Replies

For reference, this is a follow up on my experience with PC-Cillin:

I discovered that PC-Cillin’s firewall does not allow file sharing on my mini home network. After an hour on the phone with Dell tech support trying to figure out what was wrong with my network settings (nothing), I uninstalled PC-Cillin and voila! I could share files with no problem. Shutting down the app from the System Tray was not enough. I called Trend Micro and they told me how to turn off the firewall without turning off the virus scanning (they are inextricably linked in the default install). That seemed to work and I thought things were OK for two whole days but then I installed my PDA software and now I’m back to reformatting the C: drive again.

I’m not kidding.

Did I mention that my router/print server also died in the mean time?

Jumping off a cliff is becoming more appealing by the minute.

Virginia

For reference, this is a follow up on my experience with PC-Cillin:

I discovered that PC-Cillin’s firewall does not allow file sharing on my mini home network. After an hour on the phone with Dell tech support trying to figure out what was wrong with my network settings (nothing), I uninstalled PC-Cillin and voila! I could share files with no problem. Shutting down the app from the System Tray was not enough. I called Trend Micro and they told me how to turn off the firewall without turning off the virus scanning (they are inextricably linked in the default install). That seemed to work and I thought things were OK for two whole days but then I installed my PDA software and now I’m back to reformatting the C: drive again.

I’m not kidding.

Did I mention that my router/print server also died in the mean time?

Jumping off a cliff is becoming more appealing by the minute.

Virginia

Thanks, everyone, for the information and help. I was able to successfully copy some of the install-to-one-user-only applications to the All Users startup folder but a few just gave error messages when I did this. Most aggravating is the syncronization software for my PDA (Kyocera Smartphone) which refuses to work when copied to All Users.

I recently had to reformat my C: drive and reinstall of all my programs and during this process I recall seeing an option for installation to “All Users” only once in more than 15 apps. A little over half of the apps automatically installed for All Users but the rest did not and didn’t offer the option. It sure would be nice if “All User” installations were more standard among software developers. I hope they don’t start requiring purchase of software licenses for Me, Myself and I.

Looks like I’ll just have to check each one of the stubborn apps to figure out what works – either installing under each login ID, or just pick the ID where it will be used most often.

Thanks again everyone for all the help. At least the majority of the apps are now accessible to all users.
Virginia

Thanks, everyone, for the information and help. I was able to successfully copy some of the install-to-one-user-only applications to the All Users startup folder but a few just gave error messages when I did this. Most aggravating is the syncronization software for my PDA (Kyocera Smartphone) which refuses to work when copied to All Users.

I recently had to reformat my C: drive and reinstall of all my programs and during this process I recall seeing an option for installation to “All Users” only once in more than 15 apps. A little over half of the apps automatically installed for All Users but the rest did not and didn’t offer the option. It sure would be nice if “All User” installations were more standard among software developers. I hope they don’t start requiring purchase of software licenses for Me, Myself and I.

Looks like I’ll just have to check each one of the stubborn apps to figure out what works – either installing under each login ID, or just pick the ID where it will be used most often.

Thanks again everyone for all the help. At least the majority of the apps are now accessible to all users.
Virginia

Thanks, TravlingMan, for the print server links. You’re correct in guessing that I would prefer to have just one box that is both router and print server but if I can get better technology and flexibility with two units I’ll certainly consider it. Unfortunately, at the time I bought my printer I didn’t have a network so it didn’t occur to me to get the network-ready version.

It looks to me like Linksys does not offer a router/print server combo in one box. I found a couple of other possibilities: the Netgear FR114P and D-Link DI-824VUP. But I can’t tell whether those units are new or ‘old’ technology, or whether they are good value or to be avoided. The reviews and opinions are all over the map. Also, I’ve found stores and web sites that are still selling the router I currently own [D-Link 713P] but D-Link no longer supports it. I certainly don’t want to buy something that’s going to be abandoned by the manufacturer in six months.

Thanks again for your help!
Virginia

Thanks, TravlingMan, for the print server links. You’re correct in guessing that I would prefer to have just one box that is both router and print server but if I can get better technology and flexibility with two units I’ll certainly consider it. Unfortunately, at the time I bought my printer I didn’t have a network so it didn’t occur to me to get the network-ready version.

It looks to me like Linksys does not offer a router/print server combo in one box. I found a couple of other possibilities: the Netgear FR114P and D-Link DI-824VUP. But I can’t tell whether those units are new or ‘old’ technology, or whether they are good value or to be avoided. The reviews and opinions are all over the map. Also, I’ve found stores and web sites that are still selling the router I currently own [D-Link 713P] but D-Link no longer supports it. I certainly don’t want to buy something that’s going to be abandoned by the manufacturer in six months.

Thanks again for your help!
Virginia

…you’re already in the mood and Christmas is still three months away!

Thank you for the recommendation and link. Is the WRV54G also a print server? It didn’t specifically say anything about being a print server in the details so I’m assuming I would have to buy a separate print server box to add to it. Most of the 802.11g devices I’ve found that include a print server are more than a year old and I know the technology has changed/stabilized/improved? a lot just in the past six months.

The online opinions about this technology seems to be all over the map! I laughed at the testing/review PC World did. They stuck the wireless router and computer into an interference-free box, 1 foot away from each other. Now that’s useful real world testing for the consumer! Not!

Thanks,
Virginia

…you’re already in the mood and Christmas is still three months away!

Thank you for the recommendation and link. Is the WRV54G also a print server? It didn’t specifically say anything about being a print server in the details so I’m assuming I would have to buy a separate print server box to add to it. Most of the 802.11g devices I’ve found that include a print server are more than a year old and I know the technology has changed/stabilized/improved? a lot just in the past six months.

The online opinions about this technology seems to be all over the map! I laughed at the testing/review PC World did. They stuck the wireless router and computer into an interference-free box, 1 foot away from each other. Now that’s useful real world testing for the consumer! Not!

Thanks,
Virginia

Reluctantly, I think I am joining the wipe-and-reinstall crowd although I think I’ll commit hari kiri if I have to do it every six months. Maybe after I do it a few more times I’ll get used to it and it won’t be such a big deal — but more likely it will be just long enough between I’ll forget everything I learned the previous time. I have been counting on the Utilities part of SystemWorks to keep things clean but the software doesn’t have a utility for proactively determining driver conflicts when you install new software. Now THAT would be a real value add! I won’t hold my breath though.

Reluctantly, I think I am joining the wipe-and-reinstall crowd although I think I’ll commit hari kiri if I have to do it every six months. Maybe after I do it a few more times I’ll get used to it and it won’t be such a big deal — but more likely it will be just long enough between I’ll forget everything I learned the previous time. I have been counting on the Utilities part of SystemWorks to keep things clean but the software doesn’t have a utility for proactively determining driver conflicts when you install new software. Now THAT would be a real value add! I won’t hold my breath though.

Bob, I finally got around to looking in the boot.ini file to delete the reference to the D: drive… only there isn’t such a reference. What I see is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINNT=”Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional” /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINNT=”Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional” /fastdetect

Can you tell from looking at this which one is the C: drive and which is the D: drive? Or do I have to just remove one and see what happens, then put it back if I guessed wrong?

Thanks,
Virginia

Bob, I finally got around to looking in the boot.ini file to delete the reference to the D: drive… only there isn’t such a reference. What I see is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINNT=”Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional” /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINNT=”Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional” /fastdetect

Can you tell from looking at this which one is the C: drive and which is the D: drive? Or do I have to just remove one and see what happens, then put it back if I guessed wrong?

Thanks,
Virginia

Heh, heh. “Hurly burly” is a pretty good descriptor for the wide variety of things I run on my PC — and there’s not even one single game!

The more I look at PC-cillin the better it looks. There is a side-by-side comparison of 10 different anti-virus packages on CNET which I found useful.
http://www.anti-virus-software-review.com/%5B/url%5D

What was even more revealing was reading the CNET reader opinions for each of these products. I wish I’d read their SystemWorks2004 opinions before I bought it — only 13% pro and 87% con from 63 people! (PC-cillin gets nearly the opposite ratings – 84% pro and 16% con from 261 people.)
http://reviews.cnet.com/Norton_SystemWorks…32.html?tag=tab%5B/url%5D
It seemed that the majority of the negative SystemWorks opinions had to do with upgrades. People who had been happy with earlier versions hated 2004. There was even a review posted by someone who – strangely enough – ended up with a corrupt registry because of a conflict with Roxio CD Creator. Sounds real familiar…

However, since I already own SystemWorks I’m wondering if I could still use the Utilities by doing a custom install without the anti-virus or firewall? I find the Utilities handy for tidying things up. Has anyone had experience loading only part of the SystemWorks package? Would I likely run into issues if I then loaded PC-cillin along side the Norton Utilities-sans-anti-virus?

Thanks again for all the help!
Virginia

Heh, heh. “Hurly burly” is a pretty good descriptor for the wide variety of things I run on my PC — and there’s not even one single game!

The more I look at PC-cillin the better it looks. There is a side-by-side comparison of 10 different anti-virus packages on CNET which I found useful.
http://www.anti-virus-software-review.com/%5B/url%5D

What was even more revealing was reading the CNET reader opinions for each of these products. I wish I’d read their SystemWorks2004 opinions before I bought it — only 13% pro and 87% con from 63 people! (PC-cillin gets nearly the opposite ratings – 84% pro and 16% con from 261 people.)
http://reviews.cnet.com/Norton_SystemWorks…32.html?tag=tab%5B/url%5D
It seemed that the majority of the negative SystemWorks opinions had to do with upgrades. People who had been happy with earlier versions hated 2004. There was even a review posted by someone who – strangely enough – ended up with a corrupt registry because of a conflict with Roxio CD Creator. Sounds real familiar…

However, since I already own SystemWorks I’m wondering if I could still use the Utilities by doing a custom install without the anti-virus or firewall? I find the Utilities handy for tidying things up. Has anyone had experience loading only part of the SystemWorks package? Would I likely run into issues if I then loaded PC-cillin along side the Norton Utilities-sans-anti-virus?

Thanks again for all the help!
Virginia

Thanks everyone for the ideas and education on how all of this works. It makes sense once explained.

I used recovery disks to format and set up the C: drive, and now have Windows 2000, the basic utilities and the updated display driver installed. I still have to uninstall Windows from the D: drive.

* Is there any trick to uninstalling Windows from the D: drive so I can get rid of the boot screen where you see the choice for which copy of Windows you want to use?

* Also, since the cause of this mess was most likely a conflict between SystemWorks 2004 and another software driver, I’m paranoid about having another blowup. Should I load SystemWorks before or after I start loading my applications? Is there any way to proactively look for places where conflicts might occur?

[The background in a nutshell: I had SW2002 and it worked fine for several years. When I updated to SW2004, first there was a serious conflict with the video driver which I overcame with an updated driver. Then the AntiVirus Auto-Protect would not work no matter what. After trying everything else, the Symantec tech support person had me uninstall Roxio CD Creator which is when the operating system short circuited beyond recovery. It seems almost all anti-virus products have similar problems with upgrades because of conflicts with older software.]

Any words of advice on the two questions (*) would be very helpful and most appreciated.

Thanks again everyone,
Virginia