amibroker

From time to time users face bizarre problems that after hours/days of investigation turn to be caused by 3rd party softwares that modify normal operation of Windows OS and cause troubles. As most problems are caused by badly written antiviruses, we recommend using Microsoft Security Essentials that is known to be OS friendly, working fast and without issues.

Here is a list of 3rd party software that are known to cause problems:

1. Avast Antivirus – specifically it’s Autosandbox feature messes up with operating system and effectively disallows application to write data to the disk. Which means that any of your changes to the data, watch lists, drawings, etc, will not be saved unless you turn off Autosandbox or uninstall Avast. Avast has its “heuristics” all wrong. They use Autosandbox even on legitimate, Microsoft Authenticode digitally signed applications like AmiBroker. Solution: uninstall Avast and install Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

2. Comodo Internet security – the same story as above – their “Sandbox” is messing up with OS and blocks applications from vital activity such as saving files or accessing registry. Their “sandbox” causes files to be stored in wrong places and become inaccessible. Either turn off sandbox or uninstall Comodo and install Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

3. Webroot Secure Anywhere – again it messes up with operating system causing problems with Windows Clipboard, preventing Edit->Paste from working in many applications including the new AFL editor. The solution is to go to Webroot Identity Protection settings and turn OFF Identity Shield. The issue affects many applications and is described in detail on their forum:
https://community.webroot.com/t5/Webroot-SecureAnywhere-Complete/Copy-Paste-Stops-Working-in-some-applications/td-p/21588/page/4

4. AMD Catalyst Software Suite, Desktop Desktop Manager – it may cause problems with saving window positions because it has a feature called “Dialog repositioning” that moves windows by itself somewhere else. AMD of course knows better where you want to have your windows. Solution: disable “Dialog repositioning” as shown below or turn off “Desktop Manager” feature. You may also uncheck “Preserve application position and size” box because AmiBroker remembers positions of all its windows by itself and does not need AMD’s help.

For the list of recommended hardware and software see: http://www.amibroker.com/kb/2011/10/25/recommended-hardwaresoftware-for-amibroker/

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 5:16 am under Troubleshooting
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If you are using Webroot Secure Anywhere (antivirus) please be aware that it causes problems with Windows Clipboard, preventing Edit->Paste from operating in many applications including the new AFL editor.

The solution is to go to Webroot Identity Protection settings and turn OFF Identity Shield.

The issue affects many applications and is described in detail on their forum:
https://community.webroot.com/t5/Webroot-SecureAnywhere-Complete/Copy-Paste-Stops-Working-in-some-applications/td-p/21588/page/4

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 2:21 pm under Troubleshooting
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From time to time we receive questions from people having problems loading some unknown third party plug-ins. These plug-ins are most commonly written by some hobby programmers who don’t know how to compile and ship the plug-ins so they work on client machines.

When plug-in DLL is written with AmiBroker Development Kit (ADK) it is usually compiled with Microsoft C runtime library. The “problem” is that depending on compiler used, different versions of C runtime are required for the DLL to be loaded by the operating system.

For example Visual C++ 6.0 links against MSVCRT.DLL that is commonly found in all Windows starting from Windows XP so you can “forget” about installing the runtime. But when plugin is compiled with more recent Visual C++ 2005, 2008 or 2010 then required C runtime library is almost never present on client computer.

In order to load the plugin compiled with VC2005 or higher, one must install proper run-time library on the client computer. The runtime must exactly match the compiler version and eventual compiler service pack used to compile the DLL, otherwise operating system will not load the DLL. The developer of 3rd party DLL can find appropriate runtimes (vcredist.exe) in

VCInstallDir\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packgages\vcredist_x86
or
VCInstallDir\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packgages\vcredist_x64

or similar directory (depending on VC version he/she is using). Then such vcredist.exe must be shipped by the plugin vendor to the client for the installation.

Alternatively the plugin vendor can compile their DLL with static runtime library.

There is a freeware tool called Dependency Walker (http://www.dependencywalker.com/) that allows to check what given DLL needs to be loaded by the operating system. Tell your plugin vendor to use that tool so they don’t miss the essential dependencies.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 4:07 am under Installation
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All developers of 3rd party plugin should NOT change the default project settings that are provided in sample projects in the ADK. If you change anything, you must make sure that you are using multi-threaded C runtime library as shown below:

It is absolutely essential to check this setting, as the default for Visual C++ 6.0 static links is to use single-threaded version. Also you should avoid static linking to C runtime. It only makes your DLL bigger and unsafe (because security fixes applied by Windows update can’t fix statically linked programs).

So, once again you absolutely need to make sure that your plugins use “Multithreaded DLL” run-time library.

Failure to do so results in bizarre crashes, mainly occurring in OS Kernel at InterlockedDecrement or at RtlInterlockedFlushSList calls.

Note that this applies NOT ONLY to multi-threaded editions of AmiBroker but to ALL editions, since you must not mix run time libraries within single application.

Note also that most recent editions of Visual C++ compilers (2005 and 2010) do not allow to choose single-threaded runtime anymore.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 10:51 am under Troubleshooting
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