Problem with Puran Defrag 7.3

A problem has developed with Puran Defrag when doing either Analyze or Defrag in that it will not display the
report, which is the normal behavior.
Instead, it opens my default browser, Opera, then opens a new tab to display the report.

I contacted Puran support and this was their reply:

The following Microsoft Support article describes this procedure:
How to reset Internet Explorer settings

I don't know what effects this may have on my system, so I want to check with the support folks
here before I follow this procedure.

Can someone advise me about the effects of this procedure, whether positive or adverse?

I also found the following describing a much more detailed process, but this is not what Puran recommended.
WindowsMaven: Reset Internet Options

THANKS!!

 

I have reset IE a couple of times and have noticed no adverse effects. The things that would happen would be the loss all your passwords if you had ie remember them for certain sites, also any autocomplete settings. Also any sites you set up in restricted sites, trusted sites, and any other custom security settings would be lost including any special connection settings you set up in ie. Everything back to default.

Edit: if Opera is your default browser, I do not think resetting ie will not stop Puran from using opera.

 

Also on Puran 7.3 - it's displaying within the interface without invoking the browser! Unless I hit the 'Open in Web Browser' tab, screenie attached. Maybe uninstall and reinstall afresh?

Cheers..

 

@tgell
Thanks for your reply!
I have no saved passwords or autocomplete in IE.
Nothing in Trusted sites, except maybe Google.
There is a list in Restricted Sites, but I did not enter those myself.
I suspect those were entered by SpywareBlaster and/or Spybot.

Thanks sikvik.

I had been using it for several months, and it had always worked properly, as in your screen shot.
This problem just started recently.

I have uninstalled with Revo Uninstaller to clean up leftover registry entries 3 times!

 

That is correct. SpywareBlaster adds those. So if you do reset ie, go into Spywareblaster and disable everything. They will then be removed. Then go back and re-enable everything in Spywareblaster.

 

It's a html report why would it trigger Opera! Phew.. No extension, plugins, or BHO's in HJT!! Tried using Fx as the default browser?

Sure you'll fix this. Keeping a watch on this thread.

Cheers..

 

I did not disable anything before the First reset and none of the restricted sites were removed.
I did a full reset with the "Remove personal settings" option ON.

Opera is my default browser, so the HTML file type is associated with that.

After the first reset, I used NTRegOpt and got a 5% reduction in registry size.

After disabling all protection in SpywareBlaster, I did another reset, but the Restricted Sites
entries were still not removed. Then I used the UnDo function in Spybot Search & Destroy to remove
all of the Immunization. After the third reset, the Restricted Sites were removed.

Used NTRegOpt a second time before reboot and got an Additional 19% reduction.
The registry size went from about 63,000,000+ bytes initially to 51,703,808 bytes final.
That's a huge difference; Far more than I have ever seen before, even after uninstalling some
large software and doing a registry clean with CCleaner and Eusing.

The process did Not fix the Puran problem, so I uninstalled again using Add or Remove Programs
instead of Revo Uninstaller. Also deleted the installation file that I downloaded from MG and
downloaded a new copy from the author's web site.

After a reinstall, the problem was still not fixed.
Upon exiting Puran one time, Windows displayed an error message noting a problem with "Puran
Defrag Main GUI". I noted the error message information and forwarded that to Puran Support.

After the reset, the ActiveX control for Microsoft Update had to be reinstalled.
Also, a just previously installed Critical Update, KB2530548 Cumulative Security Update for
Internet Explorer for Windows XP was no longer registered a had to be reinstalled.
No other problems with IE 8.

All protection in SpywareBlaster has been re-enabled.
In Spybot, I only enabled Immunization for Opera.
In Spybot, there is also an option for Global HOSTS to add entries to an existing HOSTS file.
Enabling that option Increased the size of my hosts file from 248 KB to 669 KB.

If Puran can't be fixed, I'll fall back to MyDefrag which is still installed.

I have not tried enabling Immunization in Spybot for Firefox and Intrnet Explorer to see what
effect that will have on the registry size.
Don't know if that's necessary for the following reasons:

• Only use Internet Explorer when absolutely necessary such as for Microsoft Update.
• Use Firefox rarely, just for a change or on the very rare occasion when I have to access a
  site that will not work in Opera, or more likely, the site rejects Opera.
• Typically use Pale Moon in place of Firefox which is Not Listed in Spybot, and of course they
  maintain separate profiles.
• Do use a HOSTS file and Malwarebytes PRO.
• Spybot shows separate entries for each User Account, and Immunizing all of that might further
  increase the registry size again.

Don't know if this is an issue that would be better handled in a separate thread?

Please let me know if you have any further comments or suggestions.
THANKS!!
—mjnc

 

Since I have Puran Defrag as well I'll run it 2morrow as a bootdefrag on my maintenance day and I'll let you know if same happens.

 

Just a thought:

How about uninstalling Puran v7.3 using Revo Uninstaller, run CCleaner(including the registry scanner), reboot.
Install an older version of Puran Defrag(v7.1 or v7.2), run it, see what happens.
If all is well, uninstall the older version of Puran Defrag using 'Add or Remove Programs' then install Puran Defrag v7.3.

Did you try sikvik's idea of setting a different browser as default?
Wondering too, if you have been implementing the numerous update releases of Opera 11.50?

 

I doubt that you will have any trouble.

Hi plastidust. :wave
Haven't seen you in a while.

Yes, did that already, several times.

I was using 7.2 previously. All was fine with 7.3 until just recently.

No need to set a different default browser - not gonna happen.
Opera has been my choice for about six years now.

Actually, Opera doesn't update quite as often as some of the others.
I'm using version 11.50 now.

Just looked at some of my old installation files:

• v7.54 :: 12-27-2004
• v8.54 :: 04-10-2006
• v10.54 : 06-22-2010
• v10.63 : 10-13-2010
• v11.11 : 06-15-2011

Got another termination error message from Puran about the GUI, so I've uninstalled it for now.
Haven't heard back from Support yet regarding my last message to them.
Maybe they will have a solution.

Did quite a bit of testing regarding SpywareBlaster and Spybot Immunization and resulting Registry size.
I'll post more about that later.
Also did some research on the practicality of using Spybot Immunization (and SpywareBlaster) with Internet Explorer 8.

 

But in the complete, uninterrupted sequence of:
Uninstall v7.3 with Revo > CCleaner > Reboot > Install v7.2 > Run v7.2 > Uninstall v7.2 with 'Add or Remove' > Install v7.3?
If the problem remains after installing an older version of Puran Defrag, then it would seem something has changed somewhere else.

Changing the default browser is not permanent. Just for testing to help in isolating the problem.
Yes, Opera 11.50 is my default browser too. I'm having a minor problem with it though, but that's for a different thread, which I will get around to starting, one of these days.:tired

I was referring to what seemed to be a multitude of Opera 11.50 beta releases recently. Sorry about being so vague.:-o
Have you by chance installed any new software or had significant upgrades to any existing applications?

Results so far? Might be off topic but might be pertinent too.

 

OK
Tried that, except for Uninstalling v7.2, I did use Revo but did not let it remove
the remaining registry entries:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache
[indent]
C:\Program Files\Puran Defrag\PuranDefragGUI.exe
C:\Program Files\Puran Defrag\unins000.exe
[/indent]

I did remove them manually with regedit at some point after another "Add or Remove" and reboot later on.

Tried a temporary reset to Firefox as the default browser.
Here's what the error looked like, and you can see Firefox is shown as default:

The Report Panel always showed "No Reports Found".

Yeah, I had also noticed that there have been a lot of betas showing up on the Major Geeks home page lately.
I have never installed a beta.

I have installed several updates, but it will take a while for me to backtrack to see which ones
and which might cause a conflict.
I'm still working on that.

Not completely off topic because removing the Restricted Sites entries was part of the Internet
Explore Reset process recommended by Puran Support. See my first post
That's something to get into later.

 

Thanks plodr.

I checked and it was already disabled.
Probably only used when Automatic defragmentation is setup.

I frequently check Windows Task Manager to see how many processes are running when no applications are in use.
If the number goes up, I start checking.

 

@mjnc: Which OS/SP is this?

I've used PuranDefrag with 2x Betas of W7, W7x86 Home and currently W7x64 Home, every time with SpywareBlaster and Spybot with full immunize but never TeaTimer. Pretty sure they're red herrings, I'd reinstall them both.

The problem here looks like it may be a permissions issue: PD looks to access a file needed to display html (part of default Windows/IE files) but fails somehow. Have you looked in the Applications logs for an error at the time that PD is started?

 

What puzzled me was 'No Reports Found' but still tries to automatically display the report in the browser, successfully with Opera?:confused

 

Windows XP Home SP3.

It wasn't that either Spywareblaster or Spybot was suspected of being the cause of or related to the Puran problem.
These came into the picture as a result of following the suggestion from Puran Support to do a Reset for Internet Explorer.
I noticed that the Restricted Sites was loaded with Hundreds of entries, and when I mentioned this,
tgell recommended that I disable all protection prior to Reset so that they would be removed.

I had already done a Reset before I saw tgell's reply.
I Disabled SpywareBlaster protection before the Second Reset, but the Restricted Sites entries Remained.
Before the Third Reset, I Also ran Undo in Spybot Immunize section.
After the Third Reset, All of the Restricted Sites entries had been removed.

Since I did a system Reboot 2 or 3 times as part of this process, I had the idea to run NTRegOpt
to see if I might get some additional Registry Compression.
This is a secondary issue which is quite significant but not directly related to the problem with Puran Defrag.
I plan to present the results of all that in another thread along with additional info from a discussion about that type of security strategy
with current browsers and Internet Explorer 8.

I gave some of those results in this post.

Although none of the suggestions worked, it got me thinking about other possibilities and after trying several things,
I have now resolved the issue and Puran Defrag is working properly and, so far, is showing the reports without issue. :cool

Later on I'll describe how it got there, 'cuz I think it's interesting and maybe someone else will too.
It's gonna be a while 'cause I'm kind of Fried right now.

Thank you everyone for your interest and suggestions.
I could not have done it without you.
Seven+ heads is better than One. :-D :major

Actually, the best part about this is Not that I got Puran Defrag fixed,
it's the side benefits and what I learned along the way.

Cheers!!!

 

The smaller Registry is purely the effect of removing all the blocks put in place by Spywareblaster/Spybot. To simulate those removed blocks without your Registry taking a hit, using a free OpenDNS account with their malware blocks might go some way to getting your passive protection back up to scratch.

 

I did Enable all of the protection in SpywareBlaster, but not in Spybot.

Since I'm using Opera and that isn't covered by Spybot, do you still think it's necessary?

I was using OpenDNS a while back, but don't remember why I dropped it.
I think I was having trouble with throughput and a tech at AT&T recommended that I not use OpenDNS.

 

Part of the Spybot immunization creates a large block list in the hosts file which covers connections from all browsers.

I doubt that using OpenDNS would cause more than a drop of a few % in throughput, it may have a slightly worse effect on ping times. It probably depends as much on the route and routing servers, more than the DNS server. Using OpenDNS gives a free layer of protection, I think that's worth giving up a few % of download speed for.

It's all about finding the sweet spot; if you have a poor connection or a single core PC with low RAM, you need to slim everything down to improve your surfing experience; with a faster connex and a multi core CPU with 2+ GB of RAM, you can afford to use a little more horsepower on protection without suffering too much.

Anyway, I think we're way off the OT now

 

@satrow
Thank you for the reply and comments. Much food for thought there.
I have installed OpenDNS with the default security measures.
As already mentioned, all Spywareblaster protection is On.
Spybot immunize only for Opera plugins.
I'll have to experiment using the Hosts file with and without the Spybot additions since it is
a very large list.

When I tried to open PuranDefrag.html manually in Internet Explorer, a message flashed on the screen,
which I was not able to read, and then the system switched to Opera, which was already open, and
displayed the file.

In the past I had problems opening a local HTML file (stored on my hard drive) in IE because of
MS security updates to IE. The solution was to add the Mark of the Web to the document immediately
below the doctype statement. Since doing a Reset in IE changes the security settings, I tried adding
that to PuranDefrag.html, but that did not work. (BTW, there is no doctype in PuranDefrag.html)
How Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Vista affect web pages running locally on your computer

I also tested the file with the World Wide Web Consortium Markup Validation Service, and it failed
with 5 errors and 2 warnings. I cleaned up the file with HTML Tidy, but that also had no effect.

The Fix:
I set Internet Explorer as the default browser, Closed all browsers and ran Puran Defrag.
The report displayed properly. :-D
Then with Puran Defrag still running, I opened Opera and reset it as the default browser.
When I went back to Puran and tried Analyze, it still worked. :cool

Since I don't remember making any changes in IE prior to the start of the problem, I suspect it may
have been caused by one of the recent Microsoft Critical Updates, although no one else has reported
a similar problem. Looking at the Program Files folder, there are 18 folders other than Puran that
have been Modified in the month of June 2011. rolleyes :confused

Sticky problem, simple solution.
Thanks again to ALL that contributed.