Author Topic: Cannot Safely Remove USB  (Read 13299 times)

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Joseph A

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #15 on: January 23, 2011, 12:53:51 AM »
Windows XP Pro, SP3, all updates. I upgraded from Avast Free 5.0.677 to 5.1.889, and, like many others have reported, I can no longer safely remove any USB devices, whether thumb drives or external drives. The 'safely remove' window no longer comes up. Simply says cannot remove device, being accessed by another application. I certainly hope you have a fix, soon. This is not acceptable. Thanks.

I have the same configuration as you and also the same problem.  As you say in a later message, "some people don't have the problem, some do."  Well, I am one of the ones that do.  I also hope this problem is solved soon.

Someone has suggested in another thread that a reboot would solve the problem.  It must be a joke!
« Last Edit: January 23, 2011, 12:56:06 AM by Joseph A »

Offline MikeBCda

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #16 on: January 23, 2011, 09:46:26 PM »
So far it seems that no one's found a common denominator for who's likely to encounter the problem and who isn't.  No problems for me (XP home, SP3, fully up to date).  Admittedly I don't often use a USB flash drive, typically just for transferring files to my wife's computer which doesn't have internet access, so it's possible that I might have run into a problem if I'd had occasion to use it with one of the earlier 5.x builds.
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Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2011, 01:07:24 AM »
Today ... since my last comment on this thread, for the first I tried to remove my Flash Drive.  And I did encounter the dreaded inability to safely remove the Flash Drive.  :o

I then decided, "Okay, so let me try downloading and using that highly-touted USB Disk Ejector.  I tried it out and NOPE!  No Dice.  That Sucker was even very slow to get around to telling me that the Flash Drive could NOT be safely removed because some App was in use, which of course, NOTHING was in use and I was even Off Line.  It was bad enough that it took an eternity to copy the only 400 something KByte Setup File from my Desktop to my Flash Drive. 

Something is definitely wrong with 5.1.889 regarding ANY Flash Drive activity.
The only alleged Workaround that we had to safely remove our Flash Drives, USB Disk Ejector was slow and worthless.  That's aside of any Copy & Paste activity involving the Flash Drive is VERY slow with periods where it downright looks like it's locked up.  I had planned on updating my Back Up Flash Drives, but now I'm gonna hold off because it's liable to take an hour or more.  And I no longer even trust that any writing onto the Flash Drives will be done correctly what with all the weird behavior.

And no, it's NOT my Flash Drive.  Everything was working fine with 5.0.677.
The problems surfaced right after my update to 5.1.889.

As to whether my computer has a virus?
Well, last night 5.1.889 indicated that my system, as usual, is clean.
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000

Offline DavidR

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2011, 01:27:54 AM »
This must be making a few of the developers pull their hair out as it is just so inconsistent if it were only with one OS it might narrow down the hunt. But no there are people with the same OS and they aren't affected, so it has to be one of the multitude of permutations.

Working for me on XP Pro SP3 and win7 starter (32bit) so I don't know if this is some sort of conflict.

@ Chim what is AOL 9.0 Security Edition ?
Given that we have already had one issue with AOL software and the behaviour shield (which should have been resolved).
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2011, 01:46:27 AM »
AOL 9.0 Security Edition ... the "Security Edition" aspect of it is just that way back in the early 2000s when it was new ... it has in it the capability to install McAfee Anti-Virus that AOL was giving Members FREE back then.

In case you might wonder:
(1)  No, the McAfee wasn't automatically installed.  You had to choose to install it.  It would install some Files.  But, then you still had to download some more Files from McAfee.

(2)  That McAfee aspect of it is no longer even valid.  I THINK AOL still offers Members FREE McAfee, but it no longer has anything to do with the install CD for this AOL 9.0 Security Edition.  The FREE McAfee courtesy of AOL is now done totally via Online.

(3)  Certain McAfee packed Files do actually get installed with this AOL 9.0 Security Edition ... for use in case we did opt to use the McAfee aspect.  But, I uninstalled them using the McAfee Removal Tool MCPR.  So, there are no McAfee Files installed in my computer now.  I stopped using that FREE McAfee about 3 years ago when it started screwing up my other computer's Boot Up process.

(4)  The previous avast versions before 5.1.889 worked fine with this AOL 9.0 Security Edition.
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000

Offline DavidR

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #20 on: January 24, 2011, 02:39:27 AM »
OK, just concerned it might has something active running.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #21 on: January 24, 2011, 02:58:58 AM »
Just in case it'll help the Devs at ALWIL, I have a very simple system.

As for Real Time Security?  I have avast and the Windows XP Firewall.  That's it.
And aside of what y'all see in my signature, let's see what else I have installed:
Foxit Reader, IrfanView, YouTube Downloader, Photoshop 6.0, Auslogics Disk Defrag, Media Player Classic, QT Lite 4.0.  And that's pretty much it.
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000

Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2011, 03:07:44 AM »
Okay, just in case this factors in into the equation:

As y'all can see in my signature, my computer is REALLY old and SLOW.
Thus, my Flash Drives, which have 2.0 USB capability ... don't actually operate at High Speed.  That's why every time I plug them in, I get informed that my Flash Drives would operate faster on a USB 2.0 port.

Somehow I doubt that all the other people that are having Flash Drive problems with 5.1.889 are also going to have really old and slow computers like me.  So, I don't know if this will be the common denominator.  But, I thought I'd throw it out there anyway just in case it can help zero in on the solution in some way.
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000

Nesivos

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2011, 08:02:29 AM »
Quote
How to 'Safely Remove' Devices

By Rick Broida, PCWorld    Jan 23, 2011 5:45 pm

If you don't see a Safely Remove Hardware icon in your system tray, or if you're not quite sure which listing corresponds to your card or drive, you have another option. Double-click Computer (or My Computer) to open it, and find the icon for the device. Right-click it, and choose Eject.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/217196/how_to_safely_remove_devices.html?tk=hp_new

Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #24 on: January 24, 2011, 09:29:34 PM »
Heyyy, that did the trick, Nesivos!  :)
I was able to as far as I could tell ... remove my Flash Drive safely.
I say "as far as I could tell" because what I didn't like is that once I clicked on "Eject," no indication is given that it is now safe to remove the Flash Drive.  I just noticed a little bit of Hard Drive LED activity and that was it.  I waited and waited, but no indication ever came that it was now safe.  So, the only way I was able to ASSUME that it was now safe to remove my Flash Drive was by Right Clicking on C: Drive and checking the Properties.  There it indicated 0 KBytes.  Also, the PortableApps.com Icon disappeared from next to the C: Drive.  I was a bit nervous because my SanDisk Cruzer Flash Drive's bright light on the side was still slowly pulsing as usual.  But, I went ahead and pulled out the Flash Drive and inserted my other one.  After updating that one, I ejected that one the same way and inserted my original Flash Drive.

There appears to have been no ill effects from that Eject method.

While that worked great though, it is evident that there is still a definite problem with Flash Drive activity in general with 5.1.889.  The Flash Drive update was slow and sluggish.  And after I finished, there seemed to be sluggishness remnants in my computer in general.  I had to Reboot to get my computer back to normal.

Thanks for the Tip, Nesivos!
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000

osmosis

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #25 on: January 24, 2011, 11:41:52 PM »
Heyyy, that did the trick, Nesivos!  :)
I was able to as far as I could tell ... remove my Flash Drive safely.
I say "as far as I could tell" because what I didn't like is that once I clicked on "Eject," no indication is

Just the fact that you only have 256 megs of ram is going to be an  issue.  It could take forever to read write back and forth to the swapdrive just to preform a simple function.  You are attempting to run 2011 software (Avast) on 1995 hardware.  At some point something has to give.  Not everything can be be backwards compatable forever - lest we loose the funcionality of new technology

Offline DavidR

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #26 on: January 24, 2011, 11:46:20 PM »
We have told Chim a number of times 256MB is barely enough to run XP, much less other applications.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Chim

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Re: Cannot Safely Remove USB
« Reply #27 on: January 25, 2011, 06:35:51 AM »
But, as I said, these Flash Drive issues began with 5.1.889.
Flash Drive activity was fine before.
And I am NOT the only one having these issues.
And I doubt everyone having the issues has old computers with 256 Meg of RAM or even Windows XP.

If ALWIL doesn't want to fix the problem, well then that's a different story with which I'll have to deal.
Dell Optiplex 780 / Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz / 4 Gig RAM / Windows XP Pro 32-Bit SP3 / Panda Dome  Free 18.07.00 / MBAM / SAS / NetZero Dial Up / Maxthon MX5 5.2.5.4000