Incomplete Immunization-Firefox

[rcplaneguy]

Running 1.6.2.46 of Spybot, running Spybot after right clicking and running as Administrator. Vista Home operating system. Firefox 3.5.5. I have read the Stidky in the FAQ about this issue on this forum, but still am having problems (http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=36272)

After Immunization I have 766 non immunized items. I have run immunization many times.

Any ideas how to fix?

Attached is a screen shot.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii92/RChobby/spybot.jpg

[Gopher John]

Per your screen image, Firefox is still running. Didn't you get a warning about closing the browsers when you checked the immunizations?

Close all browsers first and then hit the green Immunize cross at the upper right that is shown in your screen image.

[rcplaneguy]

Thanks, John, however when I tried before I did not have it on. And I just tried again without Firefox running, same issue. Here is a screen shot. Any more ideas?

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii92/RChobby/spybot2.jpg

[Gopher John]

Are you using or have used in the past any of the programs mentioned in the stickies? RaProducts' AV and AS Uninstallers (http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/) has links to many uninstallers from various vendors. There could be remnants of uninstalled security programs lurking around.

What antivirus and firewall are you currently using?

[rcplaneguy]

Thankis again for the reply.
No, I've not used any of those antivirus programs listed in the sticky.

I run Symantec Antivirus 10.2.

I'm at a loss of what to do, if anything. Thanks anyone for any suggestions. Should I uninstall Firefox and Internet explorer? I would have to figure out how to save my bookmarks.

[Gopher John]

Norton Antivirus and Symantec Antivirus, being from the same company probably share much of the same software code, and therefore the same issues.

You won't be able to uninstall Internet Explorer, and there's no need to uninstall either browser.

You can try booting into Vista Safe mode, and immunizing with SpyBot Search & Destroy.

[rcplaneguy]

I booted into Vista Safe Mode, and then ran Spybot and ran immunization. Still can't fix it! Drat!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii92/RChobby/spybot3.jpg

[Tom.K]

Do you use any other anti-spyware software?

[honda12]

Hi rcplaneguy,

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet (and we don't want you to unnecessarily have to do anything too drastic), have you tried to simply undo your immunisation then reapply it?

[rcplaneguy]

Thanks for all the replys!
I run spywareblaster as well.

I found some interesting things.
When I clicked "undo" and removed all immunizations, and then tried to re-do, NONE of the immunizations were done. ZERO!

Very strange, but consistent which was helpful in figuring out what was wrong. I begin to think it is a software bug.

I finally got all the immunizations to take, but the only way is to click "immunize" with Firefox first running (as admin), click OK on the warning box that an open browser is detected, and then click Firefox closed just after immunization begins. If Firefox was not running at the begining, no immunizations would be applied.
Very strange software behavior!

So, I assume that the 766 things that were not immunized prior were new updates that accumulated. Now that I know "the trick", I can apply new updates successfully until this bug is addressed.

Thanks for all the support!

[Gopher John]

That sounds very much like Firefox was running without displaying a visible window.

Try restarting Windows, open Firefox and visit a couple of sites, and then close Firefox. Use CTRL-ALT-DEL and look at Processes. If Firefox shows, then something is holding Firefox open.

As a normal routine, running SpyBot Search & Destroy immediately after restarting Windows without running Firefox may be a better bet.

Check some of the results from this Google Search.

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=003258325049489668794%3Adrr0nlojlas&ie=UTF-8&q=Firefox+doesn%27t+close&sa=Go