Hang at 'Locating temporary files folders...'

Hello. I'm having trouble running Spybot 1.6, it hangs on launch with the 'Locating temporary files folders...' message on screen. I have done a search of the forums but haven't found a similar problem.

I have uninstalled, deleted the Spybot folder from Program Files, and reinstalled. It also hangs in Safe Mode. I have done a full Spybot update from the 'Update Spybot S&D' option in the Program Files Start Menu.

I am using XP Home SP3, and all additional updates have been installed. I have scanned the PC with AVG8, Adaware2008, and Hijack This and it comes up clean. I have run SFC /scannow, and I have used CCleaner 2.11 to clear temp files.

The computer has previously had some malware trouble, and recently I have done a registry repair and system restore (missing C:\windows\system32\config\system), but Spybot wasn't working before that either.

I guess it's not essential that I get Spybot working since the computer seems okay, but I do like the program and I'm curious what might be making it freeze. Any thoughts?

Hello,

Please do the following:
Clean your Cache and Cookies in IE:

* Close all instances of Outlook Express and Internet Explorer
* Go to Control Panel > Internet Options > General tab
* Click the "Delete Cookies" button
* Next to it, Click the "Delete Files" button
* When prompted, place a check in: "Delete all offline content",
click OK

Clean your Cache and Cookies in Firefox (In case you also have
Firefox installed):

* Go to Tools > Options.
* Click Privacy in the menu on the left side of the Options window.
* Click the Clear button located to the right of each option
(History, Cookies, Cache).
* Click OK to close the Options window
Alternatively, you can clear all information stored while browsing
by clicking Clear All.
A confirmation dialog box will be shown before clearing the
information.

Clean other Temporary files + Recycle bin

* Go to start > run and type: *cleanmgr* and click ok.
* Let it scan your system for files to remove.
* Make sure Temporary Files, Temporary Internet Files, and Recycle
Bin are the only things checked.
* Press OK to remove them.

If this does not help you can disable the "DisableTempFolderCleaning" by using a tweak.

To create such a tweak, create a registry value in the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\Application.exe\

Replace Application.exe with the name of the executable it should affect, no paths used. Or, if you want the tweak to apply globally to all our products, simply use this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\

Use this tweak to completely skip the new function that tries to clear the systems temp folder to speed up scans:

DisableTempFolderCleaning : REG_DWORD = 00000000 (default if not set)

DisableTempFolderCleaning : REG_DWORD = 00000001 (does not offer temp folder cleaning on app start)

Best*regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

Danke! The manual temp folder cleanup had no effect, but the registry tweak neatly bypassed the problem and I can now complete a scan. An odd one - any ideas what might have been behind a problem like this?

Bah, I spoke too soon. The scan sticks at 38201 (CashDeluxe). Its not a complete hang like previously - I can move and resize the Spybot window and there is no 'Not Responding' in Task Manager like before, but it is responding very slowly.

please try....

using safe mode to launch and run a scan, and to use disk cleanup to clean everything you could not before.

Unfortunately the scan freezes at the same point in safe mode

I'm still persevering with this without much luck. I've swapped around the 2 512Mb modules, and tried them both seperately, and I've uninstalled Adaware. I've checked the condition of the CPU fan, and it is dust free. The case temperature runs between 25 and 38 degrees C, so it's not overheating. Unfortunately the scan still stops at 38201, CashDeluxe. Any other ideas?

I've also tried skipping the problem CashDeluxe in the advanced settings, but it freezes again later in the scan at 120713 (Win32.Agent.OC). Something else I've noticed. If I close the program before doing a scan I get a

SpybotSD.exe application error 0x051e8c07 referenced memory at "0x00000b24"

then

Runtime error 216 at 051E8C07

and then another

SpybotSD.exe application error 0x03bb8997 referenced memory at "0x00000b24"

I'm sure its not the RAM, I have completely replaced it and get the same error.

I've also installed the old 1.4 version and it scans through fine. Looks like that will have to be the solution I'll have to settle for since I feel like I'm talking to myself! :laugh: