Hello Balasubramanian;
I have just run the AVG SysInfo tool as requested, sent the output to you, and replied to the email as requested.
Jim
Hi Balasubramanian;
I'll be interested to hear what the senior team can suggest about AVG not detecting the Eicar Test Virus on download.
Concerning the prompt "An Application is requesting access to a protected item", I followed your instructions to set the start method of the "Protected Storage" service to manual and I rebooted the computer to ensure the service was no longer starting. However, the prompts are still appearing. So, I turned the service back to Automatic startup.
Jim
Thank you for the information, Jim.
For AVG not detecting Eicar test virus file, I have escalated the case to senior team who can provide further suggestion.
Regarding the prompt "An Application is requesting access to a protected item" please follow below mentioned steps to check whether it resolves this issue:
1) Open RUN command on your windows PC by pressing "Windows" and "R" keys together on your keyboard.
2) On RUN command window please type as "services.msc" without quotes and press Enter key.
3) On list of services search for "Protected Storage" and right click on it.
4) Select its status to "Manual" and click on Apply–>Ok.
If the same prompt appears again do let us know.
Hello Alok;
I received this email today:
Hello Jim,
Please accept our apologize for the inconvenience that you have experienced. We understand that you are facing issues with Eicar Test Virus and protected storage error.
Protected storage is Microsoft product, if you have any question regarding this, we advice you to contact Microsoft
Protected Storage Service | Microsoft Learn
We would like to inform you that we have forwarded this issue to our development team. They have analysed the issue and informed that this issue does not seem to be reproducible on our reference computers, it is probably depends on the specific system environment and/or its configuration. Unfortunately, its impossible to determine the cause of this issue so we cant offer any solution at this time. Our development team suggested you to upgrade the Windows Operating system to fix this issue.
Best regards,
Bharath Kumar
AVG Customer Care
It is unfortunate the development team is unable to offer a solution to my problem. Obviously, Protected Storage is a Microsoft product in that it is part of the Windows Operating System. As such, AVG Free should be able to properly work with the operating system and not the other way around. Complaints of AVG having compatibility issues with Protected Storage have been going on since early in 2017. I'm disappointed that AVG has not determined the reason for the incompatibility and resolved it.
Jim
Jim, Did you resolve your issue with AVG?.
AVG Guru
Hi Balasubramanian;
On 24Nov I received an email from Maseeullah asking me to sign into an AVG Remote Support session (Case# 05595318) in order for a technician to resolve my issues. I did so on 28Nov and Maseeullah himself was the technician involved. He took over my machine and tried several steps to resolve my problem but was unable to do so. He apologized and ran the AVG SysInfo tool again to collect my system logs and said he was going to re-elevate my case to the developer team and they would be back in touch.
Two weeks have now passed and I have heard nothing further. I'm still getting the "Protected Storage" popups and the Eicar test virus is still not being detected upon download. Also, during the remote session, Maseeullah removed a Windows update (KB4012598) from my system. When I asked him about doing that he assured me it would not put my system at any risk. However, I subsequently determined that is the critical Security Update Microsoft issued in May 2017 to correct the vulnerability in Windows systems that was letting in the Wanna Cry ransomware. On 29Nov I sent an email to Maseeullah pointing this out and asked if I could re-apply that update to my system. I've never heard back from him.
So, I'm wondering where my case is presently at? And, can I re-apply that Security Update?
Jim
Hi Alok;
I have one question before I proceed. When I do the update, should I be updating the virus definitions or the program. Both actions are included in the update section.
Jim Brown
Hi Balasubramanian;
On 21 December I received the following email:
Hello Jim,
Please accept our apologize for the inconvenience that you have experienced. We understand that you are facing issues with AVG scan error.
We would like to inform you that we have forwarded this issue to our development team. They have analysed the issue and recommended to upgrade Windows to latest version. After the OS upgrade, please contact our remote support for further assistance. We will help you to install AVG Antivirus Free with your PC.
Best regards,
Bharath Kumar
AVG Customer Care
I was greatly concerned that it was being suggested that I would need to upgrade my O/S in order to resolve my issues with AVG Free, so I sent the following reply on 21 December:
Hello Bharath;
Is the development team saying that AVG Free is not compatible with Windows XP SP03?
Jim
On 22 December I recieved the following reply:
Hello Jim,
Please accept our apologies for all the inconvenience caused. Since the Windows support has stopped the updates for the windows operating system XP and Vista, there will be few issues with the windows using XP and Vista. This causes the protected storage error pop up in your computer. Our development team suggested you to upgrade your windows operating system to windows 7 or 10 to fix the issue.
If you have any queries, please revert back to this mail.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
Best regards,
Subramani Muthu
AVG Customer Care
On 23 December I sent the following reply:
Hello Subramani;
Upgrading to Windows 7 or 10 will mean a new computer and an entire rebuild. That is a major undertaking.
Surely the development team should know exactly what is causing the Protected Storage popups and why the Eicar Test Virus is not being detected on download. Can they not tell me how to fix those two issues?
Jim Brown
To date I've heard nothing further. Is there nothing AVG can do to help me resolve my issues other than suggest I upgrade my O/S?
Jim
Hi;
I'm running AVG Free ver. 17.7.3032 on a WinXP SP03 machine.
From time to time I download the Eicar Test Virus to ensure that AVG catches it upon download. Today I discovered AVG is not catching it. Once the file is downloaded, if I ask AVG to check the file, it does detect it and quarantine it.
I've tried repairing AVG and rebooting the system. The real time protection is still not working. What is wrong.
Jim Brown
Hello Jim,
I understand your situation.
I see that the case is still being analyzed by senior technical team and they are checking what can be done further on your issue.
It will take time for them to provide suggestion. Your patience is much appreciated.
You can go ahead in updating the package that is shown by Windows for Wanna Cry ransomware.
Hi Balasubramanian;
I download the Eicar file from:
EICAR Test Virus
and noted this in the comments for the AVG SysInfo tool, and on the reply email I sent to you letting you know the tool's output had been sent back to you.
I've used this site for my Eicar downloads for many years and AVG Free catches it upon download on three other computers I have.
Jim
Hi Balasubramanian;
On 24Nov I received an email from Maseeullah asking me to sign into an AVG Remote Support session (Case# 05595318) in order for a technician to resolve my issues. I did so on 28Nov and Maseeullah himself was the technician involved. He took over my machine and tried several steps to resolve my problem but was unable to do so. He apologized and ran the AVG SysInfo tool again to collect my system logs and said he was going to re-elevate my case to the developer team and they would be back in touch.
Two weeks have now passed and I have heard nothing further. I'm still getting the "Protected Storage" popups and the Eicar test virus is still not being detected upon download. Also, during the remote session, Maseeullah removed a Windows update (KB4012598) from my system. When I asked him about doing that he assured me it would not put my system at any risk. However, I subsequently determined that is the critical Security Update Microsoft issued in May 2017 to correct the vulnerability in Windows systems that was letting in the Wanna Cry ransomware. On 29Nov I sent an email to Maseeullah pointing this out and asked if I could re-apply that update to my system. I've never heard back from him.
So, I'm wondering where my case is presently at? And, can I re-apply that Security Update?
Jim
Hi Alok;
I have one question before I proceed. When I do the update, should I be updating the virus definitions or the program. Both actions are included in the update section.
Jim Brown
Jim,
Please check for updates on both components whenever you manually update AVG.
Hello Jim,
I'm really sorry for delay in this case. We have already forwarded your last questions to our development team on 25 December, 2017. However, you can expect an email from our senior team after this Holiday Season.
Best regards,
Alok.
Hello Alan;
No, my issue with AVG is not resolved.
Avinash sent me the following reply, which for some reason is no longer visible in this string:
Hello Jim,
Please be informed that Eicar file will be detected by AVG (or any antivirus) only after you run the file.
However, I know this is not actually true. I have 3 other computers running the same version of AVG and on all those computers if I download the Eicar test file, after a few seconds the file will disappear and a message from AVG will come up saying the "infected" file has been quarantined.
So, my question still stands.
Jim
Hello Jim,
I'm sorry for delay in replying to you. Please be informed that, the EICAR should be detected by AVG during their download. I understand that you have already repaired AVG but I request you to repair AVG program one more time. I request you to repair AVG Protection (http://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?urlname=How-to-repair-AVG) at first, update (open AVG Free Antivirus > menu > settings > update) it one more time and reboot your computer once. After reboot, please check if AVG Free Antivirus is detecting EICAR at their download.
Best regards,
Alok.
Thank you for providing the log files.
Did you download EICAR file from "eicar.org" website?
Hi Balasubramanian;
Thank you for your assurance that the senior technical team is still working on my case. I'll continue waiting for their response.
As per your OK I've re-installed the Windows Patch KB4012598.
Jim
Hello Alok;
I received this email today:
Hello Jim,
Please accept our apologize for the inconvenience that you have experienced. We understand that you are facing issues with Eicar Test Virus and protected storage error.
Protected storage is Microsoft product, if you have any question regarding this, we advice you to contact Microsoft
Protected Storage Service | Microsoft Learn
We would like to inform you that we have forwarded this issue to our development team. They have analysed the issue and informed that this issue does not seem to be reproducible on our reference computers, it is probably depends on the specific system environment and/or its configuration. Unfortunately, its impossible to determine the cause of this issue so we cant offer any solution at this time. Our development team suggested you to upgrade the Windows Operating system to fix this issue.
Best regards,
Bharath Kumar
AVG Customer Care
It is unfortunate the development team is unable to offer a solution to my problem. Obviously, Protected Storage is a Microsoft product in that it is part of the Windows Operating System. As such, AVG Free should be able to properly work with the operating system and not the other way around. Complaints of AVG having compatibility issues with Protected Storage have been going on since early in 2017. I'm disappointed that AVG has not determined the reason for the incompatibility and resolved it.
Jim