Tarq57

I'm a bit concerned about the report line above that reads and thinking that I perhaps haven't set something up with the debugger the way it should be. Is this a problem with the scan process/parameters, or indicating a problem with WMP? Should I have had WMP open when running this debugger?Anything else I should do to troubleshoot? Maybe uninstall it with Revo in advanced, then re-install?

Yep. Opens immediately when requested. Sets itself to "playlist" mode (since re-installing, and not what I want it to do-prefer it to stay in "now playing" mode,) in "playlist" mode, memory usage is about 25mB, switch to "now playing", the usage drops to ~5 mB, click the red X to close, it vanishes, the esage increases to ~9mB and stays there for 10-11 s then disappears.

OK, sorry to be a pain, I glanced at a tutorial, and (I think) figured out enough to run it. (I had a space in the wrong place). Here's the ADPlus Report text: And here is the process list text: Hope that is what you need.

PS I can change directory within the prompt to "C", the to program files, but if I then type any permutation of "cd Debugging tools for windows(x86)" it says "the system cannot find the path specified"

Installed the debug tools. Created a new folder "C:\adplus". I need to be talked, step by step, as to how to create the data required in the command prompt. When I open the prompt, (Start>run>cmd>enter) a dos-style window opens with this info: "Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] © Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\(username.USERNAME)-0E4CE053E0>" I need to know what /when/where to type into the prompt at that point. The debug tools are installed in the default location.

If you're keen to get into that level of diagnostics, great. I have process explorer, also A2 Hijack-free (a somewhat similar tool, I believe.) I've already uninstalled (rolled back) and reinstalled WMP11. I don't know how to get a memory dump. Just tell me what to do.

Oh. That registration centre. Yes, I knew that, just didn't know I knew it.... To confirm, that is the mode I selected for Dial-A-Fix. Seemed the obvious choice. Took no more than a minute.

Slow reply? Nooo worries! Thanks for helping. When I reset the UPnP service, I started it, and it reported that it had started, then stopped a sthere was no work for it to do. Not sure what you mean by the registration centre... (Me slow reply too. Not receiving email notifications. will check profile.)

Used dial a fix, just ticked all in the last category- registration, restarted, unfortunately nothing has changed. I wonder if there could be a left over .dll file in system 32 somewhere, from one of those codec packs, that is trying to lock a process somehow? Part of the XP codec pack included a codec detective. It reported some "broken" codecs present. Just a thought.

UPnP device host was set to manual; now reset to auto. What settings/tools to check for dial-a-fix? Already used (and use) Revo uninstaller. A keeper! Pretty confident the vestiges of CFP3 are no more, was anally quite thorough about it.

Thanks Tarun. It wasn't till I read the large post at the Comodo forum that I realised what a pig the FW could be to uninstall completely. When you say "there's a 2.1 cleanup script.." do you mean the .txt file a member has created to run as a .bat to remove the vestiges? (Done that.) The media player only hangs on closing, and the only evidence of that is that (1) it can't be re-opened within about 11seconds, (2) the process is visible in taskmanager for 11s after closing it. I can't see any errors in the event viewer that appear to pertain to it. CORRECTION The event viewer records errors under "system" each time this occurs. The information in the error under "properties" is pasted: The information in the MS link indicated leaves me none the wiser, and doesn't appear to pertain to this circumstance. Still, maybe it's a lead? Navigation to the key indocated in regedit leaves me none the wiser, either. It is under HKCR, Default UPnP registrar; and an App ID {E495081B-BBA5-4b89-BA3C-3B86A686B87A} That same ID appears in several other registry locations, in HKCR and HKLM, and all mention UPnP as a common factor, IIRC. I have just tested this action again, and for the first time since the issue first occurred, got an error message, to say the WMP may not have closed correctly last time. As a precaution, all (third party?) plugins have been disabled. (The only plugin listed is for the Nero cd burner.) Can not reproduce this error, now. Is this getting fairly "techy", or what?

hazelnut interesting food for thought. Seems most of those reports were from Vista users, with one or two from XP users. They all, however, differed from the issue I'm having, in that in my case, the player stops. The music/film stops, the GUI vanishes, just the process continues, and WMP cannot be reopened until the process exits (or is killed.) In the reported cases, the player seemed to minimize, rather than exiting. I tried one of the fixes suggested, that of registering the wmp dll's, but without a comprehensive list of them, was limited to registering the ones listed on the users' post. Doesn't appear to have made any difference. (Hasn't appeared to do any harm, either.) davey it seems that just as I'm starting to learn enough to actually start to take care of the OS, someone (Redmond) starts making that more difficult, by removing the ability for the user to do same. Darn. I still don't understand why this problem started recently. (Maybe I never will. Too bad.) Have uninstalled the codec packs. XP codec pack was a right bu@@er to remove...no uninstaller. Think I got it all. Hasn't actually made any difference to the problem.

I'd started to wonder that, myself. But, "Patience, Tarq," I thought, "Leave it a couple more days for a bump. Nobody's going to die if it don't get fixed." You reckon installing SP3 might be related to this problem, perhaps? Or an example of a problem SP3 should have fixed? I only really noticed it after the last patch Tuesday. Might've started before then, I just didn't notice. Thanks for the support so far, folks. Just so y'all know, I have also posted this at Wilders, and Scotts' forums, hope that's not a bad protocol. One has suggested disabling security software,as a troubleshoot (done); another has suggested uninstalling URGE, which wasn't installed anyway. We'll see how this pans out.

Many thanks.

The codec packs have been there for a long time. Why would they suddenly cause this? Other thing is, of course, WMP without added codecs can be a little useless at some vids, and the "download codecs automatically" never seemed to work. Hence my decision to install a couple. Will uninstall if you think it's really needed, for troubleshooting. Re Comodo. There's a thread Here (Comodo forum) detailing the issue. It's not a big issue, but slightly irritating nonetheless. Warning: the thread runs to 4 pages, and concludes with the recommendation to reinstall Windows. I'm putting that action off as long as I can, but have some of the programs I need to - for example - slipstream SP3. Just need to learn a it more about where/how to include current drivers etc in the installation disk I want to create, and think a bit more intelligently about what to include (and not) and how to only format the OS partition while leaving personal files/pics etc on the storage partition. Since the 'pooter is currently running well (apart from the issues indicated, which I can actually live with) I'm in no rush to do too much. Next step will be to get an external HD, install Karens Replicator, and make a decent backup. Still. No rush.

Codec packs? Yes, with no recent changes. FFDShow, XP Codec pack 1.3.3, plus the qt/real alternative packs that belong to Media Player Classic. I had updated to Comodo 3, but after a time the self diagnostic test reported errors that it was unable to fix, despite the firewall appearing to operate correctly. (Long story, only if you're interested.) I also use Threatfire, and didn't feel the need for an extra behaviour blocker.

Hope I haven't put you off the idea of putting together your own "suite", it's not actually that difficult, and usually there'll be a user around (found via Google search) that has the same setup you're thinking of using, and who has commented on the setup.Here is a search example of the sort of thing I mean. Of course, the price is often right, too!

A layered defence might mean, for example, a hardware firewall/router, a software firewall to monitor and control outbound, some kind of blocker for known bad sites, like a Hosts file, an AV, a malware scanner or two (or three, for plenty second opinions), some kind of behaviour blocker (for zero day threats), some kind of application (or personal protocol) to (1) clean out unwanted files, (2) check all applications are plugged/up to date. I've found that Avast AV works well with a lot of other software, Threatfire ditto, Comodo Firewall ditto (once it's trained), SAS and MBAM and A2 great for second opinions (and should a bit of cleaning actually be needed), MVPS Hosts file a useful blocker - which also prevents a lot of ads, and disabling scripts on the browser/running adblock plus (a Firefox extesion) caps it off nicely. There are many applications from different vendors that work well together. And probably a few that don't. You need to try a few combos out, with variations, if you want to go that route. Check that all the holes (as much as practically possible) are covered, no conflictions/lockups occur, resource use is reasonable. Much fun. 'Bit addictive. Or you could grab yourself a nice suite, from, say, Kaspersky, or Avira. Possible (but slim) risk from that is if you get some malware that targets the brand you get, and is actually able to shut it down, you're coozed. (To quote a highly tech term.)

Recently I've noticed that Windows Media Player will not play a new file (video or music) if it is closed, and commanded to re-open straight away. Looking at it in Taskmanager, the process continues for about 10s after it's closed; the GUI disappears immediately. Once the process vanishes from Taskmanager, the player can be re-opened normally. Tried a registry clean with CCleaner, an optimize with Iobit's AWC, uninstalling and re-installing the media player, from a fresh download from MS, all no go. Some guru help and advice requested, please. Windows XP SP3, (was working fine for a while with SP3), Avast Av, Threatfire, Comodo Firewall 2.4. AMD 3500+, 2G RAM. Nothing changed recently.

Although the above is correct, it's interesting that the MS security centre recognizes TF as an antivirus. I believe as part of its behaviour blocking characteristics, it does scan files against the AV database prior to making a decision as to whether to alert or not.

I installed it by downloading the install package (309Mb), saving it, then disconnecting from the web, disabling all security applications, and installing it. Download took 11 min~, install (including reboot) about 20-25. Absolutely no problems at all. Windows seems a little faster, but not measurably so, everything works. (Did of course set a system restore point prior.) One of the main reasons for doing it is to make a OS reinstall much faster, the other is that it seems to take forever sometimes to let WU do it.

I used to find the earlier versions of CFP3 quite intrusive, especially with D+ selected. The latest version (3.0.22.349) is much friendlier. I only get popups for new or updated software, or connecting applications that haven't seen the web before. I'd tried 2 #3 versions before that, but was always a little confused by some of the alerts. So went to CFP2.4, but that's no longer supported (although it is still available for download); Secunia describes it as "end of life." So to answer, XP firewall is much easier to use (it never really prompts for anything) but only blocks inbound. Comodo still does need to be answered from time to time, but is much better than it was, and blocks in and outbound traffic. So in my opinion, Comodo is much better to use. If you choose to use it, just set the D+ in training mode for a few days.

How about just don't let your brother use the computer when you are using it for something else?

Didn't like/find something lacking with Threatfire? Comodo Firewall Pro has a HIPS module incorporated, called D+. Online Armour has a similar feature.

Has it always been slow? Or just since installing Norton360, or AdAware? Or just slowed down recently, an apparent random thing?