Client program overrides most Windows based programs and will not uninstall

[dawnburton]

I had an old version of Filezilla (2.1.12?) and used the menu Help/Check For Updates to upgrade :-

1) This downloaded FileZilla_3.2.7-rc3_win32-setup.exe from sourceforge.
2) I uninstalled the old version using the uninstall option in the program folder.
3) I ran the new .exe file to install.
4) Running this new version said that there was a later version to install, so downloaded this. This was a file called FileZilla_3.2.7_win32-setup.exe.
5) Trying to install this however, fails. Running any Filezilla exe file now just starts Filezilla itself. This includes the uninstall program (from the program folder or directly from the file).
6) I now cannot run several programs, as Filezilla client starts in the place of them. An initial list (but not exhaustive) is below :-
Run/cmd (DOS command line window)
Control panel/Add/remove programs
Notepad
Windows Media Player
Calculator
7) Some programs start alongside Filezilla, eg Firefox.
8) The only program (so far) that runs alone is Microsoft Outlook.

I have a logfile at debug level 3, but it is empty as no processes have been carried out within Filezilla itself.

I notice that a download from filezilla-project.org now downloads from cloudfront.net.

Please, is there a patch for this?

[codesquid]

Does the problem persist over reboots?

I don't think that the problem caused by FileZilla or its installer. With hundreds of thousands users running 3.2.7 some more would have reported this issue already if it would be caused by FileZilla.

Most likely the problem is caused by some other program already on your computer or some other preexisting condition. Installing FileZilla merely triggered the problem.

Essentially there are only two categories of programs known to interfere with program startup in such a fundamental way, virus scanners and malware.

I notice that a download from filezilla-project.org now downloads from cloudfront.net.

That's normal. cloudfront.net belongs to Amazon as part of their S3 and cloudcomputing services. These services are being used by ohloh.net for their mirror services. Ohloh is one of the mirrors used to distribute FileZilla.

[dawnburton]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes it does occur after reboot (filezilla itself opens 27 times in place of several programs on startup).

It is worth emphasising too, that the file I downloaded was from sourceforge. Looking back at my Firefox history, the location it was downloaded from is  http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/project/filezilla/FileZilla_Client_Unstable/3.2.7-rc3/FileZilla_3.2.7-rc3_win32-setup.exe.
The worrying thing is that this contains 'Unstable'.....?

Also, I have Norton Anti-virus, which hasn't found anything.

Could you check anything out for the above file?

Thanks.

[codesquid]

Downloaded the file from the above location, it's every bit identical to the one stored in the release archive.

'Unstable' refers to the release cycle, it does not necessarily imply unstable behaviour, only that the release is still work in progress. That particular file is from 3.2.7-rc3, the last release candidate before the final 3.2.7 release.

Which version of Norton AV? What happens if you completely uninstall it?