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I've recently had a problem, I wonder if anyone can help. Upon start up for the first time, I am not fully booting up, it stops half way through, sometimes with no cursor, and I have to start over. A few times before I had to start in safe mode, then restart. Could it be the hard drive failing? I had this changed just a few years ago, so I would have thought it would be OK.
Usually when it fails I just have the McAfee icon start up at the right hand bottom by the clock, and a few icons over by START, and a blue screen. No cursor. Almost as though the boot up order or something isn't working.
I did a thorough scan disc and found no errors.
This morning it failed, but was Ok on stopping and starting again (not from safe mode this morning).The only recent things I have done is to update spybot S&D to 1.6. There was a problem with that, but it seems OK now. The other is that I took some advice from this page http://users.adelphia.net/~jgulley/...
Stopped taskmonitor at the start up (unless I had clicked on the wrong one of course! But I'm reasonably sure I didn't),
which I have now undone, it seemed to play up from that point. I have undone that advice. maybe it has damaged something.
Both those above things were done last weekend, around the time it all started.
Any ideas, or things I can look for?I have Windows ME.
EDIT...further to this, sometimes when it does start OK (like this lunchtime) I get the 'you are using selective start up to troubleshoot etc' dialog box, which I have to tick the 'OK, don't show this anymore, box'. It still comes on though, in spite of that. As if it thinks I've just made a change and restarted.
More..started OK the second time this morning again, like it need to warm up or something. Initially just the blue screen, a few icons and no cursor, so I do a button shut down, restart, and it's fine. Seems to run OK once going (some minor niggles, but then it is getting on, and probably a bit bogged down now).If I ever get a replacement, like XP, how easy is it to transfer everything, emails, folders, games etc from one to the other?
Or, would a portable hard drive be able to transfer all that stuff from one to the other?
Mind you, I'd rather sort the problem out if it's going to persist!
Sorry this is a bit of a read, but I thought the more info, the better!
You should probably run scandisk again and do a surface scan.
The selective startup box shows after you've made changes in the 'startup' tab when you run msconfig. It's odd it would show up if you haven't made any changes there. You may want to check those startup items and temporarily disable some and see if that has any affect. But it sounds more like a hardware problem.
As far as transferring files to XP: If you upgrade from ME to XP all your files should remain intact. If you install XP on a separate drive you can transfer all the data files you can find. Most will probably be in your My Documents folder. If it takes special software to access those files then you'd need to install that software on the XP drive.
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I just looked, and I do have rather a lot of things starting up. Most of them might not be necessary. I'm might look into which are needed and which have simply loaded themselves to start up, I seem to have keyboard manager twice in the list, with the same program name, which is odd. Maybe that is messing it up.
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If you're unsure about anything there, google the file name and see what the returns say about it. If there aren't any returns it's probably malware. They often change their file names to avoid detection.
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Well this is getting no better. The thing is, I use the PC in my business as well, to register work.
I had loads of go's at starting it yesterday (kept stopping half way through boot up, and freezing with no cursor), finally used Safe mode to start, then at advice from someone, removed a number of un-needed start up entries. After that it started. However, this morning it started on the second try, so it's not cured. But today and yesterday, the emails took ages to come in, like 5 in 15 minutes, so I had to give up. I know they're scanned by McAfee, and always a little slower, but this was a lot slower. With all the nonsense and Spam I get, it would be on all day just for emails at this rate. I've had to stop at 4 emails as there's stuff I need to do on the pC, so there's 200 (mostly Spam) waiting to come in!I did a standard scan disc, and it failed (whilst I was out) due to constant restarts. The last time this happened, years ago, was due to spyware runnijg in the background, which I solved with Spybot. So I did a spybot scan, and it was clear, I did a Virus scan and it was clear. I did a standard scan disc from safe mode, and it was OK. I think there is a program (not a virus or error) running that is causing the problem. Maybe I should uninstall Spybot (upgraded to 1.6 at the weekend) and see if it sorts it out. I did have a problem with it initially when I upgraded.
Any ideas?
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There's always going to be something running in the background. That's why if you have the restart problem with scandisk or defrag it's best to run them in safe mode.
You can also run hijackthis. I think you need an older version to run with ME. Here's a link to one that'll work:
http://www.avantekservices.com/down...
It'll give a better idea of what's running. Don't use it to remove any of the items unless you're sure you want them gone.
Don't post its log here. If you want it analyzed, a link will show in the warning message that shows anytime you use the word 'hijackthis' in a posting. The analyzer is not perfect so don't remove anything unless you're sure.
Most of the time anti virus software is necessary but they really slow down a system. If you can temporarily disable its loading you can see if that makes any difference.
Here's a list of items that could appear in MSCONFIG--STARTUP, their function and whether they can safely be unchecked:
http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Un...
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OK, never done a hijackthis, what do I actually do, or what will I get when I click on the link? Do I get a list of running processes or something? and what do I do with that list? (I've seen these lists at other places). I just wondered if there's anything I should know.
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Clicking on the link will open the site that has the hijackthis file. Then double click on the file to download it.
You may want to create a folder named 'hijackthis' and download the file there. After it's downloaded just double click on it to run it. It'll ask if you want to do the scan with a logfile or without one. If you choose the logfile option then you can have the analyzer take a look at it. Then it'll open a page showing everything that's running or attempting to run. It's virtually impossible to delete something accidently and hijackthis creates a backup anyway.
The file name of any item you're unsure about can be googled for more info.
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I did a thorough scan disc this morning again, it found errors and fixed. Then refused to start again. I re-started in Safe mode, then for some reason I suddenly decided to do a standard scan disc, it again found errors and fixed. It wouldn't restart. Next try, I allowed it to do its own scan disc following a button (Hard) shut down (I had been cancelling them) and it actually started, a bit slow at starting and seemed to be doing an awful lot. The hard drive being accessed light was still flickering well after the screen was up and running. There seems to be processes happening behind the scenes. It does seem to have all started this last weekend when I upgraded Spybot, and changed the startup list. But even though I corrected the startup list (and have since agauin removed a number if items), nothing has changed.
I've taken the email scan for McAfee temporarily off, as then the emails fly in. Either McAfee is playing up, or the error is not allowing McAfee to work corectly. When it is on for scanning emails, they take a huge amount of time, a lot longer than usual.
Just glad I'm able to use it at the moment, as I had some paperwork to do.
Ordinary running, once it's going, is OK, letters etc and the internet.
I can't help wondering if something is messing up the startup order or using a lot of memory at that point and causing it to fail. The cursor disappearing is usually the first sign that it's not going to make it any further.
Maybe I should call someone out.
Here's a question, if I were to get one of these portable hard drives (which amaze me, as they have huge memory compared to what my own PC has from when I bought it), would I be able to load lots of stuff on it, even my outlook express and other actual programs, do a clean sweep of the PC and reload ME from the disc. Then load them all back in? That's scanner, printer and everything? Or wouldn't it be that easy?I'm almost scared to turn it off tonight!
EDIT. This morning took three tries, one failed, froze up, blue screen only, with no cursor. I did a Hard (Button method) shut down as there's no cursor. Allowed it to scan disc (which it does automatically after a hard shutdown), and it started. The McAfee icon was black, so I knew I had to restart (this is something that often happens with McAfee after a Hard shutdown), and luckily, it started OK. What a relief.
I'll look at the Hijackthis thing later.
I'm really lost on this, no idea how to proceed.
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I don't have my ME machine hooked up right now but isn't there a system monitor that shows the cpu usage?
If scandisk is finding problems you may have corrupted files especially if you're doing a surface scan and it's finding bad spots in the file area.
You could transfer data files to an external drive and then copy them back after a fresh installation. Given the unknown causes of the problems you're having it's probably not a good idea to do a complete backup. The external drive probably shouldn't be larger than about 128 gig as ME may not see it correctly. If you have the restore disks for your computer you could reinstall all the original stuff that way.
I still can't be sure if you have a hardware or software problem. If it's freezing up before the OS even starts to load I'd think a hardware problem must be part of it. See what hijackthis shows but it might be a good idea to start getting your important files off of it, either on cd-r or another drive.
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Thank you for answering.
I doesn't freeze up before the OS starts, I have a number of launch icons, and usually (though not always, and if it hasn't managed to load before failing) the McAfee launch icon in the tool bar at the bottom, on the same section as the Start button. Then a blue main screen with none of the icons on, my Docs, my computer, etc, and no cursor.I seem to have found a pattern for starting.
It goes like this.
Normsal morning Start, and fails, as above.
Hard shutdown (because of no cursor).
Restart, allow it to do it's automatic scandisc, which it does after a hard shutdown. It then often does start.
The usual thing then (and this has nothing to do with the original problem, and is something that always happens after a hard shutdown) the McAfee icon is black. So I do a restart, it comes on, and all is well.This seems to be the routine for getting it going. Though before I removed a number of unecessary startup items, it was taking ages, sometimes wouldn't go for 8 attmpts. Removing some, and using the above method seems to work. This is why I think there's a error in the startup, or something that starts is upsetting the sequence.
Does Spybot search and destroy have an on access scanner, anyone know? Maybe that's loading at startup, and messing things up. I have just upgraded spybot from 1.5 to 1.6. It does use a lot of resources.
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The older version of spybot that I sometimes used had an option during setup to run in the background and do some scans. It's been awhile since I've used it but if there's any question about it you should be able to disable it in msconfig. The more stuff you can temporarily disable in msconfig, the better idea you'll have on what's causing the problem. Especially disable the Mcafee stuff. In msconfig uncheck 'process autoexec.bat'. Usually antivirus software will start a scan from there.
Bad ram can sometimes cause scandisk or scanreg to come up at bootup. But if scandisk is only starting after you do the hard shutdown then your ram should be good.
Go ahead and run hijackthis and post the log back here. That way I can see it for myself.
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OK. I assume it's OK to post it here.
I'll be honest, I'd used a hijackthis program as suggested by someone elsewhere. I hope this is OK. I have had no luck yet.
Description and list follows:It is a startup problem. The PC has Windows ME, 256Mb RAM, 30Gb hard drive.
It is failing to start up in the mornings, I recently upgraded Spybot S&D from 1.5 to 1.6, and this started at around the same time. I do have some problems with spybot, as it uses a lot of resources. I don't know if Spybot has an on access scanner, which might be messing up the start up sequence or using too much memory?
I have a hijackthis list which I was suggested to post, I'll also show which programs are on the startup list as a separate list. I can't help thinking that most of the problems are to do with the start up sequence. I wonder if something is messing up the startup order or using a lot of memory at that point and causing it to fail. The cursor disappearing is usually the first sign that it's not going to make it any further. Then I have to do a Hard shutdown.
I've found a sort of workaround to the problem, but it is not foolproof.
It is this,
Normal morning Start, and it fails.
Hard shutdown (because of no cursor).
Restart, allow it to do it's automatic scandisc, which it does after a hard shutdown. It then often does start.
The usual thing then (and this has nothing to do with the original problem, and is something that always happens after a hard shutdown) the McAfee icon is black. So I do a restart, it comes on, and all is well.
This seems to be the routine for getting it going. Though before I removed a number of unecessary startup items (there are still quitea few now), it was taking ages, sometimes wouldn't go for 8 attempts. Removing some, and using the above method seems to work. This is why I think there's a error in the startup, or something that starts is upsetting the sequence.Here is my Hijackthis list, following that is the list of items that run at startup.
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 11:55:12, on 31/08/2008
Platform: Windows ME (Win9x 4.90.3000)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)
Boot mode: NormalRunning processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\ONE-TOUCH MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD\MMKEYBD.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\MCSHLD9X.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB918547\KB918547.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\OASCLNT.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\ONE-TOUCH MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD\KEYBDMGR.exe
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\ONSCREEN DISPLAY\OSD.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\STMGR.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\MCVSSHLD.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\MCVSESCN.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\ONE-TOUCH MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD\MMUSBKB2.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\HPSYSDRV.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\MCAGENT.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\PERSONAL FIREWALL\MPFTRAY.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\MCTSKSHD.exe
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.exe
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\THOMSON\SPEEDTOUCH USB\DRAGDIAG.exe
C:\WINDOWS\RunDLL.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\PERSONAL FIREWALL\MPFAGENT.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.exe
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PSTORES.exe
C:\MY DOCUMENTS\HJT\HIJACKTHIS.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\WINMGMT.exeR1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/iesearch/d...
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.co.uk/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,ShellNext = http://hp.my.yahoo.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by Wanadoo
F1 - win.ini: run=hpfsched
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 6.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.DLL
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHELPER.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\MCVSSHL.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPScanPatch] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\HPScanFix.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpsysdrv] c:\windows\system\hpsysdrv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Delay] C:\WINDOWS\delayrun.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\mcagent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\MCUPDATE.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MPFExe] C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\PERSON~1\MpfTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCTskShd] C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\mctskshd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VSOCheckTask] "C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\VSO\MCMNHDLR.exe" /checktask
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SpeedTouch USB Diagnostics] "C:\Program Files\Thomson\SpeedTouch USB\Dragdiag.exe" /icon
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [*StateMgr] C:\WINDOWS\System\Restore\StateMgr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Keyboard Manager] C:\Program Files\Netropa\One-touch Multimedia Keyboard\MMKeybd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [KB891711] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [StillImageMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [McShld9x] C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\mcshld9x.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [KB918547] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB918547\KB918547.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Felix] C:\Program Files\ScreenMates\FELIX1.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Taskbar Display Controls] RunDLL deskcp16.dll,QUICKRES_RUNDLLENTRY
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [Felix] C:\Program Files\ScreenMates\FELIX1.exe (User 'Default user')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [Taskbar Display Controls] RunDLL deskcp16.dll,QUICKRES_RUNDLLENTRY (User 'Default user')
O8 - Extra context menu item: Search with Wanadoo - res://C:\PROGRA~1\WANADOO\WSBAR\WSBAR.DLL/VSearch.htm
O9 - Extra button: Related - {c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a} - C:\WINDOWS\web\related.htm
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links - {c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a} - C:\WINDOWS\web\related.htm
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHELPER.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHELPER.DLL
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.wanadoo.co.uk
O16 - DPF: {4ED9DDF0-7479-4BBE-9335-5A1EDB1D8A21} (McAfee.com Operating System Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/s...
O16 - DPF: {BCC0FF27-31D9-4614-A68E-C18E1ADA4389} (DwnldGroupMgr Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/s...
O16 - DPF: {CE3409C4-9E26-4F8E-83E4-778498F9E7B4} (PB_Uploader Class) - http://static.photobox.co.uk/sg/com...
O16 - DPF: {EF791A6B-FC12-4C68-99EF-FB9E207A39E6} (McFreeScan Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/i...
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?lin...
O16 - DPF: {5F0C30E4-1E72-4DCC-85E5-57810F1CA97B} (McUpdatePortalFactory Class) - http://www.amiuptodate.com/vsc/bin/...
O16 - DPF: {78AEEDE8-7345-4FB5-A8FE-4BFF16EF25FC} (McAfee Virtual Technician Control Class) - http://mvt.mcafee.com/mvt/cab/mvt.cab
O16 - DPF: {200B3EE9-7242-4EFD-B1E4-D97EE825BA53} (VerifyGMN Class) - http://h20270.www2.hp.com/ediags/gm...
O16 - DPF: {CC05BC12-2AA2-4AC7-AC81-0E40F83B1ADF} (Live365Player Class) - http://www.live365.com/players/play...
O16 - DPF: {A18962F6-E6ED-40B1-97C9-1FB36F38BFA8} (Aurigma Image Uploader 3.5 Control) - http://submit.shutterstock.com/Imag...
O16 - DPF: {5C6698D9-7BE4-4122-8EC5-291D84DBD4A0} (Facebook Photo Uploader 4 Control) - http://upload.facebook.com/controls...
O16 - DPF: {D6E7CFB5-C074-4D1C-B647-663D1A8D96BF} (Facebook Photo Uploader 4) - http://upload.facebook.com/controls...
O16 - DPF: {BA3BAF69-72B1-4BCE-BE96-A4D304EAFBB4} (PhotoBox uploader) - http://assets.photobox.com/assets/a...--
End of file - 6740 bytesThis is a list of the startup items ticked from that list.
Felix FELIX.exe
Tasbar Display Controls
System Tray
HPScanPatch
hpsysdrv
Delay
MCAgentExe
MCUpdateExe
MPFExe
MCTskShd
VSOCheckTask
TaskMonitor
LoadQM
SpeedTouch USB Diagnostics
QuickTime Task
SchedulingAgent
*StateMgr
Keyboard Manager
KB891711
StillImageMonitor
McShld9x
KB918547
run=Do you think I should uninstall Spybot?
Once I have the PC going it seems OK, a little more buggy than usual, but usable for letters and the internet.
I have had to disable McAfee's incoming emails scan, as suddenly that is taking a lot longer than usual. I had 4 ordinary emails take nearly 15minutes. With all the Spam and nonsense I get, it would need to be on all day just for eamils at that rate.Hope someone can make something of this.
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There sure is a lot of mcafee stuff running but I guess that's to be expected. I don't see an obvious problem with the log. There's not much info on that felix1.exe file. Is it some kind of desktop modification?
I'd go ahead and uninstall spybot since this seems to have started with its upgrade. It might be conflicting with something mcafee is doing. You can always reinstall it if necessary.
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Oh well, I did that, and it's made no difference.
Strange that the PC will start OK once it's done it's own scandisc after a hard shutdown, following the usual first failure to start.
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Here's the routine, I've kind of got a workaround to the problem. As I mentioned above.
Start in the morning, and it fails with no cursor, and some launch icons at the bottom. Blue screen with no program icons on.
So I do a hard shutdown. Then start it again.
This time I let it run it's scandisc, which it doeas automatically after a hard shutdown. It then starts OK.
Usually McAfee icon is black, this is something it's always done after a hard shutdown and restart, so I do a normal restart (Start-Shutdown-restart). It then starts, and the whole thing is OK, McAfee is red, meaning active. It runs OK, a little buggier than usual, but usable.Strange that doing it's own scandisc will alow it to restart. Once I close down for the night, I have to go through the whole process again the next morning.
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When scandisk runs after the hard shutdown does it find any errors? If so, what are they?
You might want to run memtest:
and see if it finds a problem with your ram. I'm not sure which of those downloads would be best. You may want an older version. The iso downloads are to create a bootable cd. The floppy downloads of course are for floppy disks.
The timing of the problem suggests its software but the symptoms could be hardware. I'd still suggest you temporarily disable everything related to mcafee in msconfig--startup and disable the loading of autoexec.bat just to see if that makes a difference.
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The problem is that the scandisc after a hard shutdown doesn't give any results, it's an automatic process. It just does it, and as I have the fix problems box ticked, I assume it fixes them. Then the PC goes straight into my login box.
Now, here's something hopeful. This morning, for the first time in one and a half weeks, it started on the first go.
A little slow maybe, there is a lot going on it seems.
The only thing I have done, is to temporarily uninstall Spybot S&D. I notice that Teatimer from Spybot, is still in the startup list (even though I have removed the program), it is unticked though.Another interesting thing, I have had two messages from Spybot support (as I kind of wondered if the problem was there, or a conflict with McAfee), one saying to download another version of teatimer, and another from someone else to disable the teatimer.
I might be getting my hopes up, and this is just a coincidence, a lucky fluke. But I'll see tomorrow morning what happens.
I still haven't got McAfee scanning incoming emails, I suppose that's the next thing I should think of re-enabling.
Maybe I should not have Spybot anymore, which is a shame, as I liked the program.
EDIT. No, looks like I may have been being hopeful. I tried to do a McAfee update, but it failed due to system errors. So I had to got through the usual restart set up as before, first one failed, then let it scan, then it started, then restart again to allow McAfee to load as active.
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Maybe your mcafee is corrupted. Is it possible to uninstall it and then reinstall?
But in general, you might be overdoing it by having both mcafee and spybot. It took a while before the major antivirus people started including malware detection in their software. But I think they all do now so spybot is probably redundant and may clash if it's running in the background. I personally don't use any antivirus software and only do occasional scans for malware using adaware or hijackthis.
That's not necessarily what I'd recommend for anyone else. But I know what files are supposed to be on my computer and if a new one shows up in windows or windows\system or windows\temp I will, at the very least, google it and see what it's for. I just posted in the security and virus forum about a minor malware problem I found on one of my computers.
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What you've said does sound likely. I had just done a reinstall of McAfee when I read your message.
I've just got to find a way of removing the teatimer part of Spybot, and any associated files from the Programs. I think it is the teatimer part that causes the problems, from what I've read on some sites by doing a Google search, and according to the way Spybot support have replied.
Have to see how it goes. Interesting that there was a no problems start first thing this morning though.
You're brave, not having a virusscanner, but I suppose if you know what to look for and how to get rid of it, it doesn't matter.
See what happens tomorrow. Thanks for your advice so far.
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You should be able to go into add/remove programs and uninstall all of spybot. Or you may be able to go into its settings and disable that process.
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The thing is, I have uninstalled Spybot. But still the teatimer shows (though unticked) on the startup list. I get the impression, from the Spybot website (I must look at it again) that not all of Spybot is uninstalled when you do a normal uninstallation. The files or something, and maybe the parts that have adjusted your browser for immusisation purposes, are still there. I think there is a method of removal. I'll look into it.
Still not right, though my workaround is getting me by for now.
I'm tempted to remove McAfee for a day, then see if it starts up OK the next morning (without using the internet on unknown sites, of course).The other problem is, I have no restore points from before the problem occurred, so that idea is out.
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If you've uninstalled spybot but parts of it still show in the startup list you should be able to remove them with hijackthis.
Yeah, it might be a good idea to remove mcafee for awhile and see what happens. It doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere.
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This is still not right.
Weirdly, it was starting OK for a day or two, and I thought it had somehow sorted itself out. Then at the weekend I did a defrag, I did notice one or two damaged or bad files as it was doing so, not a lot, but I wasn't sitting there watching it all the time.
Since the defrag, it has gone bad again.
The start up procedure was a nightmare this morning. I finally (after loads of tries at my original workaround method) started in Safe mode, did a standard scan disc, fixed errors, and it was OK.I know it's going to fail as soon as the start control bar comes up, then the McAfee icon first, then sometimes the cursor just disappears, and sometimes the programme icons come on the screen and then the cursor disappears. That's it then. I have to do a hard shutdown. (If McAfee doesn't come up first, just the volume icon and screen colour icon first, its usually going to be OK)
On restart it does an automatic scan disc, then as my password comes up, this morning I had this:
An exception has occurred at 0028:C000E8BC in VxD VMM(01)+0000D8BC thiswas called from 0028:C004AC9F in VXD VFAT(01)+0000B23F.
It may be possible to continue normally.In my case it wasn't possible, so as mentioned above, I did a hard shut down, started in safe mode, scandisc, and it was OK. So that might have just been a glitch, though it did the same a week ago, again, after doing its auto scandisc following a hard shutdown.
I read somewhere that I might be able to disable all the startup items, then keep restarting with one item at a time put back on to troubleshoot the problem, is that correct? Will it still start up with them all disabled? What will I get on the screen?
I still haven't uninstalled McAfee yet, to see if that is causing the problem (It does [/i]seem[i] to revolve around what point McAfee comes on in the startup procedure) . I'm trying to find out if I will be able to re-install it afterwards, I should think so, as it was bought as a download on a subscription. But I need to be sure.
Should I maybe just disable McAfees startup programmes? Then see how it is?
Any ideas?
Gary
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If there's any question that mcafee is the problem I would totally uninstall it and leave it uninstalled until the matter is sorted out.
Remember, if scandisk finds problems, depending one what they are, you may have a problem with ram or the hard drive.
You can disable the startup items by running msconfig and clicking 'startup'. You can uncheck items there to keep them from running on startup. Sometimes even an unchecked item will load because it's being called from somewhere else. It may then make another entry in msconfig. So you'll have 2 of the same, one checked and one not. If that happens don't worry about it. You'll just have to let it load.
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I'll give it a go. I assume then that anything I uncheck that is actually needed to load will simply load anyway. That also might explain why I have two entries for keyboard manager. I had unchecked it before.
If everything is unchecked, I will be able to go back to MSCONFIG won't I? Obviouisly I don't want to get kind of locked out of the PC by not letting things run. Is it OK to uncheck everything?
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Yeah, unchecking everything won't affect your ability to run msconfig. By default windows will have 5 or 6 items there like power options, registry backup, etc. but unchecking them won't affect windows loading. The files windows needs in order to work don't show in msconfig.
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