Advcheck.dll ... huh?

[Richard077]

Yet another newbie drops by to seek the advice of the more experienced. Hopefully, this isn't something that's already been addressed to death ... I didn't find any mention in the FAQ or in scanning the various forums. If the subject does exist and I've managed to miss it, kindly point me in that direction and I shall bother you no further.

A few nights ago, I installed Spybot 4.1 and ran the program. An excellent decision on my part ... Spybot found some malware other spy-catching apps didn't.

Today, however, in attempting to boot up Spybot, I received an error message telling me that the file "advcheck.dll" could not be found and to reinstall the program. I dutifully followed those instructions, but again received that same error warning.

I attempted to locate the elusive file at the .dll library, but came up dry. Sooo ... what's my next step? I'd like to be able to depend on Spybot to "be there" as needed.

Your suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

= Richard077 =

[md usa spybot fan]

The advcheck.dll is normally located in the same folder as the rest of Spybot's programs:
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy
I sorry but I don't have any idea what would be deleting it.

[bitman]

I'd suspect a malware attack and recommend posting in the Malware Removal forum following the instructions in this post.

http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=288

[Richard077]

Thank you for your replies, gentlemen. I just took a peep into the Spybot subdirectory found in the Program Files directory. Lo and behold, the advcheck.dll file was right there where it should have been. So, it's safe to say the file exists, but somehow Spybot isn't recognizing it when booting up.

Any further thoughts? I'm stumped myself...

= Richard007 =

[bitman]

In the Properties of the Advcheck.dll file, what is its Modified Date and its Size (in Bytes)?

[Richard077]

In the Properties of the Advcheck.dll file, what is its Modified Date and its Size (in Bytes)?

Modified Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Size: 157,344 bytes

= R =

[pudelein]

That is the same date and size as mine in SSD 1.4.

[Richard077]

Just to bring this up-to-date, I'm pleased to report that I've pretty well resolved the problem. Mind you, it still occurs if I try to load Spybot 4.1 as I did before.

For some curious reason, I get the same error message whenever I hit the icon on my desktop. However, if I open the Spybot directory in Program Files and click on spybot.exe, it boots up just fine. No mention of Advcheck.dll or anything else problematic.

So, while it's not the perfect solution and requires an extra step, the difficulty is now categorized as a minor nuisance. I appreciate the input from everyone who jumped in. Thanks!

= Richard007 =

[md usa spybot fan]

Richard077:

The main program for Spybot is not spybot.exe. I hope that the program that you are using is actually SpybotSD.exe and that the directory that you are executing it from is:
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy

[Richard077]

The main program for Spybot is not spybot.exe. I hope that the program that you are using is actually SpybotSD.exe and that the directory that you are executing it from is:

* C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy

I think I'm in pretty good shape. The file in the Spybot directory that starts the program is indeed SpybotSD.exe. The app itself is identical to the one that opened up the first time around, and that one was definitely A-OK. :bigthumb:

Again, many thanks to all who contributed to this discussion.

= Richard007 =

[noel-pr7]

speaking of the advcheck.dll file, an updated version of advcheck.dll is now available from the spybot integrated update tool.

for those who want to obtain the Advcheck.dll update manually, get it here:
http://www.spybotupdates.com/updates/files/spybotsd_advcheck.exe