Spybot No Longer Works on Windows 98 ?

[JorgeA]

Hello,

I tried to post this in the Bugs & Requests section, but got bumped over to here, so please forgive me if my question is out of place.

For more than a year now I've been having a problem with Spybot on Windows 98. Basically, it runs through most of the scan -- even reaching the last "XXXXXX of XXXXXX" files -- and then it stops with a message claiming that Spybot performed an illegal operation.

I did a pair of screenshots for any experts on this forum who might like to investigate what's going on. The second screenshot shows the last couple of lines within the error message.

Observant readers might notice that I have both avast! and Norton on the system. But the problem started in 2008 when I had only Norton, and persisted after I disabled it. I loaded avast! last month only to see if it found anything that may have caused Spybot to misfire. (It didn't find anything wrong with my computer.)

So I wonder if the bottom line is that Spybot just doesn't work on Windows 98 anymore.

Thanks in advance for your help.

--JorgeA

[Gopher John]

Decide which antivirus you want to run. Having both is a recipe for problems. I realize that your SpyBot S&D started beforehand. Avast4 has a short life with any OS older than Win2000, as Avast5 has been released. Definitions won't be updated for v4 sometime later this year. I don't know about Norton's support for Win98.

Both have uninstall utilities that should be run after using Add/Remove Programs.
See http://uninstallers.blogspot.com RAProducts AV and AS Uninstallers

Can you start Win98 in Safe Mode and do a SpyBot S&D scan? Do you have v1.6.2.46 installed, or are you using an older version? Using an older version with the new signatures can cause problems. I've had v1.6.2.46 running on an old Win95a Pentium 166MHZ with 96MB ram, slow as mud but it ran.

[JorgeA]

Yes, ultimately I will probably uninstall both avast! and Norton. (Thanks very much for the link, BTW.) My Norton subscription for that computer is expired, and avast! said they would stop supporting Windows 98 at the end of last month. But it did serve its purpose, as it didn't find any bad stuff on the computer. Before going back online with that PC I would search for another antivirus package that still supports Win98. I think ClamWin says they do.

Here's the info that you asked for: I do have Spybot S&D 1.6.2.46 installed. I've also tried running it in Safe Mode, and it won't finish the scan there either. A couple of weeks ago I tripled the RAM from the original 96MB to 288MB, thinking that maybe Spybot was having trouble working on so little memory -- but no dice. Same "illegal operation" message as you saw.

I wonder what it might mean when it says "invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL" as given in the "Details" for the error message.

It's great to hear that you have a working Windows 95 system! When my Win98 PC got "sick" last year, and before I got my new Vista machine, for a couple of weeks I had to resort to my Windows 3.11 box to access my e-mail via dialup. I knew there was a good reason not to recycle that museum piece....

[Gopher John]

Alwil will issue definitions for Avast 4.8 for a few months yet, so you have some breathing room there. Remove Norton, including using the appropriate removal tool. Go to Add/Remove programs and use Remove/Change on Avast. Select Repair when it comes up. Hopefully that will clear things up. ClamWin will run on Win98, but it's not an active, resident antivirus.

You've probably already done it, but maybe uninstalling SpyBot S&D, cleaning up and defragging, and then reinstalling S&D may settle the problem.

[JorgeA]

Yeah, unfortunately I've already tried defragging and uninstalling+reinstalling Spybot. But I didn't do these in the order that you suggest, so maybe there's room for hope there.

I've also used all the cleanup and diagnostic/repair tools that Norton SystemWorks has to offer. Wonder what the heck may be causing Spybot to screech to a halt at the very end.

Thanks for the info about Avast 4.8 and ClamWin. I didn't realize that ClamWin isn't resident, but OTOH it's good to know that Avast will still be current for the time being.

I appreciate your help!

--JorgeA

[TwistedMike]

well as a last option you could always look into investing into a newer computer something like windows xp or higher.

[JorgeA]

TwistedMike,

As you can see in my second post in this thread, I already did get a Vista machine, which I bought soon after the Win98 system developed other serious problems and wouldn't get out of Safe Mode.

The computer has made a full recovery since then, but I'm still curious as to what may be causing Spybot to choke at the end of its scan on the Win98 PC. Check out the screenshots in the initial post and see if you can figure out anything useful.

--JorgeA

[dw2108]

JorgeA,

FORGET the 2000, XP, Vista, 2003, 2008, and the "THE FINALLY FIXED IT BUT FORTY YEARS TOO LATE!" Windows7, KEEP the 9x, use AVZ from www.z-oleg.com, and download ClamWin, Sentinel and ClamSentinel, WinPatrol free, a good firewall (FREE), Anvir Taskmanager free version 5 or earlier (free), Spywareblaster Free and SSM free for Win 9x OR WinCleaner Free Antispyware. Enough of Microslushsoft.

Dave

[JorgeA]

JorgeA,

FORGET the 2000, XP, Vista, 2003, 2008, and the "THE FINALLY FIXED IT BUT FORTY YEARS TOO LATE!" Windows7, KEEP the 9x, use AVZ from www.z-oleg.com, and download ClamWin, Sentinel and ClamSentinel, WinPatrol free, a good firewall (FREE), Anvir Taskmanager free version 5 or earlier (free), Spywareblaster Free and SSM free for Win 9x OR WinCleaner Free Antispyware. Enough of Microslushsoft.

Dave

Dave,

Thanks very much for the info. I'll look into every one of the products you mention.

I'm looking especially for an up-to-date firewall and for a malware protector to complement Avast! antivirus.

I appreciate the tips!

--JorgeA

[dw2108]

JorgeA,

FIREWALL FREE & VERY GOOD.

www.oldversion.com > Firewalls > SunBelt > version 2.1.5 is the Kerio Free.

Go to www.grc.com/default.htm and do Shields UP! That will plug any firewall holes you might have.

Keep the 9x. It's too old to allow most malware to run. I know. Also try a vey safe 9x browser such as Opera 8.54, 9.64 -- very safe on a 9x system, safer that the most recent releases using scripting. find them at arc.opera.com
get good hosts file, and drop it in the Windows folder. With this and some safe browsing, you'll be OK

Dave