XP SP2 and InstallShield

[Edwin The Elf]

Having just updated to XP + SP2, I thought that everything was going swimmingly and was very pleased about Avast's integration with the security centre.  However, I have come across a minor snag that has given me grief when installing a couple of applications.

I have a few older applications that I want to use that are no longer supported and I have been unable to find suitable replacements but when I try to install them nothing happens and when I say nothing I mean NOTHING!  I double-click the setup EXE, an hour glass flicks on for a fraction of a second and ..... didly squat!

After much uninstalling of software (including SP2!!!) I narrowed the problem down to Avast (shock horror).  Delete it and the installs work replace it and the installs don't work.

The problems seems to relate to the use of InstallShield with Avast, the progams work fine with Avast once the install is complete.  Given that the apps in question are old, I assume that the version of InstallShield used to create the setup files is also old and therein may lie the problem.

Has anyone else got this issue and, if so, do you know a way to resolve it without un-installing Avast?

All help appreciated.

Edwin The Elf

[DavidR]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

Please Help us to Help you In order to help fully we need more information....
    - avast! version and VPS file (virus database) number, e.g. 0436-4 (see about avast!)
    - What error messages did you receive?
    - What actions have you taken to try and resolve the problem?
    - How did you establish it was avast, by not running avast and it works doesn't always hold true, a shared common item could have been changed (e.g. everything worked until SP2).

Have you done a search of the forums? I seem to remember something like this being discussed a number of times before. When searching, try looking for the error message rather than your subject as I don't think that will return any hits.

[Edwin The Elf]

DavidR,

In reply to your questions:

• Build 4.1.418 / VPS 0440-3
• No error messages at all, not can I find any failure logs.  As I said in the original post, the InstallShield installers will do nothing.
• I have been systematically de/re-installing pretty much every piece of software on the system, the exception being the hardware drivers.  After each change I test the installers (It's taken ages but seemed the only methodical approach)
• The presence (or not) of Avast is the only thing that affects the ability of these programs to run.  I do not know where else to look, that's why I seek help.  Removing SP2 did not make any difference.

I couldn't find anything relevant on a search of either this forum or the web, so this may be unique to me.  It's probably the old installers that are the issue but it would be nice to find a better workaround than removing and then replacing Avast each time.

Thanks,
Edwin.

[Eddy]

LOOK HERE See what Vlk says in his first post there.

[DavidR]

DavidR,

In reply to your questions:

• Build 4.1.418 / VPS 0440-3
• No error messages at all, not can I find any failure logs.  As I said in the original post, the InstallShield installers will do nothing.
• I have been systematically de/re-installing pretty much every piece of software on the system, the exception being the hardware drivers.  After each change I test the installers (It's taken ages but seemed the only methodical approach)
• The presence (or not) of Avast is the only thing that affects the ability of these programs to run.  I do not know where else to look, that's why I seek help.  Removing SP2 did not make any difference.

I couldn't find anything relevant on a search of either this forum or the web, so this may be unique to me.  It's probably the old installers that are the issue but it would be nice to find a better workaround than removing and then replacing Avast each time.

Thanks,
Edwin.

The thread that Eddy gave in his post is one of the ones that I was referring to. I did a search on '16 Bit#' (old programs) and one of the threads that it brought up also pointed to Eddy's link above.

Unfortunately uninstalling SP2 didn't change some/all of its changes. Hopefully you can reinstall SP2 and apply the solution mentioned.

Let us know how it goes.

[Edwin The Elf]

My thanks to Eddy, DavidR and, via the link, to Vlk.

The 'Reg' fix did the job and the older InstallShield EXEs now work...all of them.

See, I knew you guys could sort it!

Regards,
Edwin The Elf

 

[DavidR]

Happy to help, don't forget to spread the word about avast!