Spybot S&D hangs during startup

[karypid]

Hi all,

I've been a happy user of this wonderful program for a long time. However, I just registered today with the forums in order to post about a problem that started today (which is a testament to how well Spybot S&D has been working). Before I go on, since this is my first post, let me first congratulate everyone for this wonderful tool.

My problem is that suddenly Spybot S&D and its Update program either take a very long time to load, or do not load at all. The only relevant post I found while searching in the forums is rather old: http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=20813

My situation is this: when my machine boots, teatimer loads up fine and is displayed in the taskbar. Interaction with it is fine (no latency of any sort). However, if I select "Search for updates" or "Run Spybot S&D", nothing "seems" to happen. In fact, opening the task manager I can see that "SpybotSD.exe" and "SCUpdate.exe" have been launched. However, the programs start after 40-60 seconds. Sometimes, they do not start at all.

When Spybot does start, I select "Check for problems" and the same thing happends. The program waits for more than half a minute, and then the scan actually starts. In this case, the explorer hangs while waiting (the start menu is not accessible).

I am using the latest version of Spybot (1.60.xx) with all updates installed.

Any ideas why this could be happening?

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

Do you have any other security programs on the run?

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

[karypid]

I have Avast antivirus but it doesn't matter if it is running or not. Also, my desktop PC runs both without problems (the problem occurs on my laptop).

I have been trying to get Spybot to work (uninstall / reinstall) with no luck.

However, I am now worried that I may have some virus / trojan that is new and undetectable by tools. I noticed that there is always a process with a random filename running on my laptop. However, fully-updated spybot (when I manage to get it to run) and avast fail to find anything. I even scheduled a full-disk scan at boot time and nothing was found.

For instance, right now I can see a process called UA5BF3.EXE occupying 2692K. I just chose "end process" and now I have a new one called OFFLB.EXE occupying 3.120K.

[karypid]

Sorry, I was looking at the wrong line while typing. OFFLB.EXE is a legitimate program. The new suspicious process that appeared was called ZD8047.EXE. Apparently the filenames are random.

[karypid]

Sorry for giving conflicting information. It turns out that the "random exe" is also a legitimate program! My laptop runs Trend Micro (not Avast) antivirus and their tech support told me that it is a "watchdog" for their software and is nothing to worry about.

However, they would not regarding Spybot.

Can anyone confirm that Trend Micro is compatible with Spybot? Could there be a conflict between them?

[drragostea]

karypid, there is not incompatibility between Trend Micro and Spybot-Search&Destroy.

Have you ran a scan with Trend Micro and see if it detects anything?
The "ZD8047.exe" came back empty in the Google search engine, so it was randomly generated.

Could it be Trend Micro? Have you asked them? I just recall that some products use a random process name as a defense mechanism against malware that might disable it. Take AVG Anti-rootkit (no longer supported) for example.

[karypid]

Hello all,

I have finally found out what is causing Spybot to "freeze". I believe that using this information developers can now consistently reproduce the problem.

I use my laptop both at work and at home. At work, I am forced to use a proxy server. I have therefore specified the proxy server addres / port and my credentials in the "Settings->Settings->Web update->Use a proxy server" dialog. When I am at home, this setting is invalid (I must not use a proxy). Starting Spybot at work always works with no hassles. At home, I get the behavior above.

I suspect Spybot tries to check for updates during start-up and will simply not give up if the proxy is unreachable.

Is there anyone out there with access to a proxy who could verify this behavior?

[md usa spybot fan]

karypid:


... Is there anyone out there with access to a proxy who could verify this behavior?

I use a system not normally connected to a proxy. However, I did attempt to replicate your problem but was unable to so using Spybot 1.6.0.30.

I went into Spybot » Settings » Settings and added fictitious proxy information. I exited Spybot and restarted it several times. Spybot (SpybotSD.exe) consistently loaded in 11.13 to 15.78 seconds which is in the same range as loads without a proxy defined.

The only difference that I observed was that when attempting to do an update (SDUpdate.exe) with a proxy defined I received "Error retrieving update info file!" as opposed to "No newer updates available." without a proxy defined. That would seem to confirm that the proxy settings were being used and as a result I was not reaching the internet to retrieve the update info file.

Note: If you PM me with your proxy settings (Host and Port only) and not any personally identifiable information (User name and Password), I would be willing to see if those settings make a difference.