[gui-talk] Another AVG RFree Edition question ee

Wed Sep 12 13:10:40 CDT 2007

Hi Joel,

I'm glad you have an approach and it sounds good.  

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:52:21 -0700, Joel Deutsch wrote:

>Hi Steve,

>Well, I'm not going to worry over this any more if it doesn't finally 
>prevent the program from doing its job. I mean, yesterday I discovered that 
>after I make a legitimate change in the scheduling menu, close the menu 
>properly, then press Escape to exit that function, which also was never 
>troublesome before, I get the silly error message. Just out of curiosity, I 
>went into that same menu again, left it, and pressed Escape to leave the 
>Test Center, and that time did *not* get an error message. So it isn't even 
>consistent. And the error messages are completely uninformative. Why I 
>should have to worry about their log file is beyond me. Would it be so 
>financially burdensome to them to have a few explanatory words in the error 
>message itself, as a more civilized program would do? I don't think so.

>anyway, I discovered that AVG has a repair feature that operates much as the 
>Jaws Repair does, where you launch the installation file again but choose 
>Repair when it detects that the program doesn't need to be installed and 
>asks you what you want to do. No, its messages in those dialogues aren't 
>very explicit or helpful, but my long experience with the Jaws Repair 
>allowed me to guess correctly what was going on. So I ran the repair on this 
>copy of the program, and now let's see if it persists in this behavior with 
>the error messages about nonexistent transgressions. A little more such 
>silliness and I may just give in and move to that Nod32 program that has so 
>many fervent partisans on the JFW list and the Blind Tech list, the kind of 
>people who, every time someone asks an innocent question about how to 
>operate their AVG program, one of the Nod 32 people pipes up with a rant 
>about how AVG is junk and everyone with any sense should be using Nod32. 
>It's so predictable that you could put money on it. The reaction, I mean.

>Thanks again for your support.
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 8:00 PM
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Another AVG RFree Edition question ee

>Hi Joel,

>I've had installation problems go away more than once after a second boot 
>even though it should not happen.
>However, the odds are that you are correct, that another boot won't change 
>anything.  Still, you might try the same
>manual scan again at some point in case something has changed that solved 
>the problem.  Unfortunately, logic only
>works some of the time with computer problems because they are getting so 
>complicated.  I could come up with a
>couple of scenarios where something you didn't know was running at a given 
>time could have interfered.  You may also
>have just plain run into a bug that affects yours but not all systems.

>I have no idea if there is anything of use in the ".ERR" file.  Since they 
>do not provide any technical support, it is
>possible that they have placed some information of value in that file, but 
>it could well be of no help as you suspect.
>However, clicking on a file and having it open in NotePad is a different 
>process than opening notePad and then
>opening the files.  NotePad won't read every files, but there are times when 
>text files are created with other endings.
>Often, for example, status messages showing installation activities written 
>in text are placed in ".LOG" files, and at least
>on some systems, clicking on them will not open them with any programs by 
>default.  However, NotePad will usually read
>them.  You can also right-click a file and the menu that comes up will allow 
>you to choose how to open it.  You can
>even add what Windows calls an "association."  It is possible to tell 
>Windows that you would like to open ".err" files
>with NotePad and clicking on them would still work.  However, this only 
>affects which file ending triggers which program.
>It will not, for example, make one program read a file it can't read.  For 
>example, you could open a ".DOC" file with
>NotePad even though it is usually a Word file.  However, you would see a 
>whole lot of junk.  You may or may not find
>the original text burried in there.  You can also create a text file and 
>then save it as a ".DOC" file.  When I say "save
>as" I simply mean naming it as a ".DOC" file.  I don't mean finding a ".DOC" 
>option in the "save as" menu because you
>won't find one in NotePad.  Now, if you clicked on that file, Word would try 
>to read it even if it is a text file.  I don't know
>what Word would do.  It might just tell you that the file is not in correct 
>word format or maybe it would try to convert it
>from text to word.  The point is that clicking on a file simply opens the 
>program that windows has associated with that file
>using the file type or file "extension" that is after the period.  You can 
>look at the long list of associations in, I believe,
>folder options, but it's pretty boring unless you have a particular 
>interest..

>On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:33:41 -0700, Joel Deutsch wrote:

>>hello Steve,

>>Yes, I rebooted after uninstalling, rebooted after installing also. There
>>shouldn't have been any reason to just keep rebooting after that, not that 
>>I
>>can think of. And yes, I understand that .err identifies an error message,
>>and if it wouldn't open in Notepad when I simply clicked on it, the way a
>>text file would, do you think it would open if I launched notepad first,
>>then imported it into the blank file? I never thought of that as being
>>different. But in any case, I'm almost certain that even if I would see the
>>contents, they'd be gibberish to me.

>>last, I couldn't send the filename or its contents to Grisoft, because I am
>>using the Free Edition and it doesn't include tech support.

>>As for the rest, well, as I think I said , I got one of those vague error
>>messages when I concluded a manual scan in the copy of the program I have
>>just replaced, and now I've gotten an error message in an entirely new copy
>>of the program after doing something else that ought to be legal, as well.
>>In-between, the first copy of the program has been expunged from my system
>>as best I as a regular end user is supposed to managed (meaning uninstall
>>from Control Panel, and delete any files and folders from the hard drive,
>>but not know how to go into the Registry, which I'm not qualified to do.

>>And then I rebooted. And then I downloaded and installed and configured an
>>entirely different copy  of the program. And rebooted . And changed a
>>setting I should have been able to change without incurring a penalty. And
>>got another error message. I can't easily say this is a bug that's
>>universally in the program, I don't think. Millions of people use it
>>successfully. Could it be some incompatibility related to my own innocent
>>Dell Dimensions 2000 system with Win XP home? Who knows.

>>Ah, well.
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>>To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 5:55 PM
>>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Another AVG RFree Edition question ee

>>Joel,

>>The file name ends with .ERR, and windows uses these last characters to
>>figure out with which software to open a file.
>>If I were you, I would try opening the error file with NotePad and see if 
>>it
>>Makes any sense.

>>Sometimes when you install new software, it is a good idea to reboot an
>>extra time even if it is not specifically specified.
>>I've seen cases where an installation was not quite complete even though
>>indications wer that it had completed.
>>Therefore, rebooting and trying again is not a bad idea unless you are sure
>>you had already rebooted several times
>>between the completion of the install and when you got the error message.

>>I probably don't have to tell you that even if you had done something 
>>wrong,
>>the software should have informed you as
>>to what you did and end gracefully.  You're dealing with some sort of bug 
>>or
>>system problem.  It is possible that the
>>contents of your ".ERR" file might be meaningless to the reader but mean
>>something to AVG.  Therefore, you might
>>want to save it in case you end up writing to AVG.

>>On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:48:01 -0700, Joel Deutsch wrote:

>>>HI Doris or anyone who may understand what happened, below.

>>>With Doris' reassurance, I went ahead and downloaded both updates I was
>>>offered for my newly installed copy of AVG Free Edition v. 7.5. After 
>>>doing
>>>so, I checked the status messages that display on the Control Center
>>>interface, and everything was now in order.

>>>Then I had one more thing I wanted to do, which  was to disable the daily
>>>virus scan so that I could run it when I chose, less often than daily and
>>>at
>>>whatever time of day might best suit me at the time. So I launched the 
>>>Test
>>>Center and went to the Scheduler tab.

>>>There, as experienced users will know, you find the scan and the update
>>>service listed separately, one after the other. Whichever of the two you
>>>wish to reschedule, you put it in focus, selected, then tab to the control
>>>that opens a dialogue for modifying its schedule.

>>>I didn't touch the schedule for the update, because that takes only a few
>>>seconds and is no problem for me. And it's vital, of course, if you want 
>>>to
>>>try to keep up with the virus writers.

>>>As for So I clicked on the modification control for the scan itself. Here,
>>>you can change the time of the daily scan or, if you choose, uncheck the
>>>line that enables the scan, to disable it altogether, leaving it to be 
>>>done
>>>manually. I tabbed to OK to make the change permanent, and the dialogue
>>>disappeared. Fine.

>>>Then, I forget if it was right away or when I pressed Alt F 4 to exit the
>>>Test Center, I got the inscrutable AVG Free Edition error message I'd seen
>>>before, on the copy of the program I'd just cleanly uninstalled and then
>>>replaced with this new one. Something bad happened, it says. And refers 
>>>you
>>>to a file in Documents and Settings/Admin/AVG7/ to see the particulars and
>>>learn what the problem is. Or at least that's what I assumed the message
>>>was
>>>suggesting.

>>>But no, I go into that folder, find the file, press Enter on it, and get
>>>the
>>>windows notification that Windows can't open the file and needs to know
>>>with
>>>what program it was created, and so forth.

>>>Well, I don't know what to answer to that, if I should be having to do so
>>>in
>>>the first place. How am I to find out why AVG gave me an error message
>>>after
>>>I did something the interface allowed me to do? It's not as if I'd tried 
>>>to
>>>tweak something that can't be tweaked unless you're using the Pro version.
>>>This was something that was, so far as I could tell, legitimate.

>>>By the way, this "something bad happened" is the message I was getting 
>>>when
>>>I ran the scan manually in the copy of AVG I just replaced. The scan would
>>>run, but then this error message would superimpose istle f on the results
>>>Window. And I hadn't done anything more criminal than run the scan
>>>manually.
>>>And that was without having disabled the automatic scan, at that time.

>>>anyway, I virtualized the filename and I'll paste it in here, below. If
>>>anyone understands what's going on in this scenario and/or recognizes this
>>>error filename, please advise. I really just want to use AVG Free Edition
>>>without the automatic scan, and as far as I can tell from the interface, I
>>>should be able to. I'm baffled.

>>>Thanks to anyone who understands this and can offer advice.
>>>Here's the error file:

>>>Name Size Type Date Modified

>>>avgwb.err 6 KB ERR File 9/11/2007 3:16

>>>thanks very much.

>>>_______________________________________________
>>>gui-talk mailing list
>>>gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

>>_______________________________________________
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>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

>>-- 
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.15/1002 - Release Date: 9/11/2007
>>5:46 PM

>>_______________________________________________
>>gui-talk mailing list
>>gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

>_______________________________________________
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>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

>-- 
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.15/1002 - Release Date: 9/11/2007 
>5:46 PM

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>gui-talk mailing list
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