New anti-spyware and anti-virus, can't open a window anymore

  • Thread starter Thread starter BigJIm
  • Start date Start date
draconic said:
I've just installed norton internet security '06, and webroot's
spysweeper, window washer, pop-up washer, and spam blocker on two
different computers. One computer has XP Media Center edition, the
other has XP Home. After installing this software on the comptuer with
XP home, I am unable to open a window. I can open application software,
and I can open other menus like my display settings, but not an explorer
window, nor a IE browser window. My computer will act like it's about
to, then the icons dissapear momentarily, then reappear. The window
will never come up. I've gone through, one-by-one, disabling various
programs to see if it made any difference, which it did not. I've
closed all of these programs, and am still unable to open a window. The
first computer, on the other hand, is working perfectly. This is the
computer that I am typing on at this very point.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Hard to say which is the problem. NIS can be problematic. I don't know
about the others. Try a system restore to before you did all these
installations. If that recovers things, then add programs one at a time
and test after each one.
 
I've just installed norton internet security '06, and webroot's
spysweeper, window washer, pop-up washer, and spam blocker on two
different computers. One computer has XP Media Center edition, the
other has XP Home. After installing this software on the comptuer with
XP home, I am unable to open a window. I can open application software,
and I can open other menus like my display settings, but not an explorer
window, nor a IE browser window. My computer will act like it's about
to, then the icons dissapear momentarily, then reappear. The window
will never come up. I've gone through, one-by-one, disabling various
programs to see if it made any difference, which it did not. I've
closed all of these programs, and am still unable to open a window. The
first computer, on the other hand, is working perfectly. This is the
computer that I am typing on at this very point.

Any suggestions?
 
NO NO NO! Do not run System Restore with Norton Internet Security
Installed. I supported that product for awhile until Symantec
outsourced, and if you run system restore, there's a good chance it
will mess up your internet connection.

Uninstall it instead. In fact, you shouldn't run NIS, Spysweeper, and
Spam Blocker on the same System. NIS can conflict with both of them.
 
Was another anti-virus, internet security app or third-party firewall
previously installed on the problem machine? Did you uninstall it/them
before installing NIS 2006 (which BTW includes Norton AntiSpam so you don't
need a spam blocker)?

If you uninstall all of these new apps and use System Restore to return the
machine to its state before installing them, does the problem persist?
 
Whoa whoa whoa... Where I come from, we have a saying: Friends don't let
friends use AOL, aka computer cancer.

I've rebooted in safe mode, and was able to get firefox, and it works
fine... but my actual windows explorer window won't do a thing.. I
couldn't care less about IE though.

I may try a restore... But only as a last resort. I don't want to spend
too much time working on the issue if it's simply a matter of changing
the security settings on one of the software packages...

Any other suggestions in the mean time?
 
Thanks for the advise, but... The computer I installed these things on
initially is working perfectly with all of these programs active...
oddest thing, huh?
 
Perhaps NIS did not get to compile a list of Apps allowed to access the
internet from this computer, so it's blocking them all. Explorer and IE are
somewhat intertwined.
 
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