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Thread: Spy Bot Changed itself

  1. #11
    Esteemed Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    554

    Default

    Though I'm not privy to the specifics of how this check is performed, I highly doubt there is a registry entry involved, since this could be easily discovered and manipulated.

    I instead suspect that it's a verification of the SpybotSd.exe file itself using a computed checksum or md5 hash, compared against the same value stored within the file itself. I believe the 'little bug' mentioned by spybotsandra is a problem performing this computation on some systems. This suspicion comes from a similar problem that we've seen in the past with such computations in another Safer-Networking program called FileAlyzer.

    I'm not certain what causes this issue only on some systems, but here are the computed values for the Beta 141pefix SpybotSD.exe file version you are testing.

    CRC-32: 7CAE297B
    MD5: 4B624999B5AE777192DBEC90E88B72D1
    SHA1: DA097ED7C8B6D4C12EA4C7132B3570FE1800CC6E

    If these aren't changed then it's highly unlikely the file itself has changed. I'm not aware how the internal computation is performed, so I don't know what could cause it to fail, especially only on some systems.

    In either case, I don't believe re-installing Spybot itself has ever fixed it, though obviously the new beta version has for some. The other possibility is that you do have something changing the Spybot program and the warning is actually correct, in which case the numbers above ahouldn't match with your's.

    Bitman

    < Edit > Do your Windows/Microsoft Updates operate properly?
    Last edited by bitman; 2006-04-28 at 00:21.

  2. #12
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    5

    Default The answer? Bad RAM

    i checked the crc thru filealyzer. the hash for my download of the beta exe was off, so i downloaded again. again, the hash came back wrong when checked. so i began hunting for reasons my crc computations might be off. some informative sites led me to the hardware malfunction possibility, which has been known to cause big problems with crc checksums. the two most common seem to be: 1.) bad ide cables, or 2.) bad ram. i disabled the fast-boot bios option to let it run through the board's memory test, and sure enough, the memory failed the test. after a boot-level checkup from a windows memory diagnostic disk, it's official: one or both of the 2x512 of ram i just bought from tigerdirect are crap.

    after downgrading back to my trusty kingston 2x256 (glad i didn't sell it!) all is well again with spybot, as i suppose it can now perform it's self-check correctly.

    thanks a bunch for directing me to the culprit of this annoyance... i'm off to seek a refund from a very bad kitty...

  3. #13
    Esteemed Member
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    Oct 2005
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    554

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    Thanks to you for returning to report the cause. Now we know that the small number of these we've seen are likely hardware issues, especially when recent changes like RAM have occured.

    Could you please post the site(s) where you found the hardware malfunction information relating to crc checksums? It'd be great to be able to reference this thread and your discovery to help others understand the issue in the future.

    Thanks,
    Bitman

  4. #14
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    Default

    While googling around for local causes of crc inconsistencies, the 1st site that I hit that caught my eye was this: http://errorcrc.windowsreinstall.com/ . I found many more forum discussions on the topic, but I think that this one really drove home the issue, probably because of it's ominous name and my growing fear that a "Windows Reinstall" was exactly what was in store for me at the time.

    Of course, that wasn't the case. Now I begin the long dance of trying to get my money back on that crappy 2x512 of RAM!

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