Avira - Removal of vdf files

[Chris]

Can the old virus definition update files be deleted with impunity ? I have
found a large number of files named antivir*.vdf (and zip file versions) and
they are taking a significant amount of space on my old desktop which is
starting to run low on available disk. Can't find any references to clearing
or deleting them.

Chris
(Running Avira Antivir Personal on Win2K)

[Man-wai Chang]

On 17/04/12 11:39 PM, Chris wrote:
> Can the old virus definition update files be deleted with impunity ? I have
> found a large number of files named antivir*.vdf (and zip file versions) and
> they are taking a significant amount of space on my old desktop which is
> starting to run low on available disk. Can't find any references to clearing
> or deleting them.

I would un-install the software, delete those files if still left
behind, then install the software again.

--
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/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
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^ ^ 00:30:01 up 3:14 0 users load average: 0.00 0.01 0.05
不借貸! 不詐騙! 不援交! 不打交! 不打劫! 不自殺! 請考慮綜援 (CSSA):
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[Bear]

"Chris" <c.no...@aol.com> wrote in
news:zZ6dnTztabuUEhDS...@bt.com:

My advice is to get rid of the Adware or Nagware program(s) [Avira, AVG &
avast!]. MSSE (with ImmunetProtect on top of it) or PandaCloud AV Beta are
good enough and true freeware. Then add WinPatrol.

Maybe if enough people do this, they will get the drift.

--
Bear
http://bearware.info
The real Bear's header path is:
news.sunsite.dk!dotsrc.org!filter.dotsrc.org!news.dotsrc.org!not-for-mail

[Dustin]

Bear <bearbo...@gmai.com> wrote in
news:XnsA038BABF9520Bbe...@130.225.254.104:

> "Chris" <c.no...@aol.com> wrote in
> news:zZ6dnTztabuUEhDS...@bt.com:
>
>> Can the old virus definition update files be deleted with impunity ?
>> I have found a large number of files named antivir*.vdf (and zip
>> file versions) and they are taking a significant amount of space on
>> my old desktop which is starting to run low on available disk. Can't
>> find any references to clearing or deleting them.
>>
>> Chris
>> (Running Avira Antivir Personal on Win2K)
>>
>>
>>
>
> My advice is to get rid of the Adware or Nagware program(s) [Avira,
> AVG & avast!]. MSSE (with ImmunetProtect on top of it) or PandaCloud
> AV Beta are good enough and true freeware. Then add WinPatrol.
>
> Maybe if enough people do this, they will get the drift.
>

I wouldn't advise anyone take that seriously and actually follow your
instructions. Running Beta AV software is akin to running BETA OS
software. Don't do it on production machines.. Doh!


--
Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too
many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and
the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. - J.C. Watts

[Bear]

Dustin <bughunte...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:XnsA038E2410723AHHI2948AJD832@no:

> Bear <bearbo...@gmai.com> wrote in
> news:XnsA038BABF9520Bbe...@130.225.254.104:
>
>> "Chris" <c.no...@aol.com> wrote in
>> news:zZ6dnTztabuUEhDS...@bt.com:
>>
>>> Can the old virus definition update files be deleted with impunity ?
>>> I have found a large number of files named antivir*.vdf (and zip
>>> file versions) and they are taking a significant amount of space on
>>> my old desktop which is starting to run low on available disk. Can't
>>> find any references to clearing or deleting them.
>>>
>>> Chris
>>> (Running Avira Antivir Personal on Win2K)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> My advice is to get rid of the Adware or Nagware program(s) [Avira,
>> AVG & avast!]. MSSE (with ImmunetProtect on top of it) or PandaCloud
>> AV Beta are good enough and true freeware. Then add WinPatrol.
>>
>> Maybe if enough people do this, they will get the drift.
>>
>
> I wouldn't advise anyone take that seriously and actually follow your
> instructions. Running Beta AV software is akin to running BETA OS
> software. Don't do it on production machines.. Doh!
>
>

All the beta does is add it's firewall feature which works rather nicely
along side the Windows firewall...a rarety. People can make up their own
minds.

The folks who needs to get the drift are Avira, AVG and avast!

As for beta software...some do, some don't. Not everything is canned.

[p-0^0-h the cat]

On 18 Apr 2012 03:14:54 GMT, Bear <bearbo...@gmai.com> wrote:

>Dustin <bughunte...@gmail.com> wrote in
>news:XnsA038E2410723AHHI2948AJD832@no:

>>> My advice is to get rid of the Adware or Nagware program(s) [Avira,
>>> AVG & avast!]. MSSE (with ImmunetProtect on top of it) or PandaCloud
>>> AV Beta are good enough and true freeware. Then add WinPatrol.
>>>
>>> Maybe if enough people do this, they will get the drift.
>>>
>>
>> I wouldn't advise anyone take that seriously and actually follow your
>> instructions. Running Beta AV software is akin to running BETA OS
>> software. Don't do it on production machines.. Doh!
>>
>>
>
>All the beta does is add it's firewall feature which works rather nicely
>along side the Windows firewall...a rarety. People can make up their own
>minds.
>
>The folks who needs to get the drift are Avira, AVG and avast!
>
>As for beta software...some do, some don't. Not everything is canned.

Bear, whether an AV is Adware or nagware or freeware is about as important as whether it
has nice icons or not [which I'm sure you have investigated as well]

The OP was asking how to solve a problem with vdf files, not to get a bleeding useless
lecture, or have his thread steered way off course.

--
p-0^0-h the cat
Internet Terrorist, Mass sock puppeteer, Agent provocateur, Gutter rat
Devil incarnate, Linux user#666, BaStarD hacker

[Shadow]

I have no antivi*.vdf on my PC at all. All my definitions are
in vbase*.vdf files.
So yes, you can probably delete them all.
[]'s

PS Cookie Cleaner has an option to "clean" Avira files. You
will lose all your log files though.
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

[Chris]

"Shadow" <S...@dow.br> wrote in message
news:o8hto71qmho74g807...@4ax.com...

I can't see any option in CCleaner on my system for dealing with Avira
files.
Would be quite happy to lose the log files

C

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Chris" <c.no...@aol.com>

>
> I can't see any option in CCleaner on my system for dealing with Avira
> files.
> Would be quite happy to lose the log files
>

OK. What kind of space are you really tring to gain ? Let's say 50MB.

Now look at the hard disk free space and its quantity.

Now lets look at the OS (XP, Vista and 7) and see if if you can gain more
space elsewhere.

For example;
%TEMP%
c:\windows\TEMP
IE TIF

Win2K %windir% $KB###### folders.

By clearing TEMP folders, reducting the IE TIF to 50MB and by deleeting old
Windows XP HotFixes can free up hundreds or megabytes to 1 to 2GB.

However, since you indicate you have used CCleaner then it probably covereed
there areas except for settingf the TIF cache size to only 50MB.

Lets say this this is a 40GB IDE drive (since it is Win2K that's
conceivable) you can get a 80GB IDE drive and clone the 40GB drive to the
80GB and have >40GB of free space and I'll bet that if it is a 7200RPM drive
you will also see the system a bit quicker.

--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[VanguardLH]

Don't know how you got from Cookie Cleaner to CCleaner. Cookie Cleaner
is a separate product than CCleaner whose original name was Crap
Cleaner, not Cookie Cleaner.

Since you're asking about CCleaner, go under its Options -> Include
section to add the folder where are the log files that you want CCleaner
to delete.

[James E. Morrow]

In article <XnsA038BABF9520Bbe...@130.225.254.104>,
bearbo...@gmai.com says...

> "Chris" <c.no...@aol.com> wrote in
> news:zZ6dnTztabuUEhDS...@bt.com:
>
> > Can the old virus definition update files be deleted with impunity ?
> > I have found a large number of files named antivir*.vdf (and zip file
> > versions) and they are taking a significant amount of space on my old
> > desktop which is starting to run low on available disk. Can't find any
> > references to clearing or deleting them.
> >
>

> My advice is to get rid of the Adware or Nagware program(s) [Avira, AVG &
> avast!]. MSSE (with ImmunetProtect on top of it) or PandaCloud AV Beta are
> good enough and true freeware. Then add WinPatrol.
>
> Maybe if enough people do this, they will get the drift.
>
>

While they may be free, one could hardly classify any of these as
nagware. I've found Avast! and Avira to be very good. Anything from
Panda I view as suspect. Anytime I've made the mistake of dealing with
Panda I've regretted it. The product is questionable and I always get a
lot of spam from them, called Panda Droppings.

--
James E. Morrow
Email to: jamese...@email.com

[David H. Lipman]

From: "James E. Morrow" <jamese...@email.com>

"Panda Droppings"

I like that ;-)

[Shadow]

Open CCleaner (version 3.17) ---> Applications ---> Utilities
----> Antivir Desktop.
Right click and choose analyze before you check the box, just
in case.
[]'s

[VanguardLH]

Shadow wrote:

> Open CCleaner (version 3.17)
> ---> Applications
> ---> Utilities
> ----> Antivir Desktop.
> Right click and choose analyze before you check the box, just in case.

I have CCleaner 3.17.1689 (which Piriform says is the latest version)
yet there is no entry for AntiVir under the Apps tab in the Utilities
section. Under Utilities, I have only the following 3 entries:

7-Zip
Avast Antivirus 6 (yet Avast is now at 7.0.1426)
WinPatrol

That's why I mentioned using CCleaner's Options -> Include to include
the log folder to delete all files there.

[Bear]

James E. Morrow <jamese...@email.com> wrote in
news:MPG.29f9ea8c7...@news.individual.net:

I wonder why I don't get anything at all from them. The other three nag
all the time unless you tweak and twang...why do that when you don't
have to?

[Chris]

"VanguardLH" <V...@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:jmpuqf$ntg$1...@news.albasani.net...

Same for me - Malwarebytes is there along with some others but no Avira.
Is it because Avira installs under "All Users" rather than under the User ID
I was logged in as when I installed.?

I think I've resolved the original problem - the update process puts all the
downloaded files into a temporary folder which is removed when the update
completes successfully.
I've had a few incidences recently when my PC crashed during the update (due
to a missing OS update) so the folder and contents did not get deleted. I
was left with several such folders which I've deleted manually and all is
now OK.

C

[Shadow]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:07:37 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

> I have CCleaner 3.17.1689 (which Piriform says is the latest version)
> yet there is no entry for AntiVir under the Apps tab in the Utilities
> section. Under Utilities, I have only the following 3 entries:
>
> 7-Zip
> Avast Antivirus 6 (yet Avast is now at 7.0.1426) WinPatrol
>
> That's why I mentioned using CCleaner's Options -> Include to include
> the log folder to delete all files there.

I have loads of entries. All of them installed. Maybe it only
shows what you have installed ? I have 7-zip. But not Avast or Winpatrol.

[]'s

[VanguardLH]

That could be. Chris said he has MalwareBytes. I have that installed
but it isn't listed as a utility in CCleaner. Maybe you need the
payware version installed for CCleaner to list MalwareBytes.

[Bear]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote in news:jmscbg$7hd$1...@news.albasani.net:

you can list anything you want with Ccleaner in the ini file.

[Shadow]

Move ccleaner ini file somewhere safe. (I presume you are
using the portable version) . Fire up good old Regmon. . You will see
CCleaner searches all the software sections of Current User and Local
Machine in the registry, and adds a pre-set list of the findings to
the interface. You can then opt-in or out of them.
Replace your old ccleaner ini file.
Dunno why your malwarebytes does not show up. Mine is the free
version.

[James E. Morrow]

In article <XnsA03AA73BD6C25be...@130.225.254.104>,
bearbo...@gmai.com says...

I don't get any nag from Avast! The updates announce with a green
dialog, but I don't view that as a negative. As for Panda the
difference may well be the reseller rather than the company. I found
some years ago that I could not opt out of email from Panda. But it
stopped when I complained in this newsgroup. ;=)

[VanguardLH]

Shadow wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:

>
>>Shadow wrote:
>>
>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have CCleaner 3.17.1689 (which Piriform says is the latest
>>>> version) yet there is no entry for AntiVir under the Apps tab in
>>>> the Utilities section. Under Utilities, I have only the following
>>>> 3 entries:
>>>>
>>>> 7-Zip
>>>> Avast Antivirus 6 (yet Avast is now at 7.0.1426)
>>>> WinPatrol
>>>

>>> I have loads of entries. All of them installed. Maybe it only shows
>>> what you have installed ? I have 7-zip. But not Avast or Winpatrol.
>>

>> That could be. Chris said he has MalwareBytes. I have that
>> installed but it isn't listed as a utility in CCleaner. Maybe you
>> need the payware version installed for CCleaner to list
>> MalwareBytes.
>
> Move ccleaner ini file somewhere safe. (I presume you are using the
> portable version) . Fire up good old Regmon. . You will see CCleaner
> searches all the software sections of Current User and Local Machine
> in the registry, and adds a pre-set list of the findings to the
> interface. You can then opt-in or out of them. Replace your old
> ccleaner ini file. Dunno why your malwarebytes does not show up. Mine
> is the free version.

I noticed when switching to saving CCleaner's config into an .ini file
that there were lines beginning with "(App)", like:

(App)Custom Folders=True
(App)Old Prefetch data=False
(App)7-Zip=True
(App)Avast! Antivirus 6=True
(App)WinPatrol=True

I uninstalled CCleaner, cleaned out remnants from the registry and file
system, and did a fresh install of the latest version (3.17.1689). I
changed the configuration for this new install to also save its settings
into an .ini file. Although 7-zip, Avast, and WinPatrol are still
listed in the new install, there are no "(App)" lines in the new .ini
file. I don't know the purpose of this line in the .ini file but I'm
wondering if repeated upgrading results in carrying along non-essential
or superfluous lines from the old .ini files.

That is, have you tried a fresh install of CCleaner with no remnant .ini
file left behind and then reused in the new install? Move the .ini file
to somewhere else. Uninstall CCleaner and make sure the old .ini file
wasn't left behind (or make sure to delete the CCleaner folder under
C:\Program Files). If you're using the portable version, make sure you
don't have the old program around, including its .ini file, when you
setup the new "install" (copy) of the portable version. With a fresh
install or copy of CCleaner WITHOUT carrying along the old .ini file, do
you see MalwareBytes listed in CCleaner?

I'm wondering if carrying the old .ini file through upgrades isn't
listing programs for which CCleaner doesn't do any real cleaning.
Although 7-zip, Avast, and WinPatrol were listed in "(App)" lines before
in the .ini file, those products are listed under Applications ->
Utilities but are NOT listed in the .ini file for a new install of
CCleaner.

Just what of freeware MalwareBytes would CCleaner be deleting? I didn't
find anything under "C:\Program Files\MalwareBytes Anti-Malware" that
would qualify for cleanup. Is it the log files for MalwareBytes under
"%userprofile%\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware\Logs" that get cleaned? If you run a scan using
MalwareBytes free version, check if a logfile got created in the log
folder, and run CCleaner (with MalwareBytes enabled in CCleaner), do the
logfiles for MalwareBytes disappear?

By the way, using SysInternals' ProcMon (since they no provide the
separate old RegMon), and filtering on ccleaner.exe as the process and
RegQueryKey for the operation, I can see lots of hits on CCleaner
looking at software installed on my computer. Yet none but the
previously mentioned 3 are showing up in CCleaner's Cleaner ->
Applications -> Utilities section.

[VanguardLH]

I figured it out. CCleaner looks ONLY in specific folder that is has
hardcoded within itself. See my thread in the Piriform forum at:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=35684

Basically it turns out that if the software author changes the
installation folder or the user changes it (often a choice during the
install) that CCleaner will no longer be able to find that application.
CCleaner has a static list of default install paths. It doesn't scan
the folders looking for the applications and it doesn't use registry
entries where the software specifies its home or install path. So if
the software author or you change the install path then CCleaner won't
find it - until CCleaner updates its static list (which would only apply
if the software vendor changed to a different a install folder as the
default, not if the users change the install folder).

I don't change the destination folder for all installs but I often make
changes to eliminate [potential] parsing problems, ridiculously long
path or folder names, and sometimes even remove spaces and instead rely
on camel case to name a folder. That will make CCleaner blinded as to
where is the program that it does support for cleaning.