Sonic Activation Module being a real pain!

polybear

Hi all,

I'm trying to sort a problem on a Dell desktop with McAfee A/V software.

At startup I keep getting a pop-up box for "Sonic Activation Module". It asks for a Sonic Activation Module disk to be inserted & click "OK". I don't have such a disk, so I click Cancel. It then says it can't find the installation package. Whatever I do with the pop-up boxes I seem to be in an endless loop.

The only way I can get rid of them is to go into Task Manager via Ctrl-Alt-Del and select Sonic (which says it's running) and to click end task.

I've tried using Add/remove programs to remove sonic items (there were two) but could only remove one of them; the second couldn't be removed in this manner (sorry - not sure what reason the pc gave for this!).

I also tried using msconfig to stop Sonic from being loaded at startup. However, the pc wouldn't let me use this option either, saying I needed admin rights (it's a home pc and as far as I am aware I have admin rights - the pc hasn't been password protected for different users etc. in any way). Is this anything to do with McAfee by any chance please? Many thanks.

Brian.

ronben

Try, Start, Run, then type msconfig and locate sonic under the startup tab and untick then click ok, the only thing that I can think of is sonic by sony for my mp3 player.

polybear

ronben wrote: »

Try, Start, Run, then type msconfig and locate sonic under the startup tab and untick then click ok, the only thing that I can think of is sonic by sony for my mp3 player.

Thanks for the reply; I've tried that (I'm familiar with the process since I use it on another pc to disable unrequired items to improve startup speed) but this pc won't let me do it, saying I need "admin rights".

Brian.

ronben

polybear wrote: »

Thanks for the reply; I've tried that (I'm familiar with the process since I use it on another pc to disable unrequired items to improve startup speed) but this pc won't let me do it, saying I need "admin rights".

Brian.

Then make sure you have admin rights from user accounts.

polybear

ronben wrote: »

Then make sure you have admin rights from user accounts.

Hi again,

Yes I made sure this was the case but still it won't let me play!

Brian.

ronben

Is this a Vista or XP or Mac pc?

polybear

ronben wrote: »

Is this a Vista or XP or Mac pc?

It's a recent (<2 years old) Dell with XP SP2 (Media Centre I think).

Brian.

ronben

And if a Dell (yours is) then go here and use the roxio hot fix http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_other&message.id=50728


On this forum they say that msconfig is the way to go http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=249906&forumid=1

And reccomend using the windows cleanup utility http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;290301

polybear

ronben wrote: »

And if a Dell (yours is) then go here and use the roxio hot fix http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_other&message.id=50728


On this forum they say that msconfig is the way to go http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=249906&forumid=1

And reccomend using the windows cleanup utility http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;290301

Hi,

Many thanks - I'll give them I try!:T

Brian.

ronben

polybear wrote: »

Hi,

Many thanks - I'll give them I try!:T

Brian.

Best of luck, it took some digging but it was all I could find.

avantra

Remove Roxio/Sonic and install InfraRecorder which do the same things (it's free for life).