cindylou1948 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Since I last checked updates at Spybot, it has continued to pop up a box stating ERROR retrieving update info files. I believe the last update done on 9/21 had a bug or was not written correctly and this is the reason why the files are not retrievable to update. My son had exactly the same problem when he updated the latest update also.I tried to email support and got an invalid hotmail address so cannot go to bugreport at spybot either. Is there any way to fix this problem?? I even deleted all files from my computer and redownloaded Spybot and the same problem exists. Has anyone else had a recent update retrieval problem? Also the "mirror" button does not activate the drop down as "help" suggested doing.Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThunderRiver Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 You need to choose different mirrors. German (DE) mirror is very slow. You should switch your mirror to either USA or Australia.Suggestion: Topic belongs to Security and Networking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrainey Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I had problems with Spybot auto-updating right from the start, so I started going to the website, checking for an update, downloading it if new, and installing it myself. I can tell it works because the number of spyware files it checks for increases with each update. Haven't had any problems doing it that way.Ad-Aware seems to have much more frequent updates these days than Spybot, and their latest build (181) is super fast. I use both programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scot Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 Many Scot's Newsletter subscribers have emailed me about this problem, and I have had it personally. I have found the Australian mirror to be the most reliable.-- Scot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volunteer Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Today, I downloaded Spybot from mirrors on the site and twice got corrupted files. I went to Tucows and used a mirror near me for two different computers and both were good files and the update function worked as well.You might consider doing the same. BTW, I ran the latest AdAware first. Spybot found two instances of Alexa that AdAware missed or didn't get rid of.Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 BTW, I ran the latest AdAware first. Spybot found two instances of Alexa that AdAware missed or didn't get rid of.Yea, that's why i use both. Hopefully one will get what the other missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scot Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 If you do the reverse, run SpyBot first and run Ad-aware second, you'll find that Ad-aware finds things that SpyBot doesn't too. The real issue is the updating though. People are having trouble with SpyBot's updating functionality, and they complain about's Ad-aware's frequency. I agree with Sonic's advice. Use 'em both.About Cindy's problem, she and I have been e-mailing a little on the side. She has some behavior I've never seen or heard of in SpyBot before. I think she may have a failed install or failed previous uninstall. Unfortunately, that probably requires uninstalling and then manually deleting files, folders, and searching through the registry for instances of "spybot" and "pepimk" and deleting those sub-keys. Not exactly work for Registry-faint-of-heart folks. And I don't know whether she's going to attempt that.If she does, and she doesn't post back here, I will.-- Scot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 She has some behavior I've never seen or heard of in SpyBot before. I think she may have a failed install or failed previous uninstall. Unfortunately, that probably requires uninstalling and then manually deleting files, folders, and searching through the registry for instances of "spybot" and "pepimk" and deleting those sub-keys. Not exactly work for Registry-faint-of-heart folks. And I don't know whether she's going to attempt that.Would a program like Karen's Registry Pruner do that for her? It searches for orphaned things in the registry and removes them.Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThunderRiver Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 As to my knowledge, Spybot doesn't rely on Registry.If you browse toC:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Updatesand open online.ini fileYou should have the following lines[-Mirrors]kolla.de (Europe)=http://security.kolla.de/updates/files/Safer-Networking #1 (Europe)=http://www.safer-networking.org/updates/files/UniDo (Europe)=http://studserver.uni-dortmund.de/~su1669/spybotsd/FXClips (USA)=http://www.fxclips.com/spybotsd/files/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindylou1948 Posted September 29, 2003 Author Share Posted September 29, 2003 Thanks, everyone for your input on my Spybot error problem. I figured it out and it really turned out to be close to Scot and ThunderRiver's ideas on the bad uninstall suggestion. Turns out that when I initially uninstalled the very first time AFTER the ERROR message appeared, I failed to realize that on the file button of Spybot was a partial uninstall feature... once I did THAT the problem solved itself! The "mirror" option came back, and I was able to therefore do updates!! All those uninstalls thru Start,Add/Remove Programs I did that said Spybot was removed successfully, didn't really do it until I did that.... Go figure!So I guess that means Spybot wants you to use their uninstall button first, then the regular uninstall will then kick in and remove it for real. Guess I learned something!!I really AM an uneducated novice with a computer. Never took classes, just advice from people I know and read the book "Windows XP All in one desk reference for Dummies" by Woody Leonhard. He's a kick and taught me much. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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