An issue with Guidescope

I have used Guidescope (avail from http://www.guidescope.com/home/ ) which is a graphics suppression program. It works really well and gets rid of the graphics such as moving GIFs in banners which slow down access.

Tonight, while speaking to HP help on another issue HERE we found an anomaly that causes IE to shut down if Guidescope is not activated.

He had me open Start > Run > msconfig > Startup and uncheck all programs and functions except RECGUARD, ps2, RUNDLL32, KBD, ccApp, ccRegVfy, and hpsysdrv. After a restart, he wanted me to open IE and attempt to install the update that was the problem.

IE WOULD NOT OPEN Or should I say that IE could not accesss the Internet.

Each time I got the same message for any link I tried Page Not Found. After turning on the programs and functions one at a time, each time requiring a restart, we finally came down to the last four. When I activated Guidescope, IE worked perfectly. Overall, this process took nearly three hours and the original issue is still not solved.

 

Did you follow the setup procedure as described here:
http://www.guidescope.com/gman/bi5.htm

and here is a checklist to go thru to make sure it's setup properly:
http://www.guidescope.com/gman/checklist.htm

 

alanc

Yes, and yes.

The program works perfectly. The only issue I have ever seen with it was last night.

With the seven programs and functions checked, but Guidescope unchecked, in the "startup" tab, the browser doesn't talk to the Internet. The browser runs but there is no communication.

I am on 384K cable so the free ISP issue is moot. I did the total setup, step by step, per Guidescope's instructions and have used the program successfully for years. It is especially useful when you are on dial-up; but it doesn't do much on cable. It is the removal of an annoyance at that point rather than a speed issue.

I posted this as an FYI thread for those who may encounter the same thing during a diagnostic. I love Guidescope and will continue to use it as it has never caused a problem other than that which I encountered last night.

Actually, now that I think about it, when the browser startes to open, it states that it is attempting to communicate with the 127.0.0.1 proxy at the bottom of the screen and is what should have tipped me off to the problem as that is the HTTP proxy address of the Guidescope software.

 

I did a bit more messing around with Guidescope and found the following:

The program uses a proxy address of 127.0,0,1 port 8000.

To use this address and make the browser active, you have to check the box at Tools > Internet options > Connections > LAN Settings that says "Use a proxy server for your LAN".

If Guidescope is not started through the Run > msconfig > Startup page the proxy does not run and neither does the Internet.

Unchecking the "Use a proxy server for your LAN" box allows the disabling of Guidescope without causing Internet problems.

So the answer is either of the two:

a. Turn Guidescope on while diagnostics are in play.

b. Turn off Guidescope and disable the proxy server in Tools > Internet options > Connections > LAN Settings.