Resolved Avast 5 control centre won't start or scan

[SafeSurf]

I am referring you to our Certified Malware Expert, Essexboy.  I'm not sure if he will be checking in over the weekend or not.  He will respond to you and ask you additional questions and give you further instructions in this thread.  Please look for his posts and I will monitor in the background. 

In the meantime, please to not make any additional changes to your system (other than doing your normal Avast definitions update) or you will be required to repeat the steps you have already taken (MBAM and OTL).  Thank you very much.

[studiot]

Thank you.

I will await developments.

[SafeSurf]

You're welcome. 

[essexboy]

Hi I see you have run Combofix - could I see the log please - it is at C:\combofix.txt

[studiot]

Here is the combofix log from a few days ago.

[essexboy]

When the system slows down to a crawl could you open task manager and see if it is nassvc.exe using the majority of your processor

Also what is the Buffalo programme actually doing - is it a backup device ?

[studiot]

The buffalo linkstation is a small network attached storage unit.
I don't usually have it on, but have switched it on for this test.

As you can see it has made no difference.

I took a screenshot of taskmanager after calling the avast control panel which takes about 90 seconds to open to this stage.

Other programs work normally around this at this stage.

A second screenshot shows what happens 170 seconds after pressing the 'scan' button on the avast control panel

Other programs are unresponsive until this second window appears.

[essexboy]

I can see no sign of Malware, RAM and HDD are sufficient.  Both taskmanager shots show no abnormal CPU activity on the before or after. 

You say you have only just started the Buffalo programme  yet it shows a service and process on the first OTL log, I wonder whether Avast is trying to access it at start ?

We could empty temps and defrag - although to be honest I am not sure that will ease the problem a great deal.

 Clear Cache/Temp Files
Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
  
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
  
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two.  Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
  
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

THEN

Download and run Puran Disc Defragmenter

[studiot]

First let me say thank you for your continued interest.

I don't think the buffalo unit has anything to do with the problem. The nas service is a TSR waiting for connection I just don't usually have the box itself switched on. I have tried with the linkstation box on and off and have stopped the service in task manager without making any difference to Avast. Further the Avast problem is much more recent than the linkstation - they have happily coexisted up to now.

I did ask why avastui.exe continues to be shown running in task manager, after closing the control centre by clicking on the x in the top right hand corner, and seeing the window close. avastui is not shown running until I click on either the tray icon or the desktop icon.

No I can't see or find any form of malware either - I'm sure it's something between my implementation of Dell & Windows, which I have tried to make as plain vanilla is possible, and the current Avast, which didn't happen over the last couple of years. I haven't made any changes to the system recently.

Since the installation is so new and gets cleaned up and defrags pretty regularly I can't see this as a solution. In any case an AV worth its salt should be able to run in much more congested systems.

regards

[studiot]

I can report what I hope to be a happy ending this morning.

The Avast scanner is whizzing along as I write this.

It would appear that there was some sort of corrupt scan log file in the avast5 folder called  'log.db' that was cleared by checkdisk.

Hope this helps someone else sometime.

[SafeSurf]

I'm glad things are working out better for you.   

Essexboy is still suggesting a clean up and defrag (see his last post).  The defrag tool he recommended, which I also use also has a boot-defrag as well.

Essexboy will probably be coming along in a while, but he usually recommends keeping the machine on for at least 24 hours to see how things work.  However I do not want to interfere with his work, as he may need to remove some of the work he had you install.  So stay posted for him.  Thanks.

[essexboy]

Thanks for that data I will file it away in my - whats the problem file 

Run OTL and hit the cleanup button.  It will remove all the programmes we have used plus itself. 

We will now confirm that your hidden files are set to that, as some of the tools I use will change that

• Click Start.
• Open My Computer.
• Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• Under the Hidden files and folders heading select Do not show hidden files and folders.
  
• Click Yes to confirm.
• Click OK.

[studiot]

Thank you for your help I will confirm (hopefully) in a day or two that all is still well.

[studiot]

Report as promised.

Well I'm back to being a limited user again and feel much safer for that.

Avast5pro has been working properly on all accounts so the corrupt logs were clearly the issue.

I suppose the uninstall process didn't recognise them to clear them since they were corrupt. This is a point to bear in mind.

[SafeSurf]

It sounds like Avast is working well again. 

When you feel that your issue is resolved/fixed, please go back to the open post in this topic, click the modify button in that Post and change the title/subject, add [Resolved] to the beginning of the title so this thread can be closed.  Thank you.

Please feel free to come back any time to re-open this thread or just to browse to learn more, or ask another question.  We are here 24/7.  Thank you for allowing me and Essexboy to assist you.