I’ve downloaded several “old” versions of CIS 5.0 from here, but all the downloaded files’ properties have shown version number CIS 5.3.x.x - so I don’t think that thay are actually CIS v5.0.
Can’t versions of CIS 5.0 be obtained from Comodo. Comodo should make them readily available, as an easy way to recover from CIS 5.3 problems.
Many users may not be able to afford the delay in waiting for a fix from the devs (and/or they may not have the time - or knowledge - to help the devs in identifying the problem).
Perhaps Eric is suggesting to contact File Hippo and see if they can correct the links for the old 32-bit versions, and also start providing the 64-bit versions.
CIS is Comodo’s software - they must still have the old versions. I don’t understand why they won’t supply links to them, even if just for forum users.
ERUNT is a good and quick way to create a registry backup that can restore the entire set of registry hives with all their idiosyncratic permissions.
It may be the only way to reboot the P.C. if the registry is trashed so bad that Windows stops working.
Whilst I prefer to restore the precise *.REG backup that was created before breaking Windows,
it is comforting to know that when Windows loses the ability to merge *REG keys, I have an ace up my sleeve.
Hello CIS, I just wanted to post, that about a month ago, when updating through the system tray icon it would not install the updates. So I manually downloaded the latest x64 installer and ran that. I got an error message stating that my older version was not compatible. Not compatible? I then uninstalled the old version and then ran the installer and got yet another error message (error 1601 I believe it was) and was unable to complete the installation. So what I did was use regedit.exe and hunted down all the registry key remnants that was left over from the uninstall. Lo and behold that worked! I was able to install CIS (firewall & Defense+ only). When I was having difficulties I switched to ZoneAlarm for about a month but I really missed CIS since your software is SO MUCH BETTER! I decided to give it one last shot by seeing if there were any remaining components left over in the registry. My perseverance paid off ladies and gentlemen! I hope this post helps anyone who encounters the same problem as I did and is not afraid to muck about in the registry. I hope you guys can fix this update problem before the next build is released. That would be cool! OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
Hi Ritchie. Please use Caution inside the registry, this community based product might be a safer alternative. Thanks for the information and feedback you have given. Kind regards.
Please, please, please do not tell people to run CIS+Removal+Tool+2013.bat without warning them that using its #3 menu item can be very damaging to their system! That item is entitled “REMOVE TEMP FILES”, but it doesn’t tell you what that means. What it means, among other things, is that it deletes ALL *.tmp found anywhere on your system drive. The author of that batch file apparently doesn’t understand that there is no universal law reserving that file extension to mean “temporary” nor even imposing a definition of “temporary” that means “can delete without consequence at any time”. So, if you are unfortunate enough to have unleashed that batch file on a system where important *.tmp files exist, you will have a bad day. For example, if you have LibreOffice installed, then the *.tmp files associated with LibreOffice extensions will be deleted and you may have to uninstall LibreOffice completely, manually delete the leftover damaged extensions folders, and then reinstall it all from scratch. I know this to be true because that’s what happened to me >:(
I don’t know who wrote CIS+Removal+Tool+2013.bat, but it needs fixes to be safe. That said, it was the only tool I found that saved me from the nightmare known as Comodo V6.1. Neither Revo Uninstaller nor Uninstaller Tool v0.3b would work in Windows XP Safe Mode because both complained that the Windows uninstaller service isn’t available in that mode. I had set up a new Windows XP system, installed Comodo Firewall v6.1.13008.2801, and then imported a backed up configuration that I’ve been using with Comodo v5.12 and many versions prior to that. The result was that rebooting the system brought me to a permanently blank screen instead of the welcome login screen - I had a working mouse cursor, but that’s all. All I could do was reboot to safe mode. If the definition of malware is damaging software you do not want that refuses to uninstall, then Comodo V6.1 is malware, but perhaps I should just assume that its developers ■■■■■■■ up rather badly, don’t adequately regression test their work, and that I fell victim to a variation of the bug reported by lepotahere.
Thanks for the prompt action, Chiron, but I don’t think that’s the right approach. If it weren’t for that batch file, I’d be totally ■■■■■■■ because I found no other way to get rid of Comodo v6.1. Without a removal method, I would have had to wipe and reinstall Windows It would be much better if you could fix the batch file. Simply limiting the deletion of *.tmp files to paths where you know Comodo writes its own *.tmp files should be sufficient, right? After all, why would you need to delete *.tmp files for unrelated applications?
Much appreciated, Chiron. My biggest concern now is whether the damage was limited to LibreOffice. If it was, I should be fine now. All I could do was look at another WinXP-SP3 system I have to see where it had *.tmp files and I didn’t see any other that appeared critical.
I did testing with option 3 from the clean up tool trying to recreate and reproduce your findings. I did not run into trouble with Libre Office on Windows 8 and Open Office on Windows XP both on my Netbook.
First thing I did is clean up with CCleaner making sure that %temp% and %windir%temp were empty.
I made sure I had three documents open in Libre Office. One in Text, one in Spreadsheet and one in Presentation. Libre Office made a folder with seemingly random name in %temp%\temp\ with three .tmp files for the three documents.
When running option 3 from the tool. It could not access the three temp files. There no entries made to %windir%\temp\ folder so nothing to be deleted there.
In the last stage it will remove everything .tmp from the system drive. I had Opera browser open and it started cleaning out Opera’s browser cache. I closed the tool and closed Opera.
Started the tool again and chose option 3. It could again not delete the .tmp files still in use by Libre Office. It then went searching any .tmp at the system drive. It could not erase .tmp files in %windir%\installer\ folder as access was denied.
I closed down and restarted Libre Office. It did not complain about anything. When looking at extensions assigned to Libre Office it had 57 out possible 65.
I did the same with Open Office on Windows XP on my Netbook. Same result except the script could delete tmp files in %windir&\installer folder. Open Office opened normally after I had closed it down. Everything seemed normal.
I don’t know what went wrong with bgx4exfjumrf’s Libre Office installation but for as far as I can tell it has nothing to do with the script.
Wasgij6 reports he also has used the tool to remove remnants of CIS 6 and has Libre Office installed and has seen no adverse reactions.
At bgx4exfjumrf. Did you try to run the Libre Office installer and let it repair the installation?
I did not have LibreOffice running at the time - all applications were closed. Remember, I was in Safe Mode desperately trying to get rid of Comodo so I could get the system bootable again. As I said, the *.tmp files in question are related to installed extensions, not open documents. In my case these files are found beneath C:\Program Files\LibreOffice 4.0\share\uno_packages\ because I’ve installed a set of extensions for all users rather than specific accounts. I find these *.tmp files in the same location on all our LibreOffice systems.
In the last stage it will remove everything .tmp from the system drive.
And that is very wrong. One cannot conclude that the TMP extension means a file can be deleted at any time for any reason without conditions no matter what application or person may have created it. You can’t even conclude that TMP necessarily means “temporary” at all.
I closed down and restarted Libre Office. It did not complain about anything. When looking at extensions assigned to Libre Office it had 57 out possible 65.
:o Are we talking about the same thing here? You have 57 extensions installed for LibreOffice?!? :o
Libre Office on Windows 8
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It then went searching any .tmp at the system drive. It could not erase .tmp files in %windir%\installer\ folder as access was denied.
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I did the same with Open Office on Windows XP on my Netbook. Same result except the script could delete tmp files in %windir&\installer folder.
Okay, now I’m suspicious that you ran the batch file with non-administrative privileges on your Windows 8 system. If so, it’s no threat to anything under Program Files.
I don't know what went wrong with bgx4exfjumrf's Libre Office installation but for as far as I can tell it has nothing to do with the script.
Wasgij6 reports he also has used the tool to remove remnants of CIS 6 and has Libre Office installed and has seen no adverse reactions.
Look beneath C:\Program Files\LibreOffice 4.0\share\uno_packages\ for *.tmp files on your system BEFORE unleashing the batch file. If you don’t have any there, then of course you won’t have the same problem as I did. But all of my LibreOffice systems have them. They have something to do with extensions. I explicitly saw them being deleted during the batch file’s temp file deletion stage. And when I was uninstalling LibreOffice from the affected system, all the alphabetic characters in the progress dialog boxes had been replaced by little squares - it was pretty clear to me that at least something related to the UI language selection had been damaged by the loss of those *.tmp files. I don’t remember the details now, but just prior to that I also found that at least some of the extensions no longer worked. When I reinstalled LibreOffice plus extensions, I found that they were stilll broken. It was then that I realized that uninstalling LibreOffice does not remove the previously installed extensions. Since those old extension installs were still there AND damaged by the *.tmp deletions, I needed to uninstall again, manually delete the leftover C:\Program Files\LibreOffice 4.0\share\uno_packages\ directory tree, and start over. This time everything worked. I am absolutely convinced that you can’t simply delete *.tmp files from LibreOffice without negative consequences.
At bgx4exfjumrf. Did you try to run the Libre Office installer and let it repair the installation?
No, I did not. That may or may not have worked, but that’s a distraction. LibreOffice+extensions worked, then I watched the batch file specifically delete LibreOffice *.tmp extension files, and then LibreOffice+extensions no longer worked properly. Not surprising, not good, and pretty definitive, IMHO.
Thank you for your extensive explanation. I have a clear understanding now what happened.
Libre Office stores extensions (or should I say templates?) with the .tmp extension. And since .tmp extension is generally used for temporary files this may cause problems with cleaner tools of any kind.
A repair install would most likely not have worked to recreate the extensions. They only thing you can do is try to save as many as you can with undelete tools like Recuva, Glary Undelete etxc.
I must say that you suffered a big loss. Many hours must have been invested in making the customisations you made.
So the extensions aren’t able to recreate these .tmp files? How does it create them initially? Because if you download an extension, all you get is an .oxt file. No .tmp files.
Actually, you can conclude exactly that!
.tmp is the universal extension for temporary files. Temporary by its very definition means that it is not something that is permanent. If an extension is using .tmp files for anything other than a temporary file, it is just asking for problems because it is going against programming conventions.
Say for example that you decide a “safe” place to store your valuables is in a garbage can that you’ve cleverly “hidden” next to the street outside your house. You shouldn’t be at all surprised when your valuables are removed when the garbage collectors come around, because you’ve chosen a “safe” place that everyone else sees as a container for unwanted things…
I did a further look around into LO extensions. It turns out there are several ones preinstalled. So I played with some Dutch texts to see if the spell checker would get affected. No such thing happened.
Installing several extensions did not create .tmp files in C:\Program Files\LibreOffice 4.0\share\uno_packages\ .
For as far as I can tell we have not been able to reproduce your problem. Until further leads show up I conclude that the use of Geekbuddy Cleaner option 3 did not cause your problem although it happened around the same time.
Did you install them for ALL users or just your account? As I said, it is extensions installed for all users that appear in that path, which LO refers to as “shared extensions”. I believe “user extensions” are instead installed in a location like C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\LibreOffice\4\user\uno_packages\, but I don’t know if they utilize *.tmp files when installed in that fashion. I also don’t know how these paths differ for flavours of Windows other than Windows XP. Note too that you must be running with administrative privileges to install “shared extensions”.
For as far as I can tell we have not been able to reproduce your problem. Until further leads show up I conclude that the use of Geekbuddy Cleaner option 3 did not cause your problem although it happened around the same time.
I am mystified by your position. Is it just that you aren’t taking care to read what I posted? I never installed anything called Geekbuddy Cleaner. I don’t even know what Geekbuddy Cleaner is. This discussion topic was initiated by Chiron who included this link to CIS+Removal+Tool+2013.bat as the one and only means I found that could remove Comodo so that my system would boot again. I used that batch file, not Geekbuddy Cleaner. And I actually witnessed that batch file’s output scrolling up the screen explicitly telling me that it was deleting specific LibreOffice *.tmp files! To “conclude” that I did not would be to call me a liar. Seriously, EricJH, that’s not acceptable behaviour. Please don’t respond until and unless you first go back and read what Chiron and I wrote in this topic.
Now to address HeffeD’s response…
When you install a shared extension it creates the *.tmp files, of course 88) And if you were to actually try any of this yourself you would soon realize that the *.tmp files have what appear to be randomized file names. Therefore, when I had uninstalled LibreOffice and then reinstalled LibreOffice+extensions without first manually cleaning out the old damaged extensions, the new *.tmp files ended up with different randomized names. But, HeffeD, you are (for reasons I don’t understand) chasing after a red herring. The problem is not how to repair a LibreOffice installation damaged by Chiron’s CIS+Removal+Tool+2013.bat batch file. Instead, concern yourself with why any Comodo removal tool would ever be designed to delete files that belong to LibreOffice or any other non-Comodo product.
Actually, you can conclude exactly that!
.tmp is the universal extension for temporary files. Temporary by its very definition means that it is not something that is permanent. If an extension is using .tmp files for anything other than a temporary file, it is just asking for problems because it is going against programming conventions.
HeffeD, if you can point me to the international body that regulates, imposes, and enforces standards for file extension definitions, then we can check with their regulations to see if .tmp is a universal extension limited to temporary files. In the absence of that, please don’t make ridiculous claims of that sort. Any developer can define file extensions for his application in any way he sees fit. For whatever reason, the LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org folks decided that they would use the .tmp file extension as part of their extension management scheme. I don’t know what they’re for and I don’t particularly care about the details. You may be personally offended by developers that do that and were it my decision I’d steer clear of using .tmp for anything but temporary files too, but neither you nor I belong to the LibreOffice team so we have no say in the matter. All I know is that they use *.tmp files for a purpose that does not seem to tolerate unrelated applications arbitrarily deleting them, and that they very wisely did not locate their extension-related *.tmp files in any of the common Windows temporary file directories.
Say for example that you decide a "safe" place to store your valuables is in a garbage can that you've cleverly "hidden" next to the street outside your house. You shouldn't be at all surprised when your valuables are removed when the garbage collectors come around, because you've chosen a "safe" place that everyone else sees as a container for unwanted things...
Your analogy is no good, HeffeD. The *.tmp files in question are stored in the LibreOffice installation tree, not in any common temporary files folder. Indeed, they aren’t in a folder designed for temporary files at all. To fix your analogy, the garbage collectors are coming into my house, going down into my basement, and removing my valuables stored in boxes labelled “TMP”. I will have those garbage collectors arrested for break and enter and urge their employers to fire them for criminal activities… and for being incredibly stupid. In the case of Chiron’s CIS+Removal+Tool+2013.bat batch file, those garbage collectors are going into every room of every house in every neighbourhood and taking anything that has the label “TMP” no matter if the containers are even garbage cans. Again, just leave the red herrings out of this discussion and concentrate on why Comodo removal tools should ever be deleting files that don’t belong to Comodo products, okay HeffeD?
I saw no mention of legal standards by HeffeD.
I did see mention of universal standards, which could be and in this situation pure and simply a logical standard.
For any programmer to use logical common file extensions for anything other than the common (Originally intended) would be irresponsible behaviour in most situations.
Back to the batch file, this is also called the GeekBuddy tool as they are the creators and also the intended original users who kindly granted us permission to use it to help others in unfortunate situations.
If anyone is advised to use the batch file to remove CIS, why would anyone use the tool for other purposes such as system clean or temp file clean?
Example: If I suggest to use Revo uninstaller to remove CIS, could anyone complain that all of their programs are now removed because the tool or program was capable of going beyond the suggested use? I think not.
Is it unfortunate that issue arose possibly from using the batch tool beyond the suggested advice? Yes.
No one is being branded as a liar, we have all tried to help reproduce the issue only to try to help and understand the actions that took place.
Also to any user it should come as general practice to use any batch file with caution and at their own risk, regardless of the creator.
Also please note: Us Volunteer Moderators are not Comodo Staff, we are general users like yourself.
We do offer help and advice, with only good intentions in mind.
As far as I can tell Chiron did the correct thing removing it from his advice, to protect irresponsible users from using the tool in a non suggested manner.
Thanks.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64
It would be much better if you could fix the batch file. Simply limiting the deletion of