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  • #2162434

    SP3 – IE7, Firefox and Windows Live Messenger

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    by lab99a ·

    I’ve have a real strange issue; SP3 was forced upon me by windows update, thats right, I was not given the cusotm option to deselect SP3, it just installed it… here is the problem.

    Zone Alarm quit working after the SP3 install so I switched to Avast and Comodo.. Avast worked fine but with Comodo my ability to go to websites through IE7 became problamatic, I could disable Comodo and everything seeemed to work. I installed PCTools firewall which btw works great, no issues, now when I open IE7 and or Firefox I can go to sites, if I start Windows Live Messenger IE7 and Firefox stop working, page not found or network connection errors. Everything else that needs or wants Internet access works such as outlook, outlook express, windows update through help and support, etc. I can shut down WLM, wait a minute and IE7 and Firefox work fine.

    Anyone have any ideas on this one?

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    • #2569904

      Clarifications

      by lab99a ·

      In reply to SP3 – IE7, Firefox and Windows Live Messenger

      Clarifications

    • #2569874

      How badly do you want Windows Live Messenger?

      by nepenthe0 ·

      In reply to SP3 – IE7, Firefox and Windows Live Messenger

      It looks as thought you have identified the culprit. Why not visit the Windows Components Add/Remove menu and uncheck Windows Messenger?

      Rick/Portland, OR

      • #2570607

        Found Other Things

        by lab99a ·

        In reply to How badly do you want Windows Live Messenger?

        After my initial posting I found that it is not only WLM but any application, such as Limewire or for that matter almost any application that wants Internet access causes IE7 and Firefox to not work.

        If I load an app that wants Internet access and there are many of them that ask for access that I have no idea why consequently I deny that access. When I do this the browsers stop working.

        The whole problem though I’ve discovered, has to do with the firewall application. I thought PCTools firewall wasn’t the culprit because disabling it didn’t give me access to the web through the browsers however I did discover that if I disabled it and waited 2 or 3 minutes, no matter what application was all browsers worked.

        It is not just PCTools firewall; I’ve tested it with Zone Alarm and Comodo and the same thing happens. Everything worked properly with SP2 and I would love to go back to SP2 however uninstalling SP3 taking the system back to a pre SP3 state is virtually impossible.

        Please note, this install of XP is a clean install from about a week and a half ago and doing another fresh install at this point is not a viable alternative as this is my main worksataion.

    • #2569634

      Your instincts are probably correct

      by nepenthe0 ·

      In reply to SP3 – IE7, Firefox and Windows Live Messenger

      If you want your stable SP2 configuration back, you will need to reinstall it. It may take you a couple of hours to do this. These are the steps:

      1. Back up all data files to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or CD

      2) Run the Windows Files & Settings Transfer Wizard (on the [i]old computer[/i]), save this folder to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or CD

      3) To do a thorough [i]wipe[/i] of the hard drive, download [i]Darik’s Boot & Nuke[/i]:

      http://dban.sourceforge.net/

      4) Create a bootable CD from the [i]iso[/i] file with CDBurnerXP:

      http://cdburnerxp.se/

      5) Follow the excellent documentation from CDBurnerXP to create a bootable CD. Note that both Darik’s Boot & Nuke and CDBurnerXP are freeware.

      6) Reinstall Windows SP2
      7) Reinstall your applications

      8) Run the Windows Files & Settings Transfer Wizard in reverse to restore your prior settings and tweaks.

      9) Restore your data files
      10) Obtain an imaging application such as Norton Ghost:

      http://tinyurl.com/5s7gw8

      11) Create an [i]image[/i] of your [b]C[/b] drive to an external hard drive for safekeeping

      12) If you’re brave, try reinstalling SP3
      13) If SP3 works, you’re sitting pretty

      14) If SP3 doesn’t work, boot from the Ghost CD and restore the computer from the SP2 saved image.

      Rick/Portland, OR

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