bartch Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Same problem here, it steals focus of my active window and it also steals the ability to access my DVD-rom drive...nice piece of software huh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 It would be helpful to know a few things: What internet security utilities are running on these computers (like Norton Internet Security) Are any firewalls turned on? What happens with all firewalls turned off Any Anti-virus software? Which brands/versions What version of Windows/Service Packs are you running How much RAM What speed computers We can use this info to try and reproduce the reported problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 I experience the "losing focus" problem on two computers, one with Windows 2000 Pro and one with Windows XP Pro. Quote: What internet security utilities are running on these computers (like Norton Internet Security) My 2000 system has none installed. My XP system has Norton Internet Securty installed but disabled, with only Norton Anti Virus running. Quote: Are any firewalls turned on? What happens with all firewalls turned off No firewalls. On my 2000 system, none are installed. Of course XP comes with a built-in firewall but I have it disabled. Quote: Any Anti-virus software? Which brands/versions The Windows 2000 system has no Anti-virus software. The Windows XP system has Norton Internet Security 2005 ver 8.2.0.34 (disabled) with Norton Anti Virus version 11.5.9.1 (kept current with Live Update). Quote: What version of Windows/Service Packs are you running Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.00.2195 Service Pack 4 Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1.2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.0702272254 Service Pack 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 The problem happens every few minutes during my normal working day, when Retrospect's main GUI window is closed but Retrospect is running in the background with just a red square in the system tray. (The problem is that whatever application I'm running suddenly loses its window focus--its title bar turns from blue to gray--so that my keystrokes don't go to that application any more.) Normally if I hold the Alt key and tap the Tab key, Windows pops up a menu of the icons of my active applications. Retrospect's red cube does not appear among them, and I wouldn't expect it to. However, if I do this within the first second after my application window loses its focus, the popup includes Retrospect's red cube as its first icon. This suggests that Retrospect has taken the focus. If I wait a second or two before hitting Alt-Tab, the red cube icon is no longer on the popup. I'm using Retrospect Express HD 2.0.214. On 3/6/07 above, mktstrategy reported that this problem doesn't occur with 2.0.144. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Is this happening during scheduled times of execution? If you open the Retrospect interface when this happens, do you see any info like "maintenance in progress"? If you disconnect the backup drives when this happens, does the problem go away? Which Retrospect processes are running in the task manager when this happens? Do you do any backups of network shares? How much free space is on the C: disk and the backup disks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Robin, thank you for working with me on this. Quote: Is this happening during scheduled times of execution? My only scheduled time of execution is during the middle of the night, but the focus is stolen every few minutes all day long. Quote: If you open the Retrospect interface when this happens, do you see any info like "maintenance in progress"? When my focus is stolen, the red cube is only on the Alt-Tab menu for a second or so. Selecting it doesn't open the main GUI. In the few seconds it takes me to open the GUI by double-clicking the red square in the system tray, the devil which stole my focus has already completed. The GUI then opens in its usual resting state, showing "Retrospect Express will back up..." and the link "Back up now." Quote: If you disconnect the backup drives when this happens, does the problem go away? I wouldn't have time to disconnect the backup drive during the second from when the focus is stolen until the devil which stole it finishes. Later today I will try working with Retrospect Express HD active but the backup drive disconnected, to see if the focus is still stolen, and I'll post my results. Quote: Which Retrospect processes are running in the task manager when this happens? There are nearly a hundred processes in my task manager. How would I know which of them belong to Retrospect Express? During my normal operation, my task list includes RetroExpress.ex, retrorun.exe, and Retrospect.exe (these are the only ones beginning with "ret"). I wouldn't have time, during the second or so that the task-stealing devil is doing its thing, to open Task Manager and look for any additions to the list. I'm fast, but not that fast. Quote: Do you do any backups of network shares? No. I have network shares active, but Retrospect Express HD is only configured to back up files on C:. Quote: How much free space is on the C: disk and the backup disks? On the Windows 2000 desktop, C: has 22 GB free, and the backup disk G: has 113 GB free. On the Windows XP laptop C: has 1 GB free today* and over 100 GB free on its backup disk. *The problem has been around since I had over 15 GB free on its C: drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Quote: Later today I will try working with Retrospect Express HD active but the backup drive disconnected, to see if the focus is still stolen, and I'll post my results. With Retrospect running (in the background), the focus is still stolen even if my backup drive is disconnected. I quit Retrospect, had Windows dismount the external backup drive, physically powered it off, then restarted Retrospect Express HD 2.0.214. I closed the main GUI window, leaving only the red square in the tray. I left an open text editor window with the Windows focus and walked away from my machine for about 15 minutes. When I returned, it had lost its focus. I also noticed that the screen saver, set to start after 9 minues of inactivity, had not activated. The focus is not stolen if Retrospect is not running (at all) Next, I right-clicked on the red square in the tray and chose 'Exit' to terminate the Retrospect background process, then left my computer for a similar length of time. When I returned, the screen saver had started as it should, and (upon clearing that) my text editor still had the focus as it should. The combination of these two tests clearly put the blame on the Retrospect Express HD 2.0.214 background task, for both the screen saver failure and the loss of window focus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Just to be clear, the problem still happens even when the Retrospect Interface is opened but behind your text editor or other program? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Quote: Just to be clear, the problem still happens even when the Retrospect Interface is opened but behind your text editor or other program? Until you asked, I hadn't tested it with the Retrospect GUI open. Usually I keep the GUI closed and leave only the background part running in the system tray. But since you asked, I tested it both ways. The problem does not occur with the Retrospect GUI open. I opened the Retrospect GUI and then my text editor in front of it. The text editor kept the focus the nine minutes until my screen saver took over. When I restored the screen by moving the mouse, the text editor still had the focus. The problem does occur with the Retrospect GUI closed but the background part running. Next I closed the GUI, leaving only the background part running (red square in the system tray). Within four or five minutes, the text editor had lost its focus. I clicked on it to restore its focus, but it lost it again in two or three minutes. The problem does not occur if Retrospect is not running at all. I right-clicked on the Retrospect red square in the tray and chose "Exit" after which my text editor again kept its focus. Note that in these examples I am using my text editor (TextPad) as just an example. Any Windows application, e.g. a web browser or even a command-prompt window, will lose its focus in several minutes if the Retrospect HD 2.0.214 background task is running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjens Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Windows XP Pro SP2 (all updates applied). Windows firewall. Symantec AV 10.1.5.5000 Pentium 4 3.4GHz & 1GB RAM Office 2007 (but I think it also happenned with Office 2003) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartch Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 my system: xp pro sp2 dual Xeon 3.0Ghz 2 Gb Ram 24 GB free on C drive and lots of GB's free space on rest of system (120Gb on D en 200 on E) Virusscanner : nod32 I use retrospect with Mionet to backup to a Network Drive (NAS) firewall: only a "hardware firewall" in my smc-router, windows firewall is disabled. The focus-stealing is always happening, not only when Retrospact is backing up, but also if it sits in the system-tray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 We have reproduced the problem and a bug has been written for the loosing focus problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Quote: We have reproduced the problem and a bug has been written for the loosing focus problem. Hurray! Hurray! Would you please post back here when the bug is resolved and a repaired version of Retrospect Express HD is available for download? Thank you for working with me to track down this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olamoree Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Right, we just don't matter... but I just got this EMC Retro HD 214 screwed into a WD MyBook ext 500 gigger. Yes, "lose focus" means that something beyond your control has interfered with what you are doing ...and sure enough, it is RETROSPECT.EXE CALLING HOME! And it happens every 5 minutes! Now why would EMC want to hear from my hard drive? What is it reporting? And most importantly, WHY? Me, I am going to TRY to uninstall it and dump it in the trash, why? Noisy, calls home, interfers with my life and my experience says that those that like to call home are HARD to get rid of... will let you know of my success (or failure)... at least ZoneAlarm is able to block it, BUT, it is the gesture of wanting to call home that causes me to LOSE FOCUS and have to REFOCUS, just because EMC wants to know what I am doing? Get real!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Retrospect NEVER calls home. That would be against our privacy policy. http://kb.dantz.com/article.asp?article=7927&p=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmayonew Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I am glad I stumbled onto this thread. I am experiencing the loss of focus issue also. Did not realize it was Retro HD. I have two other issues. I wonder if they are related. 1> I have Retro HD set to auto copy every night. Every morning I get the same error message. Problems were detected during each of the last 7 backups. Click here for more information.... When I "click here", the bubble closes but nothing else happens. 2> Other programs will mysteriously quit. example, I have an answering machine program that has worked for years. Now it will quit , on its own. I also experience this with FireFox. I will be on the web, using the FireFox browser and it just disappears. From the lack of response to this post, it looks like I should dump Retro and look for another solution. Thanks to all posters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Quote: 1> I have Retro HD set to auto copy every night. Every morning I get the same error message. Problems were detected during each of the last 7 backups. Click here for more information.... When I "click here", the bubble closes but nothing else happens. Here's what you need to do to view the error messages associated with a particular backup: 1. On the main window, click Restore 2. On the list of restore points, select the one you're interested in (the most recent one should already be selected) 3. Above the list there are three icons, the center one looks like a finger pointing to a text screen. Click there. Quote: 2> Other programs will mysteriously quit. example, I have an answering machine program that has worked for years. Now it will quit , on its own. I also experience this with FireFox. I will be on the web, using the FireFox browser and it just disappears. I haven't had this problem. My other applications don't mysteriously quit, they just lose focus, but I can alt-tab back to them. Does this "mysterious quit" persist if you completely quite Retrospect Express HD? By this I mean not only close the user-interface window but also right-click on the red square in the system try and click "Exit". - Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianoconnell Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 I've signed up to the forum today in the hope I'd be able to find a solution to this issue. I've been experiencing the same problem. Though Mayoff, one of the mods, indicates that EMC are aware of the issue and are working on a fix, does anyone here have any experience of their likely response time in dealing with such an issue? There seems to be quite a negative attitude towards EMC tech support in many of the threads on this forum. In the meantime, I think I'll try to find a download of version 2.0.144 somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianoconnell Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 I don't seem to be able to find 2.0.144 for download. (I purchased 2.0.214 -- version 1.0 came with my Maxtor One Touch II -- because I was having trouble with version 1.1 failing to work after a motherboard, processor, memory and video card upgrade.) For the moment, then, I've decided to make do with disabling Retrospect in the Startup tab of msconfig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Version 2.0.144 does not exist. 2.0.214 is the latest version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamara Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 I am having a very similar problem with Retrospect Express HD. i receive an error message: serious error assertion failure at "tbuffer.cpp-373" A log of this error has been written to the file "assert_log.utx When I click to begin update is is stuck on updating status... Do you know how i can fix this? I have sent 2 e-mails and no response for 3 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwe Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: Version 2.0.144 does not exist. 2.0.214 is the latest version. I bought Retrospect HD at Fry's a few months back, and got 2.0.144. I've been desperately seeking an upgrade today and can't find 2.0.214 on the EMC site. I'll post separately about the problems I'm having, but 2.0.144 is a legitimate version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Quote: I bought Retrospect HD at Fry's a few months back, and got 2.0.144. I've been desperately seeking an upgrade today and can't find 2.0.214 on the EMC site. I'll post separately about the problems I'm having, but 2.0.144 is a legitimate version. I don't know about upgrading from 2.0.144 to 2.0.214, but here are a couple of possilby relevant issues: You can buy 2.0.214 outright for $49.95 from Smith Micro (via download). To do this, see EMC's webpage about Retrospect Express HD and click on the "Buy" link in the right column. (Do not click on the "Buy" link above the blue bar... it goes someplace different and useless.) Users of a Maxtor hard drive that came bundled with Retrospect Express HD 1.0 can upgrade to 2.0.214 for $19.95 here I hope this helps. - Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcullinan Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 I haven't really noticed any loss of focus but I have been experiencing the same issue as tmayonew about it saying "Problems were detected during each of the last 7 backups" EVERY morning. I have it setup to copy specific files every night at 3am. I get this same message popping from the task bar icon. When I click the 'click here for more information' link either: 1) nothing happens or 2) if it does launch retrospect and i go to the latest restore point (i did do one restore point before I decided straight copies might be better than relying on a 3rd party software to recover my precious data). when i click the log icon it displays the restore log... no real clues on what the "problem" is... it appears everything excuted successfully. When I check my external drive to verify my 3am copies... it all seems to be there, safely backed up. So i just wonder if that one time i made a restore point instead of copies is somehow confusing the program... I have ver 2.0.214 running on XP sp2. I got the software with my two new Western Digital 500gb hard drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richpasco Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 To kcullinan: What does the log file say about the problematic backup? To see it: 1. On the main window, click Restore 2. On the list of restore points, select the one you're interested in (the most recent one should already be selected) 3. Above the list there are three icons, the center one looks like a finger pointing to a text screen. Click there. If it is that one file didn't compare, see also: http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/96944/an/0/page/0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts