Long pause at boot

Oh ......... when ZA is allowed to load at startup, 2 instances of ScanningProcess.exe are invoked. I believe that's because you have a dual core processor, and ZA detects that. Only one instance is invoked on my test system - a single core processor. When checking to see if ScanningProcess.exe starts automatically, check to see if there are 2 instances of that process.

 

Ok. I did the HKLM. zclient, true vector, and two instances of scanningprocesses are all running.

I also think HKLM gves a faster boot.

Of course I could be wrong.

 

Hmm....AutoPlay seems to not be working.

I tried it on my both DVD burners and my USB HD.

I deleted the registry entry but editing the disable as you showed me to do the enable and I have reselected Zone Alarm to startup in ZA.

I'll see if this makes a difference.

 

Still no go. I then tried to stop the service and start it back, which did happen. But autoplay still doesn't work.

The thing is I don't know when this started. I only noticed it just now but it has been a while since I used a CD and was looking for an autoplay. It defiantly was working around the time I started this thread.

 

Btw I noticed when Zone Alarm isn't selected to run at startup, NVIDIA MonitorView, which runs on startup, displays incorrect information. But I just need to close it and run again.

Just saying. It's not a big problem.

 

• Microsoft KB822660: AutoPlay intermittently does not detect removable media or digital cameras
  

If I recall correctly, the ShellHWDetection service has previously been mentioned in this thread.


AutoPlay Repair Wizard can be downloaded from either of the following locations.

• Microsoft
  
• Kelly's Korner (line 234, 2nd column)

I downloaded the AutoFix.exe file from both locations and they appear to be the same file.

• Size: 78160
• Version: 5.2.3790.67
• CRC-32: C3D33C52
• MD5: 90A4962F44D2E75398D517BC90F06F8C
• SHA1: F1D9B122E8C880C582F18BB03714748472CFB890

 

Is that the Shell Hardware Detection service you're referring to? Is it set to automatic? Check the autolay settings on your drives. Open My Computer and right click a drive, then select properties. Select the Autoplay tab and using the drop down, set the action to take for each type of media detected. Click Apply after each choice.

If inserting a cd/dvd after that still does nothing, please copy the contents of the code box below and paste it into a command window, then post the contents of the autorun.txt that opens (it's on your desktop as well)

Code:

reg query  "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer "> "%userprofile%\desktop\autorun.txt "
start notepad  "%userprofile%\desktop\autorun.txt "
exit
cls

If the HKLM works best, and you're inclined to use that hack until a more suitable fix is found, recommend you alter both the enable (reg add) and disable (reg delete) commands in the enable.txt file.

RE MonitorView - are you saying that using the hack rather than starting ZA via the load at startup option cause MonitorView to display incorrect information? I'm not familiar with the information displayed by that app, so please explain to me what's different.

 

First, an FYI and recommendation. As seen in this post, your PCI Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT video card is sharing an IRQ (18) with the PCI M-Audio Delta 1010LT audio card. This is generally considered a no-no. Quoting from the audio card's manual;

Basically, that card should have it's own IRQ, and it would be best if the video card had it's own. The easiest way to change IRQs is by moving the card to another slot. You have 1 free PCI Express x16 slot, and 2 free PCI slots, so you could move either card. I personally would opt for the audio card first. Remove it via device manager, power down, switch slots. My choice of slots would be the furthest one down, if not already used. Check system information to see new IRQ assignment.

Additionally, if you don't use the onboard audio (AC97), you should consider disabling it in the BIOS.

Side note - you should uninstall both J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 11 and Java 2 Runtime Environment, SE v1.4.2_04. They are outdated and exploitable.

Now, moving on with the ZA issue (I don't expect the above to be a solution, but let me know if it is ) - I'd like to look at parts of the service configuration, so we're going to get some registry exports. Please paste the bolded text below in a command window and post the contents of SGO.txt.

echo.> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon" >> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ServiceGroupOrder" >> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GroupOrderList" >> "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
start notepad "%userprofile%\desktop\SGO.txt "
exit
cls

 

! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer
NoDriveAutoRun REG_DWORD 0x3fffffb
NoDriveTypeAutoRun REG_DWORD 0xf7

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\Run


This was after I ran the app mailman posted. Now going to restart and see how that goes.

I has stuff like CPU voltage and RAM speed and stuff like that. The wrong data is that it only shows stats for the video card, nothing for the mobo.

 

SGO.txt

! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon
Type REG_DWORD 0x110
Start REG_DWORD 0x3
ErrorControl REG_DWORD 0x1
ImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe -service
DisplayName REG_SZ TrueVector Internet Monitor
Group REG_SZ TDI
DependOnService REG_MULTI_SZ Afd\0RpcSs\0vsdatant\0\0
DependOnGroup REG_MULTI_SZ \0
ObjectName REG_SZ LocalSystem
Description REG_SZ Monitors internet traffic and generates alerts for disallowed access.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon\Security

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon\Enum


! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ServiceGroupOrder
List REG_MULTI_SZ System Reserved\0Boot Bus Extender\0System Bus Extender\0SCSI miniport\0Port\0Primary Disk\0SCSI Class\0SCSI CDROM Class\0FSFilter Infrastructure\0FSFilter System\0FSFilter Bottom\0FSFilter Copy Protection\0FSFilter Security Enhancer\0FSFilter Open File\0FSFilter Physical Quota Management\0FSFilter Encryption\0FSFilter Compression\0FSFilter HSM\0FSFilter Cluster File System\0FSFilter System Recovery\0FSFilter Quota Management\0FSFilter Content Screener\0FSFilter Continuous Backup\0FSFilter Replication\0FSFilter Anti-Virus\0FSFilter Undelete\0FSFilter Activity Monitor\0FSFilter Top\0Filter\0Boot File System\0Base\0Pointer Port\0Keyboard Port\0Pointer Class\0Keyboard Class\0Video Init\0Video\0Video Save\0File System\0Event Log\0Streams Drivers\0NDIS Wrapper\0COM Infrastructure\0UIGroup\0LocalValidation\0PlugPlay\0PNP_TDI\0NDIS\0TDI\0NetBIOSGroup\0ShellSvcGroup\0SchedulerGroup\0SpoolerGroup\0AudioGroup\0SmartCardGroup\0NetworkProvider\0RemoteValidation\0NetDDEGroup\0Parallel arbitrator\0Extended Base\0PCI Configuration\0MS Transactions\0\0


! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GroupOrderList
Base REG_BINARY 140000000E0000000100000002000000030000000400000005000000060000000700000008000000090000000A0000000B0000000C0000000D0000000F0000001000000011000000120000001300000014000000
Boot Bus Extender REG_BINARY 0B000000080000000A000000090000000700000001000000030000000400000005000000060000008201010002000000
Extended Base REG_BINARY 150000000100000002000000040000000300000005000000060000000700000008000000090000000A0000000B0000000C0000000D0000000E0000000F000000100000001100000012000000130000001400000015000000
Keyboard Class REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
Keyboard Port REG_BINARY 050000000100000002000000030000000400000005000000
Ndis REG_BINARY 110000000100000002000000030000000400000005000000060000000700000008000000090000000A0000000B0000000C0000000D0000000E0000000F0000001000000011000000
Network REG_BINARY 06000000010000000200000003000000040000000500000006000000
Parallel arbitrator REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
PNP_TDI REG_BINARY 09000000050000000100000002000000030000000400000006000000070000000800000009000000
Pointer Class REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
Pointer Port REG_BINARY 0400000001000000020000000300000004000000
Primary Disk REG_BINARY 050000000100000002000000030000000400000005000000
SCSI CDROM Class REG_BINARY 020000000100000002000000
SCSI Class REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
SCSI Miniport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
SpoolerGroup REG_BINARY 020000000100000002000000
System Bus Extender REG_BINARY 0D0000000600000003000000040000000100000008000000090000000A0000000B0000000C0000000D0000000E0000000200000005000000
Video REG_BINARY 020000000100000002000000
Video Init REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
Video Save REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
FSFilter Infrastructure REG_BINARY 0400000001000000020000000300000004000000
FSFilter System REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Bottom REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Copy Protection REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Security Enhancer REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Open File REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Physical Quota Management REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Encryption REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Compression REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter HSM REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Cluster File System REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter System Recovery REG_BINARY 0400000001000000020000000300000004000000
FSFilter Quota Management REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Content Screener REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Continuous Backup REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Replication REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Anti-Virus REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Undelete REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
FSFilter Activity Monitor REG_BINARY 0400000001000000020000000300000004000000
FSFilter Top REG_BINARY 03000000010000000200000003000000
Filter REG_BINARY 0700000001000000020000000300000004000000050000000600000007000000
PNP Filter REG_BINARY 03000000010000000300000002000000
NetBIOSGroup REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
Streams Drivers REG_BINARY 0100000001000000
ExtendedBase REG_BINARY 0100000001000000

 

Ok. I didn't realise the tool was per drive. So I repaired all and it all seems.

Is there perhaps a link between the problem mailman posted about and this ZA problem.

 

So, autoplay/autorun is again working properly? Did repairing it have any effect on the ZA logon delay?

 

AutoPlay is ok but the delay still exists.

So I'm back to the hack.

 

I suppose you're curious about the last exports I requested, so I'll attempt an explanation. Grab a beer, put your feet up and relax

Most of the drivers and services that load when you start your computer each belong to a Group, a ServiceGroup. vsmon belongs to the TDI ServiceGroup. ShellHardwareDetection is in the ShellSvcGroup ServiceGroup, which is processed by an instance of svchost. That instance of svchost starts quite a number of services, and each one generally starts very quickly. The order in which the services and drivers are started is determined in part by the second portion of the export, the ServiceGroupOrder. Once deciphered, the ServiceGroupOrder data looks like the list that follows. The drivers and services are processed in the order of that list, top to bottom.

System Reserved
Boot Bus Extender
System Bus Extender
SCSI miniport
Port
Primary Disk
SCSI Class
SCSI CDROM Class
FSFilter Infrastructure
FSFilter System
FSFilter Bottom
FSFilter Copy Protection
FSFilter Security Enhancer
FSFilter Open File
FSFilter Physical Quota Management
FSFilter Encryption
FSFilter Compression
FSFilter HSM
FSFilter Cluster File System
FSFilter System Recovery
FSFilter Quota Management
FSFilter Content Screener
FSFilter Continuous Backup
FSFilter Replication
FSFilter Anti-Virus
FSFilter Undelete
FSFilter Activity Monitor
FSFilter Top
Filter
Boot File System
Base
Pointer Port
Keyboard Port
Pointer Class
Keyboard Class
Video Init
Video
Video Save
File System
Event Log
Streams Drivers
NDIS Wrapper
COM Infrastructure
UIGroup
LocalValidation
PlugPlay
PNP_TDI
NDIS
TDI
Net BIOSGroup
ShellSvcGroup
SchedulerGroup
SpoolerGroup
AudioGroup
SmartCardGroup
NetworkProvider
RemoteValidation
NetDDEGroup
Parallel arbitrator
Extended Base
PCI Configuration
MS Transactions

I asked for this export to see the order of services started on your machine. As you can see in the list above, the TDI group is processed before the ShellSvcGroup. What this means to us is that Zone Alarm (vsmon - True Vector) has begun loading prior to the Shell Hardware Detection (SHD) service starting. Based on electronerdz's conclusion that the SHD service was stuck in a 'starting' state, I had been of the impression it was that failing to start which caused ZA to hang. I now believe that to be wrong - ZA is already processing, and is still in the state of processing when SHD tries to start. I believe that ZA prevents SHD from starting, and conflict begins, thereby delaying the overall logon process. Previous testing showed us that eliminating ScanningProcess.exe from the mix by renaming allowed for a normal logon time. ScanningProcess.exe appears to be preventing SHD from starting.

Section 3 of the export, the GroupOrderList, determines the order in which services or drivers within a ServiceGroup are started. Many services have dependencies on other services or service groups, meaning they either require another service, another service group, or a combination of both to be running before they can start. The services belonging to the ServiceGroups listed in the GroupOrderList have an entry called a Tag with a value. It's the order of tag values for each ServiceGroup within the GroupOrderList that determines the order in which they start.

Looking at the vsmon export, we can see that it depends on 3 other services.

AFD
RpcSs
vsdatant

Looking at those same services on my own machine, I can tell you that AFD is in the TDI service group, RpcSs is in the COM Infrastructure service group, and vsdatant is in the TDI service group. The ServiceGroupOrder list above shows us that the COM Infrastructure service group starts well ahead of TDI, meaning that dependency is fufilled by the time vsmon starts. Neither AFD or vsdatant have a dependency, so they can start without fail. vsmon, being dependent on AFD and vsdatant, must wait for those to start before it can run successfully. But what if it attempts to start before one or both of those services is started?

That's where the GroupOrderList would be beneficial. If there was an entry for the TDI ServiceGroup in the GroupOrderList, and each of the 3 mentioned services in that group had a tag, they could be defined to start at a specific time, eg; vsmon could be made to wait on AFD and vsdatant before attempting to start. As it happens, none of those has a tag. Think you see a problem? Well, there's not one there. Remember I said the ServiceGroupOrder determines in part the order in which services and drivers are processed? Another determining factor is the value given to the Start entry. Looking at your export, you can see the value for the vsmon Start entry is 0x3. That translates to Manual. 0x2 is equal to Automatic and 0x4 represents Disabled. There are 2 other startup types that you don't see in the Services console.

Boot - which has a value of 0x0
System - which has a value of 0x1

Several passes are made through the ServiceGroupOrder, and service or drivers with a value of 0x0 are started first, regardless of which group it is in, though in the order of the ServiceGroupOrder list. Those with a value of 0x1 are processed next, and finally those with a value of 0x2. Values of 0x3 and 0x4 are not processed by the system. Values of 0x3 are however started through other processes, as you witnessed vsmon being started by zlclient when set to Manual. Now, both AFD and vsdatant have a Start value of 0x1, and vsmon when allowed to Load at startup has a value of 0x2. This means that the entire list of groups with a value of 0x1 is started before it begins again starting the 0x2 groups. AFD and vsdatant should be running well before vsmon starts. vsmon's dependencies are therefore all fufilled, and it can start without fail.

In comes the SHD service, which also has a Start value of 0x2. SHD will start very quickly. Set it to manual and logon, then go to the Services console and start it. Compare that to the time it takes vsmon to start. There is no comparison, provided the service is working as it should.

Now you're asking, 'where's he going with all of this?' The answer to that is;

I don't know why ZA conflicts. I'm not a programmer, and I can't debug their software. The best I can do at this time is propose a couple of different scenarios to provide a workaround to the problem, only one of which has been tested at this time. I am by no means recommending that anyone test my theoretical solutions. I have not yet looked closely at the impact of things in doing so. I'm only providing a peek at the things I'll be testing on my own machine(s).

1. Use the previous reg hack to start zlclient. Starting zlclient from the run key makes it start well after the services have been processed, obviously avoiding the conflict. SHD has already been started. We know already that this works fine, albiet a seemingly related problem with MonitorView surfaced.

2. Set SHD to manual and start it via a batch file/run entry. This might allow time enough to pass the conflict stage with ZA.

3. Change the Start value of SHD to 0x1. This would ensure that SHD was processed and running well before vsmon gets started. This would also require changing the RpcSs Start value to 0x1 (currently 0x2), due to SHD having a dependency on it. I have not yet looked at the ramifications of doing this.

4. Move the TDI service group down the list, placing the ShellSvcGroup before it. Again, SHD would start well in advance. I don't know the ramifications of this either, but it will definitely have an effect on many services. It might not even be feasible, as service dependencies may not allow it to be moved.

5. Add Tag values to all of the processes in the ShellSvcGroup, then using the GroupOrderList, delay the starting of SHD in hopes that vsmon would complete it's loading first. Requires quite a lot of registry editing and may differ considerable in various OS environments.


I suppose that's enough rambling now. Are you still awake?

 

Oh yes. I knew all that. Sure I did. Uh-huh.

 

I'm supposed to be getting a another video card today that is going in the next 16x slot. When that comes I'll put that in and move the sound card. Which is already in the last slot.

All gone.

 

I certainly enjoyed it. Thanks, Dave!

Printed posts

• #218 (Printed in landscape format so the lines aren't truncated.)
  http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=378129&postcount=218
• #220 (Printed in landscape format so the lines aren't truncated.)
  http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=378138&postcount=220
• #224
  http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=378161&postcount=224

and did some studying of your wizardry. Actually makes a little sense to me!

Gonna print this message too just to preserve the URLs on paper. Gonna get a 3-ring binder started for this kind of stuff.

Since I run ZA Pro, I'm tempted to do some playing sometime after backing up all registry data and/or building a new computer so I can convert this computer to a test box.

Thanks again, Dave!


BTW, for the other people who will see this thread and may tinker with noahdfear's "ramblings "...

==========
CAUTION: Editing/cleaning/repairing your computer's registry is potentially dangerous. You might render your computer unstable or even unbootable. Before you edit/clean/repair your registry with any method, be sure you make a backup of your registry and you know how to access and use that backup in case you muck up your computer.

If you decide to manually edit your registry, then be sure you are comfortable with editing the registry and I suggest you save a backup of at least the section you edit ahead of time in case you need/want to reverse your changes. Editing the registry can produce serious undesirable consequences if done incorrectly.

In any case, you should know ahead of time how to restore your original registry settings and prepare to do so in case the need arises.

• MVPS.org (Ramesh's Site): How to backup the Windows XP Registry?
• Microsoft KB322756: How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista
• Symantec: Backing up the Windows registry

I also suggest you create a System Restore point before making any changes (regardless of what method you use). System Restore may be accessed as follows.

• Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

Microsoft KB306084: How to restore the operating system to a previous state in Windows XP
==========

Reference for paper print:

• This thread's URL: http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=69658

 

Ready to try something different?

If this allows the SHD service to start normally, it should actually speed up your logon time. This method will again load ZA by the system at startup, which is earlier in the logon process than what it starts from the enableZA hack.

First, copy the contents of the code box below and paste it into a command window.

Code:

echo.> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo @echo off>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo To enable the SHD hack, press 1 then enter>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo To disable the SHD hack, press 2 then enter>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo To exit without change, press E then enter>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo.>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo set /p Choice={1,2,3,4,E}>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo if '%Choice%'=='e' GOTO done>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo if '%Choice%'=='E' GOTO done>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo IF '%Choice%'=='1' GOTO enable>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo IF '%Choice%'=='2' GOTO disabl>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo :enable>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo reg add  "HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run" /v SHDhack /t REG_SZ /d  "%systemdrive%\startSHD.bat" /f>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo sc config ShellHWDetection start= demand>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo @echo off^>^>%systemdrive%\startSHD.bat>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo sc start ShellHWDetection^>^>%systemdrive%\startSHD.bat>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo echo cls^>^>%systemdrive%\startSHD.bat>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo exit^>^>%systemdrive%\startSHD.bat>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo GOTO done>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo :disabl>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo reg delete  "HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run" /v SHDhack /f>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo sc config ShellHWDetection start= auto>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo if exist %systemdrive%\startSHD.bat del /q %systemdrive%\startSHD.bat>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo GOTO done>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo :done>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo cls>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
echo exit>> "%userprofile%\desktop\SHDhack.bat "
exit
cls

All this will do is create a file on the desktop. It is a batch file named SHDhack.bat
Double click SHDhack.bat and here's what happens.

A command window opens and presents you with a menu.

• Choose option 1 and the batch does the following before exiting
• Changes the Startup option of the Shell Hardware Detection service to Manual
• Creates the batch file C:\startSHD.bat that contains a command to start the SHD service
• Adds a registry entry to run the C:\startSHD.bat at logon

• Choose option 2 and the batch does the following before exiting
• Changes the Startup option of the Shell Hardware Detection service to Automatic
• Deletes the batch file C:\startSHD.bat
• Deletes the registry entry to run the C:\startSHD.bat at logon

Choose option 3 by pressing E and the batch closes with no changes made.

I've already tested the above to verify that it works correctly. The thing I can't do is verify whether or not starting the SHD service at a later time using this method will prevent the conflict and resulting delay. That's for you to tell us.

To summarize, first disable the current hack using the disable command from enableZA.txt
Next, select the 'Load at startup' option in the Zone Alarm contol panel.
Next, run the SHDhack.bat file and select option 1 to enable the hack.
Finally, restart your computer.

 

LOL! I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings mailman. I'm even happier that it makes some sense to you ..... means I explained it correctly (I think)

I appreciate the warnings RE: editing the registry too. Should have made that cautionary note myself, just too caught up in the rambling to think of it.

 

Well on the good side NVIDIA Monitor startups with correct info.

On the other hand the delay comes back.

So have disabled this last hack, disabled ZA to start on XP startup and put back the old hack.