Strange problem wtih CIS 5.9- 0 MB page file

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#1

To day, I came across a strange problem when I installed CIS 5.9 on my friends computer running Windows7(x86) on AMD Phenom II processor ASUS M4A, 2GB. It had CIS 5.8 on it. I thought of upgrading it, so I uninistalled it and did a fresh install of 5.9.

Installation was smooth, everything was fine for some time, I then changed it to proactive security mode and restarted as it asked for a restart.

After restart, system started to act crazy…screen would not refresh, file and folder creation or deletion required a “refresh” to take effect, photoshop would not run…

I tried to scan C:\ with CIS and then found that it was still initiating, it never completed.

One hour of research showed me the actual cause, the page file has some how become “0 MB”. I have manually set page file and restarted, it was again reset to zero. pagefile.sys was there on C:\ so I deleted it (it was deleted without any problem), again activated page file settings, restarted. After restart, it would again show 0 MB.

Initially, I did not suspect CIS, so I reinstalled Windows 7 altogether. To my surprise after installing all the software I again got the same problem and when I checked the page file, it was 0 MB.

I was shocked, but had to finish the issue, not knowing what caused the issue. I again reinstalled Windows7, this time installed software one after the other and doing a reboot every time a software is installed. I could then find the culprit. After installing CIS 5.9 and restarting (I did not change any configuration) the page file was set to zero.

I uninstalled CIS and still had no luck, the page file was never coming back, no matter what I do.

I had to reinstall again…this time I installed ESET NOD trial version, just to verify the issue, installed all other software as I did previously, restarted 3 to 4 times, the system is running fine.

I actually thought of putting back CIS 5.8, but my friend was already scared and did not let me do it. Besides, he had to do some photoshop work on it so he was not ready for one more re installation.

Does anyone have any idea why this happened ?

What things should I note in order for me to file a bug report in this case…CIS had nothing in logs, it was forever initiating…

I will try to reproduce the problem by removing his hard disk and installing Win7 and CIS 5.9 on my spare hard disk in his system on sunday, so please let me know, what things should I note in order to report and solve this problem.

#2

Please save the install logs on %temp% after install.
You could try ‘more → diagnostics’ after install, it seems the drivers fail to load, and might lock on the pagefile for some strange reason.
You could try to boot safe-mode and disable all CIS AV/FW/D+ (permanent)/Sandbox and boot see if it still is 0 or only explorer shows 0.
You could try to boot CD/DVD so see if the pagefile is really 0 or only explorer shows 0

Check the Windows Event logs to see if that brings a clue.
Was CIS the first thing installed after Win7 and was it a Disk install or a OEM pre-install rescue?

#3

Thanks for the response

I will do it the next time I do.

It did not show anything.

Actually the size of pagefile.sys is not zero but around 2 GB. But, the pagefile.sys is somehow detached from OS and is not being recognized, I could even simply delete it. In the System Properties–Advanced–Performance–Settings–Advanced–Virtual Memory it says 0MB.

I will do it the next time

It was a disk install, windows 7 sp1. I did install Windows a couple of times, all possible combinations, first install Office, Adobe reader, Photoshop, CCleaner and then CIS once. The other time I just installed CIS and rebooted.

#4

Just thinking out loud. Did you have “Enable adaptive mode under low system resources” enabled?

#5

yes…I did not change the defaults.

In fact I have changed the whole to “Proactive” when I first installed, but later on I kept it with defaults on further installations (it was already irritating by that time, so I did not have enough free of mind to do all my usual customizations)

#6

The clean installation you did was that from a Windows installation DVD or did you return a factory image that came with the computer?

If you are restoring a factory image then there is other software installed and then CIS may be interfering with one of them.

#7

Normal Windows 7 DVD, not any rescue disk or oem disk

#8

Thx.

I forgot to follow up on this. Did you try disabling this setting?

#9

No, I did not try to change any settings after the first surprise. I will try all possible combinations next time.

#10

Keep us posted. We could be looking at a bug.

#11

Well, if thing happened on several clean installs, it’s clearly a reproducable problem. Especially since it clearly starts when CIS is installed.