Critical Memory Usage Problem

[George]

Download the beta of Antispyware yesterday and tried
running it several times on a computer I know has a few
nasty things on it.

It ran perfectly at first and found much more stuff than I
expected. But when it started scanning the registry I
began getting low page file errors until my computer
became too unstable to recover.

I increased my page file size to 3 gigs today and tried
running it again. I carefully watched my memory usage and
it stayed steady until Antispyware began scanning my
registry and then began skyrocketing. I let it get up to
2.5 gigs of pagefile usage before killing it.

The program appears to start scanning the registry without
any trouble until all of a sudden it stops and begins
filling all available memory.

I really need to clean this computer up. Anybody know how
I can get avoid this problem? Is there a way to skip
scanning of the registry?

I'm on windows 2000 pro. I easily have 512mb of ram and
more than enough space on my hard drive.

Thanks

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I think you are seeing a bug in the program--probably a loop.

Can you tell what threat Microsoft Antispyware is trying to remove when it
gets stuck this way?

Can you submit a Tools, Suspected spyware report from this machine,
describing the issue you are having?

I'd say you would be better off seeking a different tool to remove the
particular threat that is stalling Microsoft Antispyware.

 

[George]

Thanks for the reply. I tried submitting a report several
times and repeatedly recieved the following error:

"An error occured submitting the scan results. Please
check you Internet proxy settings and try again." [sic]

I'm not behind a proxy. I'll try again later.

I've tried using spybot and adaware and neither was able
to pick up any of the things Antispyware is able to find
before it crashes.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

In my experience the proxy error never goes away, although I have seen it
transiently on my own machine--i.e. it has worked most times, but once I got
that error.

Can you tell the name of the critter or bug, or the registry key, that
Microsoft Antispyware is sticking on?
--
FAQ for Microsoft Antispyware:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

Thanks for the reply. I tried submitting a report several
times and repeatedly recieved the following error:

"An error occured submitting the scan results. Please
check you Internet proxy settings and try again." [sic]

I'm not behind a proxy. I'll try again later.

I've tried using spybot and adaware and neither was able
to pick up any of the things Antispyware is able to find
before it crashes.

-----Original Message-----
I think you are seeing a bug in the program--probably a loop.

Can you tell what threat Microsoft Antispyware is trying to remove when it
gets stuck this way?

Can you submit a Tools, Suspected spyware report from this machine,
describing the issue you are having?

I'd say you would be better off seeking a different tool to remove the
particular threat that is stalling Microsoft Antispyware.

--
FAQ for Microsoft Antispyware:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm




.

 

[Danny Kile]

Download the beta of Antispyware yesterday and tried
running it several times on a computer I know has a few
nasty things on it.

It ran perfectly at first and found much more stuff than I
expected. But when it started scanning the registry I
began getting low page file errors until my computer
became too unstable to recover.

I increased my page file size to 3 gigs today and tried
running it again. I carefully watched my memory usage and
it stayed steady until Antispyware began scanning my
registry and then began skyrocketing. I let it get up to
2.5 gigs of pagefile usage before killing it.

The program appears to start scanning the registry without
any trouble until all of a sudden it stops and begins
filling all available memory.

I really need to clean this computer up. Anybody know how
I can get avoid this problem? Is there a way to skip
scanning of the registry?

I'm on windows 2000 pro. I easily have 512mb of ram and
more than enough space on my hard drive.

Thanks

Have you tried to do your Full Scans from a Safe Mode Boot?


Danny

 

[elipicayo]

Hi,

I have a similar problem to yours. My problem is a program
called istsvc. You might want to check if you also have
it. I've tried to no avail to get rid of it. Ad-Aware
removes it and after a few seconds it attaches itself
again to my registry. I've deleted all instances of the
program and still it shows up again and again. Microsoft's
KB doesn't even mention it. Next thing to try is using a
different browser.

Hope you can solve your problem.

 

[Joe Regester]

Try identifying the key it hangs on then edit the registry
manually to remove that one key.
Could this be CoolWebSearch?

 

[George]

I'll just ran it again and caught the time it got stuck in
a screenshot.

http://esfmovies.com/antispyware.gif (30000 bytes)

As you can see, it appears to have gotten stuck on
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentv[cut
off]

(The horizontal white line is due to my moving the task
manager after the program got stuck).

As I went to the process manager to end the program I
decied it might be worth sorting by memory consumption. No
process was visibly using so much memory and none seemed
to be fluctuating in their memory usage by any large
number.

I'll run it again later today when I have time and try to
see the full key this time.

If spyware is causing what I'm seeing I don't know how to
get rid of it since I have run full scans using the newest
versions and definitions of Spybot and Adaware.

As for the large ammount of spyware found. I know for a
fact that some of it is there and affecting my system, but
I suspect some may have already been quarantined by spybot
or adaware.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

If you are going to remove Kazaa, please copy your music to an entirely
unrelated space--perhaps "my music."

Nice shot--I always find I can't move the windows around on these static
screen shots to see the detail I want to see, though! <G>

Yeah--knowing the key involved might give some ideas for a better
approach--maybe some automated cleaner for the particular threat that is
involved.

Making sure you are running as administrator, and started in safe mode might
also help--although it is definitely not a sure thing.
--
FAQ for Microsoft Antispyware:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

I'll just ran it again and caught the time it got stuck in
a screenshot.

http://esfmovies.com/antispyware.gif (30000 bytes)

As you can see, it appears to have gotten stuck on
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentv[cut
off]

(The horizontal white line is due to my moving the task
manager after the program got stuck).

As I went to the process manager to end the program I
decied it might be worth sorting by memory consumption. No
process was visibly using so much memory and none seemed
to be fluctuating in their memory usage by any large
number.

I'll run it again later today when I have time and try to
see the full key this time.

If spyware is causing what I'm seeing I don't know how to
get rid of it since I have run full scans using the newest
versions and definitions of Spybot and Adaware.

As for the large ammount of spyware found. I know for a
fact that some of it is there and affecting my system, but
I suspect some may have already been quarantined by spybot
or adaware.

-----Original Message-----
Download the beta of Antispyware yesterday and tried
running it several times on a computer I know has a few
nasty things on it.

It ran perfectly at first and found much more stuff than I
expected. But when it started scanning the registry I
began getting low page file errors until my computer
became too unstable to recover.

I increased my page file size to 3 gigs today and tried
running it again. I carefully watched my memory usage and
it stayed steady until Antispyware began scanning my
registry and then began skyrocketing. I let it get up to
2.5 gigs of pagefile usage before killing it.

The program appears to start scanning the registry without
any trouble until all of a sudden it stops and begins
filling all available memory.

I really need to clean this computer up. Anybody know how
I can get avoid this problem? Is there a way to skip
scanning of the registry?

I'm on windows 2000 pro. I easily have 512mb of ram and
more than enough space on my hard drive.

Thanks
.