Error - "Cannot establish a connection to download"

Hi, I have a persistant SpyWareBlaster v3.5.1 error that I hope someone can advise on:

When manually updating an existing installation or a new installation on a WinXP PC or laptop, I get the following error:

"Cannot establish a connection to download"
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After selecting "OK" there appears some very fast download activity (the green dotted progress bar), and then the following error:

"There was an error downloading the database files. Please make sure that SpyWareBlaster has access to the Internet, and that you have disabled any proxies or other filtering programs"
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After selecting "OK" the update may be reported as successful, and there may or may not be unprotected items for which protection can be enabled. Checking for updates again can produce the same error, until cycling through this process again and again until the errors stop.

• Can you explain why this is happening?
• Is anyone else experiencing this?

My PCs and laptops have all the latest WinXP updates applied and only run the WinXP firewall. SpyBot is also installed, and McAfee anti-virus version is Total Protection for Small Business. I connect directly to the Internet via a Netgear ADSL gateway and all other Internet apps and web sites work OK.

Help would be appreciated
G

 

Hi,

Could you please send an e-mail to bugreports@javacoolsoftware.com ?

In the e-mail, please include:
-A link to this thread
-Your username here on the forums
-The following files from your SpywareBlaster directory (by default, this is C:\Program Files\SpywareBlaster): sbdatabase.dtb, sbdatabase2.dtb, rsdatabase.dtb, ckdatabase.dtb (some may not be present)

Best regards and thanks,

-Javacool

 

Hi Javacool,

Did you receive the email I sent with the requested files?

Thanks
glennki

 

Hi,

Thanks - I did indeed receive the files.

Could you please try the following:
1.) Click on the Start Menu, and then Run...
2.) Type in "regedit" (without the quotes) and press Enter.
3.) Browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SpywareBlaster\Settings
4.) If either of the following values are present, right-click on them and delete them: DownloadMethod2, DownloadMethod3

Then close regedit, and try updating from within SpywareBlaster. (Please let me know what happens.)

If you have any questions about the above, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best regards and thanks,

-Javacool

 

Hi Javacool,

I check the reg before checking for updates, and had none of the 3 keys in the reg of either of 3 computers I emailed you about. But the error only occurs when there are new updates, and when I check for updates, there are new updates at present.

I guess it may only happen again when new updates are detected, and I try download them.

Do you know when new updates are due?

Thanks for trying to help
glennki

 

Hi javacool,

Further to my message above, I managed to download updates this morning on 2 of the 3 computers I had mentioned, but still got the same error messages as described above on the 3rd PC (Acer Travelmate C100 TabletPC with WinXP).

I checked the registry when the first error was displayed (before selecting OK), and there were none of the entries in the registry that you said I should look for. Same when the second error displayed. The update completed and when I checked the registry it was still the same as before.

Any ideas?

Thanks
glennki

 

Javacool - the problem appears to occur only when McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is installed. I have established a pattern after *numerous* re-installations of Windows XP. If I stop the McAfee services and Tray Icon before installing SpyWareBlaster and before downloading the updates, then there are no problems.

McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is a very simple version that cannot be configured. It simply checks for updates daily and checks for viruses. There's no explicitly blocking of any kind that can be specified.

So how does the download functionality in SpyWareBlaster work such that McAfee can interfere with the downloads? Ideally, the downloads should be working OK. I there perhaps something in the downloaded files that could be construed to be a virus?

Thanks
glennki

 

From what I'm reading regarding this program it's showing a Desktop Firewall in both it's normal version and Advanced version. Is there no where in the program to check if a firewall setting is different on the TabletPC compared to the 2 PC's that are working

 

Hi,

Thanks for the new information - I'll see if I can take a look myself to figure out exactly what's going on.

But as Bubba mentioned, it sounds like the firewall functionality in that product may be the culprit (although why, I haven't a clue).

Best regards,

-Javacool