. However, when browsing to the chest directory in explorer, there ARE files in the folder. So avast is actually moving the files to the chest, just not showing them in the interface. I will attach screenshots for clarification. (i will have to include them in the post, they break the 200kb limit).

The first shows the scan logs, which shows a few of the files which were moved to the chest.


The second shows the physical files in the chest in explorer.


The third shows the index.xml file which actually lists all of the files in the chest (located in the same directory, shown in the above screenshot).


The fourth shows that in the avast interface, no files are shown in the virus chest.

[YoKenny]

Maybe you need to understand Windows 7 64 bit!  

64-bit Support
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/products/features/64-bit-support

Comodo Comodo + fake meds
 
Seems Comodo still aren't bothering to check who they're supplying SSL certificates to. Nice to know they give a damn isn't it.

http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2010/06/comodo-fake-meds.html <== from a UK person. 

[pete248]

What relevance is this to being unable to move files to the virus chest? And i do understand what Windows 64 bit means. What are you trying to say?

[SafeSurf]

Previously, i have had AntiVir and Spyware doctor, although i only had antivir installed for comparing to avast, and spyware doctor i had turned off and forgotten about, so i removed that as well. I uninstalled both with revo uninstaller, which looks for leftover files afterwards, so I'm pretty sure they uninstalled completely.

We usually recommend that when removing security software to use the vendor's uninstaller instead of a third party uninstaller.  I am familiar with Revo, which is a good product, however it does not replace the vendor's uninstaller.  Therefore, I suggest you check out this: http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/ for the removal tool or go to the vendor's site.  If remnants are left behind of a security software, it often conflicts with another security software.

I have comodo firewall and microsoft security essentials installed, although i have turned of real time protection in MSE.

Do you have the antivirus (AV or D+) disabled in Comodo? 

Because you had changed the Settings of Avast to repair first instead of Move to Chest, not all malware is repairable.  That is why I had recommended to keep the settings at default unless you really know what you are doing.  Remember that Avast is working in the background all the time...not just when you are doing scans.  So I suggest again that you change the settings back to default as I said in my first post and run an Avast Full scan; you are currently unable to run an Avast Boot-time scan with a 64-bit machine.

[Asyn]

Do you have the antivirus (AV or D+) disabled in Comodo? 

D+ (if used) shouldn't be the problem here...!!
asyn

[SafeSurf]

@ Asyn, I understand what you are saying in your post, but I think the OP may have gotten confused from YoKenny's post.  In addition, the OP had several other security software that may/may not have been removed properly and I'm trying to make sure remnants are not left behind which could cause a conflict with Avast.  Since you use Comodo, I appreciate your input on it.  Thank you.

@ pete248, I will await the reply to my questions to my prior post.  Thank you.

[pete248]

Right. What i have done so far is used the remove tool for antivir. Followed a guide to completely remove spyware doctor. Changed avast to move the files to the chest as being the first choice. Then did a test scan of a folder containing the eicar test file, which simulates a virus.

Nothing has changed. Again, Avast says in its scan logs that the file has been moved to the chest. When i browse to C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\chest in explorer, more files are there than before. So the files ARE being moved to the chest. So the problem must be down to Avast not reading the index.xml file in the chest which indexes the viruses as being in the chest.

To summarise:
The infected files are definitely being moved to the chest, as there are more files in C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\chest after the scan.

However, avast still, in it's interface, displays a blank white space showing no files in the virus chest.

So i think avast is having trouble reading the index.xml file correctly, which tells it what viruses are in the chest.

I think is a complete reinstall is needed, unless there are any more solutions i should try.

[Pondus]

I think is a complete reinstall is needed, unless there are any more solutions i should try.

jepp but you may trie repair first if you have not done that?

For a repair of avast. Windows, Add Remove programs, select 'avast! Anti-Virus,' click the Change/Remove button from the pop-up window, scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.

[pete248]

Yeah i will try that. Ill wait for any more input from SafeSurf before i do though

[SafeSurf]

Yes, try the Repair first:

1. Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove.
2. Then choose Repair function in the pop-up window (Repair).
3. Reboot.

If this does not help, do an uninstall of Avast and CLEAN install:

1. Save a copy of newest version of Avast (5.0.594) for the version you need and save it to your HDD:
Free – http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_free.exe
2. Download the Avast Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility and save it to your HDD.
3. Disconnect from the Internet.
4. Uninstall Avast through "Add/Remove Programs" through Control Panel if possible. 
5. Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 repeatedly) and run the Avast Uninstall Tool.
6. Reboot.
7. Clean your computer up (clean up cache, temporary Internet files, etc.).
8. Install the newest version of Avast and reboot.
9. Get Internet access and update Avast definitions.
10. Register your copy or add the license key for Free: http://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php
11. Reset your settings, if needed.  I recommend default settings for now.

Let me know how this works out for you.