Bittorrent Sync Logging Every Single Filename I See


Zmidponk

Recommended Posts

I have an extremely disturbing problem.  I have discovered a log file in the BitTorrent Sync program folder, named ShellExtIO.log, which appears to be logging the filename of every single file that appears on my screen.  I only discovered it because space was disappearing on my hard drive, and I managed to track it down to this log file, which was 900MB in size, and opened it to see what it was, and saw every single file I had looked at for the past 4 months neatly listed in here.  So I want answers to a few questions:

1)  What is the purpose of this logfile?

2)  Why can't I delete it (luckily, I can overwrite the file with an empty file of the same name, but I can't actually delete it, as Windows tells me that it's in use)?

3)  Why is this logfile not uninstalled with BitTorrent Sync, along with two .dll files, and is still logging away?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) logs the Shell extension for for folders where Selective Sync is on. Each file in such folders has an icon, that green tick and sync small icon on the folder, on it --> logged. 

2) cause they are registered in the system. You need to unregister ShellExtension.dll from AppData and ProgramFiles, and perhaps delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\BitTorrent Sync\EnableOverlay key from registry. Note - all icons will be removed. To unregister use command "regsvr32 /u path to dll" 

3) Did the icons remain on the files after uninstalling Sync? We will fix that and remove the log after uninstallation. So far, please try what's mentioned in 2). 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Helen said:

1) logs the Shell extension for for folders where Selective Sync is on. Each file in such folders has an icon, that green tick and sync small icon on the folder, on it --> logged. 

Do you mean that this file should only log the files I have chosen to sync?  If so, it doesn't.  It actually logs every single file and folder that so much as appears on my screen in Windows, even with BitTorrent Sync totally shut down or even uninstalled completely.  If you mean it logs every single file/folder where the option to sync is added to the right-click menu, then that's a potential privacy issue, as, from what I can see, by default, that's everything that so much as is displayed on-screen, and it doesn't give people confidence that you respect their privacy when a bit of your software logs this, even if that logfile does nothing more than sit on the hard drive steadily getting bigger.

2 hours ago, Helen said:

2) cause they are registered in the system. You need to unregister ShellExtension.dll from AppData and ProgramFiles, and perhaps delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\BitTorrent Sync\EnableOverlay key from registry. Note - all icons will be removed. To unregister use command "regsvr32 /u path to dll" 

3) Did the icons remain on the files after uninstalling Sync? We will fix that and remove the log after uninstallation. So far, please try what's mentioned in 2). 

 

If you mean the icons and options added to the right-click menu, they did actually disappear when I uninstalled BitTorrent Sync, but the logfile kept logging.  However, your instructions appear to work and allow me to delete the logfile and the two .dll files, and, so far, there is no hint of them reappearing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me, it doesn't seem useful to create this log file.  IF nobody else has access to it, and hopefully that is truly the case, then there's no point to creating the log file in the first place.  Remember, the original poster found the file when trying to find out where disk space was going.  If it isn't necessary to create this log file, please configure a future release of Sync such that no logging takes place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 4/5/2016 at 9:48 AM, Helen said:

We'll reconsider. Thanks! 

Do more than that. Give an option in settings to turn it off permanently.

 

I've been watching my computer stutter for some time, and it occurred to me to look at disk usage on the c: partition. I fired up WinDirStat and what do I see? By far the biggest block is a single file: ShellExtO.log. It consumed 25 GB. And it vigorously resisted being deleted.

 

Are you insane? My C: partition is a small SSD that I use to contain ONLY OS files. That single log file was consuming about 1/4 of the space on C:, limiting space for a swap file, and therefore crippling my system performance. There are no legitimate circumstances under which this should happen. I was pretty happy with Sync until this BS showed up.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Even though Resilio Sync limits the file size to 100M, the extensions still write to it at a rate of 1 Kbps. This is excessively high. It causes my mouse to stutter/lag and consumes far too much drive bandwidth. Moreover, it's all for nothing since this log file isn't requested by Resilio's support. As far as I can tell, this file and its information is useless.

https://help.resilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/206664730-Collecting-debug-logs-

Disabling the Resilio shell extensions is not a reasonable solution, not only because most users won't even discover the issue, but also because that eliminates features of Resilio. The correct solution is for Resilio's extensions to stop this unnecessary logging.

Resilio Sync 2.6.1 (1319(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.