Ad-Aware Blue Screen

[wsmoser2004]

I have been using Ad-Aware (version 1.05 I think) for a while now, and it always worked fine for me. Recently the program told me there was a new version available, version 1.06. I downloaded it and ran the installer, and everything seemed fine...it uninstalled the old version of Ad-Aware in the process. At the end of the installer, I was given the option to "Run the software" and "Get the latest updates", which I chose to do. However, after the program opened and right as the updater began to do its stuff, I got a blue screen of death and my computer rebooted. I could not read anything on the blue screen because it flashed by too quickly. When my computer finished restarting, Windows informed me multiple times that "The system has recovered from a serious error." I have tried several times to uninstall and reinstall Ad-Aware now, and I get the same results (updater blue screens and the computer restarts). The system is free of adware and spyware, so that is not causing any problems.

Any ideas? And has this possibly caused any serious damage to the Windows operating system? (i.e. the "serious error" Windows reported).

My computer has:
Windows XP SP2
Microsoft AntiSpyware (which reports a clean system)

Thanks!

 

[wsmoser2004]

I think this fiasco has also caused problems with my svchost.exe process. On shutdown, I get an error that says

The instruction '0x[some numbers/letters]' at '0x[some numbers/letters]' could not be referenced. The memory could not be "written."

and the title bar says "svchost.exe - Application Process". Also, on startup, I occasionally get a "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close. We apologize for the inconvenience" error. I think I remember hearing that the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services was the same thing as svchost.exe, but I might be wrong about that.

Also, I tried using System Restore, but when the computer restarts System Restore just tells me that "Your computer could not be restored to" and the date I tried to restore it to.

What is going on here?

 

[lotuseclat79]

I think this fiasco has also caused problems with my svchost.exe process. On shutdown, I get an error that says and the title bar says "svchost.exe - Application Process". Also, on startup, I occasionally get a "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close. We apologize for the inconvenience" error. I think I remember hearing that the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services was the same thing as svchost.exe, but I might be wrong about that.

Also, I tried using System Restore, but when the computer restarts System Restore just tells me that "Your computer could not be restored to" and the date I tried to restore it to.

What is going on here?

Hi wsmoser2004,

Did you shutdown all of your Windows programs running at the time you tried to install Ad-Aware SE 1.06? If not, then that could have been the problem and its a good idea to disconnect when you do an installation, and update after you reboot and connect to the Internet again.

-- Tom

 

[wsmoser2004]

Thanks Tom -

I don't recall if I had any Windows programs running when I tried to install the program. If anything, I may have had an IE window or two running at the time.

I did a little more research to see if anyone else had this problem. I found a site (of course in German, which I don't speak) from someone who had the same problem. By using Babelfish (babelfish.altavista.com) I managed to translate it enough that I could figure out that this person believed the problem stemmed from their wireless internet connection's WPA security settings, which I also have. I guess that is the reason, though I cannot understand why.

I did manage to get System Restore to work in Safe Mode, so now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my problem's solved (with the old version of Ad-Aware...)

Thanks for your help!