SpywareBlaster 2.5.3. conflict with EZ Antivirus virus definition updates

I have both SpywareBlaster 2.5.3 and EZ Antivirus 6.1.4 installed in my Win98SE system. I install EZ Antivirus virus definition update files whenever they become available, which is every day or so. I have no trouble downloading and installing the update files, but as soon as the installation process has been completed, the update file and the EZ Antivirus Autodownload file stop responding and lock up my system, necessitating a manual reboot.

By a process of elimination I've determined that SpywareBlaster is the likely cause of the problem. That is, the problem occurs when SpywareBlaster is installed in my system and doesn't occur when it's not installed in my system. It took several weeks and the help of the technical staff at EZ Antivirus to figure out what was going on.

What I'd like to know is whether anyone else has run into this problem and whether anyone has any ideas about how to solve it without having to uninstall SpywareBlaster permanently, which I'd like to avoid having to do. (One obvious solution would be to uninstall EZ Antivirus, but I'm not going to do that.)

 

Hi Ed,

Welcome at Wilders.
Did you remove SpywareBlasters protection before you uninstalled it.
I think this is relevant to know in order to try and figure out what exactly is happening.

Regards,

Pieter

 

Hi Pieter,

No, I didn't. I simply went to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled it. I installed/uninstalled the program several times without it occurring to me to remove the protection before uninstalling. I assumed that uninstalling would remove the protection.

Ed

 

Hi Ed,

Uninstalling SpywareBlaster doesn't remove the protection. The killbits that SpywareBlaster sets are removed by deselecting them in the program and then clicking the "Remove Protection for unchecked items"
That is why it is hard to grasp how it could be interfering with anything, since there really is no active component in the program for its main function, and the protection is still on.

Regards,

Pieter

 

Pieter has hit the nail on the head. It seems as though SpywareBlaster isn't the cause of the problem here, because you actually didn't remove its protection.

Could you try reinstalling the main program and seeing if anything changes?

Best regards,

-Javacool

 

This is very interesting to me as I am using SpywareBlaster 2.5.3 with EZ AntiVirus 6.1.5.8 running under Win XP Pro (SP1) but have not had any problems with updates or locking programs. I have to admit that it would never have occured to me to 'unprotect' SpyWareBlaster before uninstalling it.

 

Hi all,

Yesterday it looked like SpywareBlaster was the culprit. After uninstalling it, my system didn't lock up when I installed the latest EZ Antivirus update file.

Now I realize that uninstalling SpywareBlaster didn't really change anything, and a little while ago when I installed another EZ Antivirus update file, my system locked up tighter than a drum. This has me banging my head against the wall big time, because I made absolutely no changes to my system between installing the update file yesterday and installing the one today. SpywareBlaster is still uninstalled and the killbits are still in place, unless they wandered off somewhere overnight.

The EZ Antivirus tech support guy initially thought that ZoneAlarm was the problem, but it was enabled yesterday when my system didn't lock up and was enabled today when it did lock up.

There doesn't seem to be anything about my system that is particularly unusual--I ran Belarc Advisor and sent the tech support guy the results. The only two programs he picked out as potential problems were SpywareBlaster and ZoneAlarm, even though I have well over 100 programs installed.

Nobody else has reported system lockups after installing EZ Antivirus update files, and the tech support guy says that there's nothing wrong with the update files (well, he would say that, wouldn't he?).

It looks like my initial message was a false alarm. I should be able to reinstall SpywareBlaster without affecting the problem one way or the other. Unfortunately, I'm still left with the problem. I'm not really into smilies, but this one seems very appropriate:

Ed

 

Hi Ed,
I am running Windows 98se and have SpywareBlaster 2.5.3 installed, along with EZTrust version 6.4.1. I have never experienced the problems you mention with EZTrust's updates freezing your computer. I wonder if EZTrust might be corrupted in some way. You could remove it and reinstall it. Also, do you have a lot of programs running when you are downloading and installing EZTrust's updates? It seems Windows 98 is notorious for resource issues. If a lot of programs are running they could be taking up resources and causing your computer to freeze up.
Good luck with this.
Sincerely, Libra

 

Hi Libra,

The problem seems to have been eliminated by a new autodown.exe file that EZ Antivirus sent me a few days ago, so the cause may have been external to my system, i.e., not a software conflict or a resource issue. I had already tried uninstalling/reinstalling EZ Antivirus and shutting down all programs prior to installing an update without any improvement in the situation.

Ed