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AdAware Keeps Shutting Down

Customer
On various computers with various oses (XP, Vista) Ad-Aware keeps shutting down unexpectedly. I have processes protection turned off due to slowness. Sometimes, as many as 3 dumps are generated by Ad-Aware. It usually happens after the first boot in a given day and doesn't happen if you try Ad-Aware after rebooting on the same day. Is this a problem with .net or Ad-Aware? /mellow.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
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62 comments

Date Votes
  • Customer
    [quote name='tonylukac' post='125407' date='Mar 8 2011, 06:49 AM']On various computers with various oses (XP, Vista) Ad-Aware keeps shutting down unexpectedly. I have processes protection turned off due to slowness. Sometimes, as many as 3 dumps are generated by Ad-Aware. It usually happens after the first boot in a given day and doesn't happen if you try Ad-Aware after rebooting on the same day. Is this a problem with .net or Ad-Aware? /mellow.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' />[/quote]





    I also have the same problem, running Xp and only on startup of computer, Ad-aware free 9.0.2. Sure would like to know what is causing it. Have reinstalled but did not help. Anybody out there that can give a solution?
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  • Customer
    Hi



    We need to gather more information about this to be able to create a fix.

    We would appreciate if you would contribute by sending us a crash dump.

    Since the crash dump file is quite large we need you to upload it to our ftp server.



    1) When the crash happens, DO NOT click OK or cancel.

    2) Browse to the following folder:

    XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\Crashdumps\"

    Vista and 7 "C:\ProgramData\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\Crashdumps\"

    3) Copy any files located in the folder

    4) Upload the files to our FTP server.



    FTP



    Host: apep.lavasoft.com

    Username: support

    Password: ******* (PM Me for password)



    The first thing you need to do is download a piece of FTP software. I usually use Filezilla, it's free and works well.

    1) Download and install that. Then open the program.

    2) Along the top there is a spot to enter the information listed above.

    3) Then click "Quick connect" or "Connect". There will be a login procedure, and then you will see a directory on the right hand side.Your files and folder will be shown to the left.

    4) Simply drag and drop the file in there and it will upload, once the progress bar has finished you can close the program.



    Then simply write us that you have uploaded it, and we will go get it.



    Thank you very much.
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  • Customer
    AOK. The file is uploaded. I should tell you I keep processes protection off due to slowness. Thank you.
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  • Customer
    Will get to this pronto. There seem to be 2 types of scenerios. One where it simply times out due to computer slowness where you get one dump, and the second where you get 3 abend screens. I really like Ad-Aware and hope to make it better. Like I said, the shutdown is particularly frequent on a slower computer.
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  • Customer
    Uploaded another dump today. This one had 2 abends on the screen at the time (I've seen 3), but only 1 dump was in the crashdumps folder. Good luck.
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  • Customer
    Uploaded a nice one today; the crash of the adaware service. This results in up to 4 error windows. This happened on windows xp. I believe it was launched from the quick launch.
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  • Customer
    Hello everyone



    I have your crash dumps, and we will look in to this... I will let you all know when I have any info.



    Regards,

    Jeff - Lavasoft
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  • Customer
    [quote name='LS Jeffery' post='125686' date='Mar 25 2011, 09:31 AM']Hello everyone



    I have your crash dumps, and we will look in to this... I will let you all know when I have any info.



    Regards,

    Jeff - Lavasoft[/quote]



    Has there been any resolution on this? I'm having the same problem.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='tonylukac' post='125924' date='Apr 5 2011, 01:27 PM']No resolution yet. Maybe in the next version, if not sooner.[/quote]



    Hi Tony



    I am hoping we can release a fix for this, this week... I am currently testing it.



    Regards,

    Jeff - Lavasoft
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  • Customer
    No resolution yet. Maybe in the next version, if not sooner.
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  • Customer
    bump
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  • Customer
    I've been testing the new updates and have some bad news. For one, when the adaware.exe module gets updated, the main scanning dialog simply disappears when scanning, usually at the beginning. Upon restarting, AdAware runs and scans properly. A more serious problem is in the dump I have and have tried to upload. You've disabled the ftp upload password so I can't upload it. This computer has some sort of malware on it. The first time in a day of invoking adaware on this computer, 2 uac prompts occur in a row to start the adaware service. This is vista and I have process protection disabled. The main scanning screen never appears. Adaware just shows the splash screen for about an hour and then terminates with a dump. When you restart it, it then works. I could probably use task manager to terminate adaware.exe and then I wouldn't have to wait an hour. Please reenable the ftp upload account so I could send you the 200M dump. Good luck.
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  • Customer
    Got your password, thank you. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that with the new version of AdAware on the malware infested vista computer, AdAware doesn't terminate any longer. The bad news is that on another computer, an old 1Ghz XP machine, AdAware still terminates with 4 dumps. It took about an hour to collect the data, more than 500M of it, and almost 5 hours to upload it on my 700k/300k dsl connection. Also, Filezilla would give some kind of message after uploading that the file already exists, and upon replying ok it would upload the file again. There is a new version of Filezilla that I might try, but I simply clicked cancel and all 4 dumps are on the server. Lots of luck and I hope you use the data. AdAware was one of the first spyware scanners that I began to use and I would like to see it continue to work.
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  • Customer
    Hello everyone



    My IT guys pointed out it was poor practice to post the password for this FTP publicly... oops...



    Please PM me if you need it to upload a dump.
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  • Customer
    Same problem here.

    Xp SP2, updated.

    Plus: On logon my PC seems to freeze-up or is so slow to login that I just reset and retry.

    Doesnt do it with version 8.3.6

    I simply uninstalled v9 and im running 8.3.6 without any AdAware shutdowns or logon freezes.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='LS Jeffery' post='125929' date='Apr 5 2011, 02:30 PM']Hi Tony



    I am hoping we can release a fix for this, this week... I am currently testing it.



    Regards,

    Jeff - Lavasoft[/quote]



    Any news on this, Jeff? Mine continues to shut down. Not sure if it's same issue as OP, but something's wrong.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='echo_qc' post='126301' date='Apr 23 2011, 07:15 PM']I simply uninstalled v9 and im running 8.3.6 without any AdAware shutdowns or logon freezes.[/quote]



    That's an interesting idea. At least it may narrow down my issue. I'll have to try to figure out how to roll back to an earlier version.



    Merci bien!
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  • Customer
    I am running Vista 64 bit and I am having the same issues... Laptop has been running really rough for the last couple months, I suspect malware although scans show nothing..

    I have emailed Lavasoft support X 2 and no replies... Today I started using my laptop (runs through the night) and found 7 popups stating that AA had shut down unexpectedly... I attached the crash-dump file to my last email..



    I sure hope they figure this one out, never had problems like this before with AA, and have been a paid user for nearly a decade.

    I need to be able to trust this program, as I do all of my business from this laptop and do NOT want an insecure system..



    Help Lavasoft!
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  • Support
    [quote name='echo_qc' post='126301' date='Apr 23 2011, 08:15 PM']Xp SP2, updated.[/quote]

    Hi echo_qc,



    Note that Microsoft stopped supporting XP SP2 last summer, meaning that Windows Update no longer delivers any fixes for discovered security vulnerabilities in XP. It is very easy for a hacked or malicious web site to infect a computer with known vulnerabilities.

    [url="http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31"]http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31[/url]
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  • Customer
    I'm on Win 7 Pro, incidentally, and appear to be having a very similar problem.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='LS Jeffery' post='125561' date='Mar 16 2011, 09:14 AM']Hi



    We need to gather more information about this to be able to create a fix.

    We would appreciate if you would contribute by sending us a crash dump.

    Since the crash dump file is quite large we need you to upload it to our ftp server.



    1) When the crash happens, DO NOT click OK or cancel.

    2) Browse to the following folder:

    XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\Crashdumps\"

    Vista and 7 "C:\ProgramData\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\Crashdumps\"

    3) Copy any files located in the folder

    4) Upload the files to our FTP server.



    FTP



    Host: apep.lavasoft.com

    Username: support

    Password: ******* (PM Me for password)



    The first thing you need to do is download a piece of FTP software. I usually use Filezilla, it's free and works well.

    1) Download and install that. Then open the program.

    2) Along the top there is a spot to enter the information listed above.

    3) Then click "Quick connect" or "Connect". There will be a login procedure, and then you will see a directory on the right hand side.Your files and folder will be shown to the left.

    4) Simply drag and drop the file in there and it will upload, once the progress bar has finished you can close the program.



    Then simply write us that you have uploaded it, and we will go get it.



    Thank you very much.[/quote]
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  • Customer
    I'm running Ad-Aware on my Win7 Pro x64 laptop and had no problems until days ago. Now I receive frequent popups stating that AA had shut down unexpectedly, an error report generated upon which I click OK for it to be sent to Lavasoft.



    Help, where do I go from here? Any ideas what is causing this?
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  • Customer
    [quote name='CeciliaB' post='126305' date='Apr 23 2011, 04:18 PM']Hi echo_qc,



    Note that Microsoft stopped supporting XP SP2 last summer, meaning that Windows Update no longer delivers any fixes for discovered security vulnerabilities in XP. It is very easy for a hacked or malicious web site to infect a computer with known vulnerabilities.

    [url="http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31"]http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31[/url][/quote]



    You're absolutely right, I do have SP3, wrote SP2 like a reflex, had been running SP2 for so long. My bad.
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  • Support
    [quote name='echo_qc' post='126310' date='Apr 24 2011, 08:28 AM']You're absolutely right, I do have SP3, wrote SP2 like a reflex, had been running SP2 for so long. My bad.[/quote]

    Glad to here that you have SP3 /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
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  • Customer
    I'm running XP SP3, too, on my machine. Also running Ad-Aware 9.0.4. I also see two crash dialogue boxes every time Ad-Aware crashes, which, for me, is each time I try to perform a manual Web update. Also, the Ad-Aware gui disappears each time I try to update the program's definitions. The product's tray icon service remains running, yet it's unresponsive; I have to manually kill it. I also have to manually kill AAWService.exe and Ad-Aware.exe before I can relaunch the product. I'm surprised that the product allows itself to be killed by any utility.



    I just tried to manually update Ad-Aware using the "simple interface" to see if that made any difference. I got a little farther in the update process but it still crashed and left the update dialog box on the screen. I also received three "Send Error Report to Lavasoft" dialog boxes (3 instances of Ad-AwareAdmin.exe? Don't know if this is the dialog box, the updater, or both.). Between Ad-AwareAdmin.exe and AAWService.exe, those two processes are pegging my CPU at up to 80%; two of the Ad-AwareAdmin.exe instances seem to be inactive. One just croaked so there are two left.



    I have attached a 15MB .7z file of the original 63.5MB dump file. I hope this helps. Ok... Attaching has failed twice. Even trying to upload the raw 65 MB dump file failed with the same message, "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file." If that particular feature of the BBS has been disabled, maybe there shouldn't be any entries to allow someone to try to upload a file. Could someone PM me the FTP password so I can upload my file? Thanks.



    By the way, Ad-Aware developers have done a fantastic job of resurrecting what had once been a great product and had lapsed into irrelevance. I downloaded and ran Ad-Aware 9 after reading Neil Reubenking's review of it on pcmag.com; it found about five infections my supposedly great anti-virus software failed to detect. I'm now using Ad-Aware once again after having given up on it somewhere around version 3 or so. Keep up the great work and I hope your developers resolve this issue in short order!
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  • Customer
    Hi everyone,



    My wife and I are both running v9.0.4, although on different systems:



    I am on a Windows 7, 64-bit system, and the program seems to run fine - no errors and the system tray icon behaves normally. The only problem I've noticed is that recently, when I try and do a full scan, it seems to start normally, however when I come back later to look at the results, the Ad-Aware screen has disappeared and it's like I left my computer as it was and never brought up the Ad-Aware window. The program seems to behave ok when I do a quick scan and I get the results screen as expected.

    Security-wise, I'm also using Zone Alarm, Microsoft System Essentials and Clear Cloud.



    My wife is running on Windows XP and is having a similar problem to other users:

    - When the computer boots up, she gets one or two copies of the error stating the "Ad-Aware has shut down .....", although the service still appears in the system tray.

    If she does a full scan, it proceeds as normal and the results screen is displayed and left on screen.

    My wife is using the same other security software (Zone Alarm, MSE and Clear Cloud) although she did have SpyBot also installed, and uninstalled that after installing Ad-Aware (aside from anything else, the programs complain about each other running).



    Not sure if that helps but it's a bit more information I guess.



    Regards



    Quentin.
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  • Customer
    [quote name='echo_qc' post='126301' date='Apr 23 2011, 02:15 PM']Doesnt do it with version 8.3.6

    I simply uninstalled v9 and im running 8.3.6 without any AdAware shutdowns or logon freezes.[/quote]



    Do you know if there's anywhere I can obtain 8.3.6 Free (not 8.3.6 for free, but the free version of 8.3.6)? Thanks.
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  • Support
    Hi PurpleSage,



    FileHippo has old versions to download: [url="http://www.filehippo.com/download_ad-aware/"]http://www.filehippo.com/download_ad-aware/[/url] to the right
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  • Customer
    [quote name='PurpleSage' post='126363' date='Apr 26 2011, 05:25 AM']I'm running XP SP3, too, on my machine. Also running Ad-Aware 9.0.4. I also see two crash dialogue boxes every time Ad-Aware crashes, which, for me, is each time I try to perform a manual Web update. Also, the Ad-Aware gui disappears each time I try to update the program's definitions. The product's tray icon service remains running, yet it's unresponsive; I have to manually kill it. I also have to manually kill AAWService.exe and Ad-Aware.exe before I can relaunch the product. I'm surprised that the product allows itself to be killed by any utility.



    I just tried to manually update Ad-Aware using the "simple interface" to see if that made any difference. I got a little farther in the update process but it still crashed and left the update dialog box on the screen. I also received three "Send Error Report to Lavasoft" dialog boxes (3 instances of Ad-AwareAdmin.exe? Don't know if this is the dialog box, the updater, or both.). Between Ad-AwareAdmin.exe and AAWService.exe, those two processes are pegging my CPU at up to 80%; two of the Ad-AwareAdmin.exe instances seem to be inactive. One just croaked so there are two left.



    I have attached a 15MB .7z file of the original 63.5MB dump file. I hope this helps. Ok... Attaching has failed twice. Even trying to upload the raw 65 MB dump file failed with the same message, "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file." If that particular feature of the BBS has been disabled, maybe there shouldn't be any entries to allow someone to try to upload a file. Could someone PM me the FTP password so I can upload my file? Thanks.



    By the way, Ad-Aware developers have done a fantastic job of resurrecting what had once been a great product and had lapsed into irrelevance. I downloaded and ran Ad-Aware 9 after reading Neil Reubenking's review of it on pcmag.com; it found about five infections my supposedly great anti-virus software failed to detect. I'm now using Ad-Aware once again after having given up on it somewhere around version 3 or so. Keep up the great work and I hope your developers resolve this issue in short order![/quote]



    Hello PurpleSage



    This issue seems unrelated to the rest that are posted here. I believe I know what is causing your issue. And if your reinstall I believe it will be resolved.

    Download link:

    [url="http://download.cnet.com/Ad-Aware-Free-Internet-Security/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?tag=rb_content;main"]http://download.cnet.com/Ad-Aware-Free-Int...rb_content;main[/url]



    Download from there and reinstall, that should resolve your issue.



    Regards,

    Jeff - Lavasoft
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  • Customer
    Hi Jeff, all,



    My computer (Windows 7, 64 bit SP1, AA 9.0.4), seems to be ok now - my only problem previously was that when doing a full scan i would come back to find that the scan screen had disappeared and it was like I'd never done the scan but I could do a quick scan ok. I did a full scan last night and when I came back in the morning it was there waiting for me to decide what to do with the threats it had found.



    [i]***Also my wife's computer - Windows XP, AA 9.0.4 also now seems to be ok after doing the internal update within Ad Aware last night, Was there a bug fix in there as well as definition updates? Hers isn't crashing on startup anymore either.***[/i]



    [b]EDIT: I spoke too soon - my wife's computer is still giving the error messages - I turned it on when I was writing this post last night and thought I'd waited long enough (interestingly Ad Aware had loaded and I could bring up the main window), but then of course as soon as I hit 'send' and then looked back at the other computer, the error message was up there! END EDIT[/b]



    BTW, on two unrelated notes:

    - After doing a scan it tells you the total time from when you initiated the scan to when you responded to the detected threats and the program finished dealing with them - but that also counts however long it was from when the scan finished to when you responded to the results. It would be good to know how long the scan only took (eg I left my computer to scan overnight but I don't know if it took 15 mins to complete the scan or 7 hrs 15 mins. All I can tell you is that it was 8 hrs 29 mins from when I initiated it to when it finished deleting the threats after I told it to when I got up this morning.



    Also is there any way of knowing what the program is updating when it does? Sure it's usually just 'definition updates' and that's fine, but it would be nice to know if it is potentially also fixing a bug in the program or something else which might be noticeable.



    Regards



    Quentin.
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