I installed the Infrared (IrDA) software on my desktop, and after much tinkering, got it to work fine and used it for a while to communicate with my laptop. Later I got a USB LAN and now I do not use it.
There are two programs involved:
C:\windows\system\Irmon.exe and C:\WINDOWS\IRXFER.EXE
Irmon just monitors the IrDA port and tells you is any device is in range while Irxfer does the actual communication.
After running them, they would both start up every time I would start windows. IRXFER was in the registry so I got rid of it there (although every time I start it again it will place itself there again). No problem with that one, BUT
Irmon also starts every time and I cannot, for the life of me, find what is starting it. I have checked in ALL these places and it is NOT there:
(copied from an article, this may serve as help for all similar questions)
If you do not find your “offender”, be aware that entries may not use the name you expect. Also examine the entire \windows\startmenu\programs tree for additional Startup folders.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
So? What is loading Irmon?!! Of course, I resolved the problem long time ago by just renaming it to something else so it will not load. If I need it, I just rename it back. But inquiring minds want to know.
Anthracite, it does not sound stupid at all and I should have included those two files in the above checklist. In my case though these files are not the culprits. My config.sys is empty and my autoexec.bat has just a couple PATH statements (one of these days I’ll ask about them too as I may be able to get rid of the autoexec.bat as well). I try to run the least possible stuff, only what I absolutely need, so I like to launch things myself manually.
Anyway, good point to add autoexec.bat and config.sys to the checklist.
Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information. This will display the MS System Information Window. Click on Software Environment and then Startup Programs. This should tell you everything that’s loading and from where.
Search through your entire registry for the files. Perhaps there’s something else in there calling them. Also, is there anything in any of the aforementioned registry locations that might be related to these files?
Anthracite, I forgot to mention. Your CDrom driver in config.sys is not necessary. It is a real mode driver which you only need in DOS mode. I have deleted it from my config.sys and everything is fine. Of course I have left it in my emergency floppy so I can start from A: and use the CDrom drive even if the HD C: is dead.
thewiz, if you are referring to SYSINFO.EXE i am aware of it and it is a lousy tool that reports a lot of errors. In any case it does not give you more information than what I already said. then there’s MSINFO32.EXE which gives you a whole other set of information but is not help either. I also have Sisoft Sandra which is WAY better than any of those two.
Waterj2, I already did a registry search and it does not appear by name but I wonder if it can start by some other means.
Sigh… Just lost a entire page of instructions for you to remove this driver.
OK short form…
1: Download “startup cop” from TUCOWs and use it to knock out any IR drivers loading at startup. It’s easier to use and safer than hacking your registry to try and accomplish the same thing.
2: Make sure the IR option is defeated or startup option is set to “off” in your MS BIOS (if IR is BIOS based).
3: Check add/remove programs applet in control panel. 95 has little IR config capability built in so it often used utility applets to install and conrol IR. Most were pretty kludgy. If IR config program is installed - remove.
4: After doing 3 check your INF directory and see if there are any IR .inf files the system is using to re-load the IR driver. If present remove.
Re plug and play reloading the IR drivers if it detects IR hardware. Go the device manager under “ports” or “system devices” and if IR port/handler is still present remove it.
If it reloads use checkbox “defeat in this hardware profile”.
Another place to look, besides the registry, is in the win.ini file in your windows directory. Near the first of that file are programs that get loaded at Windows startup, preceded by “load=” or “run=”.
Astro, thanks for the info but I think I’ll just leave things as they are. I have already hacked about the register without problem so it’s too late for that advice.
As far as detecting the IR port, I’d have to disable it in the BIOS. Since I may use it again, I’ll just leave things as they are now where I can just rename the IRMON file. This is the easiest thing. Note that the IRXFER file starts from the registry and I just knock it out whenever I want. It is just the IRMON program that I do not know where it starts from. Supposedly, when WIN95 detects an IR port, it would load some drivers but I would expect them to be named in the register.
Irmon appear in the list of installed files (HKLM-System-CurrentControlSet-control-InstalledFiles) but I do not think this would launch it.
Anyway, it is not really a problem as much as scientific curiosity. I have renamed the file so it doesn’t load but if I want to use IrDA some day I can just rename the file back. It is not worth messing with the BIOS etc (I had a big problem to get it to work at first).
Well, I do boot straight DOS sometimes, so I need it for that I guess.
I had a similar problem with a piece of antivirus software, where an exe was spawning another exe at startup, and the first one had a very non-obvious name. I searched through the Registry for all occurances of the Software Vendor’s name, and found the file that way. I removed it just to try, and it turned out that that was what was spawning the .exe.
Anthracite, I also use DOS mode sometimes but never use the CDrom in DOS so I got rid of the real mode driver. If I would ever need it I would just load it again.
i know what you mean about searching the registry as I have been through it many times. BTW, and while we have some knowledgeable people around…
I have this computer game (my first game, Red Baron, I fly an airplane and I am supposed to shoot down enemy planes but they do not cooperate, in fact, they shoot ME down, so the only thing I can do for fun is shoot down friendly planes who don’t shoot back, anyway…) this computer game requires the CDrom to be in the drive. It only checks that it is there but reads everything from the Hard Disk. It is a pain to insert the CDrom every time so I thought I could trick it into reading from the hard disk whatever it reads from the CDrom. I have searched the registry and found the game has some keys:
workdir C:\Program Files\SIERRA\RedBaron3D (fair enough)
cddir E: (OK, I get it)
So, I think, if I substitute C:\Program Files\SIERRA\RedBaron3D for E: it should find the same file there and work but no, it doesn’t, it still goes to the CDrom drive. Any ideas?
Seems straight forward. The startup binary looks for a specific piece of code on the CD that is not installed (or possibly not installable) on the hard drive and when it doesn’t find it because of your registry hack to look at C:, it goes back to the CD looking for it. You could test this by pointing the cddir to a Hard disk directory (c:\cddirectory for arguments sake) you have copied the entire CD onto.
Use these xcopy32 switches in DOS protected mode to copy the CD to the hard drive.
xcopy32 e:\ c:\cddirectory /e /c /f /h /r /k /y
which will clone the CD onto the hard drive directory.
xcopy32 /? will tell you what the switches are.
This xcopy32 command set will also make a perfect clone of one entire drive to another drive if you are so inclined.
sailor, I find that a 12-gauge slug right through the CPU inside the tower usually stops all undesired programs from running. If through some freakish occurrence they still run, use a sledgehammer applied vigorously to the tower’s remaining infrastructure, and then check your monitor. It should be blinking and white. If these programs are still running after this, please e-mail me the design specs for your computer immediately.
Lizard, don’t think those thoughts have not ocurred to me sometimes. I had a spell, about a couple of years ago, when I had to format and reinstall windows and everything else about 15 times in one month. That’s pretty much all I did, full time.
The computer came with 32MB RAM and I added 64 MB taking it up to 96 MB. The computer just kept crashing and corrupting everything. I finally found out this mother board and 430TX chipset has some limitation and will only swap the lower 64MB. Supposedly it should still work with 96 MB but the fact is it didn’t. I noticed if I disabled the secondary cache in the BIOS it would work OK, so the manufacturer sent me another motherboard assuming mine was bad, but the new one did the same thing. When I reduced RAM down to 64 MB everything was fine (on both) and I could enable the cache. But neither the manufacturer nor anybody else could tell me this and I had to discover it myself. It took about a month and so much aggravation you cannot imagine. I was ready for the sledgehammer solution. In the end I built another computer with the new motherboard and 32 MB RAM for a friend. Anyway…
waterj2, I guess I wasn’t clear that the keys are workdir and cddir and the values are “C:\Program Files\SIERRA\RedBaron3D” and “E:” respectively
Astro I am trying to think what Xcopy could find in the CDROM that windows Explorer cannot find… I am not sure why Xcopy in DOS protected mode would copy any more than windows can. Can you explain this a bit more?
I am messing with this once again, I had forgotten about it. It’s not so much the result as just the fun of messin’ around
I have been extremely lucky tinkering with the register. I have done all sorts of tinkering and never had a major problem. I have even convinced my laptop that it has a voicemodem installed because I have a program that will not work unless a fax modem is present (although I only want to use it for fax).
Used correctly the relatively little known, protected mode (ie used while windows is operating) advanced xcopy32 switches can do some file copy jobs more easily or efficiently than explorer.
The switches can easily maintain attribute and archive settings that normal xcopy or explorer cut and paste commands may reset.
The Xcopy32 command is much more responsive than explorer for large file sets of over 1000+ files which can choke explorer for some time on older (and some newer) systems and even freeze some systems when transferring several thousand files at a crack.
If you are copying an entire drive explorer will blow up or terminate when it gets to in use files (like the memory swap file). The /c command switch lets xcopy32 keep on rolling. This is especially useful for cloning drives.
I suppose you can accomplish the same things with explorer but it often more tedious and time consuming. It’s not life or death vs explorer it’s just a useful utility.
source Specifies the file(s) to copy.
destination Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
/A Copies files with the archive attribute set,
doesn’t change the attribute.
/M Copies files with the archive attribute set,
turns off the archive attribute.
/D:date Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
If no date is given, copies only those files whose
source time is newer than the destination time.
/P Prompts you before creating each destination file.
/S Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
/E Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
/W Prompts you to press a key before copying.
/C Continues copying even if errors occur.
/I If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
assumes that destination must be a directory.
/Q Does not display file names while copying.
/F Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
/L Displays files that would be copied.
/H Copies hidden and system files also.
/R Overwrites read-only files.
/T Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
empty directories and subdirectories.
/U Updates the files that already exist in destination.
/K Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
/Y Overwrites existing files without prompting.
/-Y Prompts you before overwriting existing files.
/N Copy using the generated short names.
Astro, yes I am aware. I did look again carefully at the information about Xcopy with switches and all but I could not think it would do anything special that windows explorer wasn’t doing.
We are only talking about a very small number of files. Dunno, it seems to me when I start the game it asks for the CDrom directly even though I changed that path in the registry. How does it know the CDrom drive is E: and not D: or F:? (I know you don’t have an answer, it is just rehtorical)
Anyway, it is past my bedtime. I should get some sleep and continue tomorrow.
W98 doesn’t need the config.sys or autoexec.bat files. As a matter of fact, if you rename those, W98 works just perfectly well. If you use the DOS prompt, though, you do need them.