install problem....i think

[Hector-Jorge]

Here's my problem.

I recently have been developing a small application that simply reads excel files and converts them to a tab delimited text file for use in an oracle database. I was working on a machine running windows 2000 pro, and everything was working fine. Then my employer decided to get me a new pc. I then copied all of my vb related work to my network drive while my new pc was setup.

So, the first thing i do on my new pc, which runs xp pro with sp2, is install my copy of vb.net 2003 edition. At the end of the installation, the setup application advised me to check the microsoft site for updates. I did this, and 38 different updates were recommended. I completed all of these 38 updates.

Now, when i try work on my converter application, very weird things are happening.

1) When i use a message box in the program, none of the buttons have any text on them, and the user messages do not show on the message box. for example, if i use the following line of code:

MessageBox.Show("This should be the user message.", "This should be the caption", MessageBoxButtons.AbortRetryIgnore)

The first parameter which sets the user message will not be visible, and none of the three buttons on this messagebox would have text. I am not using any other lines of code that would alter the default messagebox object.

2)Combo boxes have invisible items. Only the currently selected item will appear in the combobox. When you bring down the drop-down list, all of the items are invisible except for the currently selected one. All of the items are present in memory, by this i mean the combo box is getting instantiated with values, but they aren't physically visible until you select them.

Does anybody have a clue what may be the problem here? Or what caused it? My guess is it's something to do with the updates i downloaded from microsoft.

 

[jmcilhinney]

The likely culprit is McAfee software. Do you have a McAfee antivirus program or the like on this new machine? If so its buffer overflow protection somehow interfere's with .NET applications to do just what you've mentioned. McAfee have a fix available from their Web site.

 

[Hector-Jorge]

Yes, i do have McaFee running on this machine. I have noticed that the behavior described above regarding the messageboxes and comboboxes is very unpredictable. They never work properly the first time the form in loaded, but sometimes will work properly after a few times of loading the form.

Anyways, i will try out the Mcafee fix and see if this helps the problem. Thanks for the input.........

 

[Hector-Jorge]

Installed all the Mcafee updates, and the problem is still there. Is there some difference between Windows 2000 and XP that could be causing the problem?

 

[jmcilhinney]

The only reason I'm aware of for this to happen is McAfee products. Are you sure you got the correct update? I use Norton myself so I haven't installed the patch, but I believe it is #10. If all else fails you should be able to turn off buffer overflow protection in McAfee, which is what causes the issue in the first place.

 

[Hector-Jorge]

I simlply right clicked the mcafee icon in the notification area of the task bar, and chose the "update now" option. Shouldn't this get any updates/patches that I need?
Do you have a link for the patch you think I need?

 

[jmcilhinney]

I don't think that using the auto-update feature will work in this case. Every mention of this issue I've seen says that you have to login to the McAfee site to prove that you're a registered user. Once you're in I'd say a search for ".NET buffer overflow" or something like that should turn up relevant results. There have been several mentions of it being patch 10, so that's something else to look out for.