At times Windows Explorer stalls or just appears to crash... leaving me with
a blank desktop. When this happens I go to task manager and find the
Anti-Spyware updater running. If I close the it down, Windows Explorer
returns to normal. This problem has occured some 6-7 times in the past month.
There might be the potential for it to happen all the time except that I may
not be using WE at the time.

Is this a known issue? I'm running XP Home, SP1.

Was the app scanning your system when this happened?

If so, next time it happens, switch to MSAS and see if it's scanning the
registry.

If it is, the following information from some of my previous replies might
help you through this:

What's likely happened is some spyware that has infected your computer has
corrupted the registry keys associated with it. To accomplish this, the
spyware removed the security of those keys. When MSAS tries to scan those
keys it loops indefinately.

The only workaround is to run a full system scan with the following apps:
ewido
(http://www.download.com/Ewido-Securi...-10326287.html),
Ad-Aware (http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html), or Spybot
(http://www.download.com/Spybot-Searc...-10289035.html). ;
Only run one scan at a time, remove whatever it detects, then scan with one
of the two remaining apps, and then do the same with the last app.

When installing ewido, make certain to remove both checkmarks on the
Additional Options screen (one pertaining to background guards and the other
to scan via context menu). Additionally make certain to remove the
checkmark
for Immunization when installing Spybot. DO NOT use Spybot's Immunization
feature at all while you are using MSAS' Real-time Protection, or they will
conflict. The same would have happened if you installed ewido's background
guards.

Once you have removed the infection that caused the problem with the
registry, MSAS should work absolutely fine. My guess is that either the
spyware was on your system before installing MSAS or it might have slipped
through while MSAS' Real-time Protection was turned off. If you did turn
off
MSAS' Real-time Protection, it's a good idea not to do so, since you have no
protection against infections nor hijack attempts.

If this doesn't help try the following (use this to help with 100% CPU usage
- constant 100% CPU that is):

1. Open up a command prompt (start -> run -> cmd)
2. Then type in regsvr32 msvbvm60.dll and press Enter
3. Close and re-open Windows AntiSpyware (right-click on the MSAS icon in
the
systray) NOTE: If no icon in systray, log out and log back in before
starting
step 1
4. If that fails, install VB6 runtime files:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/vbrun6download.htm

Hopefully either one of these will help solve the problem. My guess is the
registry is the likely culprit here, but the 100% CPU usage might also be the
culprit, you just never know.

Alan

"ulTRAX" wrote:

> At times Windows Explorer stalls or just appears to crash... leaving me with
> a blank desktop. When this happens I go to task manager and find the
> Anti-Spyware updater running. If I close the it down, Windows Explorer
> returns to normal. This problem has occured some 6-7 times in the past month.
> There might be the potential for it to happen all the time except that I may
> not be using WE at the time.
>
> Is this a known issue? I'm running XP Home, SP1.

"Alan" wrote:

> Was the app scanning your system when this happened?

Thanks for your response. I have MSAS set for manual scan but auto update.
It's the updater that seems to cause the problem. The MSAS auto-protect can
be either on or off.

> What's likely happened is some spyware that has infected your computer has
> corrupted the registry keys associated with it. To accomplish this, the
> spyware removed the security of those keys. When MSAS tries to scan those
> keys it loops indefinately.

The system comes up clean when I do scans. No I'm not running any other
real-time anti-spyware program like Spybot. I have AdAware6 but haven't run
it in months.

Maybe the easiest fix is to go to manual updates. So to your knowledge this
is not a known issue?

I'd suggest trying the 100% CPU fix that I suggested in my reply. At times
when MSAS is running a scan or updating the system will slow down
considerably. This happens to almost everyone who's used the app, but it's
more noticable when trying to download updates using dial-up since the files
needed are 1.2+ MB and 2.3+ MB, if I'm not mistaken. Using broadband makes
this performance hit almost non-existant.

Alan

"ulTRAX" wrote:

>
>
> "Alan" wrote:
>
> > Was the app scanning your system when this happened?
>
> Thanks for your response. I have MSAS set for manual scan but auto update.
> It's the updater that seems to cause the problem. The MSAS auto-protect can
> be either on or off.
>
> > What's likely happened is some spyware that has infected your computer has
> > corrupted the registry keys associated with it. To accomplish this, the
> > spyware removed the security of those keys. When MSAS tries to scan those
> > keys it loops indefinately.
>
> The system comes up clean when I do scans. No I'm not running any other
> real-time anti-spyware program like Spybot. I have AdAware6 but haven't run
> it in months.
>
> Maybe the easiest fix is to go to manual updates. So to your knowledge this
> is not a known issue?
>
>
>
>