Well, hit the first wall with Vue 5 (using the gaming box to post this, as the main one is rendering a test animation to check out Mover 5's behavior). I haven't been able to get -any- rendercow to function. It loads textures, starts to render a frame, then throws an access violation. Vue 5 itself seems to render just fine, though. However, I may have at least part of the answer. I use Internet Security 2002. The update access just lapsed, and it has been acting flakey for the past month....ever since Symantec did things to redirect it to other servers, and constantly nag about re-upping the subscription. 2002 in no longer supported, so I wonder if that may be part of the problem. I have MSVC++6 on the main box and all the render boxes, so if that isn't the problem, I have debug files to send to E-on. I'll be yanking IS 2002 out by the short and curlies tomorrow and installing 2005,we'll see if that works. In the meantime, if anyone has a successful run with the Vue 5 cows, let me know. I can't keep my claim as semi-competent network rendermonkey if I can't figure this out.... :P

Do NOT install Symantec security products on your rendering boxes. Ditto McAffee. Bitter experience taught me that they might screw up networking and some graphics processes as well as the whole OS if you try uninstalling them.

After much experimentation, I settled for Outpost Pro (firewall) from www.agnitum.com and AVG (anti-virus) from www.grisoft.com.

Neither of these products is intrusive to the OS nor do they eat into systems resources unduly. Both can be shut down temporarily or removed permanently without screwing the Registry. Ideal for "disconnected from the Internet" rendering.

Cost of ownership is cheaper too. :-)

Message edited on: 10/07/2004 04:38

Has anyone out there had any experience with Panda Antivirus software? I've heard good things about it and I'm thinking of switching. I currently use Zone Alarm, which I need to buy an update and Norton AV (which is great, BUT it's the biggest resources hog I've ever run into). I looked at Panda some time ago and it seemed pretty neat. Plus the $19.00 price tag for both the AV and firewall software is appealing.

If you can get both Panda's products for $19 then take it as list price for Panda Platinum 7 is $70 including one year's support.

Pnada 7 uses less resoureces than Symantec and is very effective in operation but runs in "paranoid mode" so you might need to scale back its default settings.

I know one small company that switched from Symantec to Panda 7 and loved it.

Message edited on: 10/07/2004 08:05

After 45 minutes of swearing, I =finally= found the magic formula that let me uninstall 2002. It ain't easy. Now the main box is running WinDoctor to clean up the debris. Just for the proverbial shits and grins, the 2005 is going to go on, just to see if there is some specific windows update that will enable the Rendercow; I've noticed that things with Vue are better behaved if your system is configured as if it were a development system, with all the latest runtimes in it (which tends to be a consistent programmer habit... :P ). If that does it, I'll see if I can find out which specific update is needed. If not, then I'm probably going to axe the Win2k install and start over, just to make sure that there is no Symantec junk anywhere. The floor is now open for recommendation for software firewall, AV, ad blocking, etc. (Hoping that E-on pops up with a 'we goofed on the release files' again before I rebuild the system yet again)

I have been using AVG(Grisoft) virus scan free addition software for 5 years with zonealarm and have never had a problem with software programs. It is not a resource hog as other virus scans and it does the job for me. I am also behind a hardware firewall(linksys router) which helps a lot. :)

Bought Panda a few years ago. Never got it working. The support people had "a bad day" for a month and had the attitude: "Well, old lady if you just plug in the electricity in the correct outlet you'll be ok". Maybe he was right.... :oP

So, I bought Internet security 2002. Don't have it running on my render machines though.

I dumped the Symantec Firewall, earlier this year, after using if for a number of years. It did its job quite well, never had an intrustion...but it was a heck of a hog and with each subsuquent update I began to have more and more problems with Win2k Pro.

I now use Agnitum Outpost Pro and have been quite pleased with its performance. The best part is that all the unusual software problems I been having when I had NIS installed have now disappeared.

Like BigGreenFurryThing mentioned, you can not completely unload the NIS or NAV process. You can stop current activity but if you look at running tasks you will see that NIS and NAV are still very much alive and eating up resources. With Outpost you can kill the process completely.

My next step is to get rid of NAV. The Symantec products have become registery gloats and for me, they seem to make the OS a bit unstable.

edit : I do not know much about this DEB, "disable extended bit" that is all the rave with Intel, but I do understand that it is causing some problems with XP-sp2 and the Intel processors that employ DEB. If someone knows more about this please enlighten us all. :)

Message edited on: 10/07/2004 18:32

Thank Geebus for a Linksys router with built in Firewall! Symantic has more gotcha's to systems and system resources than a barrel of untrained gremlins!

Attached Link: http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/14/93/149307_149307.pdf

SteveJax, a firewall router only protects the network from outside threats. It won't protect your PC from nasties on the inside downloaded onto your box via protocols allowed through your router i.e. http = traffic from web browsing. I strongly urge you to get a software firewall too. The best it might do is protect you from malware. The least it will do is tell you how many legitimate programs are "dialling home". Outpost Pro or ZoneAlarm will do the job.

BigGreenFurryThing ... thanks for the link. I will take a look, I have enough geek in me that I might just maybe understand it. :) I had mentioned it because of the problem that Dale_B was having. Some folks were having problems installing and running programs because of this new technology. I believe those being affected had XP sp 2 and a later Intel processor. thanks

Heard back from tech support; This is not a feature, it is a bug. They were able to reproduce it, and are seeing what went sproing. And hope to have the fix soon (time to plan tests, heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeeeeee.....). Yah, hardware firewalls and NAT enabled routers are =niiiiiice= (I use Netgear myself; the latest one with the 802.11g connectivity). Went ahead and put the 2005 onto the system, at least until I get my research done and decide what I want to dump it for. Having found the magic formula to make it go away, I'm not afraid of it anymore. Much. And that extra layer of safety involved in maintaining a software firewall is ever so worth it.

Hmmmmm .. so the cows are on strike! :) What are the specifics of this bug ?

I have Spyware Blaster, Adaware 6, AVG Anti Virus just to name a few and 15 years experience in PC Maintenance and repairs. I think I've got it covered BGFT

Message edited on: 10/08/2004 17:32

Simply put, they don't work. They initialize and run idle just fine. When called, they talk back and take the textures and scene files just fine; but before you get the 'receiving frame parameters' talk back in the Hypervue status window, the Rendercow throws an access error; (the good old 'Memory at 000000004x[being the most common]cannot be 'read') and disconnects.Vue 5 itself renders fine, and renders fine when it calls Mover 5, so the issue is in the Cows themselves. I guess someone at E-on forgot to warm their hands one morning..... :P