Referred To This Page From "ken"....help!

Hi Doug. Thanks for the link and for trying but no good! What a mess it made for me…..I could not get onto my desktop all afternoon, I finally tried to get into safe mode and did a system restore back to yesterday and it worked finally! Thank goodness. I am beginning to think that the help and support just is not worth it, It just bugs me that it does not work! Probably something so simple! anyway, things seem to be ok for now….I will see in the next few days if it stays status quo…hope so..liz Thanks so much for all your help.

Bummer about the Reg Fix from DougKnox site. Don't know what went wrong. Your problem must be different than what his fix, fixes. You're getting good at bailing yourself out of difficult situations. Pretty soon you'll be responding to other Member's posts. Best Regards

Thanks Doug, I was pretty proud of myself too! I have something to share that might be important or not. I did a Spy Bot Test and it came up with one problem: It said: microsoft.windows.IEfirewall ByPass I did a fix on it and hopefully that is it….do you know anything about this? I am wondering if that is why sometimes that makes my system run so slow….I also have been getting a few "not responding" messages which is so frustrating waiting for things to load….I know this machine of mine is a decent one but this is getting me crazier each day! thanks for any insight! liz

Do you remember when people were talking about how Computers were going to Simplify our lives? Paperless offices and all that jazz? Yeah Right! I've never seen such a flood of excess paper spread around offices, now that folks can send and print stuff with just one click. Back when we had to "type" on a real typewriter, and use "white-out" to correct mistakes, a good final copy was "precious", not the throw-away junk that people spread around now. And just a nice little machine….. making a person crazy………. naw, that'll never happen. Anyway, that Alert from Spybot, about the Firewall bypass……… if you have a software firewall like Sygate, Comodo, Zone Alarm, etc. Spybot will always try to tell you that something has "turned off" the MS Firewall. It's a good thing and you can "ignore" it. You can also go into Spybot - Advanced Mode - Settings - Ignore Products…… To set Spybot to "not" alert you about the firewall issue, since you already know you're using a software firewall. Just more of these precious little machines, trying to make our lives better! Best Regards

Doug. Another problem! But, things are running faster. don't know what to do with this one…when I started up the computer this morning, I receive this message: Could not initialize AVG kernel interface Application could not run. BUT! When I go into the control panel/add-remove programs/tried to uninstall AVG and then re install, I cannot uninstall….here is the message I get from that one: Opening of the set up data file failed No such data file found Does this mean avg is no longer there and I should try to go to their site and install again? I am soooooooo confused…. But, as I said, the system is running fast again with very little trouble but now I feel like I am unprotected against firewalls. Thanks for the help, Liz PS Love your statements above…how true it is! liz

Hi Doug….another point of interest - maybe? As I was trying to exit from IE just a few minutes ago, everything froze….could not exit the screen, could not minimize, nothing….the cursor would move around but no action. After waiting a few minutes, everything started up again, however, got an error message that the program was not responding and "end now", which I clicked on. then a message came up to send a report and this is what it said: " Generic Host Process for Win32 Svcs. has encountered a problem" Send Report Don't Send Report Have no clue what this is or what is now going on….I keep getting stopped up on many screens…..it freezes, and if I wait a few minutes, everything will run again….You must be so sick of me and this stupid machine! HELP! liz

"Generic Host Process for Win32 Svcs" is a service component of your Windows operating System.
As its title implies, it it "generic". Any application that functions via connection with the internet uses Generic Host Process for Win32 Svcs to interface with the internet. So your AVG, IE, FF, etc. applications all may use Generic Host Process for Win32 Svcs, and it is not unusually to have 3 or 4 instances of Generic Host Process for Win32 Svcs running active on a machine when internet activity is occurring.

More often that not, if you receive the error message that you quote, it is not a problem with the Windows Generic service, but some glitch that occurred in the application program. Closing and re-opening the application program most often resolves the problem. But if this Error is occurring regularly/frequently, then it may be important to attempt to repair the application program (usually by Uninstall/Reinstall) or take steps to assure that the Windows System is functioning properly.

Since you have been experiencing problems with you AVG and with your IE, it would be a good idea for you to Run your System File Checker, to replace any missing or corrupted System files.

Start - Run - (type)sfc /scannow - enter <–notice the required space before the "/"
(a complete scan of SFC takes about 8 - 10 minutes. if it closes within a few seconds or under a minute…. it did not complete)

If SFC does not identify any missing or corrupted System Files, then you should take steps to repair the specific application (IE or AVG, etc.) Usually your first step would be Uninstall/Reinstall of the application.

There are specific instructions for Repairing IE, here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378

Hopefully, the above SFC procedure will be sufficient.
If not, and you decide to do the full Repair of IE, you will be using your XP installation CD or Recovery Console to actually do an in-place installation of your Operating System.

You should BACKUP your important data, media, documents, files to a CD or external Hard Drive, before proceeding.

You may also need to make a decision about whether or not you are up to the task, or would rather have a Tech perform the repair for you. Most users feel a little intimidated the first time they attempt a Repair of IE, but generally are able to follow the instructions from MS.

Run your System File Checker first, then post back with your progress.

Best Regards

Hi Doug. I did the SFC, what happened was a small box came up and it seemed as if it was searching or something, it stayed on for about 5-6 minutes, then it flashed on and off and that was it….no report, no nothing….but, things seem to be a little better….for now anyway. I do not feel comfortable doing the IE repair so I guess I will just see how it goes and then take it somewhere to get looked at. Do you think I should try to install firefox again or just stay with IE? I'm fine either way…I just seemed to have problems after downloading firefox and I tried it twice. thanks for your advice, liz

Sounds like you did just fine with SFC. It "may" even have identified and replaced various missing or corrupted files, and thereby resolved your problem. Time will tell. I'm a fan of FireFox and use it for the majority of my browsing, including right now. One of our best OCP experts Ax238 has posted with good recommendations about what "add-ons" and security settings to use with FireFox. You can use the Search function at the top of this page, to find his posts. I don't remember when, but it was in the OCP Forum a few months back. He hasn't been around TC for a while, but hopefully will be back. I just use Firefox with Google Toolbar, all standard default settings with no problem at all. Best To You, Doug

Thanks Doug, I will check that out. I want to thank you for all your help and time you spent guiding me through this mess. I think I am going to be ok for now. If not, you will hear from me again…hope that's ok….liz

Doug, In regard to my laptop….I noticed something today. When I logged on this morning, AVG started running its scan….at that time, I was unable to get anything to work….everything was freezing up and IE took so long to load in…..do you think that possibly this AVG program could be the problem for me? Do you think I should switch to some other anti virus, firewall, etc. program….I don't even mind using something that I have to pay for….especially if it works out better for my system. It is soooooooooooo annoying when things start to freeze and I cannot access anything, not even control panel, etc. etc. Also, this may be a dumb question, but does my Windows XP have a firewall built in? I did a pc pitstop again and noticed that listed in my running programs. So, I am hoping you, the expert, can give me a clue here! Thanks, Doug for any expertise advice…. Liz <_<

Yes, XP "does" have a built-in Firewall. It is one-way only, protecting from external threats. In my opinion, that is "not" enough. Owner/users do sometimes make mistakes by "clicking" or "downloading", or even running "CD/Floppy" media, that may be infected. Since the owner/user initiates the action, XP firewall will allow it, whether or not it is contains malicious content. A software firewall protects from external threat (probably better than XP firewall) and in addition, keeps track of and issues permissions for internal routines when they attempt to reach-out to connect with the internet. This "internal" protection, is often the first warning clue for an owner/user that something unpleasant is active. With XP Firewall, the owner/user would not receive this valuable warning clue. As for things "freezing up" early just after turning on your machine…. My AVG AntiVirus is scheduled to run a complete scan once daily, apparently just like your system has AVG scheduled. I notice a very slight decrease of machine responsiveness on this Dell 8100 P4 1400mHz CPU with 512mb RAM, running XP Pro running with several windows open. My experience tells me that AVG is the "smallest footprint" antivirus available. Generally, paid version antivirus products are "much larger footprint" (resource hogs) and provide no better security than does the free version of AVG. I'd absolutely stay with AVG Free, and have been doing so for a few years on dozens of machines. Post your recent fresh Pit Test. Maybe we can spot something else that may be diminishing your machine's responsiveness. Or… You can certainly Select to remove Scheduled daily scanning via AVG Control Center - Scheduler. Then run AVG antivirus scans of your full computer, manually, at some time that is convenient to you. As regarding Firewalls… Again the Free versions of: Sygate Zone Alarm Commodo Do just as good a protective job, as any paid version. Paid versions sometimes have "clickable" information links to help the owner/user figure out what a specific "allowed or denied" object was/is trying to do. In my experience, this type of feature is rarely used, and not of much benefit when used. Let's see that Pit Test, and we'll take it from there.

Hi Doug, Here is my tech express from pit stop:

http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=V8FCHWHTR4VS8EEV

Things are most definitely running better when avg is not running…faster and less freezing….however, I still do not have my media player back or my help for windows. I am managing ok without them though…..thanks, liz

Doug, also, the pit stop test result shows I should check my battery, however, I did that and I do not have a recalled battery type from Dell. Thanks , Liz

Consider disabling the following:
ATI Hotkey Utility ATI Technologies Inc. C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
HP Digital Imaging Component Hewlett-Packard Co. C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqgalry.exe
BroadCom Wireless lan Dell Inc C:\WINDOWS\System32\bcmwltry.exe
Wireless Network Tray Applet Dell Inc C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLTRAY.exe

Also consider completely uninstalling Ad-Aware 2007
(no negative judgement against Ad-Aware 2007, but others have had surprising problems with it as a resource hog)
It can always be reinstalled.
Is this a "paid version"? If so, be sure that you keep your Product Activation Code, for potential reinstallation.
__________

Doug, Did everything…we will see how it goes….thanks, liz