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Scan getting stuck

Customer
Hi



I am running the latest version (as of 28-07-2011) of Ad-Aware free on Windows XP.



When i started a Smart Scan it got stuck after examining about 3800 files (0 objects found). The current object is blank. The scan time is increasing but the number of files scanned stays the same. When the Smart Scan gets stuck the Stop Scan fails. I have tried the Stop Scan icon and the right-click menu option in the system tray but it ignores it. If i close the Ad-Aware scan window, the scan continues in the background. When i re-open Ad-Aware the scan re-appears with 0 objects scanned and found. All other menus are inaccessible (Main / Scan / Ad-Watch / Extras / About). I have to exit Ad-Aware and open it again to be able to use it. But when i start a new scan the same problem occurs. I've tried re-installing Ad-Aware but that didn't help.



any ideas?



thanks...
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Comments

39 comments

Date Votes
  • Support
    Hi rml123,



    If would be very kind of you if you could try to find out which file that Ad-Aware cannot handle correctly. Try to observe which folder and files that are displayed before Ad-Aware hangs. When you have found the folder and maybe files, you can check single files by right-clicking them and select an Ad-Aware scan of that particular file until you find the file that cannot be checked. Then the file could be sent to Lavasoft for further investigation.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='128544' date='Jul 29 2011, 12:48 PM']Hi rml123,



    If would be very kind of you if you could try to find out which file that Ad-Aware cannot handle correctly. Try to observe which folder and files that are displayed before Ad-Aware hangs. When you have found the folder and maybe files, you can check single files by right-clicking them and select an Ad-Aware scan of that particular file until you find the file that cannot be checked. Then the file could be sent to Lavasoft for further investigation.[/quote]



    Thanks for your help. I've run the scan a few more times and on each occasion, the last "current object" before it goes blank is "ad-aware.exe"
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='128601' date='Aug 1 2011, 04:43 PM']Thanks, I have forwarded the information to my contact person at Lavasoft.



    Did you uninstall Ad-Aware following this instruction?

    [url="http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=30850"]How to uninstall Ad-Aware 9.0[/url][/quote]



    No, i used "Add/Remove Programs".
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  • Support
    Thanks, I have forwarded the information to my contact person at Lavasoft.



    Did you uninstall Ad-Aware following this instruction?

    [url="http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=30850"]How to uninstall Ad-Aware 9.0[/url]
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  • Support
    Does Ad-Aware stuck if you right-click "ad-aware.exe" and select to have it scanned by Ad-Aware?
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  • Support
    Then I suggest that you follow the instruction.
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  • Customer
    OK i removed Ad-Aware as per your instructions via Revo and re-installed version 9.0.7. I ran a smart scan and again after a few seconds it hung and could not be stopped without shutting Ad-Aware down.



    This time, it was not Ad-Aware.exe as the last current object before it goes blank. After 3 attempts the last file i could see was different each time but all 3 resided in Windows/System32.



    I did a right-click scan on the contents of this folder and again it hung and after some trial and error attempts on a decreasing amount of files i found the file that is causing the problem. It is called h323log.txt which is blank and has 0 bytes. There are 2 other h323*.* files nearby which are related to Microsoft H.323 Media Service Provider which i've never heard of.



    I cannot delete the file, even after a reboot it repeatedly says "being used by another person or program".



    Any ideas how to delete, or why Ad-Aware scan hangs trying to scan an empty text file?
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='128637' date='Aug 3 2011, 12:44 PM']Thank you for all your work. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />



    Maybe it is because the file is used Ad-Aware hangs, but of course it shouldn't. I'll talk to my contact person at Lavasoft. He suggested earlier that you should upload the file but since it is empty I think there is no need to do that.

    Have you had other issues with your computer, other programs that hangs, blue screen of death etc?[/quote]



    No other issues...
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  • Support
    Thank you for all your work. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />



    Maybe it is because the file is used Ad-Aware hangs, but of course it shouldn't. I'll talk to my contact person at Lavasoft. He suggested earlier that you should upload the file but since it is empty I think there is no need to do that.

    Have you had other issues with your computer, other programs that hangs, blue screen of death etc?
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  • Support
    Is Ad-Aware still hanging on the same file?
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='128741' date='Aug 8 2011, 11:55 AM']Is Ad-Aware still hanging on the same file?[/quote]



    Yes.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='sommyy' post='128748' date='Aug 8 2011, 02:48 PM']I think maybe there is some problem in that folder or in any of it file where it get stuck. maybe cause of any virus or infected file. so i think you have to check that particular folder and its file where it gets stuck.[/quote]



    All the other files in the folder scan fine with Ad-Aware. I also tried "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus" on the offending file and there are no errors.



    EDIT : having checked again there are 2 more files in the folder that hang the app - see next post.
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  • Customer
    OK i have some more information.



    I found the offending file by trial and error reducing the number of files each time. This method did not account for the fact that there could be other files with the same problem. I have now scanned every file in the Windows/System32 folder and there are 2 more files which have the same problem. I have run a scan of all files in this folder except the offending 3 and it works fine, so i know there are no more in this folder. The 3 files all make a Context Menu Scan hang on the individual files.



    The other 2 files are px.ini which is a configuration file of 0 bytes. This is a Sonic Solutions file which i believe is a config for Roxio DVD Burner software. I do not want to attempt to delete this file as this could cause the Roxio software to stop working.



    Also there is a file called MRT.exe. This is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. I believe this is a genuine app that comes with Windows Updates.



    I have scanned all three files with Sophos and there is apparently nothing wrong with them.



    Finally, there are a lot of folders in Windows/System32. I started a scan of these and again it got stuck in a sub-folder. I don't believe it is worth spending time investigating which file it was at this point when there is already a sample of the three aforementioned files.
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  • Support
    Thanks for your effort! /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />



    If you make copies of the three files, for example on the desktop, and let Ad-Aware scan them. Does Ad-Aware get stuck then?

    If yes, please upload the copies.
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  • Customer
    Any solution yet?



    A little more info - i received a Windows Update today which overwrote the MRT.exe file (the one in system32, i still have the previous one on the desktop). This new file also hangs when i perform a context menu scan on it.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='128755' date='Aug 8 2011, 04:42 PM']Thanks for your effort! /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />



    If you make copies of the three files, for example on the desktop, and let Ad-Aware scan them. Does Ad-Aware get stuck then?

    If yes, please upload the copies.[/quote]



    Yes, the copied versions get stuck. The message board will not upload the 0 bytes files. After hitting Upload, a message is returned "You did not select a file to upload"



    I have zipped the MRT.exe as it was taking too long to upload. The zip file itself can be successfully scanned but not the executable it contains. I have managed to upload it (see attached)
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  • Support
    Lavasoft has not been able to reproduce your issue with those files. If you still have problems with those files after the update of Ad-Aware to 9.5, they suggest that you try to unlock the files with, for example, Unlocker.

    [url="http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/"]http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/[/url]
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  • Support
    Due to vacations Lavasoft is still investigating the issue.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='129199' date='Sep 2 2011, 12:12 PM']Lavasoft has not been able to reproduce your issue with those files. If you still have problems with those files after the update of Ad-Aware to 9.5, they suggest that you try to unlock the files with, for example, Unlocker.

    [url="http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/"]http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/[/url][/quote]



    When is the update to Ad-Aware to 9.5 available as my scan still doesn't work?



    edit : having started Ad-Aware i see it's already available, i'll install it and report back.
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  • Support
    Sorry, to hear that you still have problems. Have you ever run chkdsk (check of the file system of the hard disk)?
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  • Customer
    I updated to Ad-Aware 9.5.1.



    The new version does not fix the problem, the scan hangs on certain files.



    I tried Unlocker on them. It says "No Locking Handle Found". The files were never locked, i am able to rename them in Windows without using Unlocker.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='129205' date='Sep 2 2011, 06:07 PM']Sorry, to hear that you still have problems. Have you ever run chkdsk (check of the file system of the hard disk)?[/quote]



    I ran chkdsk and a few index entries were deleted. I then tried a Context Menu scan on the offending files, and now the scan works. I then did a system Smart Scan and it completed successfully.



    Problem solved, many thanks for your help.
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  • Support
    You are welcome /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />

    I'm glad it is solved.



    The reason why chkdsk found errors in the file system is sometimes that the hard disk is bad and needs to be replaced. I advise you to test the hard disk with its manufacturer's test program, which can be found on the manufacturer's web site. If you don't know who has manufactured the hard disk, read in the Device Manager. It is usually easier to find the test program with the help of [url="http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287"]http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287[/url] than searching manufacturer's web site.
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  • Customer
    Problem has returned. However this time, a chkdsk found no errors and didn't solve the problem.



    I have downloaded and run the test diagnostic tools from my disk manufacturer (Western Digital) and there are no errors.
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  • Support
    Are you able to find the files that Ad-Aware hangs on?

    Are there other problems with the computer, for example Blue Screen of Deaths or sudden restarts of the compuer?
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='129557' date='Sep 23 2011, 01:29 PM']Are you able to find the files that Ad-Aware hangs on?

    Are there other problems with the computer, for example Blue Screen of Deaths or sudden restarts of the compuer?[/quote]



    I have no problems with my machine and no blue screens / restarts.



    I have found a file that it hangs on. Again it is c:\windows\system32\mrt.exe This is the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool executable. I included an attachment of a version of this file earlier in the thread. I ran a chkdsk that fixed errors and then ran a scan on 5/9/2011 and the file was fine. On 15/09/2011 a new version of mrt.exe was downloaded to my machine by Windows Update. When i next ran the scan on 22/09/2011, it hangs on this file again albeit a newer version of the file. I ran another chkdsk but no problems were fixed and the scan still hangs on this file.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='129569' date='Sep 23 2011, 05:51 PM']Does Ad-Aware hang on a copy of the file?

    Does Unlocker recognize it as locked?[/quote]



    Ad-Aware also hangs on a copy of the file.

    Unlocker says "No locking handle found"
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  • Support
    Please, upload the file here.
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  • Support
    Does Ad-Aware hang on a copy of the file?

    Does Unlocker recognize it as locked?
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  • Customer
    Today the scan works fine on the file and it's copy. I then did a smart scan on the entire disk which completed with no hanging.



    Will reply if/when problem re-occurs.
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