Author Topic: avast freezes while scanning  (Read 8297 times)

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Double Eagle

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avast freezes while scanning
« on: March 29, 2011, 05:00:07 PM »
I read other posts regarding the freezing issue but I couldn't find a solution.

Running Windows 7 32 bit with all current updates.  Avast 6.0.1000.  I upgraded from ver. 5.x this morning to see if it helped.  It did not.  No other virus programs are installed.

Avast froze during a full scan yesterday for the first time.  I tried a second time with the same results.  It freezes about 9% into the scan.  I updated to ver. 6 this morning and tried a quick scan and it also froze about the same spot.

I checked the reports box before scanning but I can't find a report that helps.  There are reports in the Avast5/reports directory but none of them seem to have useful data.  I do not see an Avast6 directory.

Thank you for your help.

Offline CraigB

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2011, 06:06:27 PM »
You dont say what version of avast you are using but i would suggest a clean install of avast, download the free prerelease here and save as it has less issues http://files.avast.com/files/beta/6.0.1044/setup_av_free.exe, now uninstall your current avast from add remove programs and reboot then go to program files and program data and delet the alwil/avast files, now run ccleaner and your all set to install your new copy, if you are using a third party firewall make sure you add exclusions to it for avast and likewise to avast for your firewall, no exclusion's necessary for the windows firewall.
Just in case you have not thoroughly cleaned any remnant's of previous av's you can use this link to find removal tool's for any that you might of had http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/
« Last Edit: March 29, 2011, 06:10:29 PM by craigb »

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2011, 04:02:56 PM »
I followed your suggestions and reinstalled avast 6.0.1044.  It is still freezing at 12%.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2011, 04:04:28 PM »
How exactly does it freeze? Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?
Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). They would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that they could fix the problem.

Also, if during an avast! scan,
1. avast! freezes or crashes, it's probably avast! problem.
2. The computer freezes or restarts, it could be e.g. a conflict with some other program, or a hardware problem.
3. The computer powers down - it's probably a hardware problem (e.g. overheating). The scan generates a lot of hard disk activity (and is also CPU intensive), which may increase the temperature of your hardware. I suggest to check the coolers in the case.
4. If you get a blue screen, it could have a bug in avast! drivers (but then, there is not a power down).

Do you use ZoneAlarm?
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=38353.msg321609#msg321609
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area51

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2011, 04:05:56 PM »
I followed your suggestions and reinstalled avast 6.0.1044.  It is still freezing at 12%.
what is the file name which is being scanned while avast! is freezing?

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2011, 04:12:05 PM »
I followed your suggestions and reinstalled avast 6.0.1044.  It is still freezing at 12%.
what is the file name which is being scanned while avast! is freezing?

I had the same thought so I deleted the file where it froze the last time.  It was a Word *.doc file.  When it froze this time, it was on another Word *.doc file.

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2011, 04:19:32 PM »
How exactly does it freeze? Does it happen always approximately at the same place/folder of the scan?
Do you see a hard disk activity (when it freezes)? Is only the program frozen, or the whole computer (possibly with mouse cursor)?

You can go to the program settings and turn on the creation of the report file (with "OK files" to be included as well in the report). This way, you can find out where the scan really stopped (it's going to be close to the end of the report).

After avast! disappears, check the end of the report file - the "troublesome" file is likely to be close to the end (close in the sense that this particular file will probably not be written in the report, but the previous one will be the last line, so it shouldn't be hard to guess). They would certainly like to have this file - if it really causes problems to avast! - so that they could fix the problem.

Also, if during an avast! scan,
1. avast! freezes or crashes, it's probably avast! problem.
2. The computer freezes or restarts, it could be e.g. a conflict with some other program, or a hardware problem.
3. The computer powers down - it's probably a hardware problem (e.g. overheating). The scan generates a lot of hard disk activity (and is also CPU intensive), which may increase the temperature of your hardware. I suggest to check the coolers in the case.
4. If you get a blue screen, it could have a bug in avast! drivers (but then, there is not a power down).

Do you use ZoneAlarm?
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=38353.msg321609#msg321609

Rescanning with report file creation turned on.  I will post the file after scanning.

When avast freezes, it does not freeze the entire computer, only the avast program.  I do not and have never used ZoneAlarm.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2011, 05:31:25 PM »
Rescanning with report file creation turned on.  I will post the file after scanning.
Good. Seems a problem in the avast scanner with a particular file... Just guessing.
The best things in life are free.

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2011, 06:17:28 PM »
Scan stopped at 12% again.  The program doesn't actually freeze up, it seems to be running but it won't scan beyond this point.  The file displayed was again a Word file.

This is the report generated in the log.

c:...\Outlook\Outlook.pst  The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file (33)

Outlook was open and running at the time of the scan.  However, I have run an avast scan in the past with Outlook running without this problem.  I tried running an avast scan yesterday with Outlook closed and it made no difference.

area51

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2011, 07:09:08 PM »
what's is your OS and what anti malware programs are you using as for today?
« Last Edit: March 31, 2011, 07:11:05 PM by area51 »

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2011, 08:59:02 PM »
what's is your OS and what anti malware programs are you using as for today?

Windows 7 with all updates to date.  I have no other malware or antivirus software installed.  Avast was working fine until the scan failed yesterday.

spg SCOTT

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2011, 09:02:54 PM »
Scan stopped at 12% again.  The program doesn't actually freeze up, it seems to be running but it won't scan beyond this point.  The file displayed was again a Word file.

This is the report generated in the log.

c:...\Outlook\Outlook.pst  The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file (33)

Outlook was open and running at the time of the scan.  However, I have run an avast scan in the past with Outlook running without this problem.  I tried running an avast scan yesterday with Outlook closed and it made no difference.

IIRC the file shown may lag behind a bit, i.e. the doc could be the last one scanned.

Seeing as there is an error on the .pst file, maybe you could try temporarily excluding it from the scan and seeing if it continues?

Double Eagle

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2011, 10:32:33 PM »
I excluded the directory with the outlook.pst in it.  No change.  12% and stops.  It stops every time in My Documents folder, this time it was as *.pdf file.

MAG

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Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2011, 10:57:55 PM »
Just a thought, but have you tried a scan with mbam just to check that everything is clean on your system?

spg SCOTT

  • Guest
Re: avast freezes while scanning
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2011, 11:01:11 PM »
Ok, I was off then...wonder what is causing it...
I think it maybe necessary for you to create a dump file of the avast process to send to avast.
I would wait for someone to confirm that though ;)