How to avoid data corruption in the SoftwareDistribution folder

There are quite a few posts dealing with data corruption in the
WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution folder in regards to updating Windows.
One cause of the issue is scanning SoftwareDistribution with an
antivirus program. Below are MS' recommendations for excluding files and
folders from said AV scan. The Vista recommendation is mine, not
Microsoft's, and may not even be needed. YMMV :

Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows
Server 2003,
Windows 2000, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158

>
>> Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at risk of infection. If
>> you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because of file locking.
>> Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only those files instead of
>> the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder must be excluded. Do not exclude any one of
>> these based on the file name extension. For example, do not exclude all files that have a
>> .dit extension. Microsoft has no control over other files that may use the same extensions
>> as the following files.
>>
>> • Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
>> • The Windows Update or Automatic Update database file. This file is located in the
>> following folder: %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
>>
>> Exclude the Datastore.edb file.
>>
>> • The transaction log files. These files are located in the following folder:
>> %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
>> Exclude the following files:
>> • Edb*.log
>>
>> Note The wildcard character indicates that there may be several files.
>> • Res1.log
>> • Res2.log
>> • Edb.chk
>> • Tmp.edb
>>
>

For Vista, one may add these log files :

WINDOWS\logs\CBS\cbs.log
WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setupact.log
WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setuperr.log


MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

I'm runing McAfee ViruScan 10 and after reading your comments I went to the
Security Center and I could not find anyway to not scan the folder and/or
files in question. The only option was to not scan the drive Windows itself
is on and that seems a little much to me. (Unless I'm missing something
somewhere - if I am please enlighten me.)

"MowGreen [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> There are quite a few posts dealing with data corruption in the
> WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution folder in regards to updating Windows.
> One cause of the issue is scanning SoftwareDistribution with an antivirus
> program. Below are MS' recommendations for excluding files and folders
> from said AV scan. The Vista recommendation is mine, not Microsoft's, and
> may not even be needed. YMMV :
>
> Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows
> Server 2003,
> Windows 2000, or Windows XP
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158
>
>>
>>> Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at risk
>>> of infection. If
>>> you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because of
>>> file locking.
>>> Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only those
>>> files instead of
>>> the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder must be excluded. Do not
>>> exclude any one of these based on the file name extension. For example,
>>> do not exclude all files that have a .dit extension. Microsoft has no
>>> control over other files that may use the same extensions as the
>>> following files.
>>>
>>> • Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
>>> • The Windows Update or Automatic Update database file. This file is
>>> located in the following folder: %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
>>>
>>> Exclude the Datastore.edb file.
>>>
>>> • The transaction log files. These files are located in the
>>> following folder:
>>> %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
>>> Exclude the following files:
>>> • Edb*.log
>>>
>>> Note The wildcard character indicates that there may be several files.
>>> • Res1.log
>>> • Res2.log
>>> • Edb.chk
>>> • Tmp.edb
>>>
>>
>
> For Vista, one may add these log files :
>
> WINDOWS\logs\CBS\cbs.log
> WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setupact.log
> WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setuperr.log
>
>
> MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
> ===============
> *-343-* FDNY
> Never Forgotten
> ===============
>

I'm not familiar enough with that product to give you an adequate
answer, Jerry. Here's a link to download the User Guide :
http://download.mcafee.com/products/...Guide_2006.pdf

There *should* be a way to configure *any antivirus* to skip certain
locations/files/folders, etc. when configuring the AV for
scheduled/manual scans.


MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============



Jerry wrote:

> I'm runing McAfee ViruScan 10 and after reading your comments I went to the
> Security Center and I could not find anyway to not scan the folder and/or
> files in question. The only option was to not scan the drive Windows itself
> is on and that seems a little much to me. (Unless I'm missing something
> somewhere - if I am please enlighten me.)
>
> "MowGreen [MVP]" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>
>>There are quite a few posts dealing with data corruption in the
>>WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution folder in regards to updating Windows.
>>One cause of the issue is scanning SoftwareDistribution with an antivirus
>>program. Below are MS' recommendations for excluding files and folders
>>from said AV scan. The Vista recommendation is mine, not Microsoft's, and
>>may not even be needed. YMMV :
>>
>>Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows
>>Server 2003,
>>Windows 2000, or Windows XP
>>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158
>>
>>
>>>>Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at risk
>>>>of infection. If
>>>>you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because of
>>>>file locking.
>>>> Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only those
>>>>files instead of
>>>>the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder must be excluded. Do not
>>>>exclude any one of these based on the file name extension. For example,
>>>>do not exclude all files that have a .dit extension. Microsoft has no
>>>>control over other files that may use the same extensions as the
>>>>following files.
>>>>
>>>> • Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
>>>> • The Windows Update or Automatic Update database file. This file is
>>>>located in the following folder: %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
>>>>
>>>> Exclude the Datastore.edb file.
>>>>
>>>> • The transaction log files. These files are located in the
>>>>following folder:
>>>> %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
>>>> Exclude the following files:
>>>> • Edb*.log
>>>>
>>>>Note The wildcard character indicates that there may be several files.
>>>> • Res1.log
>>>> • Res2.log
>>>> • Edb.chk
>>>> • Tmp.edb
>>>>
>>>
>>For Vista, one may add these log files :
>>
>>WINDOWS\logs\CBS\cbs.log
>>WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setupact.log
>>WINDOWS\logs\dpx\setuperr.log
>>
>>
>>MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
>>===============
>> *-343-* FDNY
>>Never Forgotten
>>===============
>>
>
>
>

"MowGreen [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> There are quite a few posts dealing with data corruption in the
> WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution folder in regards to updating Windows.
> One cause of the issue is scanning SoftwareDistribution with an
> antivirus program. Below are MS' recommendations for excluding files
> and folders from said AV scan. The Vista recommendation is mine, not
> Microsoft's, and may not even be needed. YMMV :
>
> Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows
> Server 2003,
> Windows 2000, or Windows XP
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158
>
>>
>>> Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at
>>> risk of infection. If
>>> you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because
>>> of file locking.
>>> Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only
>>> those files instead of
>>> the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder must be excluded. Do
>>> not exclude any one of these based on the file name extension. For
>>> example, do not exclude all files that have a .dit extension.
>>> Microsoft has no control over other files that may use the same
>>> extensions as the following files.
>>>
>>> • Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
>>> • The Windows Update or Automatic Update database file. This
>>> file is located in the following folder:
>>> %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
>>>
>>> Exclude the Datastore.edb file.
>>>
>>> • The transaction log files. These files are located in the
>>> following folder:
>>> %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
>>> Exclude the following files:
>>> • Edb*.log
>>>
>>> Note The wildcard character indicates that there may be several
>>> files.
>>> • Res1.log
>>> • Res2.log
>>> • Edb.chk
>>> • Tmp.edb
>>>

Mow,

Is your Vista recommendation an alternative or in addition ? Vista is
not mentioned in the KB822158 heading.

It looks as though the wild card (edb*.log) is to take care of changing
filenames, at least they change on my Vista system.
It is unfortunate that One Care Live doesn't allow wild cards in
exclusions. Might it be better to exclude the whole 'logs' folder ?

Regards
Tom