SpywareBlaster is stalling on me

[mikejmac]

Hi I've noticed that SpywareBlaster version 3.5.1 is stalling on me.

My version of Windows is 98SE. I also use Norton anti-virus 2005, a Zone Alarm firewall, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware and Moosoft Cleaner. I keep my definitions upgraded fairly regularly, well as much as possible without having Windows XP. My computer has a GenuineIntel Pentium(r) II Processor with 176MB of ram. I connect to the internet with cable high speed.

When I open SpywareBlaster to check for updates it stalls when trying to load the data for 'Mozilla/Firefox protection is enabled'. When I use Control/Alt/Delete is shows that SpywareBlaster is not responding.

Just a couple of days ago I upgraded to Mozilla Firefox version 2.0.0.6 then the next day to version 2.0.0.7. I had Firefox version 1.0.5.9 or something like that.

I looked in the KnowledgeBase and found 'Troubleshooting: SpywareBlaster didn't detect your Mozilla/Firefox profile'

This article - javacoolsoftware.info/kb/idx/7/073/article/

But I don't understand the Resolution in the article.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

[snowbound]

Hello,

are u using the latest version of SpyBot S&D(1.5)?

If so, take a look here,

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=185444



snowbound

[mikejmac]

Thanks snowbound

Yes I just updated to SpyBot S&D(1.5) the other day.

I'll be looking forward to the new version of SpywareBlaster.

I'm wondering if I'm protected now.

Should I disable SpyBot S&D(1.5) until the new version of SpywareBlaster comes out?

Thanks again
Mike

[snowbound]

{QUOTE->

Should I disable SpyBot S&D(1.5) until the new version of SpywareBlaster comes out?

Thanks again
Mike <-QUOTE}
Unless there is some kind of workaround and it was me, i would. Which is easy for me to say as i don't run SpyBot S&D anyway. ;) ;D

As Javacool said in the other thread, this issue is already fixed in the next version so hopefully it will be released soon.




snowbound

[mikejmac]

Well I uninstalled SpyBot but SpywareBlaster still stalls when trying to load the data for 'Mozilla/Firefox protection is enabled'. When I use Control/Alt/Delete it still shows that SpywareBlaster is not responding.

Am I even safe to be online now?

Mike

[snowbound]

Hmm... are u sure SpyBot S&D was completely uninstalled?

I haven't used SpyBot S&D in a long time but as i recall when u uninstall u need to undo the immunize protection first. Did u do that?



snowbound

[mikejmac]

To uninstall SpyBot S&D I used the uninstall button in my programs list then I used add/remove programs in my control panel.

No I did not undo the immunize protection first because I didn't realize that I had to.

What should I do now?

Mike

[MikeBCda]

Hi,

Standard procedure for this kind of thing (same as if you'd uninstalled Spyware Blaster without removing protection first) is to re-install SS&D, remove its protection, then uninstall again.

[mikejmac]

I just went to oldversion dot com to get back version 1.4 of SpyBot S&D.

SpyBot is working fine for me now.

I won't attempt to get SpyBot S&D version 1.5 until the new version of SpywareBlaster comes out.

But SpywareBlaster still stalls when trying to load the data for 'Mozilla/Firefox protection is enabled'. And when I use Control/Alt/Delete it still shows that SpywareBlaster is not responding.

It seems that my recent Mozilla Firefox update has more to do with SpywareBlaster stalling than SpyBot does, doesn't it?

How would I remove its protection if I decided to uninstall SpyBot S&D?

For that matter how would I remove its protection if I ever decided to uninstall SpywareBlaster?

Thanks
Mike

[mikejmac]

Okay from snowbound's post above I undid the immunize protection first then uninstalled SpyBot again.

But SpywareBlaster still stalls when trying to load the data for 'Mozilla/Firefox protection is enabled'. And when I use Control/Alt/Delete it still shows that SpywareBlaster is not responding.

Also when Control/Alt/Delete shows that SpywareBlaster is not responding sometimes it also shows that Ccapp is not responding, not all the time though. When I End Task for SpywareBlaster then check Control/Alt/Delete right after Ccapp does not show as not responding anymore. Ccapp is part of Norton anti-virus.

I just use Firefox anymore. I hardly ever use Internet Explorer. So am I protected at all from spyware now when I use Firefox?

Thanks
Mike

[snowbound]

{QUOTE-> So am I protected at all from spyware now when I use Firefox? <-QUOTE}
As for SWB, the answer would be no if it is showing zero protection enabled for Firefox...

Have u tried reinstalling SWB to see if that makes a difference?





snowbound

[mikejmac]

No I haven't yet snowbound.

Like MikeBCda says, should I remove its protection before uninstalling SWB?

If so how do I go about doing it?

Mike

[mikejmac]

I undid the immunization when I uninstalled SpyBot S&D but when I use Find it still finds 6 files, 4 in C:\Program Files and 2 in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data.

Could that be the reason why SpywareBlaster is still stalling?

If so can I just delete them from Find without causing a problem?

[snowbound]

As long as u disabled all the protection from Spybot before u uninstalled it should be fine.

As for SWB, just open the interface and disable all protection under Quick Tasks then uninstall, reinstall, enable all protection and post back with the results.



snowbound

[mikejmac]

{QUOTE-> As for SWB, the answer would be no if it is showing zero protection enabled for Firefox...

<-QUOTE}

Actually snowbound it doesn't even get that far to show zero protection enabled for Firefox.

It just continues to say Data Loading beside Firefox but the data never gets loaded. Then when I open Con/Alt/Del it tells me SWB is not responding.

[mikejmac]

{QUOTE-> As long as u disabled all the protection from Spybot before u uninstalled it should be fine.

As for SWB, just open the interface and disable all protection under Quick Tasks then uninstall, reinstall, enable all protection and post back with the results.

snowbound <-QUOTE}

Well I imagine Quick Tasks are in Tools but I can't go to Tools. In fact I can't go anywhere within SWB because SWB stops responding when it tries to load the data for Firefox. It's been this way since it started. I can't do anything with SWB.

[mikejmac]

{QUOTE-> I undid the immunization when I uninstalled SpyBot S&D but when I use Find it still finds 6 files, 4 in C:\Program Files and 2 in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data.

Could that be the reason why SpywareBlaster is still stalling?

If so can I just delete them from Find without causing a problem? <-QUOTE}

Actually I should have said there are 2 SpyBot folders and 4 files (2 .sbi files, 1 forum.dbx file & 1 .zip file) when I use Find. There's lots of files in the 2 folders too.

But oldversion dot com will not let me download SpyBot 1.4 any more. Probably because I have already done so from my IP address, I guess.

I was going to download SpyBot 1.4 again to see if there was anything else that I should have removed the protection for. But I can't.

Would there have been anything else that I should have removed the protection for in SpyBot besides undoing the immunize protection?

[Vietnam Vet]

mikejmac,

You said earlier that you re-installed 1.4 version of Spybot. In the next post, you said you removed the immunization and then removed Spybot again. It sounds as if you are saying you removed the immunization with the 1.4 version. Is that correct?

If so, that won't work as the 1.4 version does not have the Firefox immunization feature. You will have to re-install the 1.5 version and remove the immunization with that. You should be able to remove only the Firefox immunization with Spybot and hopefully that will get you back to a point where SpywareBlaster will work again. I do not use Firefox, so I cannot be more specific about the entries on the immunization page in Spybot.

The stalling problem is caused by the very large number of items that Spybot's immunization put into the Firefox hostperm.1 file. In theory, if you can remove them with the immunization undo in Spybot, you should be OK. From a personal point of view, I would remove all of the immunization and then redo the SpywareBlaster immunization and any other programs you may use that have an immunization feature. You should even be able to use Spybot's immunization as long as you don't enable the Firefox portion of the immunization.

HTH,
VV

[wolfie_the_real1]

Well the way i did it was to un-install Spybot 1.5 from add/remove then from the program files , did a search of all files for any remmants , deleted all references to spybot ,ran crapcleaner (far better than microsofts disk clean up), re-booted and re-installed 1.4 from www.download.com (CNET). Never had any issue's with undoing any immunise or anything , it should (as long as its not in use ) un-install cleanly , but you need to remove the program files , well thats what i did .

[mikejmac]

What Vietnam Vet suggested worked. Thanks, SWB is working fine for me now.

I guess I should have realized that I needed to undo the immunization from version 1.5 instead of 1.4. But when I originally updated SpyBot S&D to 1.5 I didn't immunize. Actually when I reinstalled it today I had to immunize before I undid the immunization protection. It took about 4 hours.

I run both SpyBot and AdAware when I was done. AdAware found 2 critical objects. That's good. I say that's good because at least I know Ad Aware is working. Cause since I have been using a Firefox browser SpyBot or AdAware never finds any spyware. A couple of years ago when I was just using Internet Explorer SpyBot or AdAware could find spyware any time of the day, every day. That's why I don't use Internet Explorer anymore.

SpyBot 1.5 sure takes a long time to load now. Does anyone know of a good alternative?

Thanks
Mike

[Bubba]

{QUOTE-> SpyBot 1.5 sure takes a long time to load now. Does anyone know of a good alternative? <-QUOTE}For proper discussion that topic would need to be continued in our other anti-malware software forum (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35) instead of the Spwareblaster dedicated forum.

Thanks,
Bubba

[Vietnam Vet]

Hello Mike,

You are welcome. Glad it worked for you.

As for the slow Spybot startup, if you want to follow Bubba's directions and start a thread in the proper location, there is a solution or alternative as you prefer.

Best wishes,
VV

[glnz]

mikejmac: Go to the Spybot forums. The Spybot team have posted a link to a .zip that upgrades Spybot from 1.5.15 to 1.5.16. This seems to fix all the slow loading problems in Spybot. However, it still leaves the new problem with SpywareBlaster. We hope the SpywareBlaster team will post a fix soon. I've been running all three of Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster for a few years on all the family PC's and haven't had a spyware problem in a long time. (We have everything from Win98SE to WinXPPro.)

[gunnut666]

Hi
I'm running win98.
I found that SB will eventually continue, 5 min +, even though the close program dialog says not responding.