New PC......

[forthbridge]

HI All

I didn't go for the upgrade offer, as I'm (relatively) happy with Vista and I'm not sure 7 will allow me to run the odd program I can't (Not that vital)....

The PC is an Acer Core 2 duo, with 4gig ram and vista premium. Bought as I'm extremely pleased with the core 2 acer set up I already have.

As for windows update - I know I'll see some fails - but even unticking them, windows still downlods them 'next time round' so it's a little annoying.

As for SP2 - it (funnily enough) just arrived on this PC this morning and is not yet on the laptop... so presumably M$ is pushing it out sparingly.

The build date on the new PC is 22/06/09 according to the sticker, so I would have thought it was fairly up to date.

Now, I'll leave McAfee on for the time being (But I will be removing it at some point when I hope it doesn't cause problems) and let update take it's course.

The trouble is not knowing how long to wait, as it loads LOTS of stuff (Service packs for the office trial for instance) and keeps on going,

I'll try opening Office when the machine pops back to life

[TSR2]

Hi Mate. Just one thing at a time. Service packs are always pushed out slowly over Windows Update, but the easiest way is to download the file manually (although this is often much larger than the windows update download.)

Anyway, if the machine has restored, does office launch properly before you do anything to the machine?

[forthbridge]

UPDATE

restored system
Selected windows update to let me choose as opposed to auto. (and only to seek windows updates, not updates for Office etc)

Installed dongle driver

McAfee spent fifteen minutes downloading stuff (without asking!!!!)

I then started update

Office and Works both opened.

SYSTEM:

Windows preinstalled updates were to 11/04/09.

.NEt framework 3.5 SP1 was an update that refused to install previously. It has installed now at a second attempt.

So far, evrything including IE8 has went in without a hitch. I also downloaded Firefox, and the installer works. (aborted installation)

However, with McAfee's filtering and site-check, googling is decideledy slower than on this machine. I still want to get rid of McAfee, but something tells me removing it (even with the tool from McAffee) is asking for trouble, so I'm concened about that!

EDIT: 5 minutes elapsed before the last shutdown with two updates, but it is now downloading SP2... so everything crossed....

[TSR2]

Good stuff Jim. These things will download without asking you, because more often than not, they know better than you. i.e. McAfee will be updating to the latest version too... I don't mean just signature files, they are relatively small... (although on a new machine image thats been sitting in a warehouse for a few months, these can be 20MB plus), But it will also update the program itself, which can sometimes be bigger downloads.

thing is most folk wouldn't have a clue what to do with a program update, so better off letting the systems update themselves, and if they do cause an error (very rare) simply role them back.

If the McAfee settings are too intrusive, change them... thats what the settings are there for. I know with Kaspersky and Trend I switch off their website checking as its a pain in the arse, and I don't (usually) do stupid surfing. I go to the bank website, the forum, the Beeb and microsoft / other vendor site for info.

[forthbridge]

HI Ben

Well, I'm the same as you when it comes to surfing, so I'll look into changing McAfee options. I just activated it, so it's 'free' until november.

SP2 is now installing and all (touch wood) seems OK. I've absolutely no idea why windows was downloading many more updates earlier (as well as the non windows stuff) - but all it sent this time was half a dozen updates then SP2.

Presumably, I have done something previously that has screwed something up.... but Im flumoxed if I know what!

Cheers for all the help

[TSR2]

No bother at all Jim. For the past few years I've given up trying to control windows updates as it more often than not gave me more of a headache than letting it do its own thing. One of the big differences nowadays is that 100's of millions of machines out there send problem info back to MS (you know that option you sometimes see about participating in the customer improvement program) so they have a much better success rate in the last 3 or 4 years than ever before, and I think i can honestly say, hand on heart, that since 2006 when we rolled out 4500 new desktop and laptop PC's at my old company, we didn't have one break or get a conflict as a result of an MS patch. Certainly nothing that made its way back up the food chain that we got to hear about it anyway.

I'd also suggest giving McAfee a go, it is infinately better at detecting viruses than avast, and until november its not costing you anything, so you can give it a good go before you have to make your mind up.

[forthbridge]

Cheers Ben

Being a glutton for punishment, I removed McAffee, and so far so good. The shortcut to Office activation on the desktop was however corrupted again after Mcafee removal, but I downloaded and installed Irfanview with no problem. Another test download PS wizard came up with a 1399 runtime error, corrupt source file, but Avast has installed OK. (I needed to know if the Mcafee really was the issue here and didn't want any issues in November!) - anyway, all seems OK still

[speedbird591]

Hello Jim. My latest laptop is an Acer with the same trial bloatware as your PC. The initial install went smoothly. I did all the Windows updates first before tackling the uninstalls. I uninstalled McAfee first and then Office without allowing them to register or update. Several weeks later I did a full factory reset (for an unconnected reason) using the recovery disks that I'd burned and again the uninstall was straightforward.

You don't say what you used to uninstall McAfee but I used Revo Uninstaller. It's a free program which will search out all the hidden files that may be left behind after using the program's own unistaller via Windows. You then have the opportunity to delete all the associated files that it finds in the registry and elsewhere. McAfee left a hell of a lot of stuff in the registry and folders which I took out manually using Revo. Perhaps if you haven't done so this might be causing your problems.

I'm sure there are other unistallers as good but I've used Revo for a few months and it's excellent. But make sure you only delete the registry entries that it highlights - or you'll be doing yet another reset

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

Ian

[forthbridge]

Hi Ian

I basically used the MCPR (McAfee consumer product removal tool) from their website, after uninstalling. Seems to have worked. Quite happy now, and FS is flying along at a loclked 20FPS with all sliders to the max. I've only fired Glacier bay and the HS748 on (and Leuchars and EGPH extreme) to test, but I am well pleased.

As for the system.. I haven't a clue what was going on, but basically, windows was dowloading huge numbers of updates, failing lots - and this happened twice between resets - third time it picked a handful, then SP2 and that was that!

BTW...... apart from the 2D cockpit issue, I'm impressed with the view on widescreen I must say!

[nigelb]

You don't say what you used to uninstall McAfee but I used Revo Uninstaller. It's a free program which will search out all the hidden files that may be left behind after using the program's own unistaller via Windows. You then have the opportunity to delete all the associated files that it finds in the registry and elsewhere. McAfee left a hell of a lot of stuff in the registry and folders which I took out manually using Revo. Perhaps if you haven't done so this might be causing your problems.

I'm sure there are other unistallers as good but I've used Revo for a few months and it's excellent. But make sure you only delete the registry entries that it highlights - or you'll be doing yet another reset

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

Ian

My experience with Revo has been excellent, and yoou can't beat the price!

Nigel²