[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

That did absolute wonders for Java applications in my browser! They are back to being speedy! 8o)

However, it did nothing for my Windows Update experience. 8o(

I am still wondering why the "steppingmode" registry change did not have the effect you intended on Windows update. You apparently expected it to ask me before performing actions, yet it did not. Could this lack of change be a clue?

Thanks for hanging in there.

Michael

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Another step in the right direction.

Can you try the file offered here please:
http://www.microsoft...39-6794d97994a2
It's been known to help in similar cases.
Let me know if that helps for you as well.

The fact that the stepthrough didn't work, probably means that you don't even get to the first one that triggers it.

Regards,

[Metallica]

Another step in the right direction.

Can you try the file offered here please:
http://www.microsoft...39-6794d97994a2
It's been known to help in similar cases.
Let me know if that helps for you as well.

The fact that the stepthrough didn't work, probably means that you don't even get to the first one that triggers it.

Regards,

[kdfrawg]

I installed that update and rebooted. Then I went to Windows Update and tried again. It still did not work. It did the same things when I monitored it with Task Manager. It seems to do a lot of something, using widely varying amount of processor, before it hangs. Of course, all of that could be just trying to start.

It is apparent that this is a much more difficult problem that it should be.

Michael

[Metallica]

Michael,

Can you check if svchost.exe is in any way being blocked from accessing the internet?

Also try this for me

On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options.

• Click the Security tab.
• Click the Trusted Sites icon, and then click Sites...
• Uncheck the "require server verification" checkbox.
• Make sure the following URLs are listed in the Web Sites list box:
  
  
• http://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  
• http://*.windowsupdate.com

Let me know if that helps.

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

I am not aware of any way that svchost is being blocked from the internet. I do not think that I am restricting it from anywhere. Is there somewhere special that I should be checking to find out?

I thought you had something with the Trusted Sites idea! I added the two you gave me, plus http:\\www.*.microsoft.com. Alas, that did not help, either.

Could it be an add-in of some sort in Internet Explorer? Speaking of those, I have been using a popup-blocker named Guard-IE for years. I haven't changed anything about it; I really can't, because it is not offered for sale any more. I have tried accessing Windows Update with blocking turned off in Guard IE, too.

I'm just trying to throw out ideas. This problem is proving to be incredibly intractable.

Michael

[Metallica]

Hi Michael,

The most usual way it couild be blocked would be with a firewall. I couldn't tell which one you are using, so I have no idea where you might be able to find that.

By all means try with GuardIE disabled. The software is old (2002 ?) and should be easy to replace if it turns out to be the cullprit.

Regards,

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

I am not running a software firewall. I have set up an encrypted wireless network using a Linksys router for a hardware firewall. I bought a new Linksys router about eight months ago, but Windows Update worked for at least five or six months after I did that. I'm pretty sure it's not the router.

It probably would be easy to replace Guard IE if there was not so much software spam out there. Doing a search on popup blockers, no matter how you qualify it, gets you a mountain of absolute crap. It took me 90 days to do enough research to find something with which to replace Norton Antivirus, and I REALLY disliked that thing. Put shortly, I can't get enough real information to know what to replace Guard-IE with.

Nothing in the list of IE add-ons looks horrid, but I almost certainly don't know enough to know. I do know enough to know that once there, I can't find a way to delete them.

Michael

[Metallica]

The Google Toolbar is an alternative I have recommended before if you want to keep on using IE:
http://toolbar.googl...popup_help.html

Personally, I switched to Opera a long time ago:
http://www.opera.com/
but you still need IE for Windows Update and some other sites that just won't work with other browsers.

Regards,

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

Okay, then, I understand that I should jettison the decrepit and unsupported Guard-IE and install the Google tool-bar. I can also make sure that the widows popup-blocker is on. I'll probably want something for privacy, to keep cookies down and to delete history automatically, too.

I have Firefox on my machine. It tends not to run properly in either of the forums that I run (one an Invision like this one and the other a PHPBB2 forum). I wonder if opera would do better? Can I have an unlimitied number of browsers? Well, why not? ;o)

But that still leaves me needing IE to do windows updates, which I don't think a person should do without. I'll do some work on the pop-ups and you can think some more about Windows Update.

Michael

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

(I have posted twice. There is another one above this one.)

On the pop-up front, what I have done is "disabled" Guard-IE and downloaded and enabled the Google tool bar. Then I turned on the native IE pop-up blocker. I'm just trying to find a usability balance.

I wish that there was some way to delete, rather than disable, IE Add-Ons. In the list of add-ons "that have been used by internet explorer" there are a lot of things that I don't recognize, which always makes me nervous. Theres even some stuff in the "currently loaded" addons list that I don't know what are.

With Guard-IE disabled, I still cannot get updates from Windows Updates. ( I'm racking what's left of my brains for something else that could be the problem.


Michael

[Metallica]

Can you post some of the Add-Ons that worry you?
Most should show up in your HijackThis log, but maybe there is a clue to be found in there.

If IE 7 had been a bit past RC1 I would have been willing to have you try that, but I'm not sure how well-behaved it is at the moment.

Regards,

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

There is one that I have disabled with the cryptic name {B205A35E-1FC4-4CE3-808B-899BBBB3388C} and no publisher. Another that I have disabled is named "Research" and shows no publisher. I assume that "SSVHelper Class" and "Sun Java Console" are a part of the Java items you had me download.Then there is AcroIEHlprObj Class" From Adobe, whom I never have trusted. ;o) Those last three are enabled, by the way.

Then there is the list of things that Have been used by Internet Explorer. That's a HUGE list. Hmmm. Let me see if I can paste together some screen shots and attach one big one. All right, I have pasted together the list out of successive screenshots from IE. That list shows all of them, I guess. Maybe you can see something suspicious.



I have not been paying much attention to IE7 yet. I do like the Windows Media Player beta, though. It's pretty nice.

Take a look ay my "panoramic screen shot" and see what you think. Thanks!


Michael

[Metallica]

I think you made an error typing that CLSID.
That should have been {B205A35E-1FC4-4CE3-818B-899DBBB3388C}
which belongs to Microsoft Encarta
http://www.castlecop...o9list-153.html

Can you make a similar screenshot of the ones that are loaded in IE and also include the filename column?
I don't see anything suspicious, but to interfere it would have to be loaded anyway.

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

I agree about the typing error.

I have made the list (again in graphical form) that you asked for and attached it. The window in which this information is displayed is not resizable. I slightly shortened up another column to show more of the filename column. Two of the add-ins do not show file names. One of those is the CLSID that I mis-typed. The other is the one identified as "Research."

Because the browser window "hangs" when I am trying to use Windows update, I have been unable to see what add-ons are loaded while that process is running. I will try to figure out some way of doing that. Maybe if I use task manager to knock down the SVCHOST process first I can see what's there. The list follows my name.

Michael

[kdfrawg]

Pieter -

This is my second post since you last posted. The other, of course, is just above.

I did as I said I would. I went to Windows Update. I waited for IE to "hang." I then used task manager to unload the SVCHOST process that is associated with the problem but left the IE instance running. Then I was able to look at the add-ins that were running in that IE window. I have made another graphic list of those loaded and enabled add-ins running during the Windows Update process and attached it below.

Michael