no icon in sys tray

[dsteve54]

I thought this might have just been a fault with sdbeta.exe. However, I just downloaded sdsetup.exe (apparently production version of 5.0) from online. I do NOT see this in the resolved issues.

I am a registered user and that appears ok in the "about". I am on Windows XP Pro with SP2 and up to date on Microsoft Updates.

No matter how many times I unstall (only thru Spyware Doctor provided uninstall and then reboot to make sure all of C:\program files\Spyware Doctor is removed and folder is gone) and install again,
when I reboot, there is NO Spyware Doctor icon appearing in the system tray at lower right hand corner (by the clock). If the TSR is not running it appears that scheduled tasks do not run and I doubt that iexplore or mail etc is being monitored. So after reboot, all I can do is start SWD 5.0 from the DESKTOP. When I close it with upper right hand corner X, it SHOULD reduce to a sys tray icon and the way it should work is to be able to right click that icon and open or even SHUTDOWN, if I really want it gone.

However, no sys tray icon appears, either on reboot or on closing a desktop icon launched open. This all seems to defeat the purpose of the app....if I just leave it up, but minimized, then scheduled tasks do NOT run and I doubt that updates are dynamically searched for and applied.

I can look in task manager and see the following processes running which seem to be related to SWD 5.0:
SDTrayApp.exe
swdsvc.exe

even when I have closed SWD 5.0, but no sys tray icon. If I start it from the desktop, I get the addl process,
swdocter.exe

But in any event, no sys tray icon ever appears.


Help.

[Chippa]

You may find this thread related to your problem http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45808&highlight=no+icon.

Do you have NOD32 installed?

Cheers,
Chippa

[dsteve54]

Thank you. I did read the thread you indicated, but even in scrutinizing that, I could not really map it to my exact situation...it MAY have addressed it, but I could not interpret it in ways that I could understand.

On the other hand, it is true, which I forgot to mention, that I am running Zonealarm Security Suite 7.0, so maybe that is relevant.

I just do not know what NOD32 is, or if I know it, I do not know it by that pneumonic, so either it is an executable that I am not aware of, or an acronym I either do not know about or know about but not by that name.
I cannot see an actual process running by that name on Task Manager. If it is some sort of anti-spyware or anti-virus software, I am not familiar with it. The only anti-virus sw I have is that associated with ZA, which appears to be some sort of TrendMicro OEM or something.

On the other hand, every time I have installed/uninstalled, rebooted, etc, it HAS been true that ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.0 has been running, so I have not tried various permutations or sequences of unloading /reloading that and installing SWD 5.0 yet. Maybe I can fool around with that.


I do not get the sys tray icon regardless of whether iexplore is running so problem appears to be independent of IE but may be related to ZA.


So for now, the link did not really help...I am not that technical, so maybe if someone could rephrase, it would help.

[AChen]

Hi dsteve54,

NOD32 is an AntiVirus program and we have been experiencing problems with this AntiVirus program as they are detecting SD as a FP. However, since you do not have this installed it appears the problem lies somewhere else.

To help us with this, could you please uninstall SD, disable Zone Alarm Security Suite and re-install SD http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download/. We think that ZASS may be blocking the tray app for SD.

Let us know how you go with this.

[dsteve54]

I did exactly as you wanted as follows:
1) use msconfig to remove zlclient.exe from startup apps
2) Reboot
3) Uninstall SWD 5.0 using the SWD uninstall, with no ZA ambient
4) reboot, STILL with zlclient.exe not in startup, so no ZA ambient
5) install SWD 5.0. I did interrupt the full scan, which you apparently cannot bypass on initial starting sequence, but I DID make sure I had done all so-called Smart Updates from PCTools manually. I DID see an sys tray icon appear during this sequence of process w/o ZA in the env, and when I closed SWD with X to close window, it DID persist in the sys tray. So it looked promising.
6) HOWEVER, I then REBOOTED WITH zlclient.exe STILL disabled to make sure SWD 5.0 was fully installed. A SYS ICON TRAY ICON for SWD 5.0 DID *NOT* APPEAR....no sys tray icon of any kind. I waited for reboot/startup to quiesce and looked at the windows task manager. There are still these processes running....swdsvc.exe, SDTrayapp.exe. Of course, if I do not overtly start SWD from Desktop, there is no swdoctor.exe running.

Still there is no sys tray icon, even with no trace of ZA at all.

So your hypothesis that ZA Security Suite 7.0 is at fault is fallacious. Your application just does not work on its installation. About the only other thing in my ambient env running that has a cleanup aspect is executable called ioloDVMSvc.exe, which polls for updates to Iolo System Mechanic, but there is nothing else about System Mechanic running in the background. I cannot see anything else interfering, but if you tell me a) how to take some snapshot of my startup processes (since I am NOT a technical person) and b) where to "send them somewhere" where they will actually be addressed and not ignored, I can do that.

I just do not think ZA is the correct "scapegoat" for this application.

In the meantime, I would rather have ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.0 running as firewall protection than have SWD at all....I can always switch to Webroot or some other competitor that works. If you do not address my issue, I will simply get my money back from my license renewal and let my old SWD 4.0 contract age out....I would rather run SWD 4.0 and have something like that that actually worked or switch to a competitor, than have somebody try to make me stop running ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.0.

I have also sent a case to tech support for PCTools about one month ago on this and they have ignored me.

For now, I am putting ZA Security Suite 7.0 back online. I will wait to see if someone has a resolution. If not, I will get rid of SWD 5.0 and get money back...I am *NOT* going to run SWD 5.0 without ZA firewall protection, just for the sake of having SWD "work"...that is even fallacious because app does not even load properly on reboot into the systray even without ZA.

If tech support had at least dealt with me, I would have felt better, but they ignored my situation and now this "sdsetup.exe" is allegedly a production version and not a beta, and it does not work.

Bye.

[AChen]

Thanks for getting back to us with this. Please note that we are not blaming ZASS for this or trying to get you to drop ZASS. We just wanted to make sure that there were no conflicts between the 2 programs. As we have tested this with NOD32 which we discovered has stopped the SD Tray icon from displaying in the system tray and we have done multiple tests with ZASS but the tray icon is still available in the system tray. We are currently working on resolving this along with the other issues found with SDv5. We will try to get fixes asap for all issues including this.

[dsteve54]

Thanks for getting back to us with this. ...we have done multiple tests with ZASS but the tray icon is still available in the system tray. We are currently working on resolving this along with the other issues found with SDv5. We will try to get fixes asap for all issues including this.

About all I can say is that it (meaning no sys tray entry) is happening to my installation, with or without ZA running, so whatever I have going in my environment that is causing it not to work is not known to me.

I think the ZA is maybe a false lead.

As I said, if you want me to send some sort of listing somewhere, I can do it....I do not know how, as am not a tech person...I have heard there is a program called maybe something like HiJackThis (and I may even have that name wrong) that can dump your startup and TSR processes and someone can analyze them, but if you want it, someone will have to instruct me how to run it,as I have never dealt with it in my life....then secondly, where to attach the results to send to where it will get attention.

Otherwise, if you do not want my input directly in some way, I guess I will just wait until someone posts something more, or tech support answers my query of a month back to me directly, or until I decide to deinstall the whole thing and get my money back. If you think tech support is working on some other issues that may involve this, even in the absence of ZA, that is fine.

Remember, I had NO problem with my SAME environment using SWD 4.0 (and that was with ZA Security Suite 7.0 running) so something they did involving the new processes for incurring, running, and shutting down the TSR are at fault, since I have not perturbed other environment since the upgrade from SWD 4 to this.

Bye.

[Chuff]

I too am experiencing this problem after upgrading to SD5. When I first installed, the icon was there, working fine, but the program required me to reboot. After doing so I noticed that the icon in the system tray was gone. Even when I open SD from the desktop and minimise or close it, it does not appear in the tray. I have no idea why this happens and am unsure if OnGuard is still working.

This happens on both my PC's at home as well, so I'm wondering if it has something to do with the network?

Again, this only seems to happen in SD5.

[Lord KiRon]

I too am experiencing this problem after upgrading to SD5. When I first installed, the icon was there, working fine, but the program required me to reboot. After doing so I noticed that the icon in the system tray was gone. Even when I open SD from the desktop and minimise or close it, it does not appear in the tray. I have no idea why this happens and am unsure if OnGuard is still working.


Exactly the same situation and same problem,
before reboot I saw it , after reboot it's gone but everything seems working.
No NOD32 installed.
I use Kerio Personal Firewal and Avast! antivirus - may be related ?

[mjq424]

As I have noticed from all of you, you are missing a process related to SD. Please search for svcntaux.exe in your process list (this is the Spyware Doctor Auxillary Service).

[Lord KiRon]

As I have noticed from all of you, you are missing a process related to SD. Please search for svcntaux.exe in your process list (this is the Spyware Doctor Auxillary Service).

No, it's runs on my comp.

[dsteve54]

As I have noticed from all of you, you are missing a process related to SD. Please search for svcntaux.exe in your process list (this is the Spyware Doctor Auxillary Service).

Thank you for all the subsequent replies. Contributor Chuff mentions same scenario I have, pretty much down to a tee.

I have STILL tried any number of permutations, including installing with ZA totally disabled, restoring over and over, etc....nothing has worked.

It was a good lead to suggest svcntaux.exe as being a missing process...but it turned out to be one that is present and that I did not know to mention in my other posts. However, it is observations like this that may find the solution.

While I am happy that the people cared to contribute, basically the problem has not been solved....I waited awhile on this site for maybe a PC Tools person to suggest even more on this forum, but nothing..I will probably end up packaging all of the above to a direct tech support case for PC Tools. I HATE doing this, because ALL I ever get is a front line support canned response to do this and that....I try in on the outside chance I miss a step. But it is really a canned response that shows the person did not really consider my submission and that is the end of it. I will at least ask to submit a dump of my processes...I do not know how to do this, but maybe tech support can take a Hijack this dump.

[tgawz]

I've noticed that sometimes I'll have an icon in the tray, but usually not. It seems that it [SD] is running in the background, as sometimes I'll have a couple of "flags" saying that SD has to reboot to finish an update. I sent a problem in where my AV program [F-Secure] came up with this: C:\PROGRAM FILES\SPYWARE DOCTOR\SPORDER.DLL [virus] Email-Worm.Win32.Zhelatin.bg
It could not "clean" it so it renamed it, and for a while every time I rebooted it would come up with that window, and SD said it needed to reboot to finish the update. I have not downloaded the free AV from SD, as I don't pay for what I'm getting [F-Secure] as it comes with the bundle I bought from Charter Communications, and I know from experience, you don't run two AV programs at the same time! As of yet, I've had no reply to the problem I sent in. Anyone else have this problem?

[dsteve54]

It is indeed worth mentioning at least the juxtaposition of your virus incident with the lack of sys tray icon.

However, I have to say that I do not seem to have that in the environment I am running. As you have pointed out, I do only use one AV product and that is the apparently OEM'd TrendMicro AV provided as part of the Zonealarm security suite. (By the way, there was a recent upgrade to ZA 7 (within maybe last 4 days) and I was hopeful that by installing that, and then uninstalling and reinstalling SWD, it might fix my problem, but it did not).
I have actually never had an AV virus hit while running ZA so I appear to be clean on viruses.

So whatever is happening in my case does not seem to have an AV incident implicated, but that could still be relevant for the other contributor's env.

[tgawz]

I downloaded and installed the .176 version and it seems to be working. I now have the SD in the system tray. The "new" program has the immunization part turned off. I think that may be the problem you're experiencing, or not if you've downloaded and installed the new version. I see where someone has started a thread saying that ver.176 isn't working, either. BTW, I'm using XP Home, SP2.

[Chuff]

My spyware doctor says that it is version 5.0.0.176, but still no icon :(. I too am using XP Home SP2.

[dsteve54]

Solely on the possibility that 176 might have been a new upgrade for me, I did the following:

1) Used msconfig to disable zlclient.exe in the event, despite past proof that it does not, that ZL 7 Security Suite (totally current on updates to 7) played ANY role.
2) Restart
3) Uninstall SWD 5 using the provided (not XP) uninstall.
4) Reboot (still with no ZL)
5) DOWNLOAD from current Download on PC Tools sdsetup.exe (it IS version .176)
6) Install. It does produce a sys tray icon at that point and runs the Smartupdate and does a scan. There is still the sys tray icon, but from past installs, that is NOT necessarily a reason to be optimistic.
7) Reboot. Ok, remember, I STILL have not enabled ZL yet.
8) On restart, as I expected would happen, there is no sys tray icon for SWD 5....I can see svcntaux.exe, swdsvc.exe, SDTrayApp.exe running by using the Windows Task Manager. But there is no system tray icon for SWD.
9) I went ahead and allowed zlclient.exe with msconfig and rebooted.
10) I am basically back to the same bogus situation.....of course, ZL is now running, svcntaux, swdsvc, SDTrayApp.exe are all running but no systray icon for SWD.
11) So doing the very latest install of SWD (as of 3/31/07 ver 176) did nothing to help. It is just as non-functional as ever. Of course, I CAN click on the DESKTOP icon for SWD and it will bring it up and I can use it and reduce it to the taskbar. But if I upper right click x to shut that window, it does not establish a systray icon at all....the swdocter process just shuts down, leaving svcntaux, swdsvc, and SDTrayApp.exe still running, but no systray icon. (At no time did I do a SWD shutdown...since I never got a systray icon, I had no chance to do it, even if I wanted to).

So everything is just as bogus as before.

[dsteve54]

I uninstalled SWD 5 v 176 and installed SWD 5 v 177 today after receiving note from tech support (canned note) saying that this version released today would "address my issue".

On initial install, as has been the case for the last (6.02 x 10**23) rd uninstall/reinstall tries, the initial install did bring up a system tray icon, but as mentioned before, that was no reason to be particularly optimistic.

So I rebooted, again for the (6.02 x 10**23) rd time, as usual, brought up the task manager, and waited patiently, as if waiting for one's dog to do a take a dump, for everything to still. After all processes quiesced....nothing, still no icon in the system tray. Same processes related to SWD 5 are left running as chronicled above, but no system tray icon.

Still hoping for a miracle, I at least tried starting the app from the desktop and then right-clicked to close the window, hoping a sys tray icon would appear. Again, nothing.

The sound of one hand clapping.

So with regard to my issue chronicled above, nothing has changed...furthermore, I am sure tech support closed my case, using 177 as so called panacea, so I will just have to reopen another one.

If this 177 version improved anything, it certainly was not in the realm of my issue.

[dsteve54]

I can add to the above persistent situation of 177 not producing sys tray icon, that any scheduled tasks do not run. This is true EVEN IF I keep SWD 5 v 177 open from the desktop and minimalized....so that swdoctor.exe is running....I have scheduled tasks in there and they just are not executing.

Apparently the scheduled tasks must need the TSR icon state in order to run. So this is another fault with having that "feature" not work.

[Hammer]

I suggest you do as I did: uninstall AND reinstall in Safe Mode. That way, there are no other programs or drivers to interfere with Spyware Doctor.

[dsteve54]

I suggest you do as I did: uninstall AND reinstall in Safe Mode. That way, there are no other programs or drivers to interfere with Spyware Doctor.

Hammer had a good suggestion.

I shutdown and restarted in Safe Mode (I did think I was going to need Safe Mode with Networking, due to SWD install/uninstall interfaces, so I did that rather than pure Safe).

The uninstall (using PC Tools SWD uninstall, not Windows Add/Remove) went fine. I shutdown and restarted in Safe Mode with Networking. I installed SWD 5 v 177. There was a SmartUpdate...just showed a DB update. So I allowed that....Safe mode suggested NOT to do a scan unless in Normal, so I interrrupted that. There was an icon at that time in the System Tray, which was a good sign, at least for the Safe mode...I did NOT, of course, do a Shutdown of SWD, just noted that in the Safe mode looked ok.

I did a shutdown....I will note that svcntaux.exe produced an error trap message on the shutdown. I was NOT sure if that meant anything, but I noted and proceeded with shutdown.

I then did a power up again in Safe Mode with Networking....the SWD sys tray icon appeared ok.....for good measure I did a SmartUpdate...there was in fact another update, this time for Malware Detection that presumably needed the first DB update from prior cycle in order to install....I allowed that to update and quiesce. Icon was still showing in sys tray.

I shutdown down and restarted again in Safe with Networking to make sure there was no more Smartupdates. It was all clear...no more Smart Updates.

Each time I did a shutdown from Safe with Networking, I did note that svcntaux.exe produced an exception message in which I had to click OK, but I continued with each shutdown.

At no time did I do a Shutdown of SWD from the right click of the sys tray icon...I wanted to make that clear.

Finally, after this repeated sequence, I started in Normal mode.....waited and waited with Taskmgr running....swdsvc.exe, svcntaux.exe, SDTrayApp.exe all ran...in the course of the startup, I did get a popup saying that SmartUpdate had failed, but I just clicked it off. swdsvc.exe ran for quite some time after everything else was quiesced....I monitored process from taskmgr.

Unfortunately, when all was quiesced down to essential polling by Windows processes...there was STILL no sys tray icon.

I did start SWD from the Desktop...meaning swdoctor.exe. It did come up fine and no more Smart Updates. However, when I clicked the window off, there was no sys tray icon created either. So even starting and clicking off swdoctor.exe did not help.

So still does not work.

I do not know what the svcntaux.exe exception msg could imply while shutting down in Safe with Net....it does NOT produce an exception on Normal mode shutdown and reboot, only in the Safe with Net.

I did not yet try Safe without Networking...maybe that is next....however, I cannot do the Smart Updates without that.

So, doing all of the above, per Hammer, still did not fix the problem for me. Perhaps Hammer started in some other Safe modality and maybe did not get the svcntaux.exe exceptions that I did; I do not know. But I otherwise did what he suggested and it did not fix anything.

[Denis Glick]

Even though svcntaux.exe is running, the system tray icon still disapears or if it's there, it will not respond to mouse clicks, right or left.

[dsteve54]

I was just wondering, does any tech person want to see from my machine a
HijackThis or
StartUpList

output? I don't use these so do not have experience and I do not know which is most appropriate. However, if someone more tech than me wants to see one or both to try to solve this situation, I can send as a PM to someone or post it to the correct spot for this forum's env...I don't think forums in general want to see these inline in threads because they are long outputs. Some forums have special areas to put these outputs so they can be used and then deleted, etc.

I PM'd Super Mod AChen with this same request several days ago...if he wanted them himself, but did not hear anything back.

[Hammer]

When I uninstall/reinstall in Safe Mode, I do it without networking. Doing it with networking leaves you exposed because your firewall/anti-virus software is not running. Don't worry about Smart Update failing in Safe Mode. Simply reboot and do all further Smart Updates in Normal Mode.

[AChen]

I was just wondering, does any tech person want to see from my machine a
HijackThis or
StartUpList

output? I don't use these so do not have experience and I do not know which is most appropriate. However, if someone more tech than me wants to see one or both to try to solve this situation, I can send as a PM to someone or post it to the correct spot for this forum's env...I don't think forums in general want to see these inline in threads because they are long outputs. Some forums have special areas to put these outputs so they can be used and then deleted, etc.

I PM'd Super Mod AChen with this same request several days ago...if he wanted them himself, but did not hear anything back.

dsteve54, thanks for the info. I'll pass this along to the developers. Still working on this icon issue. Hopefully a fix for this will be released shortly.

[PJWilkin]

I've just noticed a weird occurrence (build 5.0.177). After several hours operation the Spyware doctor icon will disappear from the tray

Showing the tray properties, and even amending it to "always show" does not return the icon.

A reboot of the PC and the icons there, set it to "always show" and after a few hours it disappears again (Spyware Doctor then shows in "past items" almost as though it is no longer running)

[Chuff]

I have long suspected that this problem has something to do with network connections, mainly because both my computers share two things:

1) They are networked together
2) They have this problem

So I decided to test disabling network connections etc. After all my testing, restarting, re-installing, more restarting, more testing... I have concluded that the icon does NOT appear when ANY active network connection is there. Example; I have wireless internet, and the icon never worked when this was on except for one time when it wouldn't pick up (was not working). When my LAN was on but disconnected, it worked, but when the LAN was working it didn't.

So I find that no matter what I do, if I have a network connection working at startup the icon doesn't appear. At any other time, it works fine. Hope this helps!

[dsteve54]

I have long suspected that this problem has something to do with network connections, mainly because both my computers share two things:

1) They are networked together
2) They have this problem

So I decided to test disabling network connections etc. After all my testing, restarting, re-installing, more restarting, more testing... I have concluded that the icon does NOT appear when ANY active network connection is there. Example; I have wireless internet, and the icon never worked when this was on except for one time when it wouldn't pick up (was not working). When my LAN was on but disconnected, it worked, but when the LAN was working it didn't.

So I find that no matter what I do, if I have a network connection working at startup the icon doesn't appear. At any other time, it works fine. Hope this helps!

Hmmmmmmm......this is interesting because I have 2 computers in my home environment networked on a LAN (not wireless). Aside from being different models of DELLS, I have reenacted the same ambient environments on each....so both use Zone Labs Security Suite 7 (current update) , Iolo System Mechanic 7 current version etc.

On ONE of my computers SWD 5 v 177 installed without any incident whatsoever....I have never had a problem with the icon appearing after all reboots etc.

The computer I write about on this thread has NEVER had the icon show, or at least persist after installations...it always vanishes after reboots, despite fact all of svcntaux.exe, SDTrayApp.exe, swdsvc.exe persist in background...well, it is all chronicled in this thread in blood-curdling detail.

I have NOT experimented with disconnecting my network, and frankly do not intend to mess around with my working network....someone else can do such draconian things if they want, such as contributor Chuff.
---
Per contributor Hammer, I tried uninstalling in plain SAFE mode and then reinstalling in safe mode....both were plain SAFE mode (not Networking)....the install went fine but obviously could not do the SmartUpdate. I did a startup in Normal mode and when I ran the SmartUpdate, an update to the db was downloaded along with Malware Detective update....when those were allowed to finish and the app restarted.
Lo, there was a systray icon, even in my Normal mode. So, with bated breath, I rebooted in Normal mode and though all background processes started up there was NO systray icon that ever appeared.

So Hammer's suggestion was incrementally improved, but in the end, it proved still no better than the day I was born. One needs to be able to reboot in Normal mode and have the icon persist.

Like I said, my OTHER computer never has a problem...it is well-behaved with SWD 5 v 177.

----
Per super moderator AChen....per your request via PM, I can send you a HijackThis and StartUpList to your box. However, I have to figure out how they work first....I think I have to get them from another spyware site.

However, once I get them and get dumps, perhaps I can mail AChen both dumps for each of my computers; the well-behaved one and the miscreant.

I do not think I am supposed to put such dumps directly into a thread.

----
Per contributor PJWilken, for the one machine that does work properly with SWD 5 v177, I have never experienced the phenomena you describe of the icon disappearing after a period of time, once it does appear and persists.

So that must be a separate issue from my situation, but it is obviously still a problem with the TSR type component.

----
Per contributer Denis Glick....when an icon DOES appear, I have never had a problem with the right click or left click producing a pop up menu, so that is not something I share, but still apparently a problem with the TSR component in your environment.

[Lord KiRon]

No icon for me whatsoever.
Tried to install on my mom's (older AMD 1700, 512MB RAM) computer (yes I know I do not have a license for 2 , it's just for test) with exactly same basic program running (Win XP Pro SP2, Kerio, Avast! AV) and there it runs ok but on my main computer (Pentium 4 3.0Ghz HT, 2GB RAM) it does not appear.

Regarding networking ... one (without tray icon) connected to internet using cables and LinkSys WRT54G v1.0 router utilizing MPLS connection to ISP) another (tray OK) is connected using same cable provider but with LinkSys WRT54GS v2.0 router and L2TP connection to ISP.
In both cases same cable modem maker/model (Tomson) used.

Edited:
One thing to add I also always had a very minor problem with SD v4 - no matter how many full scans I run it was always saying on status page that "No scan completed" or something like that. May be its related.

[dsteve54]

For AChen...

I have taken dumps for supermoderator AChen (so to speak) of
StartUpList
HijackThis

for each of my machines...the one that always shows a systray icon, and the one that never shows the systray icon.

I am waiting for instructions on where to send them, because a PM does NOT have the capacity to handle the output. So I have all the data for techies to solve the problem ....I just need a place to send them.

[mjq424]

Hi
You could try emailing them as attachments to support@pctools.com and address it to AChen

[dsteve54]

Hi
You could try emailing them as attachments to support@pctools.com and address it to AChen

Fair enough. I will bombard him accordingly.

Edit addition....all dumps sent to AChen c/o support@pctools.com on April 11, 2007 10:50A Mountain Daylight Time, USA. We can see from here whether anything gets done.

If nothing else, at least your avatar, mjq424, is THE best.

[Lord KiRon]

Today things become even "funnier" - my computer downloaded a bunch of MS Windows XP security updates , rebooted itself and .... here you go the icon is in the tray !!!

Before this I rebooted a dozen of times of course , and SD version did not changed - still .177 so it has to be MS related or installing this updates "reseted" something.

[mjq424]

LOL. Well hopefully (fingers-crossed) this has solved you're problem! :D

[dsteve54]

That is great that the MS Windows Sec updates seemed to have circumstantially solved Lord KiRon's issue....hopes icon continues to appear unabated for that person.

However, I downloaded the several security apps that were probably all the same (whatever was issued by MS between now 4/11 3P MDT USA and 24 hrs prior)....I had done all that and my icon still never appeared.

So the problem persists for me on ONE machine, same as ever despite MS Windows upd's...the other computer has no problem with the icon.

Hopefully the dumps I sent AChen will give a clue for my situation and maybe other's. If simply downloading MS updates appears to somehow work for other people, that is great.

[ahf06518]

I have this on my machines but still do not get the icon in the sys tray UNLESS I restart the machines many times. HELP

[Lord KiRon]

Unfortunately I am apparently in same story here - 2 more reboots and the icon is gone :(

[dsteve54]

For ahf06518, Lord KiRon, et al,

Well, I do not know what to say to help further because I still have spurious behavior also on one machine. But AChen indicated he received my dumps from:
HiJackThis
StartUpList

for each of my machines (one that show systray icon and one that does not).
So maybe they now have some harder data to work from than just anecdotal evidence. Wish I had more insight....of course, I suppose everybody could at least try uninstalling and installing in SAFE mode (w/o networking) like mjq424 suggested. But I am sort of assuming by now that everyone has uninstalled/installed until they are about blue in the face with every permutation, so we may just have to wait for some kind of internal breakthrough.

[AChen]

Hi Guys,

I have looked through this thread in detail and have broken up all the information in order to help the developers analyze the information provided. Thanks dsteve54 for the HijackThis log and Barlac report which are being looked at by the developers. We are still working with the information we have received and appreciate the efforts you guys have put in. We have done extensive testing to try and recreate this, but still were not able to get the missing icon in the system tray. We have installed the programs you guys have listed and still did not help us. For those that are still having this problem, it would be great if there is anything else you guys can add to this list that will help. If I receive new info from the developers, I'll let you know asap.

User #1 (dsteve54)
When the user reboots after installation: No Icon appears in the System Tray. If user double clicks on the Desktop icon, the GUI will appear, however, if user clicks on the X, the GUI minimizes but no system tray icon.
During this, in Task Manager, the processes running are SDTrayApp.exe, swdsvc.exe and svcntaux.exe.
(Currently running Zonealarm Security Suite 7.0, tested a re-installation with ZA disabled, but does not appear to be the cause) No problems with icon when running SDv4. AV Plugin not installed.
Scheduled tasks cannot run without the icon.
Another scenario:
Installed SD in safemode with networking - SD icon appears in safemode. Reboot in safemode, icon is still there, once the computer reboots into normal mode, icon disappears.

User #2 (chuff)
No icon in system tray. Issue has been resolved. ( have a network connection working at startup the icon doesn't appear. At any other time, it works fine)

User #3 (Lord Kiron)
Same issue as dsteve54 (Kerio Personal Firewal and Avast! antivirus installed) (During this, in Task Manager, the processes running are SDTrayApp.exe, swdsvc.exe and svcntaux.exe running.)
Tried installing on a second computer (older AMD 1700, 512MB RAM) computer with exactly same basic program running (Win XP Pro SP2, Kerio, Avast! AV) and there it runs ok but on my main computer (Pentium 4 3.0Ghz HT, 2GB RAM) it does not appear.
Resolved - installing Microsoft updates.

User #4 (PJWilkin)
(build 5.0.177). After several hours operation the Spyware doctor icon will disappear from the tray. Showing the tray properties, and even amending it to "always show" does not return the icon.
A reboot of the PC and the icons there, set it to "always show" and after a few hours it disappears again (Spyware Doctor then shows in "past items" almost as though it is no longer running)

User #5 (ahf06518)
Also experiencing no icon in system tray. No additional info.

[AChen]

With those experiencing this missing icon issue, could you please check the Task manager and see which account (Username) the SDTrayApp.exe is running in? Hopefully this is the missing piece to the puzzle.

[dsteve54]

With those experiencing this missing icon issue, could you please check the Task manager and see which account (Username) the SDTrayApp.exe is running in? Hopefully this is the missing piece to the puzzle.

Ok, well in my environment, on the miscreant machine, I only have one user "Dave" which has the attribute Computer Administrator. SDTrayApp.exe runs with this username. However, on the other (well-behaved ) machine, I have set it up the same way, with Dave as the only user with Computer Administrator attribute. So just from that viewpoint, it seems inconclusive.

I looked at the task manager, and all the processes that seem to consistently be running are either of "so-called" User Name (at least that is the column label): Dave, SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE. The processes swdsvc.exe and svcntaux.exe run under User Name: SYSTEM.

I am not sure what this info buys you, but that is what is going on.....I do all my installations of software logged on as Dave...by the way, I do NOT actually log in as Dave....there is no login screen, so somewhere along the way I have disabled that and booting just gets me to my desktop with Dave as user. I never log out...I am the only user on this machine.

[tom.tdw]

the logon screen is automatically hidden when there is only one user with no password

[dsteve54]

the logon screen is automatically hidden when there is only one user with no password

Thanks. I knew there was a reason, which I could not recall, and yes, now that you say it, it did happen when I removed the password from the one and only user who was designated as Computer Administrator.

[Chuff]

Same as dsteve54, I only have one user that logs on automatically. If I disconnect all the networks and get the icon to work, the processes run under the same users as well. If there is any difference next time I start the computer, I'll tell you.

Also, I have noticed that the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon is only there when the spyware doctor one is. This could be unrelated though, because I think it's still there on my other computer which also has no SD Icon (though I haven't checked).

[tom.tdw]

could you post some history files here

[tgawz]

I've been experiencing freezing and the missing icon. I had to uninstall SD5b179 2 times before it seemed to quit freezing. Each time I initially installed SD5 I had the icon in the sys tray, even after the 1st update. After that, the icon disappeared. It still says it's there in the process. I've tried it with kernel compatability, and [currently] without--no difference. I had troubles with SD4 with it freezing up after an update. As with SD5, it seemed to freeze up after "restarting product". I've been using SD for quite some time, and I have to admit that I'm very disappointed with the newest version. SD4 wasn't [isn't] much better. I spent good $$ for a product I expected to work. I hope that you get a fix real soon. As a suggestion, you may consider extending subscriptions when [if?] you get the problem[s] fixed.

[tom.tdw]

i sujest you go back to 4 (either that or format:()
I've been experiencing freezing and the missing icon. I had to uninstall SD5b179 2 times before it seemed to quit freezing. Each time I initially installed SD5 I had the icon in the sys tray, even after the 1st update. After that, the icon disappeared. It still says it's there in the process. I've tried it with kernel compatability, and [currently] without--no difference. I had troubles with SD4 with it freezing up after an update. As with SD5, it seemed to freeze up after "restarting product". I've been using SD for quite some time, and I have to admit that I'm very disappointed with the newest version. SD4 wasn't [isn't] much better. I spent good $$ for a product I expected to work. I hope that you get a fix real soon. As a suggestion, you may consider extending subscriptions when [if?] you get the problem[s] fixed.

[tgawz]

Rather than re-post, check my latest post in "Is SD5 safe now? Quick question..."
It seems to be working for me now!

[dsteve54]

I contributed alot to this thread and contributed HiJackThis and StartupList and Belarc Advisor dumps to the support team. I have not seen a new version yet, and only an indication that they cannot replicate the problem.

Since the basic interface functionality of the systray app does not work for me, I am uninstalling all of SWD 5 v 179. I had hoped that something would be made to work with my input, but I am sitting here for a long period without the advertised functionality. Plus, I found that SIMPLY by uninstalling this one app (SWD (whether it was 4.x or 5.x) ) my entire computer speeded up dramatically in all aspects, ESPECIALLY multiple tabs on IE7. So until I can see something that appears to work better and faster, I am uninstalling and will just look in to see if a new version appears. Too bad, I had been using it installed full time....but until I uninstalled it for awhile, I did not realize how much time I was waiting for various applications to pop up.

Instead, I will just schedule the Antivirus and Antispyware features of already present Zonelabs Security Suite 7.0 (oem'd TrendMacro) to run and then when I am done on my computer for a day, I will just run free (manually initiated) versions of Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE and Spybot.

Maybe it will not scrape up everything, if SWD has a better detector, but since I have paid for 2 licenses of SWD for the next year, I will just maybe monthly install, run a full scan to mop up anything missed by all of the above, and then uninstall.

I just decided I cannot take the big slowdown plus lack of advertised functionality with the interface anymore, so I will just throw ballast for now and maybe check in again if a version ever comes out beyond 179 that produces a systray icon and doesn't cause the performance hits that I am seeing on all my computers.

[Chuff]

Yes, I notice that spyware doctor dramatically slows down your computer, especially with more onguard features running. On an old computer I own, I have to turn off most of (if not all) the onguard to make it run at a decent speed. You don't generally get slowed down much if you disable onguard, so you could try that if you want (although you get much less protection).

Also, I may be getting a new computer soon, so if I do, I will put SD on that and see if the problem persists (which it shouldn't). If it does, I will continue to believe that it's my network.

BTW does anyone know if onguard even works when the icon isn't there? It doesn't seem to, I still get the same amount of spyware as when SD has it disabled, unless if the icon is there.

[dsteve54]

BTW does anyone know if onguard even works when the icon isn't there? It doesn't seem to, I still get the same amount of spyware as when SD has it disabled, unless if the icon is there.

This is a good question...BTW, I had indeed ALWAYS kept onguard ENabled, so I have always used that modality. None of my prior comments involve SWD without onguard...in fact, I am not sure really what my motivation would be for having SWD up without the onguard. Even without the icon showing for me, I could see that SDTrayapp.exe, swdsrv.exe, an svcntaux.exe are always running (pardon, I was trying to remember the 3 processes by memory and I may have them slightly wrong). Even with these 3 processes running (but no icon) I thought that my SCHEDULED tasks would not run unless I actually had the SWD app (swdoctor.exe) up and at least minimalized in the task bar. However, the scheduled tasks DO in fact seem to run without SWD, even without the icon....I can see it on the log. So that part is good.

As far as the features of onguard, Chuff has a good question....there was a period where each of my incoming and outgoing email messages were marked with a label at the bottom indicating that SWD had examined them. However, this only seemed to happen if swdoctor.exe itself was up....it seems to vanish if swdoctor.exe is gone, no icon, and only SDTrayapp.exe, swdsrv, svcntaux are running....I think that not all the powers are present without the actual icon presence. There may be some...I thought I remember times where a bad area of a URL was still marked, and I do get popups that SWD updates are available, etc., so some aspects are running. It is still inconclusive whether all the functionality is there....I saw evidence of some protection but not enough evidence of wholesale functionality of promised onguard protection.

[tom.tdw]

yes:),
the icon has a separate process so your actual protection should be fine

BTW does anyone know if onguard even works when the icon isn't there? It doesn't seem to, I still get the same amount of spyware as when SD has it disabled, unless if the icon is there.

[AChen]

Hi Everyone,

The 'no icon in system tray' should now be resolved in SDV5.0.0.182. Please see http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46290 for the list of resolved issues in this build.

[dsteve54]

As the originator of this particular thread, I am happy to report from the standpoint of my computers that v 182 did SOLVE the systray icon issue.
So much congratulations to the PC Tools personnel for the solution and AChen for communicating faithfully back and forth.

Hopefully, the fix is also good for others' environments also. I did NOT try various modes of installing. In my case I had SWD totally uninstalled, so I went ahead and rebooted in Safe Mode with Networking, did the install and Smartupdates from there, and shutdown/reboot in Normal mode. In my case, the icon appeared fine on the bad machine....I did a SmartUpdate again and there was a Malware Detective update remaining. I installed that and did a shutdown and reboot in Normal mode and verified that there were no more SmartUpdates left.

So that is the way I implemented....at no time did the icon disappear. So I am happy for everyone to report that from my view, this thread is closed. As I indicated on my circa April 23-24 post, I MAY still have to run SWD 5 in some sort of reduced role (On Guard off, or Shutdown and restart for scans, etc) if I continue to have performance issues, but that is separate than my original problem on this thread.

Hope v 182 works for the others who had the same issue. Thanks!

[tom.tdw]

i find this build to be much quicker

I'm glad that this annoying issue is finally fixed:)
As the originator of this particular thread, I am happy to report from the standpoint of my computers that v 182 did SOLVE the systray icon issue.
So much congratulations to the PC Tools personnel for the solution and AChen for communicating faithfully back and forth.

Hopefully, the fix is also good for others' environments also. I did NOT try various modes of installing. In my case I had SWD totally uninstalled, so I went ahead and rebooted in Safe Mode with Networking, did the install and Smartupdates from there, and shutdown/reboot in Normal mode. In my case, the icon appeared fine on the bad machine....I did a SmartUpdate again and there was a Malware Detective update remaining. I installed that and did a shutdown and reboot in Normal mode and verified that there were no more SmartUpdates left.

So that is the way I implemented....at no time did the icon disappear. So I am happy for everyone to report that from my view, this thread is closed. As I indicated on my circa April 23-24 post, I MAY still have to run SWD 5 in some sort of reduced role (On Guard off, or Shutdown and restart for scans, etc) if I continue to have performance issues, but that is separate than my original problem on this thread.

Hope v 182 works for the others who had the same issue. Thanks!