Install error

System: Multivision Arcus 5020,  512MB RAM, Windows XP Home (SP3)

Q: I have subscribed to PCU since issue 55 and I have learnt so much that I wouldn’t be without it. Keep up the good work! Now for the problem. I have been running AVG Anti-virus free together with Agnitum Outpost Firewall Free quite happily on this PC for a long time and have had no problems up to now. Past updates to new versions of AVG have gone without a hitch but when I recently updated to AVG 2011 (v10) everything ran at a snails pace, particularly Thunderbird and Firefox.

I had just been looking at PCU issue 132 and decided to give Comodo Internet Security a try as you give it a 5-star rating. I uninstalled AVG 2011, turned off Outpost Firewall and duly installed Comodo. A reboot was required – this was when the icy hand of panic gripped me! The PC started its loading process but at the point where the desktop should be displayed and my settings loaded the PC went back to the beginning of the start-up routine and stayed in this loop. At this point the years of receiving PCU came into their own and I got the PC into safe mode, selected to open System Restore and successfully restored to a previous working state. I tried only installing the antivirus but with the same effect. I eventually ended up installing Avira Antivirus and kept Outpost Firewall.

Apart from the PC getting on in years like me, do you have any ideas as to what is causing the problems?

A: Comodo does seem to have compatibility issues with some systems. However, the most likely cause of installation problems is that the software is conflicting with part of the old security program. Antivirus and other security tools are quite deeply embedded in the system such that some components are left behind even if you follow the correct uninstall process.

Because of this most developers provide removal tools to help you perform a thorough clean up. You can download the AVG removal tool to clean up its traces. Before attempting to reinstall Comodo it’s worth running its removal tool as well to ensure there are no remnants of the aborted installation.

We’ve successfully run the latest Comodo on old XP machines without a problem so we doubt that the age of the system is the cause.

Comodo Internet Security should run fine on Windows XP systems

Originally featured in PCU134