AVG 8.5 Still Troublesome

AVG's tech support got back to me with steps to take to try and get around why Cisco VPN client wouldn't run under the newly-upgraded AVG 8.5. Some of them ("try turning the firewall off") I'd done already, but I dutifully went through the entire checklist. Nothing worked. I then downloaded the diagnostic program they sent me, ran it, and it sent whatever it wanted to collect back to AVG for further consideration.

Then I used Windows System Restore to roll the computer back to early Thursday before I installed 8.5. That got 8.5 off the system, but now 7.5 wouldn't initialize. At that point, I had no anti-virus/firewall software at all, so I gave VPN a try, and it worked. I shut that off and reinstalled 7.5 from backups. After it installed, configured, and loaded the latest patches and definition upgrades -- I went to have breakfast while it considered all that -- I launched VPN again, and it connected properly.

Despite the fact that AVG's tech support people say that if none of the steps they suggest work, the problem isn't their software, I should think that this experiment, with the only variable being 7.5/8.5 versions of their software, would be pretty persuasive that there is some significant negative interaction between their new program and my VPN software.

Hugo Handicapping & More

Chris Garcia's extensive Handicapping the Hugos issue of The Drink Tank is now out, and I encourage anyone with a serious interest in the Hugo Awards to read it. Besides Chris' analysis, the issue also has Cheryl Morgan reporting from the land of Science Fiction where the BBC World News is reporting the returns on the Hugo nominations. I laughed out loud when I read it, and I hope y'all will enjoy it, too.