I've just gone through a grueling cycle of uninstalling all of my security applications in turn and having Stardock Central install WB 5 after each uninstallation (which also included zapping WB off my system as well after each app was uninstalled as well), rebooting, reinstalling WB 5 via SDC and rebooting again. No dice - the reboot to complete installation dialog is just like the frigging energizer bunny! I didn't uninstall AVG Pro but disabled all of its services and startup behaviour...

I was uninstalling/reinstalling the Dec. 7 beta - 5.00[b].006

Has anyone actually resolved this problem on their machines? If so, what proved to be the culprit and the solution? I've been trying to fix this since November 28...

FYI - though he is probably very busy attempting to address these - and other - issues (a lot of software on Tolfino's machine to attempt reproduction), Neil Banfield is one of the WB developers.

Hi all,

I was *just* about to format my harddrive and try again when I had a change of heart (couldn't face reinstalling everything) and went looking for *anything* that might be causing this. Well, I found it: Tenebril's SpyCatcher installs a service called Tenebril Antispyware Satellite which its uninstaller apparenty does not remove. I had to go into my registry and cut it out manually. I had installed this as part of the GhostSurf Platinum 2005 suite. Thus, when I uninstalled the suite yesterday and tried to reinstall WB5 this service was still running and blocking some key writes to the registry. I've just confirmed that the WBSrv key is still there (again, after three reboots).

Anyway, this appears to have been the culprit. I've rebooted twice since the installation mandated reboot SimpleAlpha has greeted me each time.

Hope this helps someone else,

Mike

Tofino: Thats great news.

We will install that on a PC here and see if we can at least get WB to detect it and prompt the user about the problem.  Obviously an app which is blocking registry writes should be telling you about the attempts really and ideally giving you the option to approve it.

Anyone else have a problem with a 32 bit XP?

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the comments - I'm thrilled too! I've had a few hours sleep and am not (quite) so punchy now. The exe that is associated with the service is C:\Program Files\GhostSurf 2005\DeleteSvc.exe and the service is listed as "Tenebril antispyware satellite (TNBRLDS)".

I *think* that what happened was that SpyCatcher flagged an installation file as spyware and removed it. I had SC set up to remove Spyware and *trick* the software that it was bundled with into thinking that the spyware was still installed. I remember sweeping my system around the time of my initial WB installation and getting a warning from Spycatcher about a file in my local settings temp folder - GBM/GTF?? - containing spyware (possibly ezula) - that neither Webroot's Spysweeper nor ZoneAlarm were reporting, and thus probably a false positive. I stupidly blocked the spyware at that time but did restore it a day or two later in the course of trying to troubleshoot this problem. I'm *guessing* that allowing spyware as id'd by SC after it has been blocked doesn't remove the anti-reinstallation flag in SC...?

Thus, try installing SpyCatcher 2005 (if you can still download it - they're onto 2006 now) and running a sweep with it after installing WB but before rebooting a second time.

That's all I can think of two weeks after the fact but I *think* my memory is accurate. Hopefully, this will help you replicate the problem more quickly.

I'll reinstall GhostSurf in a bit and see if the problem returns, if that will help you.

Thanks for all your help,

Mike

Assuming a default install of either XP Home, or Pro from the stock MS disc - I would say the issue lies with either the hardware or perhaps in the connection when activation takes place.

I have beta tested, and official release tested this software on a home-built desktop running XP Pro, and a Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook running XP Home - using clean installs of the OS each time - for a total of around 12 - 15 clean OS installs on both machines, and subsequent installs of all software I use, and then Icon Packager, WindowBlinds, and ObjectDock Plus.

Each time, the installation was successful (with a couple 'resets' required on my account due to activation limits reached), and the only thing close to a consistent issue (about 80%) was the restoring of the default XP "Luna" theme after the first application of a skin - and the subsequent attempt to restore after unloading. For some reason, the "Luna" theme shell image would not display in the Display Properties, which resulted in the Windows Classic being applied.

A reboot and an applying of the 'Windows Classic' from within WB Configuration panel, and then using Display Properties\Themes tab\Theme drop-down to apply Windows XP theme resulted in a successful restoring of the "Luna" theme. This fix was consistent each time.

In summary, I have to say that as far as a clean install of the OS, the problems have been relatively few compared to the number of people installing this program - and therefore, any issue would seem to point more to hardware (or drivers) than to compatibility between the default installation of Windows XP and WindowBlinds 5.

Hi nobodyzsukey,

If you have Stardock Central loaded - fire it up and provide it with the serial numbers that it asks for. Then, go to the "Object Desktop" pane, which can be reached from a link at the top right of the SDC screen and you*should* see WB 4.6 listed as a component that you can install. If you haven't purchased Object Desktop, WB 4.6 will be the only one that doesn't say "shareware" after it...

Anyway, on to your question about getting rid of the Tenebril AntiSpyware Satellite. I don't remember whose instructions I followed to remove the service but this site:

www.cryer.co.uk/brian/windows/howto_nt_das.htm

provides the same information.

I, too, tried every conceivable combo of stopping services and programs loading at startup and nothing worked - just the complete removal of Ghostsurf. I haven't had the heart to reinstall it so can't say for sure if running it with the AS Satellite service uninstalled will allow you to run WB5 with GS Plat... If you successfully install WB5 by removing the AS Satellite while retaining the rest of Ghostsurf, please let us know as I'd be interested in reinstalling. However, if all else fails, do a complete uninstall of GS 2005 and you should be set.

Hope this helps,

Mike

All right... I finally got around to creating an image of my c: drive and reinstalling Ghostsurf 2005 Platinum. I rebooted and WB 5 wasn't loaded! The "this computer must be rebooted to complete installation" problem had returned. I played around with the settings in GhostSurf and disabled and removed any services that I could find associated with it and rebooted - no joy. nobodyzsukey, my advice is to pick which of the two apps is more important to you and forget about the other. I've restored my drive image and WB5 is quite happy. I can live without GhostSurf, for now.

FWIW, one of the things I tried was to remove the AntiSpyware Satellite service and it wasn't even there, presumably because I hadn't started SpyCatcher so there were no settings for "protector". Anyway, I *think* the problem may be the deletesatellite (service?), which seems to be necessary for all components of GhostSurf, though I am not 100% sure. I had to search the registry for it as it didn't show up in the services section of MMC and removing what I did find in the registry didn't alleviate the problem - I tried two successive reboots and a cold boot to be sure. I gave up at this point and restored my image...

Hi Scorpio-logic,

Thanks for the response - yes I WAS going bonkers (short trip... and no, I don't live anywhere near N.Y.C.!). I've used Spybot in the past and you're right - it is very good. I'll take a look!

Cheers,

Mike

PS Scorpio-logic, Cacheman XP is gone and so is my paging file. Very impressive! Thanks for the tip (and the kick in the rear, lifting me out of my apathy about this)

Well, I re-installed GhostSurf 2005 today after corresponding with their support. They insist that the symptoms sound like corrupt drivers and directed me to uninstall GhostSurf, reboot, and reinstall it. I did so and DIDN'T restore my previous settings (something I stupidly did last time I tried this) and I have rebooted twice with my WB 5 installation intact. I don't know how nobodyzsukey got on with this, but it is working from my end. I've deleted ALL shortcuts to SpyCatcher and hope that I never have the misfortune to open it - despite Tenebril supports' assertion that this is a corrupt file problem, I believe it to be a bug in their software...

Anyway, I'm happy for now, though I am making frequent backups of my C: partition, just in case