Scan is Looping Without Stopping

[Laurie]

I am using the latest version of Avast.  I performed my first scan and it wouldn't end.  It kept scanning all the files over and over again.  After seeing it do this 3 times with over 200,000 files scanned I decided to stop the scan.  It did find 3 infected files in my Firefox \profile\cache folder.  I deleted them after I stopped the scan.  I ran the scan again and it still kept looping.  Is this due to a setting in the program or is something wrong?  

Thanks,
Laurie

[Eddy]

What is telling you/make you think you have about 200.000 files?
What is telling you/make you think Avast starts all over again?
What settings do you have when scanning?

[Laurie]

What is telling you/make you think you have about 200.000 files?

On main program window it states how many files are being scanned in real time as scan is progressing.

What is telling you/make you think Avast starts all over again?

It shows scanning of Documents and settings folder, then i1386 , then Program files, then Drivers folder, then  Windows folder.  Then I see all those same folders get scanned all over again in the same order.

What settings do you have when scanning?

Set for thorough scan and to scan archived files of entire C drive.

[Eddy]

Very strange, I never saw this before.
What is the exact version of Avast?
Have you tried a repair of Avast?

[Laurie]

Version 4.5.549

I'll try a repair next.

[igor]

Can you try to turn on the creation of the report file in program settings (including the "OK files")? Note that the resulting report will be very big - but you may find out where it "looped" (if it really did).

[Laurie]

igor, I did as you suggested and the text file shows the scanned files done twice.  It did one cycle and then repeated itself.

[igor]

Can you identify where it looped? I mean, what was the last file of the "first pass"? Is the first file of the "second pass" the same as the first file of all?
Can you post the filenames on the "break"?

[Laurie]

The last two files on the first pass are:

C:\WINDOWS\Zapotec.bmp

• is OK

C:\WINDOWS\_DEFAULT.PIF

• is OK

The first two files of beginning of the second pass are:

C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

• is OK

C:\BOOT.INI

• is OK

Yes the file names are the same on both of the begining passes and also at the end of both passes.

The very first files at the start of the "1st" pass are:

Disk 0 Master Boot Record

• is OK

Disk C: Boot Record

• is OK

C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

• is OK

C:\BOOT.INI

• is OK

C:\CONFIG.SYS

• is OK

[igor]

Strange...
How did you start the scan - as a scan of "All local disks", or as a "Folder" and you selected C: drive afterwards? (I believe it could be noted in the head of the report file as well).
How many and what partitions do you have in your system?

[Laurie]

The header only states as follows....

* avast! Report
* This file is generated automatically
*
* Task 'Simple user interface' used
* Started on Sunday, December 19, 2004 3:12:31 PM
* VPS: 0451-2, 12/17/2004
*

Disk 0 Master Boot Record

• is OK

Disk C: Boot Record

• is OK

C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

• is OK

C:\BOOT.INI

• is OK

C:\CONFIG.SYS

• is OK

When this happened the very first time, it looped over 3 times without stopping.   After a half hour, I decided to stop the scan.  That specifc time I had checked "local disks" and I had also put a check mark in my entire C drive contents box in the "folders" section.  But then I realized this was not neccessary to do and all I needed to do instead was to check "local drives".  So when I later ran the scan again with only "local drives" checked, it only looped two times and then successfully completed.

I have one partition but I believe I also have a hidden partition with a backup of my C drive.  This is a new Dell PC.

[DukeNukem]

Does it only loop when you do a thorough scan?

[Laurie]

I've only performed 'thorough' scans so far.  How does the 'thorough' and the 'standard' scan differ?  I'll perform a 'standard' and report back.

[Lisandro]

How does the 'thorough' and the 'standard' scan differ?

After you select the area to scan, a bar with a slider appears. Moving the slider, you specify the scanner sensitivity. There are three levels:

Quick Scan. Only the possibly dangerous files are scanned, according to their extension. It means that the files with extensions EXE, SCR, COM, DOC, etc. are scanned. Within the file, avast! looks only for those viruses that infect the corresponding type of file. It means that macroviruses are not searched for in EXE files etc.
Standard Scan. Only the possibly dangerous files are scanned, according to their content. The file extension is ignored. Again, only the viruses corresponding to the particular file type are searched for.
Thorough Scan. All files are tested, against all viruses.

Like Eddy always says: read the Help file