After several months of behaving itself, my Vista Home Premium machine is once again taking 2 or 3 attempts to boot up. It is once again giving me the error message that there has been an unauthorized change to my Vista license. I HAVE DONE NOTHING TO MY VISTA LICENSE! Why is this problem occurring? It is extremely ANNOYING! What is wrong with Vista? Seems like one problem after another...
 | Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years. Thanks, CNET Support |
General discussion
It's doing it again!
Discussion is locked
5 Posts
- Collapse
- Collapse -
...but I have TONS of programs installed on my Vista machine. I have no idea which program might be the culprit. Thanks for the response...
- Collapse -
PCTools and Trend Micro have had such problems before, as discussed in this article. Note that I've experienced such problems with PCTools' later versions of Firewall Plus and Spyware Doctor, as well as their antivirus software. There's a few others as well, one of which enables cheating in online games, although I can't remember the name of it at the moment. Unfortunately the only permanent solution is to uninstall the offending software until they release a patch for it so you have some scouting to do. 
John
- Collapse -
both PC Tools free firewall and Spyware Doctor. I need a firewall, and Zone Alarm, which I prefer, refuses to install on my Vista machine. So I found the PC Tools firewall to be the next best thing. I also like Spyware Doctor. It has caught some nasty stuff for me on several occasions. What to do???
- Collapse -
Sounds much like my experience with ZoneAlarm refusing to install and PC Tools Firewall Plus, despite various patches, still causing a problem on occasion. Personally, I'd try replacing Spyware Doctor with AVG Antispyware, with the free version being fully functional except for the lack of (weak) real-time protection. For compensation, Windows Defender's real-time protection is reasonably good. Then, for a firewall, Comodo Firewall Pro. was just updated to resolve a host of Vista compatibility issues so the highly-rated product should work for you.
Hope this helps,
John
CNET Forums
Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Roadshow Autos
Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic