1.14 installation problem

[Rhieks]

Hello there.

I had been using 1.13 version until it began to crash from time to time, so I decided to install the latest one. It went all ok with unpacking, but once the installation was finished, it couldn't find the BitComet.exe file. I tried re-installing it over and over, with some different setup settings, with my firewall and antivirus turned off, but never succeeded. The .exe file appeared in the folder for a brief time, and disappeared again once the unpacking was over.

So, I have installed 1.13 back (it went perfectly this time), but would like to have an oppotrunity to upgrade.

I am using Windows XP Professional 2002 SP2, and was putting BC into the old folder to preserve my settings (freshly reinstalled 1.13 picked them up w/o problems).

Also using ZoneAlarm & NOD, but turning them completely off didnt' help.

Installation choices were mostly the following:

- Integration: IE-, FF+, MX- (changing these did nothing)

- Desktop - yes, Start menu - no

- CometBird - no, google - no

Edited August 28, 2009 by Rhieks (see edit history)

[kluelos]

I don't understand the statement,

it couldn't find the BitComet.exe file.

Did you get an error message? What was it? What steps did you take about it before you reverted to 1.13? Did you try to find the file manually with Windows Explorer? What happened?

BTW, I do recommend that you uninstall ZoneAlarm permanently. It has a nasty reputation and has bitten me before. There are free third-party firewalls (if you've just GOT to have one at all - the XP built-in firewall is all most people really need) that work fine without causing such problems.

[Rhieks]

Exactly like I said. I chose "launch BC" in the finishing stage, and got standard windows error message saying there was no BitComet.exe to launch. So I browsed the folder with FAR manager and saw it was true. After that, I have been monitoring the folder while trying to install BC again. And, like I already told, the .exe file appeared at the moment installer started unpacking it, and was immediately gone when the unpacking stage was over and I was prompted by the installer to do some next steps.

Again, it was not ZA's fault, because I tried re-installation without it at all. Can't say much about it's reputation, but it helped me catch activity from some viruses NOD didn't see, and it still works good for me. Rather old version though)) Got too used to it to make a change.

Edited August 29, 2009 by Rhieks (see edit history)

[kluelos]

This isn't an installer issue then. Something is deleting the file when the installer creates it. You'll have to find out what's doing that and stop it. This sounds like something an out-of-control antivirus or anti-malware program would do. Some of them regard any P2P program as malware.

[Rhieks]

Then why does 1.13 install w/o problems? What might be the difference between them that makes 1.14 treated as malware? Also, there were no malware-protection programs running at all during further installation attempts, and my windows firewall is perm off. And, when I say "no", it means no background processes too, including NOD32 kernel killed manually. So, still kinda a mystery.

I don't want to say it is 100% problem with BC or installer, but I really wish to solve the issue and be able to use 1.14. If there is some way I may provide additional information, tell me how I can do it.

Edited August 30, 2009 by Rhieks (see edit history)

[kluelos]

Had you tried installing to a different directory? Try getting it completely out of the Program Files tree and see what happens. You can always remove it later.

If any of them keeps a log, check it for reports of any action it took.

Meantime, you will need to go over all of your active processes to assure you haven't got some other anti-malware or anti-spyware program running. Try installing Process Explorer for this, it's better than Task Manager at organizing and showing you what's going on.

The installer copied the .exe just as it's supposed to. This works, as all who have installed 1.14 can agree. Something on your system then decides to delete it as soon as it's created. The installer doesn't do that. (I'll assume you have made sure your download came from either the download.com or the BitComet web site itself, and hasn't been monkeyed with.)

[Rhieks]

Yes, I have downloaded it from the BC official site.

Well, the problem has been solved finally. I tried installing into a different folder, it didnt' help, the file disappeared again. So I booted in safe mode and tried installing it this way. Surprisingly, it worked. It gave me an idea there was some hidden background process of NOD32 I have missed earlier when clearing it off the memory. So, I checked the quarantine just in case, and bingo! - there they were, all 7 or so BitComet.exes with a report of "probably unknown NewHeur_PE virus". So, you must have added something in version 1.14 which was treated like that. Thank you for your responses, hope this helps a bit in later development. And... I am thinking of a new antivirus now.

[kluelos]

Whenever you see any variation of the word "heuristic" from antivirus software, it's something to be wary of.

"Heuristic" is a ten-dollar word that means "behaviour" -- it acts sorta like some viruses, so it must be a virus itself. In my experience this is more often bogus than not. It's probably going to be more fruitful to complain to ESET about this as a false positive.