Hi all, hope this isn't going over old territory, but I can't seem to
find anything quite like it in the columns here or at Google Desktop
'support' and it has had no takers in their newsgroup:

Have been using GD with XPPro for a year or two.

This on a shared pc with 'fast user switching' (though this rarely used
as our HP printer cannot understand this either!)

Had only been able to use GD on one administrator user's side: trying
to start it on the other administrator user's side always got locked
into a circular set of windows from the 'begin using' screen', through
the preferences, and then back to the 'begin using' screen.

Had understood this to be a 'feature' of that version of GD, so was
putting up with it...

Then STUPID Google automatic updates came along (why can't they give us a
choice before being foisted with a new unproven version!?)

Now, quite apart from the infuriating 'side - half the desktop! - bar'
shunting all one's icons to
one side before one has the chance to select 'none' (EVERY time one
tries to unload and load GD again when trying to clear the bug!), admin
user no 2 now cannot turn on without being told: "this gadget requires
at least version 4 of GD" which is something of a sick joke, because it
is this circular message that is stopping it from loading (for this
user only) and we didn't want any 'gadgets' anyway!

It would appear that (unless this is a catch all error message) for some
reason, on one side of the pc only, the gadgets, that neither of us want,
are trying to load, before the GD
version is ready for them.

If one 'ok's the gadget/version popup, one then gets an 'invalid id'
pop up, and the only way to break the cycle is to cancel the whole
process tree from gdexe in task manager.

One can continue with the set up (apparently) ignoring this popup
feedback loop, but that just cycles through the same set up 'begin
using' loop that we had with the former version!

I have spent several days reading through message boards and help
files, and deleted and reloaded many times on either side of the pc. I
have disabled the fast user switching service, and have 'uninstalled' (ho
ho) via
add and remove progs many times. This latter, does not uninstall all
the guff that goes with GD: it leaves a useless folder of 'google
gadgets' in each user's personal folders; and a load more in each
user's localsettings/applicationsData/Google/. Then there's all the
references in the various Temp; Temp internet; ContentIE5s to get rid
of too.

I've gone through several times deleting as many references as I can
find after each 'uninstall' attempt, and it is a right pain I can tell
you - especially as your going to get them all back again with the next
attempt!.

I've read about the various versions of GD but could not verify which
the user with the failed version message was supposedly 'using' because
one needs to have the programme running to check(!): the version info
one normally gets in Add/Remove progs, being left blank very helpfully
by GD. I could not even check which version was being downloaded before
downloading it. Eventually opting to download the set up prog rather
than just running it, then I found I could read the properties sheet
and confirm it was the reputedly correct English version 1002,1212.

Now this is all very odd to me. What is so different from one admin
user to another? However I clean or change settings on this pc, I can
download and use the programme, but the other admin account cannot get
past the first hurdle (this even if the second user is the only user on
the machine with no GD elements apparent and an attempt at a new
download is made.)

All I can think of is that there is something in the registry
somewhere, which is assigning GD to me and me only, and that this entry
is not being cleared with each attempt at uninstalling or updating.

I am not confident enough to muck about with the registry, so if anyone
out there can throw any light on all this, while I still have some hair
left, I would much appreciate it!

Much obliged,

Steve_H

PS. Since putting this in the google desktop forum, I've noticed that I can
actually switch users just the same whether I have the 'fast user switching
service' on or off; and that it seems to come on of its own even when I have
it set to manual for both users. Am I trying to turn off fast user
switching in the wrong place? (I note that the blurb on the service says it
is for helping things that need fast user switching, rather than it is the
part of XP itself that caters for fus.)

I hope there is someone out there who can explain this. I had toyed with
the idea that IE 7 might make a difference - as MS seems to be pestering me
to upgrade - but a quick look at the IE general section has put me off that
for the time being!

Regards,

Steve_H