53 replies to this topic

[Dante3000]

Hi there,

I upgraded to the Ad Aware Pro Security yesterday, version 10.1.211.3382.

It's currently on a free trial but when I try to do a full scan it progresses for about 20 seconds and then just stops. The scanning bar is still moving, giving the impression it is doing something, but the duration counter stops and the files it is currently scanning do not change.

All other anti-virus software etc are shut off at this point.

Anyone have any ideas or a similar issue?

[CeciliaB]

Hi Dante3000,

Please, tell us what Windows version you have including if it is 32 och 64 bits, and what antivirus program etc. you have.
How do you shut off the antivirus program?

[Dante3000]

Thanks for the response.

I am running it on Windows Vista, 32-bit OS.

I usually have Avast Antivirus and ZoneAlarm firewall running at the same time but close them down via the running programmes toolbar on the bottom right when running a scan of any kind.

[CeciliaB]

You are welcome

I have discussed it with my contact person at Lavasoft and she thinks that there is some kind of conflict between these three programs. Even if you exit Avast and ZoneAlarm, their drivers (maybe even services) will be running and that together with drivers and services of Ad-Aware is too much.

[Dante3000]

If I have Ad Aware do I really need ZoneAlarm? I'm not exactly sure what ZoneAlarm does for me but would it be anything different to what AdAware could do on its own?

[CeciliaB]

Usually people use ZoneAlarm to get a free firewall, but there are other products too, see http://www.zonealarm...ee-download.htm . There is a firewall in Ad-Aware 10 Pro Security (and its trial) but not in Ad-Aware 10 Free Antivirus+. However I'm not sure that the firewall drivers are uninstalled when the trial period expires. I think it is more likely that this scan problem a conflict between Ad-Aware and another antivirus program than between Ad-Aware and a firewall.

When you open ZoneAlarm, it should somewhere be some information about which ZoneAlarm product you have.

[Dante3000]

I have 'ZoneAlarm Free Firewall'.

I've had the three running side by side for at least a year now without these issue, but only just upgraded to the AdAware Pro Security trial where I'm having the issue. I guessed that maybe I had AdAware doing the same job as another of my programmes, you might be correct that it is the anti-virus. Do you think turning off the AdAware anti virus capabilities would solve this at all? If so I will give that a go.

[CeciliaB]

Ad-Aware 10, even the Free version, has a much better real-time protection than version 9 Free, which has a very limited real-time protection. This improvement has the drawback that Ad-Aware 10 often cannot run together with other antivirus programs. Lavasoft is trying to get future versions of Ad-Aware more compatible. Please, try to inactivate parts of Ad-Aware to see if that helps.

If you want, it is still possible to use version 9.6 and it can be downloaded from FileHippo.

[Dante3000]

I'll turn features off one at a time and see if it helps. I'll report back here with my results. Thanks

[Dante3000]

Unfortunately, each time it stops on the same file. Could that be important?

It's a SYSTEM32\CSESS.EXE. file.

[CeciliaB]

Yes, it could.
Is it the correct spelling or should it be csrss.exe?

Can you find the file in Computer/Windows Explorer, right-click it and select to scan it with Ad-Aware?

[Dante3000]

The complete filename is;

628,c:\windows\system32\smss.exe,c:\windows\system32\smss.exe

I am actually unable to stop or pause the scan once it reaches this point and I must force close it. After which point it states there is a critical error everytime I try to reboot it.

[CeciliaB]

That is a normal Windows file, but CSESS.EXE isn't. It is possible that Avast or ZoneAlarm has some kind of lock on the file to stop malicious programs to infect it, but I don't know if they have such a feature.

Can you make a copy of the file, put the copy on the desktop and then scan it with Ad-Aware by right-clicking it?
Be careful to copy the file and not move it.

[Dante3000]

I found the file in 'Windows\System32'... which isn't as long as the direction to the one I was having an issue with. Assuming they are the same I did as you asked and it said it was clean.

[CeciliaB]

Good, and I assume that Ad-Aware didn't hang when you scanned the copy. Does Ad-Aware hang if you scan c:\windows\system32\smss.exe?

[Dante3000]

It doesn't. Any suggestions on where to go from here?

[CeciliaB]

What happens if you scan the folder c:\windows\system32?

[Dante3000]

This completed fine.

[CeciliaB]

This is strange indeed.  

What about scanning C:\Windows or some other folder with many files for example "My documents" if you have a lot of files in there?

[Dante3000]

Running this now and it appears to be ok. If I scanned both my drives this way, is it as thorough as a Full Scan?