From: PA Bear [MS MVP] on
Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" an update, Service Pack, or IE
upgrade! Instead, uninstall the update, Service Pack, or IE upgrade &
reboot. If that doesn't correct the problem, then try System Restore.

I'd doubt KB890830 would have anything to do with your System Restore
problem (unless the Malicious Software Removal Tool notified you of
something it found when it scanned) nor should KB978542.

Unless a Norton application had been installed on the computer at some point
(e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it), your
System Restore problem suggests that you're seeing the effects of a
hijackware infection.

What anti-virus application was installed before you installed AVG? Had
your subscription expired before you installed AVG?


RadBuch wrote:
> The windows live problem went away on it's own after 10-12 hours and I can
> connect normally now. The search engine problem will probably resurface on
> the next windows update. That's no biggie.
> I did the uninstall and reinstall of AVG as suggested. The only difference
> I
> noticed after the the reinstall was logging into this site. I no longer
> went
> to a cannot connect page.
> I still am not able to do a system restore. When I start system restore it
> says there are no available points to restore to. I did the next step
> listed. I clicked on repair windows; an option listed under system
> restore.
> Magically my system restore points showed up under this option so I picked
> the day before the update(5/12/2010). It went through the system restore
> but on reboot it said system restore was unsuccessful. I'm still stumped
> and unable to do a restore, but other than that my system seems normal.
> Now
> my taskbar icon is showing new updates are available and I'm almost
> afraid
> to let it update, but at the same time I'm hoping it may be a fix to
> yesterdays updates. I'll post later what happens.
>
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>> Uninstall AVG & reboot, then do a fresh install of AVG: This time select
>> the CUSTOM install option and do NOT install (i.e., uncheck) Linkscanner,
>> Search-Shield, Active Surf-Shield, Security toolbar, or any of the email
>> scanning components then see if the behavior persists.
>>
>> • Why you don't need your anti-virus to scan your email
>> http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm
>>
>>
>> RadBuch wrote:
>>> Vista sp2 is installed.
>>> There were no trials preinstalled.
>>>
>>> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is Vista SP1 or SP2 installed?
>>>>
>>>> Did a Norton or McAfee free trial come preinstalled on the computer
>>>> when
>>>> you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> RadBuch wrote:
>>>>> After windows Vista installed kb890830 and kb978542 I noticed 4
>>>>> problems
>>>>> so
>>>>> far.
>>>>> 1. MSN Service not available, error code: 800706b5. (This happened
>>>>> with
>>>>> previous updates and I fixed the issue by doing a system restore to a
>>>>> previous date.)
>>>>> 2.When I started internet explorer (ver 8.0.6001.18904) I got a
>>>>> message
>>>>> my
>>>>> default search engine was corrupted by another program.
>>>>> 3.I tried the usual system restore and found there were no restore
>>>>> points
>>>>> available
>>>>> 4. I had some unknown problem trying to log into this site. It kept
>>>>> giving
>>>>> a
>>>>> site not available message.
>>>>> I am running windows vista home premium with sp2.
>>>>> I am using AVG free for my antivirus protection.(never had any other
>>>>> installed)
>>>>>
>>>>> Any help or advise would be much appreciated. Problems 1 and 2 above I
>>>>> have
>>>>> encountered on almost every windows update. Problems 3 and 4 are new
>>>>> for
>>>>> this update.
>>>>
>>>> .
>>
>> .

From: RadBuch on
Oooops, too late on the never use system restore to undo an update.
The updates showing on the taskbar in my last post were the same 2 installed
on 5/13/2010. They installed automatically this morning without any apparent
problems except that I still have no system restore points.
This is a custom built computer that never had any free trials of any a/v
software installed. I installed the operating system on a freshly fdisked and
formatted drive. AVG free was installed the same day and has been running and
updated since. There were a couple of brief periods that AVG was not active.
Once during the uninstall and reinstall yesterday and once during a similar
uninstall and reinstall after a similar windows update problem last year.
Thanks for your advice. I will follow the links in your post to the
micro-trend online scan. I never knew which sites could be trusted to do a
safe online scan. I'm slightly paranoid of free online scans in light of all
the fake stuff on the internet.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" an update, Service Pack, or IE
> upgrade! Instead, uninstall the update, Service Pack, or IE upgrade &
> reboot. If that doesn't correct the problem, then try System Restore.
>
> I'd doubt KB890830 would have anything to do with your System Restore
> problem (unless the Malicious Software Removal Tool notified you of
> something it found when it scanned) nor should KB978542.
>
> Unless a Norton application had been installed on the computer at some point
> (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it), your
> System Restore problem suggests that you're seeing the effects of a
> hijackware infection.
>
> What anti-virus application was installed before you installed AVG? Had
> your subscription expired before you installed AVG?
>
>
> RadBuch wrote:
> > The windows live problem went away on it's own after 10-12 hours and I can
> > connect normally now. The search engine problem will probably resurface on
> > the next windows update. That's no biggie.
> > I did the uninstall and reinstall of AVG as suggested. The only difference
> > I
> > noticed after the the reinstall was logging into this site. I no longer
> > went
> > to a cannot connect page.
> > I still am not able to do a system restore. When I start system restore it
> > says there are no available points to restore to. I did the next step
> > listed. I clicked on repair windows; an option listed under system
> > restore.
> > Magically my system restore points showed up under this option so I picked
> > the day before the update(5/12/2010). It went through the system restore
> > but on reboot it said system restore was unsuccessful. I'm still stumped
> > and unable to do a restore, but other than that my system seems normal.
> > Now
> > my taskbar icon is showing new updates are available and I'm almost
> > afraid
> > to let it update, but at the same time I'm hoping it may be a fix to
> > yesterdays updates. I'll post later what happens.
> >
> > "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
> >> Uninstall AVG & reboot, then do a fresh install of AVG: This time select
> >> the CUSTOM install option and do NOT install (i.e., uncheck) Linkscanner,
> >> Search-Shield, Active Surf-Shield, Security toolbar, or any of the email
> >> scanning components then see if the behavior persists.
> >>
> >> • Why you don't need your anti-virus to scan your email
> >> http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm
> >>
> >>
> >> RadBuch wrote:
> >>> Vista sp2 is installed.
> >>> There were no trials preinstalled.
> >>>
> >>> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Is Vista SP1 or SP2 installed?
> >>>>
> >>>> Did a Norton or McAfee free trial come preinstalled on the computer
> >>>> when
> >>>> you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> RadBuch wrote:
> >>>>> After windows Vista installed kb890830 and kb978542 I noticed 4
> >>>>> problems
> >>>>> so
> >>>>> far.
> >>>>> 1. MSN Service not available, error code: 800706b5. (This happened
> >>>>> with
> >>>>> previous updates and I fixed the issue by doing a system restore to a
> >>>>> previous date.)
> >>>>> 2.When I started internet explorer (ver 8.0.6001.18904) I got a
> >>>>> message
> >>>>> my
> >>>>> default search engine was corrupted by another program.
> >>>>> 3.I tried the usual system restore and found there were no restore
> >>>>> points
> >>>>> available
> >>>>> 4. I had some unknown problem trying to log into this site. It kept
> >>>>> giving
> >>>>> a
> >>>>> site not available message.
> >>>>> I am running windows vista home premium with sp2.
> >>>>> I am using AVG free for my antivirus protection.(never had any other
> >>>>> installed)
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Any help or advise would be much appreciated. Problems 1 and 2 above I
> >>>>> have
> >>>>> encountered on almost every windows update. Problems 3 and 4 are new
> >>>>> for
> >>>>> this update.
> >>>>
> >>>> .
> >>
> >> .
>
> .
>
From: PA Bear [MS MVP] on
Also run this online scan:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm

> I still have no system restore points.

You may be seeing the effects of a hijackware infection.

Microsoft PCSafety provides home users (only) with no-charge support in
dealing with malware infections such as viruses, spyware (including unwanted
software), and adware.
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?&prid=7552&st=1

Also available via the Consumer Security Support home page:
https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com/

(I've got more)

RadBuch wrote:
> Oooops, too late on the never use system restore to undo an update.
> The updates showing on the taskbar in my last post were the same 2
> installed
> on 5/13/2010. They installed automatically this morning without any
> apparent
> problems except that I still have no system restore points.
> This is a custom built computer that never had any free trials of any a/v
> software installed. I installed the operating system on a freshly fdisked
> and formatted drive. AVG free was installed the same day and has been
> running and updated since. There were a couple of brief periods that AVG
> was not active. Once during the uninstall and reinstall yesterday and once
> during a similar uninstall and reinstall after a similar windows update
> problem last year. Thanks for your advice. I will follow the links in your
> post to the micro-trend online scan. I never knew which sites could be
> trusted to do a safe online scan. I'm slightly paranoid of free online
> scans in light of all the fake stuff on the internet.
>
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" an update, Service Pack, or IE
>> upgrade! Instead, uninstall the update, Service Pack, or IE upgrade &
>> reboot. If that doesn't correct the problem, then try System Restore.
>>
>> I'd doubt KB890830 would have anything to do with your System Restore
>> problem (unless the Malicious Software Removal Tool notified you of
>> something it found when it scanned) nor should KB978542.
>>
>> Unless a Norton application had been installed on the computer at some
>> point (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
>> it), your System Restore problem suggests that you're seeing the effects
>> of a hijackware infection.
>>
>> What anti-virus application was installed before you installed AVG? Had
>> your subscription expired before you installed AVG?
>>
>>
>> RadBuch wrote:
>>> The windows live problem went away on it's own after 10-12 hours and I
>>> can
>>> connect normally now. The search engine problem will probably resurface
>>> on
>>> the next windows update. That's no biggie.
>>> I did the uninstall and reinstall of AVG as suggested. The only
>>> difference
>>> I
>>> noticed after the the reinstall was logging into this site. I no longer
>>> went
>>> to a cannot connect page.
>>> I still am not able to do a system restore. When I start system restore
>>> it
>>> says there are no available points to restore to. I did the next step
>>> listed. I clicked on repair windows; an option listed under system
>>> restore.
>>> Magically my system restore points showed up under this option so I
>>> picked
>>> the day before the update(5/12/2010). It went through the system restore
>>> but on reboot it said system restore was unsuccessful. I'm still stumped
>>> and unable to do a restore, but other than that my system seems normal.
>>> Now
>>> my taskbar icon is showing new updates are available and I'm almost
>>> afraid
>>> to let it update, but at the same time I'm hoping it may be a fix to
>>> yesterdays updates. I'll post later what happens.
>>>
>>> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>>>> Uninstall AVG & reboot, then do a fresh install of AVG: This time
>>>> select
>>>> the CUSTOM install option and do NOT install (i.e., uncheck)
>>>> Linkscanner,
>>>> Search-Shield, Active Surf-Shield, Security toolbar, or any of the
>>>> email
>>>> scanning components then see if the behavior persists.
>>>>
>>>> • Why you don't need your anti-virus to scan your email
>>>> http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> RadBuch wrote:
>>>>> Vista sp2 is installed.
>>>>> There were no trials preinstalled.
>>>>>
>>>>> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>>>>>> Is Vista SP1 or SP2 installed?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Did a Norton or McAfee free trial come preinstalled on the computer
>>>>>> when
>>>>>> you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> RadBuch wrote:
>>>>>>> After windows Vista installed kb890830 and kb978542 I noticed 4
>>>>>>> problems
>>>>>>> so
>>>>>>> far.
>>>>>>> 1. MSN Service not available, error code: 800706b5. (This happened
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> previous updates and I fixed the issue by doing a system restore to
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> previous date.)
>>>>>>> 2.When I started internet explorer (ver 8.0.6001.18904) I got a
>>>>>>> message
>>>>>>> my
>>>>>>> default search engine was corrupted by another program.
>>>>>>> 3.I tried the usual system restore and found there were no restore
>>>>>>> points
>>>>>>> available
>>>>>>> 4. I had some unknown problem trying to log into this site. It kept
>>>>>>> giving
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> site not available message.
>>>>>>> I am running windows vista home premium with sp2.
>>>>>>> I am using AVG free for my antivirus protection.(never had any other
>>>>>>> installed)...