Problems with Catalyst Control and Windows Gadgets
My son's Windows 7 laptop was working fine then had multiple problems seemingly all at once. I suspect they are all related, but I have been unable to find a solution(s). It started with the windows Gadgets not starting and a "settings.ini is being used by another application" error. Using clean boots I discovered it is the Windows Gadgets program that was causing that error, but I don't know how to fix it. Additionally, he is getting an error that says "Catalyst Control Centre: Host application has stopped running. Windows is searching for a solution." The Internet is unbelievably slow - 10 minutes or more to load a page. I am guessing that this is related to the Catalyst Control Centre and the graphics card. IUserBar Cumstomized Web Search toolbar has somehow found its way onto the computer, maybe the same day the problems started. This appears to be a dreadful little thing. It is listed as "not available" but yet I get an error message when IE starts that something has corrupted the default search engine. I cannot find any way to either start or uninstall this toolbar and it doesn't appear in the uninstall programs pane. Finally, the system restore is not working correctly. When these problems first occurred I went to do a system restore, but there were no restore points. It now seems to be making one restore point a day, but only the one each day is available. Even when I check the "show more restore points" box, I just get one. Just for interest, in case some wise person here knows exactly what has happened to this computer, the webcam stopped working the same day, and a few Norton things (Online Backup and Download Manager) caused errors. I just turned the Norton things off and figured I would get to them when I get the other things fixed. But I mention them just in case they are related. Norton Virus Scan and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware both come up clean. I would so appreciate help with this computer-salad of problems!
July 14th, 2010 8:05am

Somone had a similar complaint right here: http://www.win7heads.com/windows-7-miscellaneous/91574-problems-catalyst-control-windows-gadgets.html. Try to manualy delete the IUserBar from where it resides. Search the computer for Iuser and the registry for iuser related items.
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July 14th, 2010 9:31am

Hi DenverFan, You may want to create an Administrator account for you, password protected and change the son's to a standard user account. This will prevent the installation of unwanted programs and allow you monitor his actions. Then you will know which installations caused the problem. Now for the salad...some answer dressing If you have an active subscription for a Norton product, visit the symantec\norton website and update to the latest version for Windows 7. Then remove any other security software such as Malwarebytes. You don't don't really need a belt and suspenders to hold up yoor pants. There can be confilcts between the applications which will reduce performance. The Norton updates are free to subscribers and definitely improve the performance over previous versions. Norton may have control of the restore points. Check the options from the Norton control panel. The Iuserbar can be removed from IE8 by right clicking the toolbar area and checking the command bar. Then select, tools, manage add-ons, find the Iuser bar and disable it. Also check Start,Control Panel,Programs, Uninstall a Program and remove it. If you are using Safari, down arrow left side of toolbar, Toolbar Options, Additional Settings, uninstall toolbar. The application reside in a folder named Conduit. Finally, click Start, type device in the search box and select device manager from the results. Select display adapter to expand, right-click the display adapter and select properties. There you can identify the driver version. As it is a laptop, it may be best to get the latest driver from the manufacturer's support website. Selecting rollback driver may be the quickest solution. You can also check at http://www.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx at the top right, for the latest catalyst\driver package there. The webcam could be affected by another fun application or something packaged in a iTunes or iPhone application. You can uninstall it from device manager, then right-click computer, scan for hardware changes while in the device manager and reinstall it. Please post back with your results. Good Luck!
July 14th, 2010 2:32pm

Hi, As there are several issues occurring, I recommend to back up all the important files to avoid data loss and reinstall Windows 7 to fix the issues efficiently. After that, please take the steps which Nano Warp posted to protect the computer. However, if you still would like to work on the issues, I suggest to discuss the Windows Gadgets issue in this thread to avoid the confusion. For the other issues, please separate new threads. First, please run MSCONFIG to check if the sidebar.exe entry is added under Startup tab and go to check if the sidebar.exe entry is added under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] If it does not work, please copy ATL.DLL from to C:\Windows\System32 to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar folder and run the following commands with elevated privilege: CD\ CD "\Program Files\Windows Sidebar" REGSVR32 ATL.DLL REGSVR32 SBDROP.DLL REGSVR32 WLSRVC.DLL If the issue persists, you can try the following steps to reset the Sidebar. The following steps will remove all downloaded gadgets. Show Hidden File ------------------- 1. Click Start and click Control Panel. 2. Choose Folder Options. 3. Click View tab, choose Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide Protected Operating System Files and Folders box, click Apply and click OK. Delete Sidebar file --------------------- 1. Click Start -> Computer 2. Go to C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar (where <user name> is your current user account name). 3. Open Settings.ini, press CTRL+A (select all) and press delete. The file is now empty. Save the file. 4. Browse into the Gadgets directory. 5. Select CTRL+A (select all) and delete them. After that, please test your issue again. Regards, Sabrina
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July 16th, 2010 11:19am

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