Started over from scratch...still got the popups!

Discussion in 'ESET Smart Security' started by DarrenDavisLeeSome, Apr 8, 2009.

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  1. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Okay.

    I totally zeroed my main drive.

    Formatted it.

    Installed XP Pro SP2.

    Installed all the Motherboard drivers (which includes NIC, Soundcard, USB,etc...).

    Installed Video Card drivers.

    Installed XP SP2 (just the SP2 installation package) 3 times like I usually do. Why? A slipstreamed Service Pack integrated with any XP installation disk doesn't fully install the Service Pack...more like a largely degraded version of it. Plus, Service Packs do not install everything on the first crack. Or does everybody know that already??

    Installed Window Media Player 11.

    Installed Internet Explorer 7. (Never gonna install IE8...what another big load of hoo haa)

    Manually installed all of the ensuing Windows Updates (Security, hotfixes, IE7, etc...). Why? Using Window Updates or Automatic Updates sucks. Plus, they both leave a lot of unecessary crap on OS's, almost a GByte worth.

    Did some clean-up.

    Disabled a handful of worthless Windows Services.

    Disabled the pagefile.

    Disabled System Restore.

    Made a few minor settings changes in Internet Properties.

    Did some minor custom settings for XP. Kept it pretty much unbuttoned security wise so I stayed out of Local Policy settings.

    Did some more clean-up.

    Updated all my device drivers via the Device Manager.

    I made quite a few reboots and/or power-downs somewhere in between all the above.

    Did some more clean-up.

    And...uh...well....that's it. Not exactly OOB but barebones to say the least.
    Only difference is Windows Media Player 11, Internet Explorer 7, drivers for my TV Tuner card....

    No applications installations of any kind.






    Then I installed ESET Smart Security 4.0.417.0, imported my settings, did all the updates manually......and guess whato_O



    I STILL GOT THE POPUPS!!!!!


    :thumbd: :thumbd: :thumbd: :thumbd: :thumbd:
    :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
    >

    hat like, totally sucks. Ya knowo_O
     
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  2. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 8, 2009
  3. nickster_uk

    nickster_uk Registered Member

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    Didn't know that about Service Packs....been working on Windows for years and never heard about that. Failed installs is another thing though..

    Just out of curiosity do the popups still occur if you don't import any customized rules? Also, did you disable the pagefile purely for testing purposes?

    As for drivers...I always tend to stick with the manufacturer. Windows Updates does tend to throw out some old or obsolete ones.
     
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  4. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    I don't know. I don't have any customized rules since my Firewall is on Auto. I just import all the other settings.

    I don't know. All I do know is that I have used both the manufacturers drivers and Windows Updated drivers. Call me nuts but I found some of the drivers installed by Windows Updates superior than the manufacturers. My video card, NIC, HID, and both of my LCD's Monitors are Windows Updated drivers. My HDD's are preinstalled, manufacturer's drivers. Chipset drivers are manufacturer's. My TV tuner's drivers are the manufacturer's.

    No, not really. I wanted to make a Ghost Image before I began installing Service Pack 3. I disabled the pagefile so it wouldn't be included in the Ghost Image file. I just never bothered to start up another one afterwards.
     
  5. ATC

    ATC Registered Member

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    I didn't know that about SPs either. Anyhow, is the pop up you're talking about the "DLL Initialization Failed" window?

    If so, how do you know this has anything to do with ESS itself? Isn't DWWIN.exe the Dr. Watson reporting tool thingy? I think there's a way in XP to disable it but since I haven't used XP in years I don't recall but google it.
     
  6. Xophile

    Xophile Registered Member

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    DarrenDavisLeeSome:

    I really don't understand why you decide to reformat and reinstall XP to try ESS on a clean system and then decide to "tweak" and "clean" your OS before you install ESS.

    Why not reformat, install all necessary drivers (mainboard, NIC etc, not Tuner TV etc) so that you truly get a clean system to try ESS on?
     
  7. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Yep. That's the one.

    Because I've never, ever gotten that popup before. I only started getting it after installing ESS 4.0. Never got it when I was using ESS 3.0....never.

    The dwwin.exe file is actually the Windows Error Reporting executeable. To my knowlede, Dr. Watson doesn't use the dwwin.exe by default. I think when one uses Dr. Watson to help diagnose problems they have to configure it to use it. The executeable for Dr. Watson is drwtsn32.exe.

    Back in Win98, NT, and probably in the infant/beta years of XP, Dr. Watson and Window Error Reporting were virtually one in the same. Not so much anymore. They are 2 distinct technologies now.

    Yes there is: totally disabling Windows Error Reporting.

    If I fully disable the Windows Error Reporting then there is no Application popup. Deleting the Registry's Aebug key to disable Dr. Watson does not keep the Application popup from occuring.

    I like using ESS 4.0. I like many of it's new features. For all intents and purposes I might as well totally disable Windows Error Reporting and do away with that annoying popup once and for all. I've never really had any use for WER anyways. I'm just trying to get the word out and hear what others (including ESET) might have to say about it.

    Co-operating with ESET Customer Care has been rather unsatifactory. They insist that this issue with the Application popup is an isolated incident that I alone am experiencing (which is total nonsense. I have installed on 2 other systems: both have completely different configurations [hardware and software] with each other AND my system). Ultimately, they said I oughta revert back to ESS 3.0 till a few more 4.0 builds come out. That isn't exactly gonna sit very well with me when my subscription runs out.

    Uh.....

    hmmm.....

    What?

    Are you a ESET Customer Care Rep ?? :blink:
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2009
  8. Xophile

    Xophile Registered Member

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    No, I'm not working for Eset. I'm a proud user and, just like you, I'm suffering from issues with ESS v 4.0 and have gone back to v 3.0 for the time being.

    I mean, you decide to reformat and reinstall to exclude that something's wrong and the first you do is to tweak, remove things etc etc. That truly isn't the best way to isolate issues and on the other hand it also takes time doing so.
     
  9. ATC

    ATC Registered Member

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    Well I hope you have some luck figuring it out. I totally understand the frustrations on this; been there, done that.

    For what it's worth, I have ESET ESS 4 installed on three machines (all running Vista 32) and I've never seen this problem. Is this specific to only XP?
     
  10. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    :doubt:

    :blink:

    WHAT?

    Yeah...I'm excluding ESS 4.0 plus some other applications in comparison to the OS that I was using when I first starting to get the Application popups.

    First thing I do is tweak or clean?

    How are you presuming that? I didn't start tweaking/cleaning till after I had SP3 and all the updates installed. They were so minor they could not possibly have had anything to do with the installation/operation of ESS 4.0 and the occurences of the Application popups.

    Please keep in mind that I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY APPLICATION POPUPS IN THE 7 YEARS THAT I HAVE BEEN USING XP PRIOR TO INSTALLING ESS4.0 FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. NEVER EVEN HAD THEM WHEN I WAS USING ESS 3.0.


    Pray tell me then Mister Computer Genius.

    What's the right way?

    I've been building computers for over 15 years now (close to 100 total). Been using them for at least the same amount of years.

    I'm no expert by any means. I'm not the run-of-the mill user. I can say without any shadow of a doubt: I know more about computers and how to use them better than the average user.
     
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  11. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    I have XPpro SP3 with 4.0.417 installed. I do not get the pop up problem, though occasionally with the first build of ESS at shutdown a quick pop up did appear - however no more.

    A reason i would suggest not tweaking to begin with, is that Eset most probably uses an untweaked system, and whilst on the surface it would appear a minor and unrelated tweak shouldn't effect Eset, with the way Winows components are often interelated, they might not be able to replicate your problem without having the same tweak(s) as yourself.

    Strangely, since installing ESS4, I can now stop and detach my external imaging drive, which before used to refuse to be unmounted.

    No MS updates have been downloaded.

    Colin
     
  12. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    As much as I resent people telling me this way that way is the right way wrong way....I'm not going to go into this bickering back and forth with people. I really don't need to be reading some of the things some of the things you people are writing. Most of what I'm reading is totally subjective opinion.

    I mean, I have no idea what kind of systems , configs, OS', you people are using.

    So somebody's using XP. Which version ? Home, Professional, Academic, OEM, Retail? Service pack 1,2,3?

    What kind of system do you have? Laptop, Desktop, Mobile, Off-the-shelf, custom build, homemade??

    I mean, come on.

    Anybody with a respectable amount of knowlege of computers should be able to interpret my signature to indicate that my system is at least a custom build. I seriously doubt that there are any major computer mfg's out there using top of the line components like the ones I used to build mine. Truth be know, my system's homemade.

    We all got different systems, different ways of doing things, blah blah. Unless we're not as honest and open about everything as possible, we are of no real help to one another.

    If you people can't be open enough to at least convey more details about your system, then I'm just gonna like...shine you on...I mean geeze.
     
  13. ATC

    ATC Registered Member

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    I think it's fair to say that there is at least the slight possibility that your windows install may be the cause here. I'm not saying this to defend the others or attack your ability, chances are you know way more about PCs than me. But if it wasn't due to the process of "cleaning up" whereby you disabled some services, tweaked this or that etc.... it may be the Windows CD itself.

    Have you created the Windows Disk yourself or is it an untouched original? A lot of people use nLite and likes to make their own slimmed-down windows disks and from the posts I read on the nLite forums there are a ton of latent issues that only show up after the install.

    Again, I'm not saying this is the definitive cause here but in order to rule this out (which if anything should benefit you most) then you should at least try an original windows default install and then install ESS 4 and then do your tweaks, one at a time to pin point the cause.

    If this was truly caused by ESS affecting every windows install, then you'd see a whole bunch of posts about it I'm sure.

    It's worth a try. ESS 4 is worth it. I've used Norton IS 2009 and Avira Premium and I keep coming back to ESS.
     
  14. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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  15. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Welp...

    I'm just gonna disable the Windows Error Reporting service...

    To heck with it....

    I reckon I was just hoping against hope that ESET had another solution rather than reverting back to ESS 3.0.

    So....


    Bye bye....I'm gone.
     
  16. silverfox55

    silverfox55 Registered Member

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    If that was the case why does ver3 work and ver4 have so many problems. Please do not dis a lot of people's standard unaltered system that has a standard install with standard windows updates. The main thing is ver3 works and ver4 does not. It is ESET that is the problem.
     
  17. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Thank you kind sir.:)
     
  18. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    I just got finished of a roll-back all the way back to XP SP2 with no updates, Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player 9.

    I installed ESS 4.0.417. Ran the updates, rebooted and got the Application popup.

    I think the ESET EGUI has a compatibility problem with the Kernel32.dll regardless of what version the Kernel32.dll is. Only version on my system right now is 5.1.2600.2180. With Service Pack 3 and all the updates installed the Kernel32.dll is version 5.1.2600.5156 (or something thereabouts)

    Kernel32.dll is a VERY important file. Has been a major file for years even back in Windows 9x.

    Apparently, ESET's EGUI and Microsoft's Kernel32.dll don't like each other. Nothing new. That same file has been wreaking havoc with 3rd party drivers and software for years.

    I gotta go now. Althought I got ESS 4.0 installed, don't know what kinda protection I got without any updates after SP2.
     
  19. Jager

    Jager Registered Member

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    Yes they do. I've installed Windows XP with SP3 from a disc, installed ESS, went to restart the computer then... Bam - a popup on Windows logging off. What I would like to know is why no ESET staff member is discussing this issue with us on the forums since multiple people have the problem.
     
  20. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    Maybe it might be something to do with them thinking that just a really small group of people are getting the popups. I mean they actually wrote to me and claimed it was an isolated incident. It's like they really don't care about the negativity that they're generating. I mean, you just don't do this kind of thing to people and expect to do any kind of business with them in the future.

    It's bad enough to put up with all of this crap as far as myself and my system is concerned. It's even worse when I'm trying to help friends and associates with their security concerns. I mean I've been handing out a lot of praise about ESET over the last few months to just about everyone that I know. But since using ESS 4.0...it's like I gotta make a complete 360. ESS 4.0 is a piece of junk, plain and simple. And I gotta go back tell all those people that. Doesn't make me feel good at all.
     
  21. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    This issue is something that ESET and Microsoft need to work together on. After all, I think a great deal of ESS 4.0 problems are directly caused by it and Microsoft's WinAPI (a.k.a. kernel32.dll)
     
  22. nickster_uk

    nickster_uk Registered Member

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    Wow....that comes across like you have a serious attitude problem.

    Then there's the 'Mister Computer Genius' comment and the 'Oh gawd' followed by the pointless smilies.

    Some of the suggestions and advice people have made have been completely legitimate and the response from you has been arrogant and childish at best.

    You resent people making suggestions and don't want to get into a bickering contest...so perhaps it would be wise to bite your tongue in future and keep the arsey comments to yourself?

    Just a thought...but you seem to know best as you have so capably demonstrated :thumb: :D
     
  23. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    I have several machines running XP SP3 and v4 with no problems whatsoever. :cautious:
     
  24. DarrenDavisLeeSome

    DarrenDavisLeeSome Registered Member

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    yeah...I'll bet...
     
  25. agoretsky

    agoretsky Eset Staff Account

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    Hello,

    The issue is under investigation. Thank you for providing detailed reports. The system information is helpful.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky
     
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