Mathwiz

I hate to quote a year-old post, but the Microsoft link above no longer works. I tried https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/955704; it looks like the exFAT driver is only available for XP x64 and Windows Server 2003. I guess the only remaining place to get the exFAT driver for 32-bit XP is the unofficial SP4?

That's a good link for checking browser security. You'll be glad to know that a FF version as old as 31.8 ESR passes with flying colors - at least, it does once you go into about:config and turn off a few obsolete encryption protocols But the newer versions can do things like HTML5 video that 31.8 can't.

It's confusing. Basically FF 52.1 ESR comes out at the same time as FF 53, FF 52.2 ESR comes out at the same time as FF 54, etc. There are usually 8 releases, so the end of the line will probably be FF 52.8 ESR coming out with FF 60. Each ESR release runs about a year, and 52 will start in 2017, so it should end in 2018. Of course none of these FF versions will have a "time bomb" that will make them stop working after that point; you just won't be able to get any further updates on XP. Eventually, the Web will be using new standards that don't even exist yet, so over time you'll start seeing more and more Web pages that don't work properly on FF 52.8; but it'll probably be 2020 before that's a significant problem.

I remember reading your post, but I didn't realize that I didn't have it installed already! I'm running the Windows XP mode that you get free with Windows 7 Pro; I would've thought something that important would already have been included, just as it was with "real" POSReady '09. Besides, there seems to be no easy way to tell which MSI version is installed on a given system. MSI isn't listed in Add/Remove Programs (except as a "hotfix" when you install 4.5). Hopefully there's an easier way, but at least I've identified one way to tell: if after installing POSReady '09 updates, text disappears from any Microsoft Installer dialogs (such as the word "Cancel" on the Cancel button), then you don't have MSI 4.5 and need to install it. And you're right: harkaz really needs to add that info to post 1 of the POSReady '09 thread. It would save folks like me a lot of grief! Edit: After reading your other posts, it looks like what happens is that some of the POSReady '09 updates apply fixes to MSI, so if you don't have the right version to start with, you end up with a "mixed" set of MSI files (some 3.1 and some 4.5). That probably explains the garbled installer dialog boxes. Presumably, installing the MSI 4.5 hotfix sets everything right again, since it would replace the 3.1 files, but the 4.5 files installed by the updates would be recognized as newer, and not downgraded to the original, insecure versions.

Oh - MSI 4.5, not MSE 4.5! I wasn't able to tell if I had it installed already, so I just downloaded it and (re?)installed it. I don't understand how that would affect MSE's scanning process though. Edit: Looks like I did need it - installing it fixed some, um, "anomalies" that I started seeing after installing all the POSReady '09 fixes (such as the word "cancel" missing from the Cancel button when installing something). My Cancel buttons say "Cancel" again!

OK, I found, downloaded & installed MWB 1.75. The installer is very aggressive in trying to immediately update you to V2 though. You have to tell the installer not to update, then when you launch the program, you also have to tell it not to update, at least until you've gone in and unchecked the program update settings as you explained above. I'm not going to try to scan with it until I've made a complete backup though. I don't want a repeat of last week!

I thought 4.5 and up didn't work on XP anymore (except the 4.8 version you patched).

Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. And I was able to mount my hosed .vhd and copy everything I thought was important (mostly emails) to the new system. If I try Malwarebytes again, I'll try the 1.75 version recommended by others. BTW, it looks like I spoke too soon - MSE is freezing up on scans again I'm pretty sure there's no malware on my system this time. The only things I've updated since the scan that worked was Firefox (from a very old version - 3.5 - to a slightly less old version - 31.8 ESR), Opera (12.17 to 12.18), Adobe Reader (from 10.something to 11.0.16), Flash and Shockwave Player (to the current versions). And of course, a slew of POSReady '09 updates from Microsoft. Seems unlikely that any of those would cause MSE to freeze on a scan, but it must be one of them! Edit: Just remembered I also put NirSoft's Opera Password Viewer, and Elaborate Bytes' Virtual Clone Drive on the system. But that's it, I'm sure!

Yes I'm giving it 1 GB. I've been thinking of upping it to 2 GB though. I tried MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware, but it kinda hosed my system. The virtual machine just crashed, and when I rebooted, all my personal settings (wallpaper, screen layout, etc.) were gone! So I went back to an old backup and started from scratch. Put in the PosReady '09 registry hack, re-downloaded everything including MSE, and this time, the scan completed! So I guess it's fixed, but I'll probably never know what was wrong with it to start with.

Ran heinoganda's batch file, then re-downloaded and installed the current MSE definitions. This time it got up to 31983 entries. Stopped on Screen Saver.lnk shortcut again. That's the first time it's stopped on the same file twice, so I think I'll delete that shortcut and try again. This is running on Windows Virtual PC, so I'm pretty confident it's not a hardware problem

Well, it looks like the update that won't go away on your system (KB2756918) is specific to .Net 3.0 SP2. So you shouldn't need to uninstall and reinstall any .Net version other than that one. I only had to uninstall and reinstall .Net 4, but that was complicated by the fact that .Net 4 is split into two parts (Client Profile and Extended). I don't think that's true of .Net 3.0 or any other .Net version.

No errors on C:. Well, it was worth a shot. With sig file 2434.0 it got up to 31951 items before freezing. This time it froze on or around item c:\...\Desktop\Screen Saver.lnk. When I try to restart, it says Microsoft Security Essentials is not responding. I click "End Now," then it goes ahead and ends anything else that's running, then it gets to the "Logging off..." message and won't go any further. I have to turn it off and reboot. I suspect it's actually freezing on an item other than the last one it shows. I don't think it displays every item it scans, since the "Items scanned" often goes up by much more than one each time the screen updates. Makes it kind of hard to tell which item is actually causing it to freeze, though.

You should measure the resistance of the sensor with your thumb over it (so no light is reaching it) and use a potentiometer of similar or slightly larger resistance.

Disregarding whether or not Windows detects a light sensor, is there one physically present on your laptop? Probably looks like a small hole somewhere around the display.... I'm one of those old "hardware guys" who'd be tempted to fix this problem by opening up the display case and soldering a trimmer potentiometer across the bloody thing. Then adjust brightness to taste

It sounds like .Net Framework 3.0 and 4 somehow got installed on your netbook, possibly as part of some other software. Also, you may only have .Net 4 Client Profile installed, not .Net 4 Extended; if so, you'll get only some of the Net 4 updates. I'd go to Add/Remove Programs and check. If the .Net frameworks are there, that'd explain why you're being prompted to install updates. The looping problem we've both had doesn't seem to be all that common, so it's probably OK to install the updates. If it does start looping, the easiest fix is probably just to hide the looping update, but if you have a day or two to waste, uninstalling and reinstalling the .Net framework with the looping update did seem to work for me eventually. You might also PM Heinoganda as he offered in the post before yours. His unofficial roll-up updates might save you some time vs. installing dozens of updates from scratch as I did. For .Net 4, make sure you uninstall first Extended, then Client Profile. Even if the looping update is for Extended, I had to uninstall Client Profile and reinstall the whole shebang before the looping update finally "took." Very frustrating and time-consuming.

Doesn't seem to hang on a particular file. Once it stopped on explorer.exe! No other AV software is installed. I'll scan C: for errors and report back.

All good suggestions (and all free, too!) Thanks.

Well I'm gobsmacked. The $%^@ update installed again, and now it's gone from the list! I don't even need to hide it now. Of course I've got about two dozen more updates to install now; I hope it doesn't come back at some point! But I have another MU annoyance: My "Restore hidden updates" link is greyed out! I know I have hidden a couple of updates (Skype is one), but the only way I can see them is to hide an "Important" update, then click the banner that warns "You've hidden important updates."

OK, will try once more; if it still keeps offering the update even after I've installed it, I'll just hide it and be done with it. I've already wasted the whole day on this and life is too short to mess with nonsense like this.

BTW, there should be an easier way to clear your USB history than booting into safe mode and deleting all USB devices one at a time. Anyone know of a simple program to do it?

OK, this is getting really frustrating. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling again, then installing only KB2487367. Still no luck! Still wants to install it again! Could I have gotten a bad download of KB2487367? I tried going to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2487367 but clicking "Download the package now" just takes me to the Microsoft Download Center with no clue where to go from there.

Didn't work for me. Uninstalled, reinstalled, installed 7 (!) "Important" updates including KB2487367 (which was the first one), and it still wants to install KB2487368 again!

Running into a weird problem with MSE 4.4.304.0. I'm trying to run a "Quick Scan," and the scan always freezes after scanning 31868 items. I can't even cancel the scan at that point. I have to reboot to stop the frozen scan. It isn't always the same item being scanned when it freezes, but it always seems to be the same number of items.

@kikuk: If you go to the trouble to uninstall and reinstall .Net Framework 4, please post back and let us know if it fixed the problem with KB2487367. I'd hate to go to all that trouble, then find out it didn't help at all! Until then, I've just hidden the update on my PC so it'll quit bothering me. I think it really is installed (it shows up in Add/Remove Programs), but WU is just not checking it correctly.

Copy the following (which I copied from the first post at the POSReady '09 topic) into Notepad, save it as a file with a .reg extension, then double-click the file: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WindowsEmbedded] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\WEPOS] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\WES] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady] "Installed"=dword:00000001 This removes some possibly conflicting registry entries and sets the PosReady registry entry to "Installed." Then run Microsoft Update. As always, you can choose which updates are actually downloaded and installed. To reverse, simply delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady registry key.