First of all I use windows 98 S.E, and MS Outlook 2000.
My first question is to do with the 2 Avast system tray icons, and I see there is an option to merge the avast recovery database (VRDB) generator, is it wise to merge them?
Also I see next to the where the licence key is entered there is a link for program registration, and I wondered when this would be used.
And my final question for the moment is that I did not tick the box that asked for to protect any future email account I may create in the future, but the box that was already ticked was for automatic proctection for ALL accounts.
The reason I chose this option is because I won’t be creating another account on my Microsoft Outlook client that I use.
I take it that when I click on Microsoft Outlook it’s normal to see a brown message screen for a few seconds about the exchange outlook plugin, and is that informing me that my email client is being protected?
I have registered the Avast product and entered the key sucessfully, so is that all I require to do?
Yes, saves on space, the VRDB only runs every 21 days (by default), you cab still access the VRDB from the main ’ a ’ icon. So for me its a no brainer, merge them.
The home version registration key gives you signature and program updates for 14 months, then you need to re-register, you start getting warnings 21 days before registration is due.
The ALL accounts relates to all email accounts currently on your system, not future. I can’t recall if you can run the wizard again and put a tick in that box, it is years since I used the email protection wizard.
That is the outlook/exchange plug-in splash screen, you should be able to disable that, avast Outlook/Exchange provider, Customize, Advanced, uncheck the ‘Show splash screen when the provider is loading’ option.
That is pretty much all you have to do, you could browse the forums, especially the sticky topics at the top of each of the forums, not to mention the avast file. They provide a wealth of information to help you get the best from avast…
I’m not sure why they might disappear after a scan, the usual issue with the icons relates to them not being their on boot and the usual suspects are other security applications monitoring and blocking start-up items which ashDisp.exe is.
What other security based software do you have ?
With win98se however, it might be a resource issue as the scan will use quite a bit whilst a scan is in progress. I would suggest that you audit your software that is running in the background and only have applications that are absolutely essential. For the rest open them only when you need them and close them when you have finished.
You should monitor your system resources and when they get low, less than 20-25% I would suggest that you reboot. When I had win98se, I always practised this rather than let system resources get to such a low point that the system crashed. But most important for me was only essential applications ran on boot, that used to see me start with over 80% resources available. In those days I also used to keep my system running 24/7 and the best I got was 5 days before I had to reboot as resources were low.
You should monitor your system resources and when they get low, less than 20-25% I would suggest that you reboot..
When the quick launch icons disappeared I checked the resource, and it was something like 65% which I thought was fine.
And I noticed that I just needed to hover over the QUICK LAUNCH icons for them to just vanish, of course they re-appeared again after reboot.
I actually don’t think it’s a resource problem but not having enough memory may be the problem do you think?
ZA shouldn’t have any impact on the avast icons, so it is most likely that it is an issue of resources. If my memory isn’t playing tricks I recall there being something in the forums like this where low resources led to non-display of icons (why that would happen is however, a mystery to me).
Does this non-display of avast icons happen after every scan and does it extent to any other icons ?
If it happens after each scan, check what is running in the background (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and stop any non essential apps (take care not to shutdown any system apps) and does that make any difference ?
I honestly can’t see how it is a memory problem as the display of icons are I would have thought minimal, but adding RAM is usually a good idea. Provided you don’t go over 512MB of RAM as win98 seemed to have issues over that figure.
Sometimes a corrupt shelliconcache was responsible for icons disappearing/messed up icons on quick launch.Deleting the current shelliconcache file and letting windows rebuild a new one upon reboot usually fixes these problems.
Go to my computer>tools>folder options>view>check the circle beside"show hidden files and folders">apply>ok. Then go to local disk[c:]>windows>scroll down to the shelliconcache file>right click on it>delete. Restart the computer. Be sure to go back and uncheck the circle beside “show hidden files and folders” (if you prefer it that way)>apply>ok.
Are the icons ok now?
To be honest I am back with AVG as it doesn’t lose support till August 2008, but I will keep your fix in mind come the time I need to use it.
The funny thing is though now that I am temporarily back with AVG the icons stay where they are, so perhaps the original problem stems from window 98’s resource and or not enough of RAM memory.
Avg is a decent enough av to use.Im not convinced its a resource problem.As someone who has recently changed from 98se to w2000 ,i found that you could run the pc on less than 10% resources just fine.Its just when you go below zero that the usual freeze occurs.Unless you have very low memory (lower than perhaps 192meg) i wouldnt have thought ,that would be a problem either,although w98 does have a tendency to hold on to memory rather than releasing it when apps are closed.I guess you are already aware that w98se needs lots of care and attention,and its best to choose low impact applications,especially avs or firewalls.I personally used kerio 2.15 together with either avg,avast or antivir.I also used resource monitor in system tray together with rampage to keep an eye on memory.A small app i found particularly useful was actual booster ,which gives higher priority cpu to cuurently active apps.It worked very well on 98se ( i now use process tamer to similar job on w2000) http://www.sofotex.com/Actual-Booster-download_L31802.html
The problem with resources yes you can get it down to 10-15%, but the first indication of going to 0% is a crash, that is why I rebooted early so I was in control of a controlled shutdown rather than a crash.
Yes w98se does need caring for to manage its resources…and having resource meter starting with windows is a good practice in my view.Many times just closing apps would bring resources back up.I never left my pc running 24/7 but i guess if i did resource issues would be a much bigger problem.The best thing i ever did was to “upgrade” to 2000.I still use rampage to check memory but i see instantly that w2000 handles memory much better than 98 os.No matter how hard security vendors try to cater for older OS ,it becomes increasing difficult for them.Even new guis have detrimental effects on older OS.I hope nightshade can get to the bottom of it though…or upgrade
