Bad Checksums when I update

[erchess]

When I try to Update I find that some updates go well and others give me bad checksums. Is there a way for me to capture the list and easily post which ones these are? (I don't have time to type the list out. It would be easier to just delete Spybot.) I have just ended (I think) the process of removing a bunch of spyware, viruses and trojans from my computer so it may be that I still have an infection. Maybe I should reformat. Maybe I should try removing and reinstalling Spybot. Does anyone have any other ideas?

[blues]

try using another update mirror, it was bad checksums to me today too, it just happens sometimes.

[md usa spybot fan]

erchess:

My responce in this thread:
Bad Checksums when I update
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=33601


erchess:

A "Bad checksum" error indicates that after an update file is download there was a discrepancy between the expected MD5 hash value of that file and the actual MD5 hash value of that downloaded file as received by your system. There can be several causes for this problem, it can because the download of that file timed out and never completed or that there was a problem with the transmission itself resulting in a corrupted downloaded file.

Running Spybot 1.5 or above (Spybot » Help » About)? If so, then if you get a "Bad checksum" error, click the "Back to mirror list" button and select a different download site and try the update again.

Also see:
When updating, why do I get an error message that the "update is forbidden" / "bad checksum!!!"?
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/20.html

And:
How to update the program to the newest version
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/update.html

[erchess]

I had tried the Global site and all of the US Sites. (Was I right in thinking I should not use the ones for people in other countries?) However today I updated from one of the sites I had been using but this time I had my laptop in a WIFI hot spot and therefore was using some kind of "fast internet". I had been at home using "slow dialup". On a good day at home my internet has speeds of 20kbps or so. I live on the only road in my county where neither DSL nor Cable is available. There is the possibility of Satellite but that's frightfully expensive. The county has a company that does DSL by radio waves but there is too high a mountain between my home and their nearest tower.

Anyway I get to WIFI at least once and usually two or three times a week so I won't worry too much about updating problems on dialup in the future. Spybot is not the only program I have that doesn't like the taste of slow internet for updates.

[erchess]

Last night and today I had problems updating Spybot and a program that assists US Tax Professionals. Spybot was getting bad checksums and the other program couldn't access the internet even though I was online. I could not figure out what was wrong with the firewall but I think that may have been the prob with the other program. Anyway I solved both problems by going to the respective websites and manually downloading and installing the updates. Both programs are now up to date with a minimum of fuss and bother. So that raises the question in my mind - Why do the Supreme Spybot Authorities recommend that we all use the update function in the program? I personally update all my software on the schedules on which the various outfits put updates out. It would be very unusual for me not to obtain an update on the day it is first available because I do take security seriously. (I also got in that habit with the software I use to prepare tax filings because during tax filing season it must be updated at least daily and sometimes several times a day.)

[md usa spybot fan]

erchess:


... So that raises the question in my mind - Why do the Supreme Spybot Authorities recommend that we all use the update function in the program? ...
The manual update only updates the detection files. It does not update information files, language files, plugins nor program files.

[erchess]

It happened that this week all the updates I was being offered from the various sites were also on the main puter

[davidonpda]

I run the fastspeedtest.com mirror in the update list.

When a lot of people update at the same time, like a few weeks ago when they pushed the 1.6 updates through, bad checksums pop up for a small percentage of users.

I have 40 MBPS dedicated to spybot traffic, and from 8AM until just after noon on wednesdays specifically, that is just about maxed out for that entire period.

As of midnight last night, there were 8,834,032 hits just on my mirror this month. Into 19 days that is almost 20,000 hits an hour. You could imagine how a few incomplete tranfers while the bandwidth is at its max sends out some bad checks sums. Even if the ratio is well below 1/10th of one percent, that could still be 20 people an hour having problems.

Try a different server, try at a different time, or improve your internet connection.

I'm glad that spybot checks the MD5 before trying to push the update through not like some other crummy programs (cough norton)

[erchess]

I have found out that since some of my use of this computer serves the business I own and run I need to either remove Spybot or pay for its use. I have asked the person who I have been exchanging emails with whether or not my experience with the paid version will be different in terms of updates. I have not had an answer. If I get assured that updating is better on the paid side I will pay. If I do not get such assurance I will remove Spybot from my computer. I personally think that there should be only one update site or only one to which a given user is invited and that site should have enough bandwidth so that if all users invited there came at once they would all successfully update their programs and in darned near as little time as each would if it were the only one. Also the site should be backed up with generators so that it NEVER loses power and with backup servers so that it NEVER goes down. This is in keeping with my belief that computer glitches of all sorts should be eliminated even if that is at the price of eliminating all computers. I want my computer to always work and if it ever does not work I want someone blamed and executed or at least financially ruined for the fact. There is however a lot that I want but I don't get in this world. I am not always the most realistic person in the world .http://forums.spybot.info/images/smilies/smile.gif

[PepiMK]

The Safer-Networking #2 (Europe) server is down currently (still pingable and Apache not crashed, thats why neither our nor the hosters monitoring didn't see it immediately). I've removed it from the list of update locations until the providers support team has brought it back up again.

This server is located at a hoster that indeed has everything from server grade hardware (no longer a default in todays cheap server world) to 4 huge always prewarmed diesel aggregates to cool water reserves (the best generators won't help long if cooling is not working). 24/7 "platinum" ( :D ) support. See this flash info page (http://www.1und1.de/flash/main.swf) (sorry for the language, haven't found an English one). It's costing easily 4 times the price af cheap servers, but even such a high end server can have problems ;)

If it isnt back u again after breakfast, I'll call them again.

[davidonpda]

My server gets 20,000 people updating their spybot per hour... There are currently 22 mirrors, and most of them probably have a similar ratio.

Unless you are talking a mass cluster, it wouldn't be very logical to have one server do updates. Additionally, the servers are all over the world. The US or Europe are not the only ones having spyware issues. A server closer to you will give you a better download rate, at the ratios above, a unmetered gig ethernet connection would be required... that would be some serious hardware to handle that.

I donate my resources, 40 MBPS on a high quality, power backed up server, would cost several hundred dollars a month. The only thing I get in return, is knowing that I am supporting the best anti spyware program out there, that is given out free for private use.

Every time the mother in law calls, or the brother that knows too little about computers calls, I put spybot on, immunize, and run a scan, and problems get fixed.

Thanks spybot. I'll set an HTB TC script to boost bandwidth on wednesday mornings as not to bother people from having to download an update twice.

[md usa spybot fan]

davidonpda:

Thank you for your concern and support in the fight against malware.

I would like to stress one thing that you advised earlier concerning failed transmissions, particularly in the case of repetitive failures:


… Try a different server, try at a different time, or improve your internet connection. …
Thanks again,
md usa spybot fan

[davidonpda]

:-)

Once a month, I will get an email at my domain, asking why my server spit out a bad checksum... kind of the canned response I sent over. That will usually do it. I have sent people to these forums, and appreciate them getting help here.

What a wonderful community.