More Help

[Conflow]

Ivor,

Being such a young PC it's probably still running on initial 'Factory-Default' settings and consequently Vista Home-Premium

is running at 'Max-Security' settings ~ Vista can be such an awkward 'So-and-So' about everything when in this initial state.

Quite obviously it see something...'which it considers as a threat'...so you have to teach it some good manners and to try

and help you, can you answer the following:-

1)

When you Log-On ~ are you Logged in as a 'User'? -or- are you Logged in as the 'Administrator'?

2)

When downloading any Programs are you getting any 'Security-Message' in particular are you getting a small 'Yellow-Stripe'

message across the top of the Browser-Screen just right under the Toolbar ?

3)

As yet, have you 'tuned' the Internet-Security settings in your Browser Page ? particularily the Security and Privacy settings ?

4)

What Anti-Virus Software are you using ?

Thats enough for now ~ If/when you reply please stick to the questions. No long explainations as these confuse the issue(s).

One thing is for sure, the answer to this PTE problem is simple ~ it isn't PTE ~ as its used on many Vista PC's here on the Forum.

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

Ivor,

Being such a young PC it's probably still running on initial 'Factory-Default' settings and consequently Vista Home-Premium

is running at 'Max-Security' settings ~ Vista can be such an awkward 'So-and-So' about everything when in this initial state.

Quite obviously it see something...'which it considers as a threat'...so you have to teach it some good manners and to try

and help you, can you answer the following:-

1)

When you Log-On ~ are you Logged in as a 'User'? -or- are you Logged in as the 'Administrator'?

2)

When downloading any Programs are you getting any 'Security-Message' in particular are you getting a small 'Yellow-Stripe'

message across the top of the Browser-Screen just right under the Toolbar ?

3)

As yet, have you 'tuned' the Internet-Security settings in your Browser Page ? particularily the Security and Privacy settings ?

4)

What Anti-Virus Software are you using ?

Thats enough for now ~ If/when you reply please stick to the questions. No long explainations as these confuse the issue(s).

One thing is for sure, the answer to this PTE problem is simple ~ it isn't PTE ~ as its used on many Vista PC's here on the Forum.

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

Hi Brian

1. I am logged on as administrator.

2. I Dont get a security message, when I download. On occasion I get a yellow stripe at the top of the screen but I would stress that is quite rarely. Thats the one where you can right click and run or download etc.

I have recently turned off the User Account Control.

3, Yes.

4. I use Virgin PC Guard and of course Windows Defender.

Ivor

[Conflow]

Ivan,

I am sending you a series of Outlook and IE Explorer Screenshots as attachments below. They are from an XP-Machine

but you will find the similar things in your Vista-PC concerning Outlook-Express and Internet-Explorer.

Check these and make sure you have the right settings.

1)

You are 'Loged-in' as Administrator ~ Who set this up for you ? and do you have FULL Admin permissions ?

2)

Unknown to you there is another Admin Account on your PC...its called OEMPC Account (Master-Account) and I wonder

should this PC have been supplied by Virgin-Media have they 'fiddled' with this Account in their own interests ?

(This actually happens a lot in the States and people like Comcast have been doing this for years).

With reference to your Anti-Virus Set-ups:-

3)

Virgin PC-Guard. This means you are a Virgin-Media Broadband Customer...Sorry I have bad news on this one !!

This is not a 'main-stream' Program and it has very many issues (Google for:- Virgin PC-Guard and see for yourself)

4)

Windows-Defender. Comes pre-installed on Vista and the PC.Industry reviews on this are not good ~ just passable.

________________________________________________________________________________

It's my opinion that you have a Settings-problem or alternatively a Program-conflict problem...

Firstly, review your settings as shown below ~ let's get those out of the way, then we can look for other issues.

Ivan this is really a situation of tracking down this problem and to do that, systematic methodology is needed.

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

Ivan,

I am sending you a series of Outlook and IE Explorer Screenshots as attachments below. They are from an XP-Machine

but you will find the similar things in your Vista-PC concerning Outlook-Express and Internet-Explorer.

Check these and make sure you have the right settings.

1)

You are 'Loged-in' as Administrator ~ Who set this up for you ? and do you have FULL Admin permissions ?

2)

Unknown to you there is another Admin Account on your PC...its called OEMPC Account (Master-Account) and I wonder

should this PC have been supplied by Virgin-Media have they 'fiddled' with this Account in their own interests ?

(This actually happens a lot in the States and people like Comcast have been doing this for years).

With reference to your Anti-Virus Set-ups:-

3)

Virgin PC-Guard. This means you are a Virgin-Media Broadband Customer...Sorry I have bad news on this one !!

This is not a 'main-stream' Program and it has very many issues (Google for:- Virgin PC-Guard and see for yourself)

4)

Windows-Defender. Comes pre-installed on Vista and the PC.Industry reviews on this are not good ~ just passable.

________________________________________________________________________________

It's my opinion that you have a Settings-problem or alternatively a Program-conflict problem...

Firstly, review your settings as shown below ~ let's get those out of the way, then we can look for other issues.

Ivan this is really a situation of tracking down this problem and to do that, systematic methodology is needed.

Brian.Conflow.

Hi Brian

Just come, been out all day trying to get some pictures of York Viking Festival which is on this Weekend, so I have only just seen your mail.

As I said I dont use that pc (call it PC 2) for general Internet stuff, I only use the Internet to download updates.

This mail is in fact being written on PC 1.

However I have IE6 installed on PC 2 and all the settings are set as you described.

With regard to Outlook Express, I am never going to use that on PC 2.

The supplier of the pc was a Company called Medion, and as you say correctly, Virgin is my Broadband Supplier. A Number of us use PC Guard and are reasonably happy with it so far. I have tried others in the past, but I do not like the way that most of them, especially the latest versions of Norton try to take over your PC.

I agree with, and understand your comment on Windows Defender.

With regard to the main point regarding Administrator, I set it up and I am shown as the Administrator. I have had issues with it at times and have now disabled the Administrative rights, and I get a warning when I shut down that they have been disabled. I do not know/understand what you mean about FULL Admin Permissions.

Until this issue with PTE I have always been able to install, alter or rearrange files and programs.

I have had some "You do not have permission to do this" warnings but I have always got by them, often by using "Run as Administrator" option.

I know this is not relevant but, I do understand that there can be conflicts, and you just have to find a suitable work around. (I have a friend who bought a different model pc at the same time as I did who was getting blue screen problems all the time, so much so that he regretted buying the computer. The problem was put down to a conflict between Microsoft and his Video Cards native drivers. The solution he has had to adopt is to use the MS drivers only. This means he cannot rotate his View Screen into the vertical mode (to view picture in the Landscape Mode) as the MS drivers havent been designed for that option.)

Thanks for your help so far.

Ivor

[Conflow]

Ivan,

You are complicating things when you talk about PC-1 and PC-2 and what you are doing with them - that is not my concern.

1)

Please tell me the Maker and Model No: of the PC which gets the 'Blue-Screen' while trying to download PTE Program ?.

2)

Can you give me some idea of 'Purchase-Date' when it was bought ?

3)

What Anti-Virus are you using on this particular PC ?

4)

Are the OE and IE settings on that PC as I had recommended ?

Ivan, I am trying to help you to get this PC operating with the PTE Program - everything else is irrelevant - but I must know the

current status of this PC and that means I have to check its operational details. The above questions are very important and I

must have accurate answers if I am to help you !!

Just copy this 'Post' into your reply and make an 'Answer' under each 'Question' above...it's so much faster and more accurate.

(Run your Left.Mouse Cursor over the Post to Hi-light it. Now Right.Clk on 'blue-print' and copy it. Open Your-Reply and paste it and Edit)

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

Ivan,

You are complicating things when you talk about PC-1 and PC-2 and what you are doing with them - that is not my concern.

1)

Please tell me the Maker and Model No: of the PC which gets the 'Blue-Screen' while trying to download PTE Program ?.

2)

Can you give me some idea of 'Purchase-Date' when it was bought ?

3)

What Anti-Virus are you using on this particular PC ?

4)

Are the OE and IE settings on that PC as I had recommended ?

Ivan, I am trying to help you to get this PC operating with the PTE Program - everything else is irrelevant - but I must know the

current status of this PC and that means I have to check its operational details. The above questions are very important and I

must have accurate answers if I am to help you !!

Just copy this 'Post' into your reply and make an 'Answer' under each 'Question' above...it's so much faster and more accurate.

(Run your Left.Mouse Cursor over the Post to Hi-light it. Now Right.Clk on 'blue-print' and copy it. Open Your-Reply and paste it and Edit)

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

1)

Please tell me the Maker and Model No: of the PC which gets the 'Blue-Screen' while trying to download PTE Program ?.

I have downloaded PTE ok, I am unable to install it.

The PC is supplied by Medion. Model No. PC MT7, I believe they built it but I dont know for sure. I get the Blue Screen when I try to install Pte and also when I subsequently try to boot from the Program Folder.

2)

Can you give me some idea of 'Purchase-Date' when it was bought ?

October last year.

3)

What Anti-Virus are you using on this particular PC ?

Virgin PC Guard

4)

Are the OE and IE settings on that PC as I had recommended ?

The IE settings are as you recommended.

I did not check the Outlook Express settings because I do not run emails on this pc, and Vista as far as I know, does not support Outlook Express, it has its own system called Windows Mail. Which I have never used.

Ivor

[Conflow]

Ivan,

Thanks for the details ~ I will get back to you soon.

Your EMail Client (no matter what it is) has settings to allow 'Attachment Downloads'

which is switchable and is tied up with your Anti-Virus settings whether in use it or not.

This utility must be checked in similar fashion as checking OE.

Vista comes with IE-7 ready installed ~ Its part of the Operating.System and cant be

removed and Windows-Mail is part of that O.S and is somewhat similar to OE.

I shall get back to you soon.

Brian.Conflow.

[Conflow]

Ivan,

I checked into one of our PC-Database's about your Medion-Akoya PC Model:-PCMT7 (exclusive to Aldi)

and things don't add up at all ~ also I don't know in which part of the World you are living in.

1)

Your PC.MT7 was 1st. released in early 2007 with a single Celeron-Processor with XP-Sp2 Op.System and

a miserly 258.Mb of RAM-Memory and little in the way of resident Programs. It also featured Kaspersky

or Bullguard Anti-Virus (latter with a Firewall).

At that time a New Vista-Home version was due for release ~ Tech details unknown and untracable.

2)

It appears you let the Anti-Virus run out (3.Month Trial) and them when offered Virgin-Guard (Free) you

downloaded that. Virgin-Guard has a Filtering-Firewall and its not their product' its 'packaged' for Virgin

and uses 256.Mb of Memory, its an absolute "Hog" and its unstable. (Don't ignore the Reviews)

3)

Removal of these products via the Add/Remove Programs routine will not work as special Uninstallers

are needed which must be deployed in Safe-Mode.

Nett Consequences of all:-

1) You have 2 Firewalls running simultanously Vista-Firewall and/or either Virgin or Bullguard....Not allowed.

2) You have 2 Anti-Virus running simultanously Win-defender and/or:- Virgin/Bullguard/or Kaspersky...Not Alllowed.

3) Switching-Off these Programs does not stop their Registry activities.

My Advice:-

If this is indeed a Single-Processor PC I would have it wiped clean and re-install with XP-Sp3 with Avast A/V (Not AVG 8.0).

If its a Duo-Processor I would keep Vista-Home and Win-Defender (switchable) and also install Avast A/V or Bit-Defender

(without firewall) having first removed those conflicting Programs.

Sorry I can't be of any more help to you because this PC is in a right "mess" and serious surgery is needed. It's nothing to

do with PTE ~and those 'warning-windows' you are getting should not be there at all~ your Registry is completely confused.

I think you know that ?

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

Ivan,

I checked into one of our PC-Database's about your Medion-Akoya PC Model:-PCMT7 (exclusive to Aldi)

and things don't add up at all ~ also I don't know in which part of the World you are living in.

1)

Your PC.MT7 was 1st. released in early 2007 with a single Celeron-Processor with XP-Sp2 Op.System and

a miserly 258.Mb of RAM-Memory and little in the way of resident Programs. It also featured Kaspersky

or Bullguard Anti-Virus (latter with a Firewall).

At that time a New Vista-Home version was due for release ~ Tech details unknown and untracable.

2)

It appears you let the Anti-Virus run out (3.Month Trial) and them when offered Virgin-Guard (Free) you

downloaded that. Virgin-Guard has a Filtering-Firewall and its not their product' its 'packaged' for Virgin

and uses 256.Mb of Memory, its an absolute "Hog" and its unstable. (Don't ignore the Reviews)

3)

Removal of these products via the Add/Remove Programs routine will not work as special Uninstallers

are needed which must be deployed in Safe-Mode.

Nett Consequences of all:-

1) You have 2 Firewalls running simultanously Vista-Firewall and/or either Virgin or Bullguard....Not allowed.

2) You have 2 Anti-Virus running simultanously Win-defender and/or:- Virgin/Bullguard/or Kaspersky...Not Alllowed.

3) Switching-Off these Programs does not stop their Registry activities.

My Advice:-

If this is indeed a Single-Processor PC I would have it wiped clean and re-install with XP-Sp3 with Avast A/V (Not AVG 8.0).

If its a Duo-Processor I would keep Vista-Home and Win-Defender (switchable) and also install Avast A/V or Bit-Defender

(without firewall) having first removed those conflicting Programs.

Sorry I can't be of any more help to you because this PC is in a right "mess" and serious surgery is needed. It's nothing to

do with PTE ~and those 'warning-windows' you are getting should not be there at all~ your Registry is completely confused.

I think you know that ?

Brian.Conflow.

Thank you Brian,

It is a Medion from Aldi, It was bought when I said and it is one of a series of high spec machines that they periodically put out.

It is an Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.47Ghz,

3Mg DDR2 RAM,

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GS Video card.

I have Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 included as the OS.

Bullguard was indeed available in the purchase price but I did not install or run it, as were a number of other programs I did not need.

I have had issues with Kapersky, Norton and another Virus checker which slips my mind at this time.

I was very dubious about getting a new computer with Vista but I found that it was the only option other than building one, plus it should have become more usable with service pack 1 included.

Virgin PC Guard is free at my level of Broadband useage and to-date neither I nor any of my friends who use have an issue with it. It is certainly no more clunky than Norton.

I am aware that most Virus Checkers require the use of special un-installers to correctly uninstall them.

I do not quite understand your sweeping statement that my pc is completely confused and in a mess.

I have only had one issue, and that is with this one Program PTE which I have tried to install.

More to the point, I have subsequently installed Irfan view as was suggested as a test with absolutely no ill effects or issues what so ever.

I know that you have been doing your best to try to help me and I appreciate you taking the time and effort to do so.

Thank you very much.

So far I have tried everything that has been suggested and I do not even want to consider wiping my machine just to install this one small program, except that I have paid for it.

Ivor

[Conflow]

Ivor,

Thanks for your reply and in response have to say 4 things:-

1)

The PTE Program is running perfectly well on a vast number of Vista-PCs ~ ask any Forum Member.

Why can you not get in running on yours ?? ~ you seem to want to ignore that fact.

2)

You wrote..."I have had issues with Kapersky, Norton and another Virus checker which slips my mind at this time"...

If you have tried these out ~this is your problem ~ they are not 100% Uninstalled. You need to be 100% sure about that.

3)

Virgin PC Guard has a system of "Download-Filtering" (I wasn't going to go into this) but had you downloaded XXX and

then had decided it wasnt for you, Virgin PC remembers your decision and prevents any further attempt's to do so.

Its one of the reasons why Virgin-PC Guard is not rated by the Professional Anti-Virus Reviewers. (It's rubbish)

4)

Look, instead of wasting your time pulling your Hair out why not downlaod a PTE-Show from any one of those available

here on the Forum, try and run that and lets have the results.

If the Show runs on your PC there is nothing wrong with PTE ~ if it fail's to run, its your Computer ot its Set-up.

Best regards.

Brian.Conflow.

[AnKo]

Ivor,

Have you tried a reinstall of your video drivers? And secondly a reinstall of your soundcard drivers? Both after deinstalling the drivers and a reset of the system.

In my experiences the combination of these twe drivers can cause BSOD easily.

André

[Ken Cox]

IVOR

have you ever run CHKDISK

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=VI...earch&meta=

IT MIGHT BE WORTHWHILE TO DO THIS

you said you uninstalled it once

uninstall /remove the 5 version folders with the uninstall function

C:\Program Files\WnSoft PicturesToExe

C:\Program Files\WnSoft PicturesToExe\5.6

backup your registry

uninstall it

search your registry for all traces of pte and delete them

reboot

disable your anti virus. defefender etc

install ver 4.49

ver 3* + installed on my system to

C:\Program Files\PicturesToExe

all ok?

install 5.6

C:\Program Files\WnSoft PicturesToExe

C:\Program Files\WnSoft PicturesToExe\5.6

all ok ?

register 5.6 key

all ok?

register deluxe key

ken

[wolfhound]

Ivor,

Thanks for your reply and in response have to say 4 things:-

1)

The PTE Program is running perfectly well on a vast number of Vista-PCs ~ ask any Forum Member.

Why can you not get in running on yours ?? ~ you seem to want to ignore that fact.

2)

You wrote..."I have had issues with Kapersky, Norton and another Virus checker which slips my mind at this time"...

If you have tried these out ~this is your problem ~ they are not 100% Uninstalled. You need to be 100% sure about that.

3)

Virgin PC Guard has a system of "Download-Filtering" (I wasn't going to go into this) but had you downloaded XXX and

then had decided it wasnt for you, Virgin PC remembers your decision and prevents any further attempt's to do so.

Its one of the reasons why Virgin-PC Guard is not rated by the Professional Anti-Virus Reviewers. (It's rubbish)

4)

Look, instead of wasting your time pulling your Hair out why not downlaod a PTE-Show from any one of those available

here on the Forum, try and run that and lets have the results.

If the Show runs on your PC there is nothing wrong with PTE ~ if it fail's to run, its your Computer ot its Set-up.

Best regards.

Brian.Conflow.

Much as I respect everyone else's expertise in this matter. I feel that we are getting tied up in the issue of downloading.

I do not use the pc in question for downloading, or Internet communication. It is connected to the Internet to allow Program updates.

I downloaded the PTE set up with the computer I am using to write this email, a different one, and I transfered the set program using a USB pen.

Subsequently when I was trying out various alterations and settings suggested by members I did re download direct to my main pc but the result was the same.

I have always been able to run PTE Shows and have on advice tried some more recently.

The issues I have had with those Virus checkers have been in the past on different pc's. I did not like the way that they were taking control of my pc. Kapersky for example would not let me upload to my own web site. These checkers were in use for some considerable time and did not suit my requirements.

With regard PC Guard it has been running on a colleagues pc for about 2 years and he is more than happy. I have had it running on one pc for over 6 months with no problems and on the pc in question since I bought it.

I want to use PTE because it seems to be the accepted standard for Camera Clubs and other organisations throughout the world.

I do sincerely appreciate all the help that every one is trying to give me.

Ivor

[Ken Cox]

IVOR

does the pte ver5* run on your "PTE set up with the computer I am using to write this email"?

then run it there make thew dvd for your mate and take the bad system to the shop and see if they can fix

also did you try any of my suggestions

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=62355

ken

[nobeefstu]

Ivor,

Its a hard task to trouble shoot random system issues over the internet.

I agree with André comment to reinstall your video drivers, and sound drivers ... sometimes its the simple resolve of blue screen issues that show up randomly even when you think your current drivers are working correctly.

Also ... since you cant seem to get a crash report ... you may possibly find some helpful information in your systems Event Viewer of details if they were logged before the crash. Look for the Error Flags that are logged in the viewer after you receive a Blue Screen shutdown.

Microsoft Help and Support Links:

How to view error messages in Event Viewer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947321

You may also try

The Debug Diagnostic tool

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931370

[wolfhound]

Ivor,

Have you tried a reinstall of your video drivers? And secondly a reinstall of your soundcard drivers? Both after deinstalling the drivers and a reset of the system.

In my experiences the combination of these twe drivers can cause BSOD easily.

André

I have not forgotten your suggestion Andre.

I am ofay with this as I have done it with XP.

But not with Vista.

This will take some serious thought.

For those interested the reason is as follows: -

I dont know how many people are using Vista but Microsoft Soft wrote all their own drivers use in Vista and the OS preference is to use MS's drivers rather than the bespoke drivers written by other suppliers.

If you remember a bit further back in this post, I alluded to my friend who was having blue screen problems.

His Monitor and Monitor software (from HP) was written to work with various video card software supplied by the various card manufacturers (I cant recall the exact manufacturer at the moment).

However there was a conflict between the manufacturers software and the Vista OS. The only way to get around the conflict was to use the MS drivers, but these did not allow for the HP input.

After consulting with all parties, MS, HP and the card manufacturer, over a couple of months it was decided that he had to either run the Vista software as is, or run the manufacturers software with some of the options disabled.

Neither result was satisfactory as both the solutions meant that the option to rotate the screen through 90 degrees was disabled.

I have read of other similar problems caused by Vista drivers.

My computer gives me all I want in every respect, other than with this problem I am having with PTE, and any updates to the drivers will have been made automatically, (I am not even sure who's drivers are being used), I dont want to delete them and install drivers that might give me a mismatch or problem elsewhere.

It would be different if I was getting problems with every other program I ran.

This has got to be a software conflict somewhere between my version of Vista and PTE, and I appear to be the only person with the problem.

Ivor

[wolfhound]

IVOR

does the pte ver5* run on your "PTE set up with the computer I am using to write this email"?

then run it there make thew dvd for your mate and take the bad system to the shop and see if they can fix

also did you try any of my suggestions

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=62355

ken

Hi Ken

Short answer yes I did.

Second point: This is going to sound trite but yes it does and yes I could do that for a one off.

But since trying to load the licence key I cannot use PTE at all on my main pc.

I dont really want to work on my pictures on one pc then go through the rigmarole of copying them and moving to another machine, installing them all again and then working backwards and forwards between two pc's.

Ivor

[Conflow]

IVOR,

There have been +740 Posts concerning your 'Vista-Medion PC' and you are no where near a solution...

I need to ask you '2.Question' ~ but before that I want to make a 'Statement' viz:-

Statement

'Vista-Home-Premium' (Any version) comes complete with an excellent 'Firewall' built into the Op.System

and it also has 'Windows-Defender' built in ~ and 'Internet-Explorer' which is a component of the Op.System.

You also have Virgin-PC Guard+Firewall.

Question.1

Knowing these facts why the heck have you downloaded another 'Firewall' when you know this is 'Illegal' as

you cannot run 2 Firewalls simultaneously on any PC without asking for trouble ??

Question.2

What is your problem and why are you so reticent to download a New Copy of PTE using the Vista-PC to do that job

like everyone else does?. It's coming from a 'Secure-server' through your LAN Box on your wall (It has a Wired-Firewall)

before it gets anywhere near your PC which has its own Vista-Software Firewall?.....

It simply defies reason why you are not doing this?.....It cut's out all your XP-Stages which can create their own problems.

It mystifies me ??

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

IVOR,

There have been +740 Posts concerning your 'Vista-Medion PC' and you are no where near a solution...

I need to ask you '2.Question' ~ but before that I want to make a 'Statement' viz:-

Statement

'Vista-Home-Premium' (Any version) comes complete with an excellent 'Firewall' built into the Op.System

and it also has 'Windows-Defender' built in ~ and 'Internet-Explorer' which is a component of the Op.System.

You also have Virgin-PC Guard+Firewall.

Question.1

Knowing these facts why the heck have you downloaded another 'Firewall' when you know this is 'Illegal' as

you cannot run 2 Firewalls simultaneously on any PC without asking for trouble ??

Question.2

What is your problem and why are you so reticent to download a New Copy of PTE using the Vista-PC to do that job

like everyone else does?. It's coming from a 'Secure-server' through your LAN Box on your wall (It has a Wired-Firewall)

before it gets anywhere near your PC which has its own Vista-Software Firewall?.....

It simply defies reason why you are not doing this?.....It cut's out all your XP-Stages which can create their own problems.

It mystifies me ??

Brian.Conflow.

To answer your question 2. As I have stated previously I did. It and it still didnt work.

I have not had any conflicts up till now, (if this is what is causing the problem).

If Vista comes with such a good defence system why the heck is everybody advised so strongly, in every article I have read to install better ones?

And before you ask yes I have tried to install PTE with the firewalls and virus checkers turned off.

Ivor

[Ken Cox]

DID YOU UNINSTALL AND CLEAR THE REGISTRY OF PTE

KEN

[wolfhound]

DID YOU UNINSTALL AND CLEAR THE REGISTRY OF PTE

KEN

Hi Ken I did I found two references in the registry, one to PTE and one to PTE 5.6 (I am speaking from memeory now as I cant look it up)

Does that sound right or is there something else hiding under another name?

I am running chkdsk at the moment as has also been suggested, and I think that is going to take a long time.

Ivor

[Ken Cox]

I cant really say on how many entries you will find -- i have 7 ver 5 installed and too many to count ver 4

ken

[Conflow]

Ivor,

O.K now we are getting some straight 'uncomplicated' answers and in reply as follows:-

1)

Turning off a 'Firewall' (you have 2) ~ This does not mean they are 'stone-dead' they may

still be running in the background and to check that---Open the 'Task-Manager'---'Process Tab'..

Look under the CPU Tab---check for Firewall activity.

2)

Anti-Virus has the same behaviour. Turning them off does not mean they are 'inactive'.

Usually they still run in the background and you need to check that also ?.

3)

When you turn-off these Programs all you are doing is 'Unloading that Service'

you are not killing it's background process.

4)

You can not 'Unload' the Vista Firewall - it is still protecting the System.Kernel and Registry

which it is designed to do. All you have done is drop its protection of the Comms-Ports.

5)

I will say it for the 3 time...You can not have 2 Firewalls running simultaneously on a PC.

Comment: I don't know who you are talking to,or what you are reading about Vista-Security

but if you contact any Vista-Manufacturer they will verify that the BIG problem with Vista

is its OTT-Security and excessive DRM-Security quite the opposite from what you have picked up.

I "Attach" 2 Articles from Microsoft about your Security Programs. If you want the full facts simply

open the 'Microsoft Knowledge Base' and type in a problem. (Examples shown below).

(Look for the issue about Vista-Firewall rejecting Traffic from other Windows PC's)

Vista has its problems and who better to ask but Microsoft who made it...

Brian.Conflow.

[wolfhound]

I cant really say on how many entries you will find -- i have 7 ver 5 installed and too many to count ver 4

ken

Hi

Update

I am quite down at the moment.

I have been following all your advice and suggestions, and on Sunday night after completeing the chdsk run. I deleted all the PTE files emptied all the references I could find in the registry. I turned off all my virus checkers Windows defender Firewalls and also checked that none were not running in Task Manager processes.

I then sat back full of quiet anticipation that this time it was going to work. I tried to install version 4.x that you advised Ken.

It looked like it was going ok, got all the setup screens then Blue screen. I went to the Program file and looked for the installed files and tried to open the program from there. Again blue screen.

So I gave up and went to bed.

Yesterday I did not have the enthusiasm to try anything else.

I have however found the Windows mini dumps which I understand tells you what stopped working. I also found that I cant read them. It apparently needs the installation of debug tools, I read up on this and I'm afraid that its starting to go straight over my head, and that was just the installation of the debug tool.

Ivor

So in reality I am no further forward. Maybe after reading through these debug installation documents a few more times I might pluck up the nerve to have a go.

[Conflow]

Ivor,

You have my absolute sympathy in your efforts in trying to crack this problem. I should know what its like after 30 years

of work in 'kicking' obstinate Computers into life. Amongst other things that's what we do at Conflow Services for a living.

May I make a suggestion and ask you to try something:- Uninstall Virgin PC-Guard with its own 'Uninstaller' then go to

Add/Remove Programs and see if remnants of it are still there ?

Also as a way of help, you really need to Download/Install a Program called "Revo-Uninstaller' its suitabe for XP and Vista

and many Forum Members use it to remove really 'stubborn' Applications and rogue Files. It also has a 'Hunter-Mode' where you

can target an individual File for removal. This is a very powerful Program and its absolutely stable and has many common Windows

options and its way better by far than Windows Add/Remove utility. (Ken Cox put me on to it years ago).

It also has a fantastic Help & Support Forum (one of the best)...Your Firewall might block it, but just give your Permisssion and all

should be O.K as it downloads from a Secure-Server. When you open it, it just Scans your System and does nothing until you make

a job selection. But before that select the little 'Blue-Book' in the Toolbar, this brings you directly to a very expansive Help-Tutorial

as how best to use the Program.

LINK:-

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/revo-unin...ninstaller.html

At this stage you have nothing to loose ~ indeed you can re-install Virgin PC-Guard if you wish ~ but Revo-Uninstall will help.

Best of luck,

Brian.Conflow.