Suddenly Can't Add Books to Calibre

[stumped]

"For example, how do you start Windows in Safe Mode and add programs one-by-one?"

What start in safe mode does it prevent programs from auto starting with windows.
So once you are in safe mode, with working calibre, you can manually start suspect 1, retry add books, manually start suspect 2, retry...
you have 2 suspects. if add books used to work and we know calibre has not updated, then look at the 2 things that you know have recently updated... N & A

I still question why you need them, unless you have very dodgy habits, but you don't want that discussion..[ i used XP for years, without N or A - i survived ]

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by stumped

I still question why you need them, unless you have very dodgy habits, but you don't want that discussion..[ i used XP for years, without N or A - i survived ]

I tend to wonder why people think that running multiple antivirus programs is a good idea. Run Norton or Acronis but not both.

To continue somewhat on topic, from my limited experience with Acronix AV, in expert mode, you can find an exclusions tab in the antivirus settings.

[BetterRed]

FWIW: I run two, Defender and MalwareBytes - but, MWB is specifically designed to run alongside other AVs. I exclude nothing from either, and both have detected 'malware' that the other one hasn't. But that's not an option on XP.

BR

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

FWIW: I run two, Defender and MalwareBytes - but, MWB is specifically designed to run alongside other AVs. I exclude nothing from either, and both have detected 'malware' that the other one hasn't. But that's not an option on XP.

BR

I'm also using MalwareBytes but I simply run it once or twice a week to clean up some of the junk that is not picked up by my full time AV.

Edit: Actually, I do use another antivirus/malware solution but that is a PaloAlto VM firewall so it covers all the devices on the private side of my network.

As the old IT saying goes: I know I'm paranoid, I just don't know if I am paranoid enough.

[abradaxis]

To my would-be helpers. Thank you for your continued efforts on my behalf. I've been away for the past few weeks, so I apologize for my tardy response. I am now convinced that it is either Acronis or Norton. In my reading of all my Norton settings, I can only delay Smart Firewall and Auto Protect, but I cannot find a list of specific files to remove from quarantine. Shutting off the Firewall and Auto Protect will not solve my problem with adding books to Calibre. I get the same error. Also, I cannot find specific files to eliminate from quarantine or ignore in Acronis. But I am sure I have nothing corrupted in Calibre. I added three books to Calibre in Safe Mode, no problem! I like the idea of starting in Safe Mode and adding items one at a time, but honestly I do not know how to do this! Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I have Norton and Acronis both configured the same as I do on my wife's machine, and there is no problem there adding to Calibre (same version and configuration in her Calibre as in mine). Again, thanks for the help, and any continuing suggestions greatly appreciated.

[BetterRed]

If these two statements are true:

• your wife's computer runs XP, and the same versions/configurations of Nortons, Acronis, and Calibre
• you can add books to a calibre library on your wife's computer?

Then the cause of the problem on your computer is probably NOT related to Nortons or Acronis - but something else that runs at startup on your computer but not on your wife's computer.

Piriform's CCleaner has utility tool that provides a user friendly UI for managing taskup tasks, I would use it to see what I had, and use its disable/enable feature to isolate the problem - you'll need to do restarts but on XP especially that should easier than going in and out of Safe Mode. Get the Free version See ==>> https://www.ccleaner.com

BR

[SteeveVee]

Thanks for the info that led to my solution to this problem. I use Win 10. I recently switched on the included Ransomware protected folder option in the Win 10 settings. I went back to the Ransomware settings: Settings>Update and Security>Windows Security>Virus & Threat Protection>Manage Ransomware Protection>Allow an App through Controlled Folder Access>Add an Allowed App>Recently Blocked Apps. At this point calibre.exe and calibre-parallel.exe were shown. I added them, and can now add ebooks again. You can also exclude whole folders from MS Ramsomware protection, but I want to keep as much protection as possible without interfering with my programs.
-I hope this helps.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by SteeveVee

Thanks for the info that led to my solution to this problem. I use Win 10. I recently switched on the included Ransomware protected folder option in the Win 10 settings. I went back to the Ransomware settings: Settings>Update and Security>Windows Security>Virus & Threat Protection>Manage Ransomware Protection>Allow an App through Controlled Folder Access>Add an Allowed App>Recently Blocked Apps. At this point calibre.exe and calibre-parallel.exe were shown. I added them, and can now add ebooks again. You can also exclude whole folders from MS Ramsomware protection, but I want to keep as much protection as possible without interfering with my programs.
-I hope this helps.

That would suggest that your calibre install is old enough that calibre's libraries were stored in subdirectories of your Documents directory. Moving the libraries outside the Documents directory will help prevent this issue from recurring in the future. I copied the directory structure from the original calibre directory to my new calibre directory and then moved the libraries to their new locations.

For me, the path for the base calibre library directory changed from C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Calibre to C:\Users\<user name>\Calibre.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

If these two statements are true:

• your wife's computer runs XP, and the same versions/configurations of Nortons, Acronis, and Calibre
• you can add books to a calibre library on your wife's computer?

Then the cause of the problem on your computer is probably NOT related to Nortons or Acronis - but something else that runs at startup on your computer but not on your wife's computer.

Piriform's CCleaner has utility tool that provides a user friendly UI for managing taskup tasks, I would use it to see what I had, and use its disable/enable feature to isolate the problem - you'll need to do restarts but on XP especially that should easier than going in and out of Safe Mode. Get the Free version See ==>> https://www.ccleaner.com

BR

i agree with that diagnosis
you could simply eyeball the list of installed programs on both machines and play spot the difference- if you can''t immediately think of what is installed only on one of them.
not so sure about the ccleaner recommendation - it used to be great, then was sold and all sorts of shady behaviour kicked in. So you wold need an older pre-sale version and one that works on XP
try here https://www.oldapps.com/ccleaner.php?system=Windows_XP


and for background: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-u...eaner-windows/

[abradaxis]

Please excuse not getting back to all of you earlier. Work! I do appreciate everyone's help. So here is where I am now: I can add books in Safe Mode, so I am sorely tempted to just leave the problem unsolved and just add books every time it's needed using Safe Mode, although this is a cop out. I would go for the suggestion to eliminate programs in the Start Menu one at a time, but I am confused that I can't locate a simple way to get a list of programs that I can eliminate one at a time. Can anyone point to a good web page that will explain this to me. If so, I will pursue the problem so that the solution might be useful to someone after me. Thanks.

[BetterRed]

How-To Disable Startup Programs In Windows 7 and Vista

My understanding is that the glitch with CCleaner was a result of the actions of a Piriform employee who objected to the owners of Piriform selling their company to Avast.

BR

[stumped]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

How-To Disable Startup Programs In Windows 7 and Vista

My understanding is that the glitch with CCleaner was a result of the actions of a Piriform employee who objected to the owners of Piriform selling their company to Avast.

BR

the OP uses XP, and my XP is very rusty
i know how to see what runs at start up and to see what my installed programs are in W10, but in xp you don't do it in task manager, you get at and use some msconfig function?. i don't want to give confusing advice

using an old, safe, version of ccleaner may be easier for him?
from memory it has a tab which shows what runs at start up and another tab ( for removing programs) that show what is installed ?

[BetterRed]

@stumped - did you click the link, it includes how to do it with MS Config & CCleaner - guess I should have edited the page title.

BR

[stumped]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@stumped - did you click the link, ...
BR

i confess that I didn't.

in my defence, I'm not the one who's stuck

i just happened to remember that this is an XP issue

the way I'd tackle it though... start in safe mode, which OP says works
then manually start Norton, go back to calibre and try to add a book
if that fails you have the culprit, if not then
start acronis.... ditto...
and keep going though all the programs that are normally used

use ccleaner to see a complete list of start up programs instead if all that does not help

[BetterRed]

I can recall that getting into XP Safe Mode was a PITA.

I would disable all startup tasks and do a normal restart - if I can add books the culprit is a startup task, if not rinse and repeat with Scheduled tasks..., if not rinse and repeat with Shell extensions..., if not rinse and repeat with 3rd party Services..., if not

Once you've identified the group do a binary chop. I've seen people to spend days trying to guess the cause of a problem, which they would have solved in an hour if they'd tackled the problem methodically.

BR