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Old November 26th 10, 05:41 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers
Twayne[_2_]
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Posts: 4,276
Default What's "Generic volume shadow copy"?

In ,
J. P. Gilliver (John) typed:
I'm doing a complete system scan at the moment (AVIRA is my
AV). I'm doing it after a restart, because my
email-and-news software (Turnpike, quite old) behaved oddly
once or twice.
It may have nothing to do with that fact, but twice a "new
hardware found" popup has appeared, and when I let it
proceed to the point where it tells me what the new
hardware actually is, it has said "Generic volume shadow
copy". (I cancel it at that point.)
I haven't added any new hardware (it's a netbook, with
nothing plugged into it other than the power supply at the
moment). I _have_ added a "subst" into my startup sequence,
but that was a few days ago, and the popups have only
appeared on this session.
Any idea what it is? It _sounds_ as if it just might be
malware, but I'm fairly careful, and have never had any in
decades of computing. (Avira says it's done 41.3% - scanned
47215 objects - so far, and not found anything.)

I'll just go to Google it ...


Generic Volume Shadow Copy is a windows program that allows the backing
up/manipulation of files that are "in use" by taking a snapshot of them.
Most archiving, backup and imaging programs require it in order to work.
It is a service that should be started automatically every time you boot
up unless you are an expert at manipulating its use. Check to see if it's
set to "automatic" under Services.

Unless the file is a phony, no AV or malware program should find it. If
it's a phony, it was placed there by malware. Or the original file was
overwritten with the phony.

WinPatrol Says:
Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other
purposes. If this service is stopped, shadow copies will be unavailable for
backup and the backup may fail. If this service is disabled, any services
that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

and

the executable is at:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\vssvc.exe

.... Administrative Tools; Services will open a window in XP where you
can start/stop the service, and set whether it starts "automatic", "Manual"
or Never.
I don't give a path for the admin tools because the user can change it
after it's installed. Search your boot drive for vsssvc.exe if necessary.
Check to see that it's set to "automatc" and that the setting sticks
(stays after a Restart).

HTH,

Twayne`


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