Problem with Spybot S&D Explorer Context menu item

[MrGreg]

Hi everyone,

One of my clients called me today with a problem. The problem occurs if the "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" explorer context menu item is listed first or on top of the right click explorer context menu. My client was trying to open PDF files, he uses Foxit Reader. When he double clicks on any PDF a spybot scan initiates and Foxit never opens the PDF. I have also seen this behavior on other file types but do not remember what types of files. I have temporarily disabled the "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" context menu item using the registry tweak included in "Enable+Disable Spybot-S&D Context Menu Entry.zip". Can anyone shed some light on this problem? Thanks for your support...

[drragostea]

MrGreg, the user can always decide whether to install the integrated Windows Explorer scanner or not during installation.

It seems that the default application (shortcut) for opening .pdf files has gone "missing" . What you'll have to do is right-click the .pdf file and click "Open with..." find Foxit Reader and click "Remember to open this file with this application" (or words to that effect).

To dig further, I would like to know if this problem occurs on machines where the the right-click menu is not installed during default. Thanks.

[MrGreg]

Hi drragostea,

Thanks for your reply. I have done some more research on this problem. My client has a unique case. At one time he had Adobe Acrobat Professional installed along with Adobe Acrobat Reader. We had a few issues getting the Reader to be the default application for PDF's but finally figured that one out. Recently we removed Acrobat Reader and installed Foxit Reader. We made Foxit the default application for PDF's. Some how the "Open" and "print" context menu options were removed or lost in the transition from Adobe to Foxit. This left "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" context menu item at the top of the list.

Naturally a double click on a PDF in this situation will run the scanner and not open the PDF with Foxit. Using the Open With and choosing Foxit with "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" checked, did reassociate the icons for PDF's but did not put back in the missing "Open" and "print" context menu options. When I removed the "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" context menu item, the missing "Open" and "print" items returned. Go figure...

[drragostea]

Is the "Print" and "Open" associated with Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader, or both (I don't use Foxit Reader)?

This basically suggests that the right-click context menu of Spybot causes the problem of opening .pdf files, eh?

I'll have to say that the real explanation and resolution will be Team Spybot. Please wait for their answer.

I am more curious on the answer to the first question in this post.

[MrGreg]

Hi drragostea,

The Open and Print context menu options are associated with either Adobe or Foxit. The deciding factor is which application has control of the file association for PDF's. In my clients case, the Open and Print context menu items were missing. In this case it did not matter which application had control over PDF's because when you double click on the icon, it will execute the first item in the context menu which should be open. With open and print missing a spbot scan was initiated since it was first in the context menu list. The only question is why was open and print missing from the list? Spybot is not at fault for being the first in the list because open and print were missing. Hope this helps clear things up.