Windows 7 win7 search and download location issues

[paulmars]

Ive been using win7 for about 6 months now. Before that I was using xp for 15 years.

Im having problems with:

1-Search; the status bar gets to 99% pretty fast, then it's literally hours before the search finishes. Why?

2-Ive been using firefox for over 10 years now. I always set it to download files to the desktop. However, win7 sometimes buries the downloaded file in different locations
as in C:\Users\paul\AppData\xxx Which I can find after hours of searching. Sometimes to a temp file, which is not available the next day. (I always wait at least 24 hours, then run a AV scan on all downloads). Other times its on my desktop, where it should be. Why?

3-Another issue of less importance is that i have taskbar autohide, just like when I used xp. I also usually leave one or more instances of win explorer open and system set to reopen them at boot. This worked great on xp, however, on win 7, the taskbar is displayed and each button for each instance of win exp flashes and taskbar will NOT auto hide until I click each button. That's an annoyance.

thanks for any help,
paul

 

[paulmars]

96%...it appears to be stuck on a link to this url "Crossword Solver and Word Finder | WHAT'S THIS WORD"

 

[paulmars]

house call went from 96 to 100% very fast and no threats found. Rootkit bust no threats either

 

[paulmars]

(Malwarebytes.com and download the free MALWAREBYTES antispyware scanner. Scan/remove all spyware viruses found.)

the only thing available on malwarebytes.com is buyware or free trial

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Yes, all good free things come to and end. And MBAM is universally recognized as the best antispyware app out there. The 14-day trial MBAM can fix your computer, and if it does that for free, how can you complain? If you take it to one of the big box chain computer stores; expect to pay $65-$95 or more to get your problem fixed. If you visit questionable websites or share your computer with friends or family members who do with or without your knowledge, it's still worth $24.95 to keep the program on your computer to be able to deal with occasional threats if they come in the front door. Of course, it's you computer so you can choose to follow our suggestions or go elsewhere or be stuck with the problem.

Sorry HouseCall took so long to do your scan; but, it does catch stuff that your current AV program may miss. Generally speaking, if it takes that long to scan your 250GB drive, you may have it really crammed with files; that happens over time. It can also be an indicator of a failing hard drive; I've had HouseCall run for 24 hours on small drives (250GB & 320GB). As far as the dinosaur comment, this program has been around for a decade and is still in use by a number of Forutne500 companies. It's also possible that your Crossword Puzzle app has a virus in it which is quite frequent with free games downloads.

Looks like you have some more troubleshooting to do.

BBJ

 

[paulmars]

who what turned off win defender? Was it avast during install? Nice of them to do that w/o telling me. AVG never did that.

 

[Neemobeer]

Windows Defender always disables itself when an AV program is detected.

 

[paulmars]

not on 3 installs of avg on three different boxes with win7

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Well, that's because AVG is retarded, or you have a bad copy of AVG. Did you download it directly from AVG website or from a 3rd party site or from bit torrent or some such?

As mentioned, ALL antivirus apps automatically disable or force you to remove any pre-existing AV in place, or they will not install. Windows computers can only run 1 AV at a time since 2003.

Sent from my VS986 using Windows Forums mobile app

 

[paulmars]

directly after i posted above about win def I did a search and several sites indicated that since win7, win can run multiply avs and that defender is designed to coexist. Again ive installed avg on 3 different installs on three different boxes and win def did not deactivate.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Not sure what "win def" is or what you mean by that. When you say "coexist", that means it can remain installed on the hard drive, but NOT ACTIVE SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH ANOTHER AV, right? Because, otherwise, I would say those several sites are full of baloney. And since you didn't site your source url's for those sites, it's what we call in the biz, unsubstantiated information. It's like those Tabloid magazines that are always claiming the President has an illegitimate monkey-baby that's half alien and from the planet Zumba or something. Just because someone writes an article and posts it online doesn't mean it's true.

BBJ

 

[paulmars]

im not in the business of selling tabloid mags. I search and read many sites when im looking for info. im not here to BS u or anyone into believing that I read something that I did not. 'win def' stands for 'windows defender'. coexist means that i can use both as I see fit. AVG let me do complete system scans using avg and win def. It did such but not disabling win def, as avast did.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

I hear you; I just want you to realize there's a lot of disinformation about how AV programs really work out on the web; and so I can't argue with you unless you're willing to provide your source url's. I will tell you that the majority of the most highly rated AV programs on the market I've tested do exactly what Avast does (that includes Norton, McAfee, TrendMicro, Panda, CA) in that it forces you to disable or uninstall "Win Def" (Windows Defender), in that it's like 2 Alpha Male Leopards out on the Savanna in Africa, only one will be the primary AV, and it wants nor tolerates any other AV on the computer running simultaneously or otherwise.

Years ago, AVG also operated like this but it's very likely you're correct and it no longer behaves like the rest of the AV apps out there. I will tell you that one of my Customer's runs BOTH Avast and AVG together (not at the same time) on most of his W10 computers, contrary to my recommendation. He's a competent computer user and engineer and he tells me that he's been able to get both of those working on the same computer. I have had no luck doing this, but I've seen his computers and they do work with that configuration. I'm guessing they have changed the way their program works from 10 years ago. I haven't confirmed this on my computers, but perhaps some of our Admins or other volunteers can chime in what their experiences with the AVG-WD (WinDef) combo is.

Good luck,
BBJ

 

[Neemobeer]

It's not necessarily that it won't run, but typically AVs have file system filter drivers running and layering them together can lead to issues such as BSODs. Plus WD and AVG don't have the greatest detection ratings, so piling crap on crap still leaves with crap IMO. Plus having two AVs running scans will just bog down your system and waste resources.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Well, sure, BSODs are certainly not welcome visitors in my lab that's for sure!!

BBJ

 

[paulmars]

i dont believe that i had win def active monitoring, just did a complete sys scan once a week with win def and avg. AVG was active monitoring too. Now i wanted the same with avast, but it closed off win def. I say "i dont believe" because im new to win def and I dont remember if it even allowed this, its been so long since ive been inside the app and I need to look inside again and remind myself, but i cant cuz avast closed it off. Im thinking of opening it up again, but i need to research how avast will deal with that, and i do have other things going on in my life right now. Like life.