I do not see why you say conflict with control panel applet and then bring avast into problem rather than looking at conflict that also includes Windows configuration and Dell (as well as drivers, applets, AV and so on, and especially firewalls).
Hi mkis
You seem to have read a completely different version of what I wrote as your reply bears no relation to what I ACTUALLY said. What I said was that this was not a software conflict per se nor was it a hardware conflict per se. I suggested that it was possibly a control panel applet causing the problem, not Avast. You are, might I suggest, a little too defensive
Anyway, I have now tracked down the problem. It is, as I suggested, a control panel applet that is conflicting and it is the applet that monitors the WLAN connection for the Dell 1397 Wireless Mini card. At least, that is the root problem on my three systems, I clearly cannot say whether there are other possible conflicts on other systems
As a software engineer myself I was not suggesting that Avast be changed in the slightest, unless of course there was a proven bug. But I never suggested there might be one, only that there was a conflict. I was more interested in tracking down the cause and finding a solution. As to the need for "common acknowledgement across the board" I would suggest that is rather a silly comment. Dell systems are customisable so not every Dell will have this network card, or run the same control panel applet, nor run Avast software. When there is a problem, a reproducable one, I prefer to believe the evidence of my own eyes and work out a solution that might help others, which I have done. It would now be for IanWF to say whether he also has the 1397 wireless card in his laptop, which I suspect he does, and then we can solve his problem for him because the fix is extremely simple
Your words to me, as well as being frosty and making me feel unwelcome in this forum, also attempt to lecture me, incorrectly, on a subject that I know very well so please let me return the compliment. I said quite CLEARLY that I installed from a Vista CD and only installed drivers. There is no "Dell software layer" in such a scenario. There is, arguably, a driver manufacturer "software layer" which is in actual fact the problem, the applets that add OEM functionality and which are accessible through the Control Panel. To suggest, as you do, that Avast is "proven" to run without issues is ridiculous when clearly an issue has been identified that does not occur with either McAfee or AVG on the (relatively small) sample of machines I have personally tested. I do not know what the underlying issue is, or whether it lies with the Broadcom applet or with Avast, but a problem there is. From a commercial aspect it would make sense for Avast to try and replicate the problem themselves and the information I have given will enable them to do this, whereas your comments simply attempt to dismiss it as being no kind of problem at all. As a programmer I am well aware that API calls that are made incorrectly can cause conflicts and I recognise that as being a "possibility" in this case. If I were pushed I would tend to think that the problem is far more likely to lie with the Broadcom applet, but I cannot say that with 100% certainty. However, ignoring the problem or attempting to ridicule others simply because you don't have the problem yourself or because it is not plastered across the internet is both rude and indefensible
