STILL ABOUT CONVERSION TO WINDOWS 7

If you remember, on October 31st I published a post concerning the conversion to Windows 7:

"Windows 7 report; how I managed to do the conversion from Windows Vista".

This post covered my tribulations when upgrading my laptop to Windows 7 from the then installed Windows Vista. I also mentioned that I was planning, (at a later date), to do the same in my main PC "Super Computer".

Well I did it the day after Christmas, Saturday December 26. Initially, it was no big deal, in as much as I had the previous experience in doing the same with my laptop.

Of course I ran the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisory Report" program which I downloaded from Microsoft.com web page, prior to start the conversion steps. This report advised that I should un-instal certain programs such as "ATI Catalyst Install Manager", update a couple of drivers for other programs etc.

I did all that religiously, (I advise you all to do the same, meaning: follow what the report recommends you to do before you start the conversion).

After I inserted the Windows 7 disk in the computer it took a couple of hours for the conversion to take place . I went and had dinner, watched the news on TV etc. and finally went back to my office to check the computer.

It was done! the new Windows 7 desktop was glistening and I was very very happy, saying to myself how easy it had been.

Until... I tried to open a few utility programs such as "Disk Keeper", "Registry Mechanic" and others. No dice! instead of having the programs open, all I got was a message as follows:

"Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source".

Well, first of all I was absolutely sure there were no "malicious software" programs in my computer before the conversion, therefore the problem could not have been caused by such.

Also, the programs I tried to open as mentioned above, were reported as compatible in the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisory Report" not to mention that they are installed in my laptop and no problem such as this had happened when I did the same conversion.

I scratched my head in desperation... then I tried to re-install the software I had un-installed prior to the conversion such as the "ATI Catalyst Install Manager", no dice, the same message showed up again:


"Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source".

I was so frustrated that I decided to go to bed, (it was almost midnight by then!).
"Maybe tomorrow morning I may be able to think clearer and come up with a solution..." I though to myself.

Sunday morning, (yesterday), I got back to the task of getting my computer to work right. Please note that except for the utility programs and re-installation of some software, all other programs worked OK, giving me no problems whatsoever!

I thought it over and, (in a moment of inspiration), decided to restart the computer in safe mode and try to run the programs that gave me trouble, as well as re-installing "ATI Catalyst Install Manager".

Can you guess what happened? all went well, all the programs opened and "ATI Catalyst Install Manager", was re-installed immediately!

Now , what this means is that somehow, during the upgrade process some crazy file was screwed up in the registry, causing all these problems, there was no other explanation. Still, would I have the same problems once I started the computer normally?

No! when I restarted the computer under normal conditions again, everything worked fine and my computer is now working beautifully under Windows 7.

Why did this happen? I had to find out, therefore I called Microsoft support
(800-936-5700) and managed to talk to somebody in India, (by the way a very nice lady), who explained that probably by starting the computer in safe mode, opening the programs and then restarting the computer under normal conditions, I had "refreshed the registry" ??? and solved the problem.

Folks, this is still a mystery to me, but the main thing is the problem was solved.

I decided to post this experience, just in case you guys and girls come through the same annoying experience during your conversion to Windows 7.

Your comments to the above story will be very much welcome.

George Freire