Removing And Reinstalling The Siteadvisor Bug

[Riddlez]

I decided to give it a try.

The SiteAdvisor came as part of Virusscan Plus 2008.

According to instructions on this forum, I could remove the SiteAdvisor (not seperately listed under programs, but part of the Security Center), and then reinstall it from my McAfee account, using the customize option.

Well, that's what I did. Unfortunately, what happened was that when I selected the SiteAdvisor for reinstallation, it started with a download of the security center, which was already on my computer !!!

That's asking for problems. I took a preventive approach, and removed and reinstalled the entire Virusscan Plus product according to the instructions (including the MCPR tool).

:mad:

There seems to be a new issue with the SiteAdvisor right now, when I try to update it, I get a screen with a lot of mumbo-jumbo.

[exbrit]

Then don't try to update it. It will do that all by itself. As posted elsewhere I think Security Center also updated, that's why it appeared to download also.

[BastiaanR]

Yes, that's correct. When you (re)install any component, no matter what it is, it will ALWAYS (re)install the SecurityCenter as well.

[vinod_r2]

Now what is that you get on the browser ( I presume its Internet Explorer)??:eek:

I tried to update on firefox (no option for that ) and Internet Explorer (It went smooth wothout errors) on my Site Advisor Plus just now!! 😞

What is the Error message yo are getting (or what ever came up!!):confused:

Do you have Windows Live one care on the computer???(heard that had issues earlier with Site Advisor)

Did you update Windows and Internet Explorer or Firefox???
Do you have JAVA runtime components installed on the computers??

[Riddlez]

It was probably some server issue, or broken code. I saw a number of ´weird´ lines, anyway.

Since RIGHT NOW (but I don´t know how long that will last) I don´t have the saservice problem, I´ll avoid updating, for now anyway.

I don´t have windows live or Java. I use IE 7 (updated). And I don´t have SiteAdvisor Plus, just the SiteAdvisor, currently version 2.5.0.6172 or according to the security center, 2.5.6172.

What possible advantages could an update to the latest version offer ?

[exbrit]

Not quite sure why Vinod_r2 referred to Java runtime as one really must have it installed or many, if not most, web pages will fail to display correctly, not to mention various interfaces not function at all.
If you have it it will show listed in Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs (Programs/Uninstall a Program in Vista) as Java(TM)......etc.
If shown, uninstall it and download/install the latest here: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

Regarding the latest version of SiteAdvisor. Mine is 26.6 6261 in Firefox and 2.6.0.6253 in Internet Explorer 7 but I have Siteadvisor Plus, so that may be different I really don't know.

If you uninstalled and reinstalled it then you would have the latest version available for you I guess.

[vinod_r2]

Nice of you to post a link to download JAVA.. its an indispensable part of the browser nowadays . Incorrect JAVA version (read corrupted) can cause undesirable experience on the browser side!!! 🙂


Uninstall and reinstall will bring in that latest version logically.. and the benefits I am not sure there is nothing visible may be they changed something inside?? only some developer can say what a latest version has to offer (incase an update did come.. I am not sure if there was any updates to Site Advisor ):confused:


Mine is 26.6 6261 in Firefox and 2.6.0.6253 in Internet Explorer 6.And its Siteadvisor Plus Or 2.6.6253 according to Security Centre and the last update is on 3/30/2008.( I guess this application rarely needs any updates everything is done on a remote server)

[Riddlez]

You're mistaken. Java is not needed at all for most websites.

Javascript, that's a different thing. Having Java on your machine won't make it replace javascript by Java, or am I wrong ?

One reason why I don't have Java is that from time to time vulnerabilities are discovered.
And I have never noticed the 'absence' of Java.

[Riddlez]

(partial quote above)

Upon my reinstallation of Virusscan Plus, I got the SiteAdvisor version 2.5.0.6172/2.5.6172.

In the past I had updated the SiteAdvisor to version 2.6.0.6253 !
I'll see how it goes with this version.

[Riddlez]

Well, it's going great again :mad:

Yesterday I reinstalled Virusscan Plus, including the SiteAdvisor.
That version of the SiteAdvisor was NOT the latest.

Browsing was fast again ! I had no idea what a drag the SiteAdvisor had been.

But today ... :mad:

ALL I did was verifying the subscription of another program (basically, the program in question phoned home).

And the next thing that happened was that saservice jumped on my computer again (informational alert), and when I checked the program authorizations in the firewall I noticed that the SiteAdvisor.exe or SiteAdv.exe was a program that 'did no longer exist'. There were two or three of those lines. I decided to remove those entries.
Just a few moments later, SiteAdv.exe was added to the program authorizations, I received an informational alert.

Right now, SiteAdv.exe and saservice are part of the program authorizations. It seems that the SiteAdvisor was somehow 'automatically' updated. I checked the version number (latest), tried to update just in case, and received the message that I already had the latest version.

I executed Hijackthis, and I noticed that there were 5 (!) lines in the startup list that referred to the SiteAdvisor. One was a HKLM entry.
Saservice.exe had an unknown owner ! And no, it's not a bit more spyware than McAfee is spyware.

I have already noticed some slowdowns.

Is this really what to expect !

Does the phrase 'if it ain't broken don't fix it' mean anything to you ?

(Using Windows XP Home Edition IE 7 fully patched)