Microsoft Security Essentials Always Stops in Winxsx Folder

B

boweasel

Member
Been having occasional problems with IE9, giving me a page cannot be displayed when accessing the home page for the first time. Then I noticed that the MSE castle on this 32 bit HP Pavilion laptop (Vista Home Premium, SP2) was yellow/orange telling me that I hadn't run a scan in a while.


Running that full scan several times now, it always stops somewhere in the c:\Windows\Winsxs\Manifests directory. This after scanning about 2.5 million files. Although the cursor moves, the laptop is unusable unless I hold down the power button. I can successfully run a Quick scan with MSE.


I have run a full Malwarebytes, done a chkdsk, tried running the full MSE is Safe Mode, run TDSSKiller, run CCleaner and run the 32 bit RogueKiller. None of them has found anything of significance, and none of the tools have made a difference in my inability to complete a full MSE scan.

Once that home page displays, IE9 seems to be fine. It's just the display of that initial page that's a problem. I have reset the page to the default, but it really made no difference.
 

My Computer

System One

Create a system restore point, just in case. The uninstall boot and install MSE, again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Trying that now... it's currently updating (after the removal and reinstall). I can't remember if it does a quick or full scan when it's done, but I'll get back to you.


Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

Okay. The scan completed successfully, but since it only scanned 59,569 items it has to the Quick Scan that runs after an Install. So I now have to run a Full Scan. But I have to run it after a reboot, because even though the QS completed, it also locked up everything on the laptop.
 

My Computer

System One

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Thanks, but richc46 suggested the uninstall and reinstall of MSE in the first reply, and I did just that. It made no difference. And I have reset IE9, I've changed it from the AOL homepage to the default, and then back again. The homepage changes worked, but I still get about 25% page cannot be displayed msgs.


Since I first posted I have run a complete scan using Super Anti-Spyware, ran a complete scan using MBAR, and have run ComboFix. Nothing has changed - MSE stlll freezes inside that Winsxs folder on a full scan.

I'm about ready to use another product, but that won't help me with the page not found problems.
 

My Computer

System One

As a test to see if it may be an issue with your ISP's DNS server, see how the webpages load using Google Public DNS.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Thanks for your input Brink, but after doing some further investigation, I kept seeing references to this problem being a bad spot on the hard drive. This didn't make particular sense to me since I'd already done a successful chkdsk /r from the command prompt.

Yesterday I initiated another one from clicking on the drive, selecting properties, then tools, and putting checkmarks in the 2 boxes - automatically fix file system errors, and scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

This time it was still on stage 4 when I checked it today - about 8 hours later. And the file count wasn't budging. It was about halfway through #4, and when I powered off and on it restarted another chkdsk automatically. Right now it's on stage 4 again, but it's further along than it was when I checked it earlier.

At this point I no longer care about MSE - I'll get something else, like Avira or Avast or any of the other free ones that start with the letter A. I'm concerned that this current chkdsk will freeze up on me again, and I'll be in a never ending loop of chkdsk processes, since the PC gave me no opportunity to bypass the chkdsk when it turned on.

The IE9 browser seems (or rather seemed) to be functioning satisfactorily lately - no page cannot be displayed msgs.

Now if I could only get back to there, because it's hung again on stage 4 (at 145046 of 267888 files processed)
 

My Computer

System One

Forced a restart and this time I had the option to hit any key to discontinue the scheduled chkdsk. And this time after rebooting I manually set a chkdsk /r as an admin from the cmd screen. It once again stopped in stage 4 at 145046. It's been sitting there now at that same file for about 2 hours.
 

My Computer

System One

Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Unfortunately I agree about your hard drive and recommend that you back up your important documents to an external hard drive now. Your problem isn't likely with MSE but with MSE being able to scan files possibly corrupted by a bad disk and there is no telling how long it is before Windows becomes unstable.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
richc46 said:
Sounds like the hard drive maybe damaged.
Download the free (make sure you get the right download)
and test your drive.
CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World
Chkdsk is limited to the repairs that it can make.
Click to expand...
Well, I've downloaded it, and am running it, but I don't exactly know what good it is - I get a temp reading, a Caution Health status, and a slew of other readings like Spin-Up Time and Power Cycle Count and Command Timeout that mean nothing to me.
 

My Computer

System One

The imporant information is the caution health status. That indicates that you do have problems and may very well be the caus of your situation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
If you have a bad disk it can go at any time and you could loose everything. My suggestion still stands. Even if you don't have a bad hard drive it is always a good idea to have a backup.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
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