Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64

I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?

Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Beyond Meat and other such vegetarian meat substitutes
represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. Real
meat is natural. Beyond Meat is definitely not.

David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>

Have you tried the registry edit solutions that are given under that
search? I guess you have, without success.

A nice & easy (and far less dangerous) way would be to let AVG do it for
you.
Uninstall AVG, make sure the context menu item has gone, re-install.

Ed

"David E. Ross" <nobody@notme.invalid> wrote:

> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get
> a context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That
> entry in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon
> from AVG in context menus without having to edit the menus for each
> file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result
> that seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.

Shell extensions are read from the registry on Window startup, and
cached to be used thereafter. When loading, Windows scans the registry
(after it loads a copy into memory) looking for "shellex" entries that
define shell extensions. Shell extensions are defined for object types
(folder/directory, file, etc), and filetype (aka file extension). A
program's installer, or its config settings, determine for which objects
or filetypes it will define a shell extension. A handler won't add
shell extensions for objects or filetypes it cannot handle. If you go
into the registry, and search on "shellex", you'll find lots of shell
extensions defined. In fact, you can use Nirsoft's ShellExView to list
the shell extensions.

Each shell extension defines a handler which can be an .exe or .dll.
Inside those files are defined resources, like icons. They don't need
to have icon resources, but sometimes authors add them to help identify
their software. On scanning for shell extensions in the registry on
Windows startup, the handlers that have icon resources are opened to see
if they have icon resources. There can be more than one icon defined as
a resource, and they can be different sizes. The icon has to be the
right size depending on where it is used. If there are no icon
resources in the handler's executable, or the indexing of them doesn't
have one defined at the first icon resource index, or it's the wrong
size, there isn't one for the shell extension to use.

Use Nirsoft's ShellExView (Shell Extension Viewer) to see what handler
is specified for that shell extension that shows up as a content menu
entry. Then look in that .exe or .dll file to see what, if any, icon
resources it has. Windows doesn't provide tools to look at the
resources of executables, so you need something else. I believe
VisualStudio can open a file to look at its resources in a tree list,
but rare few users want to install that behemoth just to look at
resource. A handy tool is Resource Hacker.

http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

This WinAero Tweaker article mentions how to use it to see what icon
resources are available in the executable that is designated as the
handler for the shell extension:

https://winaero.com/extract-icon-from-exe-or-dll-file-in-windows-10/

You don't need to extract any icons, just view them to see if there are
any, and what they look like, and what sizes are available. It's been
too long since I had to do this, so I don't remember what icon size is
required to view it in the context menu as a shell extension.

While a program might have icons defined in some of its installed
exectuables, it might not have icon resources defined inside the
executable that is assigned the handler for a shell type.

Alas, there is another way to add to the context menu. You can all
Shell entries in the registry. Use Nirsoft's Shell Menu Viewer
(shmnview) to see those. Those are usually for programs to designate
which filetypes they can open. For example:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.m4b\Shell\MediaInfo\Command

lists one (but there can be several) handlers to open a filetype of M4B.
It is for MediaInfo included with the K-Lite Codec Pack (to install lots
of codecs to add support for them). MediaInfo lets you right-click on a
media file to get some info about it. The above registry entry points
at the following handler:

C:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\Tools\MediaInfo.exe

I don't need (and don't currently have installed) Resource Hacker, but I
can use Peazip (7-zip should work, too) to open the .exe as though it
were an archive to see it has a .rsrc node in the tree list with bitmap
icons underneath. MediaInfo whill only show as a context menu entry
when I right click on a filetype that MediaInfo has registered as a
handler candidate (there can be more than one per filetype). For
example, there is no Shell subkey under the .png filetype defined in my
registry, so MediaInfo won't show in the context menu when I right-click
on a .png file. I think MediaInfo is really for media files (audio or
video).

I don't know if AVG is adding itself as a shell extension, or as a
content menu entry. I'd have to have AVG installed, and then use
Nirsoft's ShellExView or Shell Menu View to see which. There are
context menu entries, and there are shell extensions that can show up in
the context menu.

For AVG, another user reported the missing icon for the shell extension
in the context menu. Rather than have the user try to edit the .exe or
..dll file defined as the handler for the shell extension, they suggested
uninstalling and reinstalling AVG to see if its installer would add the
appropriate handler to get its icon resource(s) used. Cryer already
made that suggestion. You could try using Resource Hacker to add or
manipulate the icon resources, like changing their indexing, but
something like an AV program might be very sensitive to anything
touching its files.

https://support.avg.com/answers?id=9060N000000gdI1QAI

That was your thread just over a year ago. It ended without noting a
successful resolution. It wasn't just AVG that was missing a context
menu icon, but several programs missing those icons. At the end, and
without a resolution, the suggestion was to contact Windows support. Uh
huh, sure, that'll work ... not. Did you get it fixed back then?

VanguardLH wrote:
> "David E. Ross" <nobody@notme.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>
>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get
>> a context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That
>> entry in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon
>> from AVG in context menus without having to edit the menus for each
>> file-type?
>>
>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result
>> that seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>
> Shell extensions are read from the registry on Window startup, and
> cached to be used thereafter. When loading, Windows scans the registry
> (after it loads a copy into memory) looking for "shellex" entries that
> define shell extensions. Shell extensions are defined for object types
> (folder/directory, file, etc), and filetype (aka file extension). A
> program's installer, or its config settings, determine for which objects
> or filetypes it will define a shell extension. A handler won't add
> shell extensions for objects or filetypes it cannot handle. If you go
> into the registry, and search on "shellex", you'll find lots of shell
> extensions defined. In fact, you can use Nirsoft's ShellExView to list
> the shell extensions.
>
> Each shell extension defines a handler which can be an .exe or .dll.
> Inside those files are defined resources, like icons. They don't need
> to have icon resources, but sometimes authors add them to help identify
> their software. On scanning for shell extensions in the registry on
> Windows startup, the handlers that have icon resources are opened to see
> if they have icon resources. There can be more than one icon defined as
> a resource, and they can be different sizes. The icon has to be the
> right size depending on where it is used. If there are no icon
> resources in the handler's executable, or the indexing of them doesn't
> have one defined at the first icon resource index, or it's the wrong
> size, there isn't one for the shell extension to use.
>
> Use Nirsoft's ShellExView (Shell Extension Viewer) to see what handler
> is specified for that shell extension that shows up as a content menu
> entry. Then look in that .exe or .dll file to see what, if any, icon
> resources it has. Windows doesn't provide tools to look at the
> resources of executables, so you need something else. I believe
> VisualStudio can open a file to look at its resources in a tree list,
> but rare few users want to install that behemoth just to look at
> resource. A handy tool is Resource Hacker.
>
> http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
>
> This WinAero Tweaker article mentions how to use it to see what icon
> resources are available in the executable that is designated as the
> handler for the shell extension:
>
> https://winaero.com/extract-icon-from-exe-or-dll-file-in-windows-10/
>
> You don't need to extract any icons, just view them to see if there are
> any, and what they look like, and what sizes are available. It's been
> too long since I had to do this, so I don't remember what icon size is
> required to view it in the context menu as a shell extension.
>
> While a program might have icons defined in some of its installed
> exectuables, it might not have icon resources defined inside the
> executable that is assigned the handler for a shell type.
>
> Alas, there is another way to add to the context menu. You can all
> Shell entries in the registry. Use Nirsoft's Shell Menu Viewer
> (shmnview) to see those. Those are usually for programs to designate
> which filetypes they can open. For example:
>
> HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.m4b\Shell\MediaInfo\Command
>
> lists one (but there can be several) handlers to open a filetype of M4B.
> It is for MediaInfo included with the K-Lite Codec Pack (to install lots
> of codecs to add support for them). MediaInfo lets you right-click on a
> media file to get some info about it. The above registry entry points
> at the following handler:
>
> C:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\Tools\MediaInfo.exe
>
> I don't need (and don't currently have installed) Resource Hacker, but I
> can use Peazip (7-zip should work, too) to open the .exe as though it
> were an archive to see it has a .rsrc node in the tree list with bitmap
> icons underneath. MediaInfo whill only show as a context menu entry
> when I right click on a filetype that MediaInfo has registered as a
> handler candidate (there can be more than one per filetype). For
> example, there is no Shell subkey under the .png filetype defined in my
> registry, so MediaInfo won't show in the context menu when I right-click
> on a .png file. I think MediaInfo is really for media files (audio or
> video).
>
> I don't know if AVG is adding itself as a shell extension, or as a
> content menu entry. I'd have to have AVG installed, and then use
> Nirsoft's ShellExView or Shell Menu View to see which. There are
> context menu entries, and there are shell extensions that can show up in
> the context menu.
>
> For AVG, another user reported the missing icon for the shell extension
> in the context menu. Rather than have the user try to edit the .exe or
> .dll file defined as the handler for the shell extension, they suggested
> uninstalling and reinstalling AVG to see if its installer would add the
> appropriate handler to get its icon resource(s) used. Cryer already
> made that suggestion. You could try using Resource Hacker to add or
> manipulate the icon resources, like changing their indexing, but
> something like an AV program might be very sensitive to anything
> touching its files.
>
> https://support.avg.com/answers?id=9060N000000gdI1QAI
>
> That was your thread just over a year ago. It ended without noting a
> successful resolution. It wasn't just AVG that was missing a context
> menu icon, but several programs missing those icons. At the end, and
> without a resolution, the suggestion was to contact Windows support. Uh
> huh, sure, that'll work ... not. Did you get it fixed back then?

I have AVG installed under a Win7 system that I set up about 6 months
ago. It has its entry in the Context Menu, with icon.

I think I can see why David is eager to get the icon. It makes it far
easier and quicker to click on in the list you get presented with.

Either a re-install or a repair install would work.

Ed

On 10/28/2022 11:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>

Do you know if that product is still running ?

Like, if you request a function of it, does the
function perform, make the disk light blink and
so on ?

Paul

David E. Ross pretended :
> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.

Dave I saw where you requested help from AVG to no avail and just after
your search entry was another request for help of a similiar nature.
The following free fairly new context menu utility was recommended. It
appears and sounds interesting and just may help you out. The below
link is provided:

https://nilesoft.org/

Oddly enough the name of the program is just SHELL ver 1.7 (1.8 beta is
also available.)

Powerful context menu manager for Windows File Explorer

It's free and comes in portable and install, works on Windows 7 thru 11
64 and 86 systems

Hope this helps

--
Zo

UNFAIR: If life is unfair, why can't it be unfair in my favor?

On 29/10/2022 04:57, David E. Ross wrote:
>
> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.

However, you don't tell us *what* you tried!

I have no actual experience of this particular fault to go on, but I
wonder if this is related to corruption of the icon cache , which
happens occasionally and which I have seen in many versions of Windows.
You can force it to be rebuilt by following the instructions here:

https://neosmart.net/wiki/clear-icons-cache/#How_to_clear_the_icons_cache_in_Windows_7

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

Paul wrote:
> On 10/28/2022 11:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>
>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download.  I right-click, get a
>> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses".  That entry
>> in the context menu has no icon.  Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
>> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>>
>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons".  I saw one result that
>> seemed to answer my question.  However, it did not work.
>>
>
> Do you know if that product is still running ?
>
> Like, if you request a function of it, does the
> function perform, make the disk light blink and
> so on ?
>
>    Paul
>
It sure does.
Not only mill activity and intercommunication with Windows, but the AVG
prog displays a screen of "no virus found".
Ed

On 10/29/2022 11:19 AM, Java Jive wrote:
> On 29/10/2022 04:57, David E. Ross wrote:
>>
>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>
>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
>> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
>> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
>> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>>
>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
>> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>
> However, you don't tell us *what* you tried!

I tried "How to Add Icon to a Context Menu Item in Windows" at
<https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/add-icon-to-right-click-menu-windows-7/>.
However, I might have misunderstood the directions and will try again.

> I have no actual experience of this particular fault to go on, but I
> wonder if this is related to corruption of the icon cache , which
> happens occasionally and which I have seen in many versions of Windows.
> You can force it to be rebuilt by following the instructions here:
>
> https://neosmart.net/wiki/clear-icons-cache/#How_to_clear_the_icons_cache_in_Windows_7
>

I will try that now.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Beyond Meat and other such vegetarian meat substitutes
represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. Real
meat is natural. Beyond Meat is definitely not.

On 10/29/2022 3:40 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 10/29/2022 11:19 AM, Java Jive wrote:

[snipped]

>> I have no actual experience of this particular fault to go on, but I
>> wonder if this is related to corruption of the icon cache , which
>> happens occasionally and which I have seen in many versions of Windows.
>> You can force it to be rebuilt by following the instructions here:
>>
>> https://neosmart.net/wiki/clear-icons-cache/#How_to_clear_the_icons_cache_in_Windows_7
>>
>
> I will try that now.
>

I tried that, but it did not help. By the way, I used the Everything
search engine from <http://www.voidtools.com/> to find IconCache.db.
The resuls of an Everything search include hidden files and folders. It
actuall found two files named IconCache.db, and I deleted both without
solving my problem.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Beyond Meat and other such vegetarian meat substitutes
represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. Real
meat is natural. Beyond Meat is definitely not.

On Fri, 28 Oct 2022 20:57:30 -0700, David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>
> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>
> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.

Icon of a context menu item can only be added by a shell extension DLL, and
the icon is chosen programmatically by the DLL itself, instead of based on
registry setting - unless that shell extension specifically provide the
registry setting (which is vendor specific, and won't apply to all shell
extensions).

On 10/29/2022 6:33 PM, JJ wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Oct 2022 20:57:30 -0700, David E. Ross wrote:
>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>
>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
>> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
>> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
>> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>>
>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
>> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>
> Icon of a context menu item can only be added by a shell extension DLL, and
> the icon is chosen programmatically by the DLL itself, instead of based on
> registry setting - unless that shell extension specifically provide the
> registry setting (which is vendor specific, and won't apply to all shell
> extensions).
>

I put a new reply in the AVG forum about this. In it I pointed out that
I used the program ShellExView from Nirsoft at
[http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html] to open the data handler in
my Windows registry for AVG's entry in context menus. The data handler
registry entry contains a pointer to ashShell.dll, which does not
contain the AVG icon.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Beyond Meat and other such vegetarian meat substitutes
represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. Real
meat is natural. Beyond Meat is definitely not.

On 10/30/2022 12:05 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 10/29/2022 6:33 PM, JJ wrote:
>> On Fri, 28 Oct 2022 20:57:30 -0700, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>>
>>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download. I right-click, get a
>>> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses". That entry
>>> in the context menu has no icon. Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
>>> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>>>
>>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons". I saw one result that
>>> seemed to answer my question. However, it did not work.
>>
>> Icon of a context menu item can only be added by a shell extension DLL, and
>> the icon is chosen programmatically by the DLL itself, instead of based on
>> registry setting - unless that shell extension specifically provide the
>> registry setting (which is vendor specific, and won't apply to all shell
>> extensions).
>>
>
> I put a new reply in the AVG forum about this. In it I pointed out that
> I used the program ShellExView from Nirsoft at
> [http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html] to open the data handler in
> my Windows registry for AVG's entry in context menus. The data handler
> registry entry contains a pointer to ashShell.dll, which does not
> contain the AVG icon.
>

I think ashShell.dll gets the icon from

C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AvLaunch.exe\.rsrc\0\ICON\10.ico or similar

Just based on visual appearance.

AVG has color coded the icons a bit, so the "four flag" icon
they use, one of the corners is a different color for a
virus updater versus the AvLaunch tool.

It's even possible when you do a virus scan, that it is calling
AvLaunch or something.

The "Scan selected items for viruses", has to appear
for any files/filetypes the user has selected. Whereas
the VLC media player entries, they appeared in this case,
because something declared as a "movie type" is bound
to VLC as its "player". Even though VLC has bound to stupid
stuff like archive files, rather than .mp4, .avi and so on.
I specifically wanted a dynamic entry (I wanted VLC icon in
the picture), just so I could have icons over and above the
AVG ones showing.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/0NWDLSX6/AVG-icon-shellex.gif

The path then, that the icon for AVG takes, is just a bit
convoluted (ashShell grabs icon from AVLaunch). It could be
that this is (partially) a problem that AVG owns. I would
open AVLaunch.exe as in the picture and see if the icon entries
follow a similar pattern.

While it could be the size of the icon which is an issue,
I doubt the OS would be completely flummoxed by such a detail.
AVG has gone to a good deal of trouble, to put a variety of
icon sizes for that specific icon. The Master one could be
resized to make odd sizes.

Perhaps a scale change to the desktop (125%) could do that ?
A long shot I know. And unlikely. Another possibility, is the
computer has a HiDPI display and the OS is not handling it
properly.

Paul

On 10/30/2022 3:39 AM, Paul wrote:
> On 10/30/2022 12:05 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 10/29/2022 6:33 PM, JJ wrote:
>>> On Fri, 28 Oct 2022 20:57:30 -0700, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
>>>>
>>>> I use AVG Antivirus Free to scan files I download.  I right-click, get a
>>>> context menu, and select "Scan selected itesm for viruses".  That entry
>>>> in the context menu has no icon.  Is there a way to get an icon from AVG
>>>> in context menus without having to edit the menus for each file-type?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I did a Web search on "context menu icons".  I saw one result that
>>>> seemed to answer my question.  However, it did not work.
>>>
>>> Icon of a context menu item can only be added by a shell extension DLL, and
>>> the icon is chosen programmatically by the DLL itself, instead of based on
>>> registry setting - unless that shell extension specifically provide the
>>> registry setting (which is vendor specific, and won't apply to all shell
>>> extensions).
>>>
>>
>> I put a new reply in the AVG forum about this.  In it I pointed out that
>> I used the program ShellExView from Nirsoft at
>> [http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html] to open the data handler in
>> my Windows registry for AVG's entry in context menus.  The data handler
>> registry entry contains a pointer to ashShell.dll, which does not
>> contain the AVG icon.
>>
>
> I think ashShell.dll gets the icon from
>
>    C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AvLaunch.exe\.rsrc\0\ICON\10.ico   or similar
>
> Just based on visual appearance.

I tried to trace this with Procmon64, but I don't think the trace is
really complete. The trace is also noisy, with a lot of seeming unnecessary
system activity showing.

Paul

"David E. Ross" <nobody@notme.invalid> wrote:

> I used the program ShellExView from Nirsoft at
> [http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html] to open the data handler
> in my Windows registry for AVG's entry in context menus. The data
> handler registry entry contains a pointer to ashShell.dll, which does
> not contain the AVG icon.

What did you use to look inside ashShell.dll to see what icon resources
are defined within that file? I don't recall ShellExView showing
resources inside the shell extension handler, like icons.

To use a DLL, a calling process evokes a method (aka function aka entry
points) defined in the DLL, although there are DLLs with a DLLmain entry
point what will run a method when they are loaded. See:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dllmain

You sure the registry entry for the shell extension just points to
ashShell.dll? Or might it point at rundll32.exe that has ashShell.dll
specified as an argument (but that also needs to specify the name of the
method it is calling inside the DLL)? Go the the registry entry
defining the AVG shell extension, and copy the data item's value. While
dangerous, the only way I know of doing that is to double-click on the
data value (or right-click and select Modify) as though you are going to
edit it, instead just copy the entire string, and hit Esc to abort the
edit operation.

With Resource Hacker, I looked at rundll32.exe. It does have some icon
resources, but they are just icons showing a sheet of paper with a
folded over upper right corner, with some showing as white paper icons
and some showing as blueish paper icons, and they have different sizes
(to accomodate where they are used).

I don't have AVG to look in Resource Hacker what icon resources are
defined in the ashShell.dll file, if any, but I would expect the .dll to
be be called by something else that specifies which method to call
inside the DLL (libs usually have more than one method).

On 10/30/2022 8:45 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
> "David E. Ross" <nobody@notme.invalid> wrote:
>
>> I used the program ShellExView from Nirsoft at
>> [http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html] to open the data handler
>> in my Windows registry for AVG's entry in context menus. The data
>> handler registry entry contains a pointer to ashShell.dll, which does
>> not contain the AVG icon.
>
> What did you use to look inside ashShell.dll to see what icon resources
> are defined within that file? I don't recall ShellExView showing
> resources inside the shell extension handler, like icons.
>
> To use a DLL, a calling process evokes a method (aka function aka entry
> points) defined in the DLL, although there are DLLs with a DLLmain entry
> point what will run a method when they are loaded. See:
>
> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dllmain
>
> You sure the registry entry for the shell extension just points to
> ashShell.dll? Or might it point at rundll32.exe that has ashShell.dll
> specified as an argument (but that also needs to specify the name of the
> method it is calling inside the DLL)? Go the the registry entry
> defining the AVG shell extension, and copy the data item's value. While
> dangerous, the only way I know of doing that is to double-click on the
> data value (or right-click and select Modify) as though you are going to
> edit it, instead just copy the entire string, and hit Esc to abort the
> edit operation.
>
> With Resource Hacker, I looked at rundll32.exe. It does have some icon
> resources, but they are just icons showing a sheet of paper with a
> folded over upper right corner, with some showing as white paper icons
> and some showing as blueish paper icons, and they have different sizes
> (to accomodate where they are used).
>
> I don't have AVG to look in Resource Hacker what icon resources are
> defined in the ashShell.dll file, if any, but I would expect the .dll to
> be be called by something else that specifies which method to call
> inside the DLL (libs usually have more than one method).
>

To look for icons in ashShell.dll, I used both IconJack32.exe and
iconsext.exe. IconJack32.exe is old, and its source is no longer
available. I run it in Windows XP compatibility mode. I got
iconsext.exe from Nirsoft at
<http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html>. Both gave the same results.

When I ran ShellExView, it had two entries for AVG. One was for Context
Menu; the other was for Icon Overlay Handler. When I requested
ShellExView to "Open CLSID in RegEdit" for either of those two entries,
I got the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{472083B1-C522-11CF-8763-00608CC02F24}]

@="AVG"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{472083B1-C522-11CF-8763-00608CC02F24}\InProcServer32]

@="J:\\AVG\\ashShell.dll"

"ReleaseName"="J:\\AVG\\ashShell.dll"

"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

(Because of line-wrapping, I have inserted blank lines between each
RegEdit line.)

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Beyond Meat and other such vegetarian meat substitutes
represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. Real
meat is natural. Beyond Meat is definitely not.

"David E. Ross" <nobody@notme.invalid> wrote:

> When I ran ShellExView, it had two entries for AVG. One was for Context
> Menu; the other was for Icon Overlay Handler. When I requested
> ShellExView to "Open CLSID in RegEdit" for either of those two entries,
> I got the following:
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{472083B1-C522-11CF-8763-00608CC02F24}]
>
> @="AVG"
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{472083B1-C522-11CF-8763-00608CC02F24}\InProcServer32]
>
> @="J:\\AVG\\ashShell.dll"
>
> "ReleaseName"="J:\\AVG\\ashShell.dll"
>
> "ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
>
> (Because of line-wrapping, I have inserted blank lines between each
> RegEdit line.)

Okay, gotcha. Must be a DLLmain() inside of ashShell.dll. That it has
no icon resources is why you won't see an icon for its context menu
entry.

I wouldn't try to inject an icon resource to rebuild the DLL. Touching
those files could trigger AVG to alert on modification of its files.

I don't know if AVG supports a CLI (Command Line Interface); i.e., where
you can call an .exe, but with command-line arguments to perform
operations, like a scan on a file (which would be the %1 parameter to
the shell running the command). If it does, it might have a command
line argument for scanning a specified file or folder. You could export
the current registry key, and then insert something like:

avg.exe /scan "%1"

as the new string for the data item's value which would scan the passed
filespec. As I recall and have read, there was an ashCmd.exe (or maybe
avgscanx.exe) for a CLI to AVG, so maybe:

<path\>ashcmd.exe "%1"

would work. The double quotes are added just in case there is one, or
more, space characters in the filename. As for what ashcmd.exe returns,
I don't know. Could be it outputs a string showing success or failure
into stdout which means you may have to run:

cmd.exe /k <path\>ashcmd.exe "%1"

to open, and leave open, the command shell, so you can see the stdout
text; else, the console window would close before you could see the
stdout text. The problem is you probably would see the cmd.exe icon
instead of any inside of ashcmd.exe in the context menu.

If ashcmd.exe doesn't output anything, maybe it creates a logfile of the
scan, or an event you can see in Event Viewer. Then you'd have to try
chaining commands, like:

<path\>ashcmd.exe %1% > %temp%\ashcmdlog.txt > notepad.exe ashcmdlog.txt

To see whatever ashcmd pushed to stdout, or:

<path\>ashcmd.exe %1% & notepad.exe <logfile>

if ashcmd dumps out to a logfile. If all ashcmd.exe returns is a status
code (0 for not infected, non-zero for infected), I could maybe come up
with another command line to use for the data item's value in the
registry for what handler gets called by the shell extension, but first
I need to know if you even have ashcmd.exe, and what it might output.

The CLI might not be a feature in the personal edition of AVG. I've
seen mention it is included in the business/commercial edition. You
would have to check if they gave you ashcmd.exe in whatever edition you
have, and open a console shell (cmd.exe) to see what it outputs.

Basically you would be replacing the current shellex definition with one
of your own to call another AVG program that does a scan, and which has
icon resources inside of it. So, before starting any of the above,
you'll get nowhere unless whatever CLI tool included in AVG also have
icon resources, so check that first. If ashcmd.exe has icon resources,
then I'd run "ashcmd.exe /?" to see what command-line arguments can be
passed to it.