Definitely giving it a try . Thanks for the info.

You don't need to completely disable your antivirus software. Just exempt the \program files\cakewalk tree from scans.

bitflipper
You don't need to completely disable your antivirus software. Just exempt the \program files\cakewalk tree from scans.

True, but as Windows 10 Defender will automatically start if no other AV is active there's no risk. Either way it would be good to track down the source of the '0 byte' error before I (and others) commit to installing the latest updates for Sonar Platinum and Unity. DLL meltdown seems a distinct possibly.

For me the latest version of Sonar is stable. This was the first update that didn't give me an error. It was 08 and 09 that showed " overloud.dll bla bla bla on the end of the update.   My Error seems to be different and might not have been the same issues as others,, just a coincidence. 
Still be nice if a few more check in. Guess they are not regular visitors and possibly only when they have a problem. 
 
And I don't think you need to re install Sonar, just overwrite the dll

I've been keeping current since rolling updates were instituted, and have never seen this problem. Nor, I believe, have the majority of users. That's why I'm reluctant to move CW installers to the top of the suspect list. Which is not to say they're not still in the lineup.
 
McAffee seems to be the prime suspect at this point. When rounding up suspects, you always start with those that have a sketchy record.

bitflipper
 McAffee seems to be the prime suspect at this point. When rounding up suspects, you always start with those that have a sketchy record.

It does seems very likely, I've just found these posts...
 
www.bleepingcomputer.com (McAfee AV Software)
'I have the same problem. It is affecting two applications: Memory-Map Navigator 6 and Miktex. I have Mcafee but not malwarebytes. It seems clear that Mcafee is silently destroying DLLs when they run'.

www.tenforums.com (McAfee AV Software)
'Last week I got "Bad Image" errors with Adobe Lightroom, the program had worked OK previously. Two .dll files were listed as corrupt and in Explorer both were shown has having 0 bytes size. Re-installation resolved the problem. Today I have had the same "bad image" error with Techsmith SnagIt'.

for av like mcafee, why not put the cakewalk folder hive in the "don't bother" list?

bitflipperexempt the \program files\cakewalk tree from scans.

^^^^this

I've just spoken to McAfee tech support. I passed on a non-exclusive list of programs that seem to be affected and they're investigating the issue.
 
In the meantime, following the good advice above seems to be the way to go.
 
 

So the critical poll question now is: has anybody been hit with this phenomenon who doesn't use McAfee?