ok you removed Avast then put on MSE once you had MSE on were you able to do the things you could not do before when Avast was on? If you then did a system restore when did you do it to? Because now you may well have a mix of AVAST and MSE. Try using this

Using AppRemover

remove all AV on the pc once all are removed then install fresh which ever one you want to go with.
It sounds more like your connection is dropping if some are downloading fine then some won't. which would also make AVAST not be able to stay connected too.

RC, so glad you're here.

I did the system restore then when Avast still would not stay connected, I uninstalled it completly and THEN installed MSE. I feel confident that MSE is the only AV on here now. I can find not signs of Avast.

Everything seems ok now, I'm making web connections ok but still not downloading right. I just tried to download from Many Books, and the first two downloaded in a flash, then no more would download.

I ran a Speed test earlier but don't know what the results mean in reference to what is good and what's not.

Here's results.
Download: 2.57mbys
upload: .77mbys

I ran several and they were all about the same.

I downloaded and ran the AppRemover but could not find anything that should be removed I don't think

Under the heading "REMOVE SECURITY APPLICATIONS" it listed
SPYWARE BLASTER
MALWARE ANTI-MALWARE
SUPERANTISPYWARE
WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE SAFETY SCANNER ?? I don't know what this is.

There was no Avast OR M. Security Essentials listed. MSE is showing on my bottom task bar, and when I check it, it seems to be fine, everything green and on go.

I checked the second option "Clean up failed uninstall" but there was 0 listed there.

It is 1:12 AM my time so I'm going to turn in, I'll check first thing in the morn.

Thanks

Soungs like you need to download and save Microsoft Security Essentials install program .. then try to uninstall your existing Microsoft Security Essentials... restart your computer before re-installing it.

How much free space is on the drive you are downloading these files to ?

mikie, I have 529GB free on hard drive.

ok my concern was not knowing at what point you did the system restore but if you did not do it after you removed AVAST and then installed MSE you should be ok. I thought it sounded like you had removed AVAST then installed MSE then done the system restore which could have been a problem.

If you are seeing no signs of AVAST that is good you should be ok. As long as MSE seems to be working fine you should be ok there.

I still think it sounds like a connection problem where you are dropping speed or total connection.

I would try a full power down sequence and see if maybe that will help with your connection. Power down everything computers, router, modem. then wait about 5 mins or so and power up in this order, power up modem and let it fully light up then power up the router and let it get fully lit, then power up your computer.

THANKS RC, I will do as you suggested as soon as I get back from a trip to grocery store.

I'll let you know then if there is any improvement.

Can you tell by the speed test results that I posted above if that could be my problem? Will that show the problem if indeed it is a bad connection with the DSL service

I did the power down then power up as you suggested and tried again to download some e-books. No change, same results. I am going to call the service dept. at my dsl provider and see if he can check on anything from that end.

I did call the provider for my DSL and he confirmed that the speed was alright and that there did not seem to be a connection problem. While on the phone with him, he had me try some downloads and told me that if it were a connection problem that the DSL light on my modem would be blinking during download...it was not blinking so he didn't think the connection was a problem.

I also forgot to mention that when I am trying to download an e-book and it gets stuck and won't finish downloading I have to click on stop up on the toolbar.

Then when I do a "back" to go back to the page to choose another book, sometimes the "back" command gets stuck also and if it doesn't get stuck, it is taking 10-15 seconds, where as it is normally done in a flash.

I'm concerned it might be a problem on the delivery service's end. Download link is bad??????

Post the link you're downloading from and the name of the EBook.

zep, here's the link. Any one of the books will give the same results as I have discovered. I have the same problem with another e-book site that I use, Munseys Free Books.

I also tried to download from IE instead of FF but there was no difference.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://manybooks.net/

I just downloaded one from there in epub format and it was done almost as soon as I clicked it but Ihave a very very fast connection but had no problem at all downloading.

Interesting though that it does the same thing in both IE and firefox, I thought maybe it was an add on interfering but not if both have the same problem.

what firewall are you using? and what AV?

Using Windows firewall

AV = Microsoft Security Essentials, recently changed over from Avast after I could not get Avast to work right.

I usually have flash downloads too, that's why I'm stumped over this.

No Idea what's going on here,

Download TFC by OldTimer From here click Here
to your desktop.

Double-click TFC.exe to run it.

Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator

TFC will close all programswhen run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin

* Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process.
* Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two.
* Please let TFC run uninterrupted until it is finished.

Once TFC is finished it should restart your computer. If it does not, please manually restart the computer yourself to ensure a complete cleaning.

Try running TFC in-between downloads just to see if it makes a difference. It's a real simple but effective program and runs from the desktop no install needed. What I want to see if clearing the temp downloaded file of the last failed downloaded file has any effect.

ok zep, I'm waiting for an ESET scan to finish then I'll do your suggestions. (So far ESET has not found anything and it's almost done)

I already have TFC on my computer so it won't take but a few minutes to try your experiment.

ESET scan found nothing

Here's the results of your experiment..interesting and unexpected.

Ran the TFC scan,
went back to site and downloaded 3 books, each one flashing fast. But that didn't last. The next four failed to download but did not just sit and spin, it flashed right to a blank white page with a notice that said /temp/29580-8.txt not found. The next four tries were of different books but had the same results, white page with the same notice but with different numbers.

Ran another TFC scan.
went back to the same books that would not download just minutes earlier. First books, surprise, downloaded in a flash. Then that was it. The next try hung up, had to hit the stop X button, the next try(different book) flashed to white page with same notice except different numbers.

Then I thought I would try the other site that I had had no luck with downloading books earlier in the day, this one is the MUNSEYS site. Well would you believe that all the downloads I tried went through in a flash!!

So the results are mixed. Maybe you can make sense out of it all.

I can't make any sense of it. But I'll google /temp/29580-8.txt not found

Odd if you google 29580-8.txt not found

This link comes up below????????

I'm clueless here so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: 29580-8.txt

that's the book alright. Amazing!

Here's the latest on my saga with downloading and other problems I've been having.

This morn I tried again on the download from the ManyBooks site and had the same results, failure. Then I thought to change the download format from Mobipocket(.mobi) to Kindle(.azw) and eureka! downloads were done in a flash. I don't have any idea why this makes a difference or why I was having all kinds of other problems, but whatever, things seem to be alright now.

Thank you guys again for your help and ideas. I have learned so much from all of you over the years and I think it's very kind of you to share your time and knowledge with us dweebs.

Another thought - I seem to be one of the regulars that ask for help pretty often and I wonder if I may be seen as sort of a pest. If so, someone let me know and I'll try to find answers elsewhere with no hard feelings.

no never think you are a pest! everyone learns as questions are asked and answers are given, we all have to learn some how and each of us is still learning! I do like to try to google because I can find some surprising answers sometimes.

Ask away! Please do.