Spybot freezes at "win32agent.pz"

[e1fletch]

I have been using Spybot for 4+ years and this has never happened. I am using version 1.6. It will not complete a full scan. Program stops dead after 3 or 4 minutes (about 15% through the scan) and the note at the bottom left says "Running bot-check (51291/295344: Win32Agent.pz)" I run Spybot manually every week and immunize, but I do not use teatimer.

I have McAfee Virus scan (& firewall, antimalware, root kits,system guard)- no hits/clean and WinDefender - no hits/clean. However, WinDefender showed a few "warnings" in the Event Viewer (event id 3004) in the last few days about suspicious changes -- c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\Hosts, also one with a long reg key name ending in "...Internet Explorer\Main\\Startpage."

Can anyone tell me if this is a serious threat and how to get Spybot to work again?

Thanks in advance for any help.

e1fletch

[wyrmrider]

spybot Sandra worked on this problem in this thread
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=19884
I DO NOT KNOW IF IT WAS RESOLVED

see post 8 first

quote from post 11

It should also help to deactivate the scanning for usage tracks.
Please run Spybot-S&D and switch to "Advanced mode" via the menu bar item "Mode". Now select "Settings" --> "File Sets" in the navigation bar on the left. The checkboxes in front of "Usage tracking" and "tracks.uti" have to be unticked if you do not want to find usage tracks anymore.

If this does not help please edit the shortcut icon on your desktop that is used to run Spybot-S&D.
Rightclick the icon and choose properties.
Then include a /verbose (with a space tab in front) in it's link location at "Target".
"C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe" /verbose
To see how to do that please have a look at this link in our forum:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=23560
Or have a look at this how to flash tutorial.
When you do a scan now, it will show an 8 digit number in the status bar at the bottom, like $1234ABCD.
Please post that information here.
They can use this information to look up where exactly it hangs. Thanks.

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot
end of copied post

Thread ends there
can you supply the end of the story
thanks

[e1fletch]

Thanks wymrider,
I checked the file sets setting and the Usage tracking boxes were already unchecked before this happened. I would have preferred these to be checked as I rely on Spybot to help remove tracking stuff that I don't want! So that hasn't been happening. I also did an online Kaspersky scan and found 2 Trojans in Outlook Express MessageStore inbox -- "paylap.ev" and "fraud.gen" that neither Spybot or my McAfee virus scan detected. (It also found a lot of "win32" type files related to Logmein and UBCD4Win programs which are probably ok.)

I will run Spybot with the vebose setting to see if it still hangs.

Will let you know.

[e1fletch]

Hello again,
Attempted a Spybot scan again with the /verbose setting. Usage tracking files still unchecked. It still freezes at the same spot. The additional info is $70E19D46. So still can't get more than a 10% scan of my system.

Please advise.

e1fletch

[drragostea]

Good work wyrmrider.

e1fletch,
What version of Spybot-SD are you running (Help>about)?
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/52.html

In addition to the link above, have you attempted to clear the cache, temp. files, and cookies from your browsers (along with the temp. files in the system. If it is locked, attempt a reboot and clear them).

[e1fletch]

last detection update is 9/3/08.

Just ran another McAfee scan -- no real issues. Also SDFix, no problems.
Would still like to have Spybot working again.

Hope that helps.