Problem with automatic updates

I have subscribed to the automatic update service.

It does not appear to be updating automatically as it should, though I have that setting enabled. This is because when I click on the update button (to test if the setting works), sometimes it updates. I would have thought this would not happen if the automatic process worked, which I have to set to be performed on startup.

I notice that when I go onto the automatic screen, the button defaults to 'disabled' and I have to re-enable it every time. If I exit with it disabled, I get a prompt to change it, so I have always assumed the 'enabled' setting will work. So I change it to 'enabled' before I exit.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

Hi keithb,

There could be several reasons why the automatic updates feature isn't working properly, example your anti-virus might be blocking the download or your firewall, etc, though I am not sure why, or what is causing the auto update button to become disabled.

Could you please read through this thread and see if any of the suggestions there are of help:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=41126

You can also try the manual update method found here:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=12266

Please post back and let us know if the above helps to resolve the problem.

Regards,

snap

 

Thanks for that, I've read through the thread and the only thing I could think of would have been Norton Internet Security. However I am having no trouble with manual downloads. I can't tell if it has put a block on automatic as the details of blocked applications only contain ISP addresses, so I can't tell if one of them is SB. However I doubt this is the problem.

My SB settings were to alert me when updates are available, though I have also used the automatic update process. In either case it doesn't seem to work.

I have PAID MONEY for this.

Someone should look into why the button is defaulting to Disabled, or whether there is a way of telling if indeed it is enabled eg in the Windows registry. This would eliminate that as a possibility.

It seems I should resort to manually updating, as other users in the thread have found.

Thanks

 

Hi,

That certainly shouldn't be happening.

Do you have any security programs that might be preventing registry changes or additions to startup entries? What other resident anti-spyware, security, or firewall programs are you running? And what version of Windows are you running? (If it's XP, are you running from an Administrator account?)

Also, to check whether or not the Run entry is properly in the registry (which I suspect it may not be), you can do the following:
1.) Click on "Start" and then "Run..."
2.) Type "msconfig" (without the quotes) and press enter.
3.) Click on the "Startup" tab.

There should be an item there with the name "SBAutoUpdate". If it isn't, it looks like something is preventing SpywareBlaster AutoUpdate from writing its autostart entry.

Best regards,

-Javacool

 

I am running Windows XP Professional with full administrative rights (I am the only user). I checked the msconfig and there is no SB auto entry there.

I am using HijackThis, AdAware SE Plus,Bazooka and Spybot. I had been running SpyDoctor but I was having problems with it..where it deleted certain spyware items, SB kept reporting them as still there (or perhaps it was the other way around). So I uninstalled SpyDoctor. I just now manually deleted certain registry entries pertaining to it that the uninstaller failed to remove, however some of these entries, including an entry in msconfig's startup list, keep rewriting themselves back into the registry. It happens even when I uncheck it in that list. Various registry cleanup programs don't remove it either.

How it can possibly do that is beyond me. It is presumably treating other spyware programs as spyware in themselves. I've know AdAware to do this, even to itself.

Now, I don't know if that's what is causing SB not to load automatically, but at no stage has the SB auto entry ever appeared in the msconfig startup list.

Is there a way of manually entering that into the registry?

Thanks again

Keith

 

Further to the above, I think I've solved this problem.

When I used the RegEdit to find entries for SpyDoctor, I had initially used it in normal Windows mode. So I decided to try it all again in Safe mode.

It was then that I found that RegEdit had failed to delete 4 keys in a subdirectory of the Msconfig startup folder. I manually deleted these.

I re-ran the regedit to make sure all else relating to SpyDoctor had been removed.

Then, still in safe mode, I activated the enable autoupdate function in SB.

I then checked the msconfig startup list, and the SB autoupdate appeared there, for the first time. In addition, SpyDoctor had disappeared. On the previous run in normal mode it reappeared after I had turned on the SB enable update function. It was after that that I decided to enable SB in safe mode.

As a further check I turned off AdWatch (AdAware's monitor) to see that it wasn't interfering. This is the only other spy program that was running automatically. It wasn't causing any problems.

It seems to be working now because a little box popped up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen after rebooting into normal mode.

I'll see how it goes and post further if problems recur.

Thanks for your help anyway, it prompted me to think a bit more deeply..seems the whole issue was more deeply rooted than the attempts I had expected to work, were capable of (regedit etc).

 

Hope I'm not overdoing it here with postings, but I thought it might help anyone reading the thread, with a similar problem.

My problem resurfaced! Spydoctor loaded from its hidden place in Windows.

So I went through all the above procedure again. I noticed that when I turned on AdAware's Ad-watch, a registry entry was created entering SpyDoctor. At the same time SB was de-activated. I knew this because I looked at msconfig immediately before and after, suspecting it would play up on me. I also suspect that a time synchronisation utility, Atomic.exe, may have been an issue so I got rid of that. It also used to appear in Msconfig even though I uninstalled it.

I then noticed I was booting up in Selected Startup mode instead of normal. As the computer rebooted it posted a checksum error and asked me to press F1 (which I did). It was then that on checking msconfig the normal mode had been instated.

I am at a complete loss to understand why SpyDoctor, an uninstalled program, has continued to make its presence felt. But so far so good. I suspect it may have been coming from a backup copy somewhere in Windows, and the checksum error may also have had something to do with it.

This might be a warning for anyone running AdAware/Ad-watch. I have turned its auto start feature off until I can get things to run normally (I manually deleted its entry in Safe Mode), then I will reinstate it and see what happens. Also, check if you are booting up in selected start mode or normal. I've no idea if that is relevant but it seems to be working for me, for now....!

I hope people find this useful.

Cheers

 

LAST POST, I promise, short of some other problem!

Locking the startup section in the Ad-watch program settings box disables SB's automatic update function and would appear to reinstate previous unwanted settings for other programs.

 

keithb,

Try this with "Lock startup sections" in Ad-Watch.

When you need to make a manual change in RUN/RUNONCE registry keys or through a third party program such as jv16 Powertools.

1. Open Ad-Watch settings

2. Turn OFF (red) Lock Startup Sections

3. Turn OFF (red) Automatic (located at the bottom left of the Ad-Watch Tools and Preferences window).

4. Close the Ad-Watch window

5. Make your changes to the Startup section(s).

6. Open the Ad-Watch settings window.

7. Turn ON (green) Lock Startup Sections

8. Turn ON (green) Automatic

The above technique should prevent Ad-Watch from overriding your changes. What I have discovered is that having Automatic ON in Ad-Watch overrides the Lock Startup Section state switch.

HTHs

 

I would very much be interested also....especially if the SpyDoctor program you have....is the one related to nospyware.info.

Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

 

No. mine is Spyware Doctor, the one referred to in the link you posted (as 'not to be confused with'). However in the Registry its entries are 'SpyDoctor', hence my descriptions (for the sake of brevity).

Thanks for posting the link to the 'false' ones...although I don't know that aggressive advertising necessarily makes the product ineffective (as appears to be implied in the notes on the site), although I HATE aggressive advertising just the same! The reality is, there is no product that in itself does the job completely.