Dear Lavasoft Communities,

At the time of when I had the System Mechanic 6 (Professional Edition) installed on my computer it kept either crashing or freezing in the Windows background or was unable to retrieve the neccesary definition files due to either having 3rd party software that kept conflicting with the required operations of the program or due to having the incorrect Firewall port settings that may have also conflicted with the program. Also at the time of when I had the System Mechanic 6 (Professional Edition) installed on my computer I also had the following 3rd party software installed on my computer and these were: Zone Alarm (Free Version), AVG 7.5 (Free Version), PC Tools Spyware Doctor 4.0 (Trial Version), Microsoft Windows Defender 1.0 (Beta Version) and Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE (Free Version). Do you think the above 3rd party software were the culprits of the problem or do you think it was a spyware infection that was not recognised by some of the above software, or do you think it was my computer that was unable to perform properly due to the amount of software that was installed at that time? I tried verifying the problem by using the above 3rd party software and the the System Mechanic 6 (Professional Edition) including a Windows Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and Check Disk, but fortunately some of the 3rd party software detected traces of spyware or viruses such as AVG 7.5 (Free Version), PC Tools Spyware Doctor 4.0 (Trial Version) and Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE (Free Version) unlike Zone Alarm (Free Version) and Microsoft Windows Defender 1.0 (Beta Version) that did not detect any traces of spyware, viruses and other unwanted activities. In the end I had to back up all my important documents onto removable storage devices and to reinstall Windows XP from scratch due to important systems files that were accidentally deleted during the processes making my computer unstable to continue functioning properly including the operating system. If you can find out more information about what happened during my recent enquiry, please contact me via the email address at the top of this message.

Regards

i have heard that MS's "defender" can interfere with updating various antimalware programs when it is running in realtime..

as for the programs that you are using, or were using, i guess you will just have to use some "trial and error" to see what works for you..

there have been various problems with various versions of zone alarm, in the past.. zone alarm could have been causing problems or it might not have been (causing problems).. you could look in the zone alarm forums to see if others are having problems with the version of zone alarm that you were using..

i haven't heard anyone say that avg's antivirus program was problematic, so i don't think it would have been causing a problem, if you were using avg's antivirus program..

you should double-check to make sure that files that are flagged as being malware actually are malware before allowing them to be removed..

Hi, timauluck, there's a whole bunch of questions there that many people would want answers to!

To help you I'll need to take a look at the logfile Ad-Aware Se can produce, so please follow these instructions:

Could you please set up Ad-Aware SE as follows:

Before performing a scan, be sure that you have the most recent definitions file by using WebUpdate.

(Click on the Globe icon, Click on connect, Click OK, Click Finish.)

Please set up the Configurations (Gear wheel at the top) as follows:

General Button > Safety & Settings: Check (Green) all three.
Advanced Button > Logfile Detail Level: All options under this should be checked (Green).
Tweak Button > Log Files: Please check (Green) only:

• Include basic Ad-Aware settings in logfile
• Include additional Ad-Aware settings in logfile
• Include reference summary in log file

Click on Proceed

Click on "Scan Now". Please deselect "Search for negligible risk entries" as negligible risk entries are not considered to be a threat.

Run the scanner using the Full Scan (Perform full system scan) mode.

At the result window, please select Tracking Cookies only (if present) which are always safe to remove, & click on Remove Selected Items. Ignore any other items found.

Run the scanner again using the Full Scan (Perform full system scan) mode.

When the scan has completed, click "Show Logfile". Do not quarantine or remove anything at this time.

Copy the entire logfile to your clipboard (you will know you are at the end when you see the "Summary of this scan" information right at the bottom)

Then post the logfile into this thread, please don't start another one! I'll take a look and advise accordingly, OK.

Dear redwolfe_98,

Thank you for the advice you sent me last Sunday I will keep it in mind for future reference when contacting other user forums such as Zonelabs relating to my enquiry.

Many thanks

Dear DinoT,

Thank you for the advice you sent me this morning I will keep it in mind for future reference when using the latest version of Ad-aware. Unfortunately I am unable to send you the logs of Ad-aware SE because I have not backed them up onto a storage device before the reinstallation of Windows XP. I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused you and if you have anymore queries associated with Ad-aware SE that I may post on the forum in the future you are welcome to contact me at anytime.

Many thanks

Dear Dino T,

I have read and followed the instructions you sent to me over three weeks ago, but unfortunately I cannot retrieve the logs of the Ad-Aware SE program that I have not got on my computer anymore. Can you please post me some information associated with my enquiry? I'm sorry if I have been a bit slow recently, but I have had to do some coursework for college and I have not had anytime to continue investigating my enquiry.

Thank you

Dear Dino T,

I would be truly grateful if could still help me with my enquiry as I have posted a thread to you over two months ago and you have not replied back to it. If you can still help me with my enquiry I would be most grateful as I will be able to eliminate this problem once and for all.

Thank you

Hello timauluck,

DinoT hasn't signed onto the forums here since last October. What is the current problem you have now?

Also please note that Ad-Aware SE version has expired. You'll need to upgrade your product to the new version: Ad-Aware 2007 (yes, we still have Free, Plus or Pro version, depending on what you had before)

See here:
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=15293