PCTools Antivirus won't release USB Flash Disk

[Harley]

Safely Remove Hardware icon will not release USB Flash Disk as long as PCTools Antivirus is running.

Each time I select:
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive R:

I get a dialog box stating:
The device 'Generic Volume' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.

No matter how long I wait, I get the same dialog box. If I shutdown PCTools Antivirus, I can release the USB Flash Disk within seconds.
Is anyone else having this problem and if so, have you been able to make PCTools release its handle?

[jkim]

This is because PC Tools AntiVirus is constantly monitoring all your drives.
Just exit from AV and you should be able to release it.
Hope this helps. =)

[Harley]

Thanks. Yes, that works as I mentioned in my original post.

However, it would be nice if we had an option to disable monitoring of a specific USB Mass Storage Device. It is time consuming to stop PCTAV, wait for the release (i.e. try the ejection 1 to 3 times), then restart PCTAV. It would be much more efficient if I could simply tell PCTAV 'Don't monitor device R:'.

I use my Flash Memory Drive for synchronization only. Therefore it is installed only at log-on and log-off times. I always remove it immediately after the synchronization process is completed. Surely others are doing this too.

Thanks in advance for your consider of this matter.

[jk4010]

yeah.. i'm having same problem.. hope pctools correct this issue with the new version sooooooooon...

[medic1638]

I experience the same thing with my flash memory drive.

I tried in the "Scan Settings" area, "Scan Exclusions", to set my drive letter to be excluded, But, that doesn't seem to work. However, I am also going to try after I reboot and see if maybe that works.

Dave

[AChen]

Hi All,

This issue is being looked into.

Once I receive more info, I will let you know.

[solcroft]

I can confirm this problem. Windows refuses to release any removable media as long as PCTAV is running.

[AChen]

Just to let you know, the developers are still working on this issue.

[medic1638]

Just to let you know, the developers are still working on this issue.

I am still experiencing this problem still. And having to exit the PC Tools Antivirus program just to eject the USB device is really annoying. IS this ever going to be fixed? What is the status today?

DC

[AChen]

The problem with not being able to release the USB/Floppy drive while AV is active, should be resolved shortly. I cannot comment on the time frame at this point, but I know that the developers are implementing a fix.

Once I receive additional info I will pass this on.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

[mrkaay]

Besides PCtools Antivirus not releasing my USB flash disk (I have to release it physically after shut down), it also does not allow it to work. Each time I want to access my flash disk's secured area (protected by a password) a message pops up " Unable to login the secured area, another application has an open connection to your Data Traveller Elite. Close all applications and documents open on Data Traveller Elite and try again." I have tried everything, nothing helps. However when I uninstall PCTools Antivirus, evrything works normally.

Can anyone solve my problem ?????

[PC-Pete]

Just to be clear, when you say you have tried everything, do you mean that even after exiting PCTAV from the tray icon you can still not access the USB drive?

[Angie B]

I had this same problem with my Ipod, it would not disconnect even after I would turn off my PC Tools I kept getting any error message that it was not able to discoonect. The only way I could disconnect my Ipod was to turn my computer off completley.

[AChen]

Hi Angie B,

I had this same problem with my Ipod, it would not disconnect even after I would turn off my PC Tools I kept getting any error message that it was not able to discoonect. The only way I could disconnect my Ipod was to turn my computer off completley.

This is a known issue and the developers are currently working on resolving this. It appears that anything that is plugged into the USB drives or floppy drives will not be released if PCTAV is running.

Once this has been resolved, I will let you know.

mrkaay - To add from PC-Pete - Disable OnGuard on PCTAV to see if this helps.

[Angie B]

It does not help if you Disable the OnGuard on PCTAV. You have to turn your computer off completely to get anything to disconnect. Additionally when you go to shut down your pc you get error messages that other people are logged on to your system or error messages saying that the computer can not shut down.

[mother in law]

Hi!

This is an extremely important issue, not only for me I believe. Please fix this. I can close the PCTools Antivirus, then unmount my SD card/USB flash disk/external hard drive myself, but this is way too much cumbersome for users who I wish to install the PCTools Antivirus for.

Not mentioning that I would never *pay* for an antivirus software which does not allow the user to manage his external storage devices.

[mjq424]

Hi
You can still remove your USB device without PCTAV "permission". As long as you have closed all opne windows/folders of that drive it should be OK.

[mother in law]

You can still remove your USB device without PCTAV "permission". As long as you have closed all opne windows/folders of that drive it should be OK.

Thanks for your interest but what you are saying is *not correct*.

To make myself 100% sure I'm screwing something up, I did the following:

1. Unistalled PCTools AV.

2. Reboot.

3. Removed all the registry keys for PCTools with regedit.

4. Reboot.

5. Download latest and greatest PCTools AV from http://www.pctools.com/downloads/avinstall.exe

6. Installed it and allowed it to update itself.

7. Reboot.

8. Inserted my USB flash disk.

9. Closed the auto pop-up window with it's content. No programs are accessing the disk in question.

10. Clicked "Safely remove device" (my free transl. from Polish) icon in the bottom right of the desktop, then choose the USB flash disk there - no good. Window pops up which says "Cannot stop device now. Try again later." (my free transl. from Polish).

11. So I'm trying again and again but still the same error crops out.

12. ALT+CTRL+DEL, stop PCTAV.exe process (leaving the PCTAVSvc.exe running).

13. *Only* now I can "safely remove" the USB flash disk.

This obviously prooves there must be a bug in PCTools AV preventing the user from "safely removing" his removable storage devices.

I can reproduce this error on my 4 XP Home SP2 machines. They are all working just fine besides this problem with PCToos AV. From the posts above I can see several other users experience the same bug. I must say I have never had such problems with other AV software (Avast and Avira namely).

Is this bug going to be fixed and when?

Cheers

[mjq424]

Hi
Sorry. I didnt convey me meaning well enough. If you want to remove your USB device, make sure you save everything. Close all open programs to do with it and just pull it out...dont ask for permission from Windows. Usually this is perfectly safe.
Hopefully this bug will be fixed in the next release.

[mother in law]

Hi
Sorry. I didnt convey me meaning well enough. If you want to remove your USB device, make sure you save everything. Close all open programs to do with it and just pull it out...dont ask for permission from Windows. Usually this is perfectly safe.
Hopefully this bug will be fixed in the next release.

You never know if there really isn't some application writing to your USB storage device for real in the moment. PCTools AV is masking this. So one is just not able to say if unplugging the device by force is safe or not then.

And even if I myself can usually decide if removing the device by hard is safe or not in the moment, guys for whom I wish to install the PCTools AV are not. And if recommend them to do so and eventually this leads to any data corruption (at least in their perception), the blame will be on me.

Cheers anyway and thanks for your time. Any PCTools devs here?

[mother in law]

I can reproduce this error on my 4 XP Home SP2 machines.


Add one Windows 2000 Prof. SP4 to this list.

[c_edge]

Check out this thread: http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47532

PC tools have released a new version of the AV, v3.5, however this is a beta version. Im not sure if this will include a fix to the usb issues, but may want to try it.

I havent tried it myself at this stage, but I might give it a go some time tonight. It seems like a good program. If i do try it, I'll let you know of the experience.

c_edge :D

[mother in law]

PC tools have released a new version of the AV, v3.5, however this is a beta version. Im not sure if this will include a fix to the usb issues, but may want to try it.



Thanks, I have tried it. But to no avail. Still can't umount my USB pendrive, external hard disk, SD card reader etc. without killing the PCTAV.exe process beforehand.

[c_edge]

Hopefully PCtools will fix this soon.

c_edge

[Snarfiorix]

I found a workaround for XP SP2

When you have your USB stick or memmory card inserted, go to the Device Manager, find the drive, click properties and then go to the policies tab and select "Optimize for quick removal".

That way you don't need to "safely remove the device" and doing it this way is killing 2 birds with one stone:

a) you don't ever have to disable the antivirus
b) you can just yank out your sticks, cards, etc, withotu having to go through the safely remove thing:D

[mother in law]

I know I'm not paying for the product so I can't *demand* a fix. But, I and all the users do *deserve* a reply and update from folks in charge.

It's been over 7 months now since the issue was reported. From then on several "we are working on it" replies were posted. The last one 4 months ago. Is this bug really being worked on? If so, is it possible to be fixed? If it is - roughly when?

7 months of no sign of progress and 4 months of complete silence make me think no chances. Is that correct?

[solcroft]

To be honest, I'm beginning to wonder how much control PC Tools has over the scanning engine code and database updates - if they indeed have any at all. The engine is simply ported over from VirusBuster with a new UI slapped on, and judging from the way things have been lately, it looks like PC Tools is helpless to change any of the code unless VirusBuster says so.

[c_edge]

Alot of AV's are using database engines from others and I this limits them to what can actually be done, with certain criterias. Eg, from another post ZoneAlarm AV, AOL Active Virus Shield, AVK, F-Secure, eScan are all using the Kaspersky engine. I'm not to sure on how this all works, but hopefully things will change. You'll definitely need to update your engine so that it will outperform the competitors and maybe thats something PCT will be working on.

c_edge