Antivirus

Like you it's the one that's been on that box for ages and it still gets
updated and as that machine is perhaps only turned on about once a week to
keep it up to date, I have no need to change it.
Johns XP has the free version of Avast, it was my machine and I had NOD32
on there but took it back when I got Vista as I still had nearly a year
left, he can't have all the perks g
Joan

--
Joan Archer
http://www.freewebs.com/crossstitcher
http://lachsoft.com/photogallery

"Mart" wrote in message
...
Hi Joan, - something about 'if it ain't broke' I guess g

But to be fair, I've nothing against Avast. It's just that I've never had
reason to use it. I know Alias always recommends it, and probably
justifiably so, but AVG (7.xx) had always done well on my WinMe boxes and
as I said elsewhere, I have no reason (yet) to pull it.

Mart



"Joan Archer" wrote in message
...
That's the version on my WinME machine as well Mart.
Joan

--
Joan Archer
http://www.freewebs.com/crossstitcher
http://lachsoft.com/photogallery

"Mart" wrote in message
...
AVG 7.5 is still running and regularly updating on my WinMe boxes,
without any nag screens. No sign though, for how much longer.

Mart



"SGB" wrote in message
...
Being it is September 2008, what would be the best anti-virus
program/version for Windows ME?

Thanks in advance!
SGB

Fab, Mike!

Your instructions seem to have fixed my SR.

As always...
THANKS SO MUCH!
SGB

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
OK, so that's not the problem. Try clearing the SR archive and rebuilding
the SR control files.

Disable SR using System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and
check "Disable System Restore",
IMMEDIATELY Reboot
Enable SR using System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and
UNcheck "Disable System Restore",
Reboot

Is SR still enabled? Do you see a checkpoint?

Now carry out the following quick test:
1) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file (any file).
2) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
3) Delete the shortcut
4) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
5) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?
--
Mike Maltby

SGB,

That's good to read. Thanks for the feedback.
--
Mike M


SGB wrote:

Fab, Mike!

Your instructions seem to have fixed my SR.

As always...
THANKS SO MUCH!

Hey Mike,

My SR stopped working last night and this morning.
After a reboot, it came back to life, but there were no System CheckPoints.
Any ideas?
What do you think if I imported last month's registry?

TIA!
SGB

For some reasons, SR will not hold
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
SGB,

That's good to read. Thanks for the feedback.
--
Mike M

Wanted to add...
The program simply will not open at times.
Error message reads I must reboot.

SGB

"SGB" wrote in message
...
Hey Mike,

My SR stopped working last night and this morning.
After a reboot, it came back to life, but there were no System
CheckPoints.
Any ideas?
What do you think if I imported last month's registry?

TIA!
SGB

For some reasons, SR will not hold
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
SGB,

That's good to read. Thanks for the feedback.
--
Mike M

What applications and utilities do you have being launched each time you
boot? It would appear that one of these may be interfering with system
restore, this being a particular problem with the version of system
restore that forms part of Win Me in that it is more susceptible to
interference from third party apps than the more developed later versions
that form part of XP and now Vista. Either that or it is an application
or utility that you run, but not all the time that is causing the problem.
Can you determine whether there is any consistency between running a
particular application and you then having problems with system restore?

The message saying that you need to reboot suggests that SR might
"believe" that an installation is underway and needs to be completed by
rebooting before it can create a checkpoint. Check whether a copy of
wininit.ini is present in the Windows folder when you see the reboot
message.
--
Mike Maltby



SGB wrote:

Wanted to add...
The program simply will not open at times.
Error message reads I must reboot.

Nothing in msconfig Startup is different than before I installed Avast.
As far as I can determine there is no consistency when SR stops.
When I uninstalled Avast, I went through the registry as well, but feel
there is still some setting causing SR to become disabled. The reason I
believe something was not removed is I restored my computer to the day
before I installed Avast.

I do see wininit.ini present in the Windows folder.

I never had a problem with SR until I installed and uninstalled Avast.

I wish I could figure out what may be lagging behind after the uninstall.

SGB

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
What applications and utilities do you have being launched each time you
boot? It would appear that one of these may be interfering with system
restore, this being a particular problem with the version of system
restore that forms part of Win Me in that it is more susceptible to
interference from third party apps than the more developed later versions
that form part of XP and now Vista. Either that or it is an application
or utility that you run, but not all the time that is causing the problem.
Can you determine whether there is any consistency between running a
particular application and you then having problems with system restore?

The message saying that you need to reboot suggests that SR might
"believe" that an installation is underway and needs to be completed by
rebooting before it can create a checkpoint. Check whether a copy of
wininit.ini is present in the Windows folder when you see the reboot
message.
--
Mike Maltby

If you have a wininit.ini file in the Windows folder then that is quite
likely the cause of your problem, or rather the application that is
generating the wininit.ini file since this is a "one time use" file, that
is the instructions it contains are acted on once only, when the system
next boots, after which the file is deleted (or renamed to wininit.bak).
Whilst the wininit.ini file is present SR will always report that you need
to reboot, and therefore act on the wininit.ini file, before it, SR, runs.

You need to check why a wininit.ini file is present and what is creating
it. Its contents will usually be a guide as it will tell you the name(s)
of files usually to be renamed, usually as a part of a delete but perhaps
as part of a program update.

I wish I could figure out what may be lagging behind after the
uninstall.

I've suggested where to start which incidentally shouldn't be Avast since
you have already said you uninstalled this app however if the uninstall
was incomplete it may just be the cause. The standard way of correcting
an incomplete uninstall being to reinstall the application again and then
uninstall.
--
Mike Maltby




SGB wrote:

Nothing in msconfig Startup is different than before I installed
Avast. As far as I can determine there is no consistency when SR
stops.
When I uninstalled Avast, I went through the registry as well, but
feel there is still some setting causing SR to become disabled. The
reason I believe something was not removed is I restored my computer
to the day before I installed Avast.

I do see wininit.ini present in the Windows folder.

I never had a problem with SR until I installed and uninstalled Avast.

I wish I could figure out what may be lagging behind after the
uninstall.

I found a consistency.
SR becomes disabled after I use CCleaner.
After I reboot, SR becomes enabled, again.
It has me puzzled, because I never had a problem using CCleaner before the
whole Avast application thing.
CCleaner never inferred with any application on my system... period.
When I run 'Analyze', then 'Run Cleaner' something below causes SR to stop
working. Very strange considering all these things were present before I got
myself into this #$%&.

ANALYSIS COMPLETE - (0.068 secs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
0.16MB to be removed. (Approximate size)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Details of files to be deleted (Note: No files have been deleted yet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
IE Temporary Internet Files (2 files) 8.83KB
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Temporary Internet
Files\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Cookies\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\History\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\SSUPDATE.EXE 0.15MB
C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.BAK 518 bytes
C:\WINDOWS\NDISLOG.TXT 0 bytes

CLEANING COMPLETE - (0.243 secs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
0.27MB removed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Details of files deleted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
IE Temporary Internet Files (19 files) 0.12MB
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Temporary Internet
Files\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Cookies\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\History\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\SSUPDATE.EXE 0.15MB
C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.BAK 518 bytes
C:\WINDOWS\NDISLOG.TXT 0 bytes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

BTW - the WININIT file is 'C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.EXE'. I deleted it, but I got
an
error message when I rebooted reading it could not load the .exe file press
any key to continue and after the rest loaded, I got a message reading it
could not find '/P', so I restored C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.EXE from the recycle
bin. I have no idea what that all means.

I still have A VAST headache. eg

Any more help will be greatly appreciated. begging LOL

SGB

P.S. I am concerned about reinstalling Avast and doing another uninstall. No
telling what the heck the it will do to my system next time.

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
If you have a wininit.ini file in the Windows folder then that is quite
likely the cause of your problem, or rather the application that is
generating the wininit.ini file since this is a "one time use" file, that
is the instructions it contains are acted on once only, when the system
next boots, after which the file is deleted (or renamed to wininit.bak).
Whilst the wininit.ini file is present SR will always report that you need
to reboot, and therefore act on the wininit.ini file, before it, SR, runs.

You need to check why a wininit.ini file is present and what is creating
it. Its contents will usually be a guide as it will tell you the name(s)
of files usually to be renamed, usually as a part of a delete but perhaps
as part of a program update.

I wish I could figure out what may be lagging behind after the
uninstall.

I've suggested where to start which incidentally shouldn't be Avast since
you have already said you uninstalled this app however if the uninstall
was incomplete it may just be the cause. The standard way of correcting
an incomplete uninstall being to reinstall the application again and then
uninstall.
--
Mike Maltby

SR becomes disabled after I use CCleaner.

No surprise there then. If you go playing around with the registry then
what else do you expect?

BTW - the WININIT file is 'C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.EXE'. I deleted it, but
I got an error message

Again no surprises there and exactly what should happen! Why did you try
and delete wininit.exe? The file of interest is wininit.ini (and when it
had been used wininit.bak) not the exe.

I still have A VAST headache. eg

Generated I suspect by your use of snake oil and registry cleaners, none
of which are required when running Win Me. vbg
--
Mike Maltby



SGB wrote:

I found a consistency.
SR becomes disabled after I use CCleaner.
After I reboot, SR becomes enabled, again.
It has me puzzled, because I never had a problem using CCleaner
before the whole Avast application thing.
CCleaner never inferred with any application on my system... period.
When I run 'Analyze', then 'Run Cleaner' something below causes SR to
stop working. Very strange considering all these things were present
before I got myself into this #$%&.

ANALYSIS COMPLETE - (0.068 secs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
0.16MB to be removed. (Approximate size)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Details of files to be deleted (Note: No files have been deleted yet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
IE Temporary Internet Files (2 files) 8.83KB
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Temporary Internet
Files\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Cookies\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\History\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\SSUPDATE.EXE 0.15MB
C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.BAK 518 bytes
C:\WINDOWS\NDISLOG.TXT 0 bytes

CLEANING COMPLETE - (0.243 secs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
0.27MB removed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Details of files deleted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
IE Temporary Internet Files (19 files) 0.12MB
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Temporary Internet
Files\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\Cookies\index.dat
Marked for deletion: C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\***\History\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\SSUPDATE.EXE 0.15MB
C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.BAK 518 bytes
C:\WINDOWS\NDISLOG.TXT 0 bytes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

BTW - the WININIT file is 'C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.EXE'. I deleted it, but
I got an
error message when I rebooted reading it could not load the .exe file
press any key to continue and after the rest loaded, I got a message
reading it could not find '/P', so I restored C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.EXE
from the recycle bin. I have no idea what that all means.

I still have A VAST headache. eg

Any more help will be greatly appreciated. begging LOL

SGB

P.S. I am concerned about reinstalling Avast and doing another
uninstall. No telling what the heck the it will do to my system next