Getting error about system debugger

[Anonymous]

Just installed FF for eval and am getting this dialog whenever I do anything in FF:

For security purposes, this program will not run while system debuggers are active. Please remove or disable the system debugger before trying to run this program again.

Okay, I have no idea what this is talking about. I have no other development environments loaded on this system (Win XP SP2). What's up with this, then?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

A bit more info. This message pops up only when the mouse hovers over a file in the New Project dialog.

Also, googling the message points to this being a problem with the SoftIce system, which I have not (knowingly) installed on my system. So that begs the question: What obscure interaction is being highlighted by FF and whatever control is being used in the filelist of the New Project dialog?

[TechSupport]

I can honestly say that I have no idea what would cause this problem. FireFly uses the Armadillo software protection system so I assume that it is Armadillo that is detecting an installed debugger.

Actually, I would assume that Armadillo would display the message prior to you being able to do anything in FireFly. That is, I expect that you would get the error message before you entered the FireFly environment.

Having said all that, maybe it has something to do with the WinXP SP2. I understand that service pack contains many, many security type patches/fixes for Windows. The File Open dialog is hooked by FireFly. Maybe that is causing problems with Windows. I doubt it because hooking a common dialog is well documented and allowed by Windows.

Try downloading the example posted by Borje Hagsten at http://www.tolkenxp.com/pb/ofntempl.htm It also uses a hooked dialog. Does it cause the same message for you ?

[Anonymous]

Borje's dialog runs just fine. When I hover the mouse over a file or directory, it pops up the tip with info about the entity.

In FF, when the New Project dialog is open, I can do everything... except when I hover over a file when the "Existing" tab is active. Instead of a tip with the file info, I get the error dialog. Also, the same error occurs if I use the Open Project dialog.

This is not inherent in SP2. I have access to another system that is also running XP SP2 and FF works fine on that system. Unfortunately, I can't run FF/PB there because it is not my system.

Whatever the interaction is, it seems to be localized to generation of the file info tip that appears in the file open dialog.

[TechSupport]

Interesting. I run Win2K for development. Hopefully another FireFly user can verify the error as well. In the meantime, I will reinstall WinXp on my old laptop.

[tom cone jr]

Paul, I haven't seen this problem before, and just now could not trigger it.  Tried both the initial dialog that appears on FF startup, and also using the Open Project dialog from the File menu.  The popup "tip" shows up just fine whether I hover over a project file or a folder.

I'm using FF 2.50 on an XP (sp2) system.

-- tom

[Anonymous]

I don't believe this is an XP SP 2 issue. This is an interaction between FF and something else. As I've never installed FF before, and as FF is the last thing I have installed on this system, and since the message is leaving no tracks as to its origin, it will be difficult to determine where the interaction is.

[Mark Strickland]

I have used FF on three different machines all with XP PRO SP2 and this has not surfaced.  Before I moved to this machine the previous one had "TONS" of stuff installed before and after FF.

Several things you might try to isolate the problem and test at each step.

1) Turn off the XP Firewall.

2) Turn off any other Firewall and virus protection.

3) Run SpyBot Search and Destroy to make sure nothing funny is on your machine.

4) Go to www.sysinternals.com and download AutoRuns and see what is starting when you boot Windows.  They also have other nice free stuff like a RootKit revealer.  Google anything that seems strange and things not Microsoft signed that AutoRun when you boot.  Be careful on the Google results to make sure you understand what is being said if something looks like it should be disabled.  AutoRuns will let you turn something off but not remove it and put it back easily.

BTW -- The guy that found the Sony RootKit problem is the owner of this site.

5) Un-install FF and reinstall in a different directory (reboot after un-install before reinstalling).

Ahhhhhh ---- Windows ----

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, all the usual bull associated with using Windows :-) And people wonder why it is I run all my servers on Unix and Linux.

First I think I'll wait until Paul has a chance to query Armadillo about this. I'm sure it's not the first time this has cropped up.

The major differences, Paul, between the two systems I've tried is that one runs MS Office and the other runs Open Office. It is the latter that is having issues. Also, the latter (problem) system runs VLC media player. And of course, Powerbasic. Other than that, the working system has a ton of additional software that the failing system does not. All firewalls, security software and settings, etc, are the same on both systems.

[Haakon Birkeland]

I've had a similar (don't recall the message, as it was back sometime in May this year) experience with an application called StrongSearch, and it turned out to not like the hooking done by another application (PS Hot folders 1.1) that I'm not willing to get rid of.  Thus I tossed out StrongSearch before I could evaluate it. Not that easy for you though, as you definitely don't wanna miss out on FireFly's splender!

Try killing off one by one process in TaskManager and see if you can identify any conflicting application other than a Windows component.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I killed everything not Microsoft using Task Manager. Still have the problem.

So I killed even more using Process Explorer, including Microsoft stuff. Still have the problem.

So I used msconfig and put the system into diagnostic mode, which is about as plain vanilla as you can get. Still have the problem.

Since everything else I kill off in diagnostic mode causes the system to reboot, I'd say the root cause is very deeply rooted.

As much as I'd like to give FF a look it is not a critical need for me at this time. I'll be tossing it for now and will see if v3 resolves this issue. In the meantime, maybe Paul and Armadillo can find and fix the problem. In Texas we used to shoot the armadillos...

[TechSupport]

... In Texas we used to shoot the armadillos...

No worries. I will pop a note off to Silicon Realms to see if Armadillo is the cause or if it is something specific to FireFly.

You should still be able to open FireFly projects via the "Recent" tab or the Most Recently Used projects list on the File menu. You could also associate the ".prj" file extension to be opened with FireFly and then you could use Windows File Explorer to open the file.....

[TechSupport]

I did a search on Armadillo's private support forum and there was a post about keyboard hooks "sometimes" causing a problem. Here is part of the quote from the developer:

Armadillo doesn't have any problem with subclassed windows... hooks, it can sometimes have a problem with, depending on how they're implemented. (Cracker tools like to hook certain functions to make cracking easier.)

I will send a more detailed support request directly to the author.

[Roger Garstang]

Just wanted to say I have no problems here with XP SP2 Pro and running the latest ZoneAlarm which monitors everything including hooks, etc.  Having this also gives me a little extra knowledge on confirming that it is hooks.  The open dialog didn't report hooks..probably because I never use it much and after 5-10 times of running FF I gave it full permissions.  However, I did use the editor options a lot, like when you right click in the text editor and select to change the options.  If you go to the Keyboard tab FF makes a keyboard hook.  If this gives you problems then the hook issue is confirmed.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, no good. I can open the editor options and navigate the keyboard tab w/o issue. It seems definitely localized within the tip info of the file dialog.