My computer uses Windows XP SP3 and the free version of Ad-Aware 2008. Several days ago, my wife inadvertently blocked aawservice.exe at windows startup through Winpatrol, and thus, we were not able to open Ad-Aware 2008. I searched the forums and found a fix by going to services.msc and re-enabling aawservice.exe as an automatic service and enabling it in Winpatrol as well.

However, since then, anytime Windows starts or we log onto one of our accounts, a command line prompt window for aawservice.exe flashes on the desktop for a few seconds like a splash screen until the service apparently loads. It has never done that before. It's always loaded silently in the background.

I ran malware scans with TrendMicro, Webroot, Spybot S&D, and Superantispyware programs, but nothing was detected. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the free version of Ad-Aware 2008 with no installation problems, but it didn't correct the problem. The program runs great, but the problem with the command line window appearing during startup still persists. It doesn't seem to change the way Ad-Aware works, but it is annoying to us.

Any help solving this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

hi,

how did she block it from running? for the fact that you have reinstalled it suggests that something is still interfering...

also please go to:

start > run > type msconfig > General > choose Normal > then go to services tab > Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service and it should now be ticked

then restart your comp and see what happens

Casey

Hi Casey,

She blocked it by clicking "no" in a popup window for WinPatrol on her user account which indicated that Ad-Aware was initiating a new startup program. I had recently had to reinstall Trend Micro Int Security 2008 which required uninstalling/reinstalling several other security programs including Ad-Aware 2008 so that TM would install correctly. When my wife got on her account, the WinPatrol warning window concerning aawservice.exe popped up, and not knowing what it was, she disallowed it.

I discovered what she had done when I tried using Ad-Adware the next time, found the fix, and re-enabled the service as well as allowing it as a startup program in WinPatrol on our different user accounts. Ad-Aware 2008 works fine, but upon computer start or user logon, I get a command line prompt window as a splash screen for a few moments whenever aawservice.exe starts. Because I wasn't able to find a fix to get rid of it after searching various forums, I unistalled/reinstalled Free Ad-Aware 2008 again in hopes of getting rid of the command line window at startup. It didn't work. Again, Ad-Aware 2008 updates and scans with no problems...it's just that I now have this unwelcome "splash screen", and I'd like to get rid of it if possible.

I did go to msconfig as you suggested and Ad-Aware was already checked. I restarted anyway, but the "splash screen" still persists.

Any ideas to get rid of it?

Thanks

No sorry i don't the only thing i can think of is that WinPatrol is still interfering.

I'd suggest a reinstall of WinPatrol but i realise that this is only a minor issue and probably not worth the hassle.

I will post in the VM's forum and see if anyone has any ideas.

Casey

I greatly appreciate your efforts and will await further word. If I get a chance, I will try uninstalling/reinstalling WinPatrol just to see if it has any effect on the way that the aawservice.exe loads. I hadn't considered it relevant before, but who knows, it might be worth trying.

Thanks again.

hi again,

after asking, one of the other Vm's informed me that he used WinPatrol, and has pointed me to this page: http://www.winpatrol.com/startup.html

I definately believe (as does he) that this is because of WinPatrol. Please follow the instructions on how to enable a start-up program which you have previously disabled.

hope that works, if not hold tight and he may be able to offer a bit more advice.

Casey

Yes, I will. Just ask.

Thank you both for your help. I really appreciate it.

I followed the link you gave me, read the instructions, went to the startup programs tab in Ad-Aware 2008, clicked on the lavasoft aawservice. exe program, but it was already enabled. In the instructions I read, it also says that when you click on the program that you previously disabled, the disable button will automatically change to enable. That didn't happen, either.

I had re-enabled aawservice earlier when I found out that my wife had disabled automatic startup of aawservice.exe with winpatrol by going to the options tab, then view history, and then clicked restore on aawservice.exe because as it says in winpatrol, you can restore any program that was marked with an asterisk in that window. After searching the forums, I also went to start, run, services.msc, and re-enabled aawservice.exe there with automatic startup at logon. After that is when I began getting the command window "splash screen" at logon. I then uninstalled/ reinstalled free Ad-Aware, checked services.msc again to make sure it was listed as an automatic startup program, but I still get the "splash screen". Both aawservice.exe and Ad-Aware 2008 load well, update well, and scan well. I just can't get rid of that "slash screen" when aawservice.exe starts.

Since it seems that winpatrol is somehow responsible, should I just uninstall it as completely as I can and see if that solves the problem? I could always reinstall it later.

I await your instructions and suggestions.

Thanks again

Removing and installing WinPatrol is possibly the quickest way. Just as I did - it has cleared a few problems for me. The other thing you could install is Startup Control Panel 2.8 by Mike Lin. You can get this here http://www.mlin.net

See attached screen shots.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I will uninstall winpatrol and see if that clears up the problem. If so, I will reinstall it to see if the problem reappears. I will let you know what happens and will also check out Startup Control Panel.

Thanks again.

Here's what I found out when I uninstalled winpatrol. Apparently, aawsservice.exe was being blocked but not by winpatrol...rather, by Spybot S&D.

As per earlier instructions, I uninstalled every trace of winpatrol that I could find, rebooted, but the command line window reappeared anyway at logon. So I began searching for another source. I opened spybot, clicked on advanced mode, clicked on startup tools, and noticed aawservice.exe was checked (enabled). I unchecked it (disabled it) just for the heck of it, rebooted, and lo and behold, no command line window for aawservice.exe at logon.

Since it seemed that spybot wasn't working right, I uninstalled it to reinstall later and hopefully correct any malfunction. I rebooted after the uninstall, and strangely enough, even with both winpatrol and spybot uninstalled, the command line window reappeared anyway. So being disgusted with the whole thing, I uninstalled Ad-Aware as well, rebooted, and the command line window, of course, did not reappear. Thank goodness.

I then began re-installing the programs one at a time...spybot s&d first. I did get a popup window during installation pointing out that there were conflicts with Lavasoft and did I want to continue anyway. I clicked yes and continued the installation of spybot with no other problems. I checked the startup tools again in spybot's advanced mode, and aawservice.exe was still enabled (I don't know why). I rebooted and no command line window appeared at logon. I then reinstalled Ad-Aware 2008 with no problems, rebooted, and the window reappeared again at logon.

So, I went back to spybot, startup tools, and unchecked (disabled) aawservice.exe from startup. Upon reboot, no command line window. I don't know why, but if I disable aawservice.exe from starting in spybot, I get no command line window, but if I re-enable it there or even uninstall it, I the window appears.

I'm not sure what other conflicts there might be with Ad-Aware, but apparently my problem with the command line window at logon had more to do with the latest version of spybot and not winpatrol, although I haven't reinstalled winpatrol yet, so maybe it would as well...who knows? I also can't figure out why when I reinstalled spybot, did it show aawservice.exe as being enabled when I hadn't even reinstalled Ad-Aware, yet. I thought that I had thoroughly searched and deleted all traces of spybot, lavasoft/ad-aware, and winpatrol after I had uninstalled them from the add/remove control panel.

Did I miss something? Does this make sense? I guess I could just leave aawservice.exe disabled in spybot and just leave it at that until something else occurs, or do you have any other suggestions? By the way, in spybot, the teatimer function is not turned on, but the IE protection (hosts file) is.

Again, thanks for your help with this matter. I await further instructions or suggestion.

I think I found your problem.



Your quote above. Go back to services.msc and set aawservice.exe to manual. You run the free version so you don't run Ad-Watch. Try it and see what happens. BTW I have updated Spybot S&D to version 1.6.0.30.

You were absolutely right, Pierre! I changed the status of aawservice.exe to manual in services.msc and then deleted the service as a startup program to monitor in spybot, and at reboot, no command line window appeared. It's hard to believe that something so simple would cause such aggravation, but that seems to have solved everything. You are awesome!

Thank you both so much for your time and effort in resolving this matter. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it except to convey my heartfelt thanks and gratitude. I am elated to get rid of that annoyance. Thanks again.

Glad to have been of service.