New CBO 4.24 will be out soon [Closed]

Discontinued Products Comodo BOClean Anti-Malware
#1

Once again the update has stalled. There are no screen messages but I noticed again the BOC423.XVU file sitting in my TEMP folder and it hasn’t been copied to the proper BOC423 folder. I cannot access the task bar icon, right-click doesn’t work and nor does the icon flash green every 10 secs. My only resort is to use Task Manager to close it.

I know some one will respond in a moment with “Updates are fine here” but clearly they aren’t always so and in my situation, if I didn’t notice the BOC423.XVU in the TEMP folder I’d continue believing BOClean was protecting me when it clearly isn’t.

System is Win2K SP4.

Mark

#2

I think the best thing you can do is try to install BOClean again.

  • In your case use the Task Manager to close BOClean.
  • Uninstall BOClean and use for that ONLY the option in the Start - Program Menu ( IMPORTANT ! )
  • Reboot.
  • Log in with your Administrator acound.
  • Install BOClean.
  • Reboot.

I hope this will help :slight_smile:

Greetz, Red.

#3

Mark,

Updates are fine here! :smiley: (sorry, I had to do that…)

Seriously, though, if you take the reinstall route (which shouldn’t take long, and might resolve it), be sure to disable any active security application while installing CBOC. This would be things like a HIPS, AV w/On-Access/real-time protection, antispyware, registry guard, etc.

LM

#4

A new BOClean 4.24 version is nearing completion. We hope to have it done by the end of next week, but lessons have been learned from the premature release of 4.23 and thus I’m not making any promises at this time. My reasons for posting this however are to explain what happened with 4.23 as well as to solicit some assistance in the coming days from those who have had problems with 4.23 so we can make sure that any of those problems which arose from our code will be fixed and those that arose as a result in other vendors’ software can be identified and worked around.

Those of you who are used to BOClean from its original source, Privacy Software Corp, know the attention to detail and compatibility we offered and we’ve encouraged those who already owned BOClean to stick with the 4.22 version as 4.23 wasn’t quite right. When 4.24 is released, we will strongly urge those running the earlier BOCleans to finally upgrade as the 4.22 version will become obsolete a few weeks after 4.24 is released and “proven effective.” :slight_smile:

BOClean began back in the days of Windows95 and NT4 and was always compatible with the earlier versions of Windows. As each new “next version of Windows will be better than ever” was released, BOClean had compatibility with each new version of Windows added to its design as expected. The 4.22 version was compatible with Vista during the final release candidate versions as well, however the ACTUAL Vista release was not quite the same as the pre-release versions.

BOClean 4.23 was released prematurely as a result of a great deal of pressure exerted by folks demanding their “free BOClean” and in doing so, completely broke compatibility with earlier versions of Windows as a result of code which was added by COMODO to provide activation of the licence as well as some additional code required which was written in Microsoft MFC code. BOClean on the other hand has always been written in BORLAND C and the two compilers produce incompatible output. Once the Microsoft code was mixed with the BORLAND code, compatibility with earlier versions of Windows was literally trashed. Microsoft and their design of their compiler was the cause of this since Microsoft’s compiler honors the concept of “obsolete version of Windows” and generates code specifically for their later versions of Windows. That was the cause of so many problems between the “Win9x not supported” and some truly oddball unique problems caused by the mixed code fighting.

Folks will be pleased to know that I obtained COMODO’s source code for the required items and have redone that code. As a result, BOClean 4.24 will continue the tradition of true “cross platform” compatibility for users of earlier versions of Windows all the way back to Win95 as has always been expected of BOClean. In addition, new code has been written which will get around the absolute stupidity of Vista’s UAC and its inability to determine “friend or foe” effectively. Microsoft claims that the upcoming “Service pack 1” this fall will solve many of these issues but then we all know that we have to wait for “Service pack TWO” for those promises to be kept. Heh.

Soooooo … when 4.24 is released, the world should be happy again and those incompatibilities should be a thing of the past as a result of replacing COMODO’s original “W2K/XP only” code with code designed for all versions. Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinME, NT4 (all SP’s), Win2000, XP and Vista will be working. Under Vista, the AUTOUPDATE will work without tripping UAC however any MANUAL updating will require the usual UAC and that’s because of the need to connect out to collect it. Microsoft offers absolutely no way around this even with signed code. So you’ll want to set the autoupdate if you use Vista and all should be well. Therefore, if you’ve experienced any problems with 4.23 or it wouldn’t install, hang on another week or so and 4.24 will be yours.

Now … there are a few situations I’ve seen reported that I’d also like to deal with and will need YOUR help to get there. I’ve seen a few really odd problems reported that are not part of the incompatiblities of the “mixed code” and were not normal for BOClean. This tells me that there is some other software out there which is either “broken” or doing some really dumb things and I’d like to see what we can do to prevent those from happening if it’s at all possible.

Therefore, if you’ve had ANY of these symptoms, I’ll want to know who you are so I can have you run some special diagnostics so I can identify the source of the problem. The ones I want to know about are as follows:

  1. Lost winsock connectivity
  2. Failure of update to “stick” after successful download
  3. Windows belonging to BOClean that don’t go away

There might be other anomolies - we expect ALL of these to actually be caused by other vendors’ software - a lot of vendors expect to be the “only program you’ll ever need” and don’t play well with others. I want to try to do what we can about those.

Thus, if you’re in a situation such as above, you’re invited to let me know in this thread about it and once I have the diagnostics stuff written (once I see what I need to go after) I will contact you and let you know where to collect it, how to use it, and get me back a report so I can figure out what the culprits are. Hopefully for the 4.23 release, I can find a workaround. I’m particularly interested in those who have had “lost connectivity” so that can be programmed around.

Finally, NO FEATURE REQUESTS PLEASE! We’re not planning on adding any new features in 4.24 … we’re looking for stability and reliability here. Once this is done, work will commence on a BOClean 5 version which will entertain “bloat” and will ONLY work on Win2000/XP/Vista. The 5 version will not support older Windows versions. As far as I know, we’re going to continue the “4” versions after 4.24 for those using older versions but might consider making that a Win9x-ONLY version. At this time, there’s been way too much work to worry about anything beyond getting 4.24 happy as people have always expected of BOClean and thus my inability at this time to worry about trivia …

Just wanted to let everyone know where things stand and offer a “definitive answer” as best as time permits right now …

#5

Something else in there is pounding sand on the update … would appreciate it if you could visit the “New CBO 4.24 will be out soon” thread and add your name and symptoms to the list so I can get in touch with you when ready to do a research examination of your end to guess as to what the culprit might be.

The way BOClean works on an update is it downloads from our server directly to that TEMP folder. Once the file has been downloaded, then the updater THEN replaces the original file in its regular location with a copy from the TEMP folder and then deletes that one. Something is stomping on that copy process apparently and jamming your BOClean. It COULD be as simple as that BOC423 folder not having write permission for all users (we warn about this in the documentation) or another “security program” is preventing it. What you’ve got though ain’t normal and my first suggestion would be check the permissions settings on the folder where the database is actually stored. Needs to be writeable by “everybody” and if permissions deny the write, that’d definitely cause what you’re seeing. We never thought it to be proper form for OUR software to be changing permissions (in fact our original contracts with the government specifically prohibited that) on a system, thus we depend on you to do that if the default permissions are changed …

#6

I don’t know how they get the “hero” tag around here but you’ve got my vote.
Good to see you out of the dungeon for a minute.

#7

Comodo Hero tag comes if you exceed 200 posts.

And yes, Kevin gets my vote too.

:SMLR

#8

Hi Kevin,

Not sure if this is what you want, but I have had 4.23 running happily since it was first available.

Just now I received notice that BoClean could not connect for updating. I then ran a manual update which appeared to download OK but then there was an error causing closure of the program (I think a report was sent automatically).

When I tried to reopen, an error message said corrupted file and to launch update from the start menu.

Having done that we are running again with last update 11.53.30 Today, which replaced one from yesterday.

#9

i’m VERY glad to hear you are continuing to work on BOClean kevin! i really wanted to use 4.23, but i could never get it to update successfully, either manual updates, or auto updates. i tried everything, including uninstalling and re-installing, but finally had to uninstall BOClean knowing that work would be done to fix the problems.

i also had problems installing 4.23. i’d get many “blank windows” popping up during install, and when trying to update BOClean, i’d also get a “blank window” pop up showing no progress bar when i tried to update.

that was the primary problem i had with BOClean, and i am hoping those problems will be solved in 4.24. i think BOClean is a great product and a welcome addition to my security software arsenal, but i can’t use it until 4.24 removes the bugs.

i have also noticed that 4.23 did strange things to spybot search and destroy, often causing it to come up with bizarre mnessages about the hosts file being modified, and strange registry entries! i have never had such strange false positives from spybot search and destroy before.

i am running windows xp SP2 currently. until they come up with bug fixes and more vista compatible software, i’m taking mny time about upgrading.

thank you so much kevin, for listening to this input, and working to fix whatever bugs existed in BOC 4.23!! i can’t wait to install the new version!!!

#10

Kevin… thanks for the info on CBO. I am keeping my eye on it with a view toward possibly using it one day. I am a new comer to the world of ‘free security software’ so I have a lot of catching up to do. I must admit I was a Norton faithful for years and years, but Norton’s lack of personal support and ever-changing, unannounced, way of manipulating how they do business finally peeved me off.

I have this sneaking suspicion that one day I will be running ‘stand alone’ COMODO products for all my security needs. I currently have CPF onboard and I reckon it’s the greatest thing since bottled beer. Thus I am inclined to thank COMODO for use of the product and extend my best wishes for continued success in improving all products with the end user’s needs in mind in spite of the free users often complaining as if they had paid ‘top dollar’ for a license. Weird!

If it takes 200 posts, as Andrew has suggested, to become a COMODO Hero I guess I will always be a Newbie.

Thanks again. (:CLP)

#11

Thank You Kevin.
I will now go back to version 4.22, I always liked that version better.
Looking foward to version 4.24.

#12

im useing 4.23 had same prob corupted files had to uninstall and reinstall

#13

Thats certainly good news.

I’ll be lurking here daily until the release. :slight_smile:

Edit: Checking in 05/17/07 6:12AM EST.

#14

I guess I’ve been one of the fortunate ones… I’ve had no problesms with 4.23 at all… But I am glad to see that my friends with older OSs will be back in business soon…

Thanks Kevin!!!

#15

Hi Kevin
This problem has only happened twice. It isn’t a permissions problem, dismiss that instantly. I have administrator rights and, in fact, moved the BOC423 folder to my /Application Data folder rather than /All Users as there is no one else using my machine and I prefer to have everything in one place as much as possible. I reconfigured BOClean accordingly and all is OK (I check every day to see if the update is working) except for these 2 occasions when the update stalled.

The problem, as I see it, is not so much that the update stalled, but that BOClean stopped working without any indication. The green flash is easily overlooked and on a computer that isn’t regularly reset, it would remain in that state for some time not providing the expected protection unnoticed by the user. So, yes, there is a problem about copying the file but this shouldn’t have left BOClean in this locked state. To me, that is the problem that needs looking at.

The other thing to consider is perhaps the download didn’t complete for some reason and that the updater was waiting for signal that the file was complete. Don’t know.

Slightly related, I never see an “update screen” even though that option is unchecked. And is the options dialog title bar not meant to have any text or buttons in it? When I do a manual update, that dialog also has no text and buttons - odd.

I will join the thread mentioned.

Thanks for listening
Mark

#16

And Just FYI, here’s a link to the thread Kevin mentions: https://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,8915.0/topicseen.html

LM

#17

So excited with the new version! I just hope the update problems would be history.
Mine (4.23) says there’s a problem in update but when I go to the update log it shows the date of the update and it is the recent one. Also when I try to update (my signatures are the latest) it shows an error regarding connection to the update server.
:BNC

#18

Kevin,
Many users who connect thru proxy servers indicate they cannot get updates; firewall indicates no issues, and the proxy config should be pulled thru from the internet settings, but BOC doesn’t update.

If you want those, too, I can round some up for you.

LM

#19

Hi Kevin

Posting my interest in this as a response to your comments in “Update stall again” thread: https://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,8837.0.html

Mark

#20

Hi-

Regarding the Winsock Issue-

See my post here Kevin

https://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,8815.0.html

I also had Dr Web Antivirus-although I dont think that was the problem.

Regards- Delgado