Beta 2?, Better uninstall!

[PC-Pete]

Just uninstalled first beta and installed beta 2. Installation itself was smooth but now Windows is slow through initial boot sequence and hangs each time (3 attempts) at the stage illustrated.
Will try to boot in Safe Mode, uninstall, reinstall, whatever. Any clues?

Pete :cool:

[Reodor]

What do You mean by Beta2.
The GUI gives me no info of anything,version - db-numbers etc, smart update does not quite seem to work, shows yesterday 9 hrs ago - but that is today? (known issue). Just did a manual smart update which gave AV db from 1-12 and an XML file.

My installer says: Version 5.5.045

[PC-Pete]

Vecchio mentioned it so I checked the product page: http://www.pctools.com/internet-security/

Current Version: Beta 2
File Size: 43,999 KB
Operating System: Designed for Windows® Vista™, XP and 2000
Release Date: October 19, 2007

Download link from PC Tools confirmation email worked for Beta2.

BUT! IT AINT WORKIN' :confused:

[AChen]

I have updated this information. Please see http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49408.

Pete, what seems to be the problem?

[PC-Pete]

Hi Anthony
Got it working (I think) but it's a bit of a long story.

Installed using default settings. Ran Smart Update. Seemed to be taking a long time to check for updates and I think I had difficulty killing "update.exe" so I re-booted.

Reboot hung as previously illustrated.

Tried booting in 'Safe Mode with Networking', same result.

'Safe Mode' worked. Noticed that IS loads even in safe mode. Is part of IS within the Windows kernel?

While in SM, changed to Kernel Compatibility mode and tried to boot again normally - same result - hangs at 'network connections' box.

Back into SM, uninstalled. Booted 'normal', reinstalled IS, restarted 'normal'. Again Smart Update hung but this time I had already started Process Explorer, with which I was successfully able to kill "update.exe".

Checked Firefox and IE, HTTP traffic blocked but IP okay. Figured some part of IS might be blocking update.exe. De-activated OnGuard. Suddenly everything works. Really weird bit, re-activated OnGuard and it's still working, though Smart Update doesn't seem to actually do anything but at least it doesn't freeze.

[Reodor]

Same story as PC Pete.
Gets it in, gets it up, but when trying 'smart-update it keeps for ever: retrieveing updates. But it does not manage to go on-line.
Impossible to kill and shut down. Error message: This program can not be closed, locked by the system.
Hope someone is still 'in the office' and may stop this disaster for being spread further.

[mjq424]

Hi
PCTIS and Spyware Doctor and PCTAV and PCTFW all have kernel compnonents. It is really one of the only ways to effectively search for and remove malware, especially rootkits.
The way that PCTIS (and SD) starts in safe mode is to add registry values to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\SafeBoot\Minimal
(Its also the same with ControlSet001, ControlSet002 and ControlSet003)

Hope that helps

[PC-Pete]

Hi mjq424,
Thanks for the explanation. I guessed that there must be some kernel component if only to allow scanning of protected/system files. I was wondering if the actual scanning engine was in the kernel but from your answer I'd surmise that it's not.

Pete :cool:

[PC-Pete]

Current Status:
IS Beta 2 working okay with "Site Guard" and "Network Guard" disabled.

At first reboot after re-enablng "On Guard", "Restoring network connections.." box displayed for 2 hours before Windows GUI loaded.

First disabled "Site Guard". Internet came back but but still no network shares. Disabled "Network Guard" and network shares returned too.

Pete

[Reodor]

Think I keep on with B1 until further notice. Why security apps if the guards have to be disabled?