Things and Software to avoid when authoring for DVD-V

Question

This one is always in the earlier, 1.X FAQ, but is so important it should be repeated here too.
There have been so many posts along the line of "I cannot burn my DVD in Encore, but Nero works well" that I thought I should share this info with you all.
As we know, DVD Authoring is very dependant on timing, and on not having other apps getting in the way & locking up the burners, So here is a list of software that is known to interfere with GEAR drivers. It is a raging cert that this also applies here, as all authoring apps are the same sort of thing.
These 3rd party apps are junk software, to be quite blunt (I expect to get flamed over this, but I cannot help the truth), and should never be installed on an Authoring system.
Anyway, here is the current list of 
i known problem software.
1. B's Clip: This package will load a packet-writing software that will constantly talk to your CD/DVD writer, and can cause a number of issues while trying to write a disc. Disabling this software is not enough, as a portion of this package is always running after you start windows. You will need to uninstall it in Add/Remove programs, then reboot to remove it. For more information, visit the B's website at http://www.bhacorp.com.
2. Direct CD or Drag to Disk: These are applications from Easy CD Creator from Roxio. This package will load a packet-writing software that will constantly talk to your CD/DVD writer, and can cause a number of issues while trying to write a disc. Disabling this software is not enough, as a portion of this package is always running after you start windows. To remove them you need to do to Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel. There you can select Easy CD Creator to change, not remove. Then you must click next until it gives you the option to modify. Then either Direct CD or Drag to Disk should be selected and changed to "make this option not available". Then click next and while the program may look like it is installing, it is removing those options. One thing to remember is that both Direct CD and Drag to Disk will not be installed at the same time. For more information, please visit Roxio's website at http://www.roxio.com/en/support.index.jhtml
3. GoBack: backup software that constantly runs in the background (Terminate and Stay Ready) this needs not only to be turned off, but disabled. Unfortunately, this may cause some restore points to vanish, but it will free up a lot of hard drive space. For more information visit Symantec's web site for GoBack at http://www.symantec.com/goback/index.html 
4. DLA: Also HP-DLA, Veritas DLA, and others. DLA stands for Disk Letter Assignment. This package will load a packet-writing software that will constantly talk to your CD/DVD writer, and can cause a number of issues while trying to write a disc. Disabling this software is not enough, as a portion of this package is always running after you start windows. You will need to uninstall it in Add/Remove programs, then reboot to remove it.
5. InCD: This is packet writing software that comes bundled with Ahead Nero Burning Rom. This package will load a packet-writing software that will constantly talk to your CD/DVD writer, and can cause a number of issues while trying to write a disc. Disabling this software is not enough, as a portion of this package is always running after you start windows. You will need to uninstall it in Add/Remove programs, then reboot to remove it. For more information go to Nero's website at http://www.nero.com/en/
6. Interactual Player and PC Friendly Player: These programs are DVD software viewers that often come on DVD movie discs, and will try to install themselves everytime you watch a movie on your computer. Please make sure to NOT let these install. Both programs interfere with all DVD Authoring software and should be un-installed from Add or Remove programs in control panel when found. In some cases, you will need to uninstall and reinstall your software to restore functionality after removing one of these. For more information about both players, visit http://player.interactual.com/ 
7. McAfee Anti-Virus: This is anti-virus software that when running, can cause errors. It needs to be disabled by right clicking on the icon in the lower right side of the task bar. Your DVD Authoring software then needs to be restarted. Whenever you are using your software, McAfee needs to be disabled to ensure unrestricted access to your drive. For more info go to McAfee's website at http://us.mcafee.com/default.asp 
8. Norton Anti-Virus: This is anti-virus software that when running, can cause errors. It needs to be disabled by right clicking on the icon in the lower right side of the task bar and the automatic updates should be disabled. Your DVD software then needs to be restarted. Whenever you are using your software, Norton needs to be disabled to ensure unrestricted access to your drive. The Norton Website is http://www.symantec.com/ 
9. StopZilla: StopZilla can hinder required portions of various installers, causing the software to fail. Please completely disable StopZilla, then install your software. Once our software is installed, you may safely enable it again. If you have any difficulty using your software at a later time, you may need to disable StopZilla before going to use your software. Uninstallation is not required. 
10. MyStorageGuard: This backup software can hinder certain required files from being copied during the installation. Please disable this program before installing , and have it disabled any time you go to use your DVD Authoring software. Uninstallation is not required. 
11. Napster 2.0: This software includes some basic burning software that can cause burning problems if it is running. You will need to close this program completely before trying to use DVD Authoring software. In some rare cases, you will need to completely uninstall this package to attain full reliability, so if disabling does not solve your issue, please try uninstalling this software, and try again. 
12. Easy CD Creator 4.x: Due to the age of this package, it is no longer updated by the authors. There are bugs present in this older system that will cause NUMEROUS problems on your machine. Please Uninstall completely, and consider either the new 6.x version from Roxio ( http://www.roxio.com ) or Nero 6.x ( http://www.nero.com ). These packages, installed without the Packet Writing software (DirectCD/Drag to Disk/InCD), all work very well with DVD Authoring software. 
13. Spyware and Adware - some programs can install other software that can be damaging to your Operating System. Please scan for these programs with a Spyware utility. We recommend Ad-Aware, available freely at http://www.lavasoftusa.com 
14. Disable the Windows XP packet writing utility. To do so, go to My Computer, Right click oon your DVD burner, choose Properties. Find the "Recording" tab. Uncheck "Enable CD recording on this drive" While you are there, switch off all AutoRun options too. It means going through each option and then selecting "Take No Action" as the default option. AutoRun will "poll" the drive every few minutes to look for a new disc, and if it finds one it will try to open it. 
15. Symantec PCAnywhere has been reported to cause problems with Encore as the awvid5.dll file it installs is a video driver designed to facilitate the transfer of screen information from one computer to another. Sadly, this causes a conflict which can cause XP to restart - or give a bluescreen if the "Automatically restart" option has been unticked, giving a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA stop condition.
Another crash can be reproduced by
a) Open a project
b) Add an MPEG file and associated WAV file as assets
c) Link the MPEG file to a menu button by dragging
d) Encore creates a Timeline for the MPEG file automatically
e) Open the new Timeline
f) Drag the MPEG's WAV file into the timeline's audio track
g) Close the Timeline
h) Repeat (b)-(d)
i) When the new Timeline is double-clicked, XP restarts
The 
i only
solution found so far is to uninstall PCAnywhere, then all returns to normal.
16. It has also been found that either Efax or Winfax software installed to the system can cause the dreaded "Visual C++ Runtime Error" which will crash Encore. Microsoft support have confirmed that if you see this error, you need a hotfix KB884538, from www.microsoft.com in the support area.
Install the hotfix, and if the error remains, check for either of these fax programs. If either are present, remove them, reboot and all should now work.
17. Roxio Easy CD Creator - General issues.
Firstly, when uninstalling any Roxio application it is best to do this from the "Add Remove Programs" applet in Control Panel, as usual. However - this will NOT remove all Roxio's tentacles from your system. To be sure all is definitely removed, you need to visit 
http://www.microadvantage.net/downloads/zapper60.zip
and run this. When you are done, you can then reboot and the evil Roxio will finally be gone.
Another common issue with Roxio is when Nero also co-exists on the same system. The two 
i loathe
each other and are apparently incapable of co-existing.
If you have noth these installed there is an additional set of stuff to go through. Remove Roxio first, then reboot, then remove Nero completely beginning by uninstalling from "Add Remove Programs" and then we also need to get rid of all the various tendrils it has also addeed to the system using the following tools:
(You must use all 3 of Nero's Clean tools in order to do the job correctly.)
They can all be found here:
http://www.nero.com/us/631940828445001.htm
1. General Clean tool
2. Registry cleaner and driver cleaner
3. InCD Clean tool
When you reinstall Nero 6.6 OR Neros new 7 Ultra Edition, DO NOT install InCD OR if you do, turn it off in startup under msconfig (better to not install it) 
18 - FindSounds Palette 
This is a tool designed to help you find SFX on your drives, and it seems to prevent Encore from importing M2V files for some reason, and should be uninstalled if present.
To uninstall this, do the following steps:
Uninstall "Find Sounds Palette" (FS Palette).
Delete the two registry key folders for "Comparisonics".
Uninstall Encore CS3.
Delete Registry Keys for Encore.
Restart.
Install Encore CS3.
Install Encore 3.0.1 update.
Restart.
19 - Quicken
It has been reported that if you back up your Quicken files to CD, then Quicken sets up your DVD burner for CD DLA through the built-in Windows burning facility.  This assignment recurs each time your system is restarted.  When this happens, Encore will see your burner as a CD burner only.  You'll have to manually disable this start-up assignment to get Encore to see your burner as a DVD burner again.
Additionally, it is a good idea to disable Autorun for your burner, preferably from the registry. While this will not prevent anything polling the drive from the OS to try & "helpfully" check for freshly inserted media, it will prevent sneaky DRM applications from installing themselves to your system just by having the disc inserted. As well as the registry hack required, there are other methods of stopping this described at
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-018
To do the registry hack, perform the following:
* Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
* Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom.
* Double-click the Autorun value, and type 0 for its value. (If it's not there, create it by selecting Edit -> New -> DWORD Value, and typing "Autorun" for its name.)
* You may have to log out and then log back in for this change to take effect.
* Note: With this solution, Windows will no longer be notified when you insert a new CD. To make sure the correct icon and title for the current CD are displayed in My Computer and Explorer, press F5 to refresh the window. 
If you perform any of these changes, you may need to uninstall your software, then re-install to fix any damage left. If you find some of these packages, please shut down and reboot twice to ensure that the last pieces of the conflicting software are completely removed.

Answer 1

You're lucky then Steve.
Roxio is one of those apps that usually doesn't play nice with any other burning software at all.
I use GEAR Pro Mastering Edition.
They also do a cheaper version called GEAR Video - but be aware that this installs DivX as well - although I have to say that on one of our systems running Adobe 1.5 versions of Encore & Premiere Pro, it is causing no conflicts at all. But there have definitely been major problems with DivX codecs and EncoreDVD. Perhaps it is to do with where they come from, perhaps I just got lucky in this case.
It might be worth a trial version though - although if you have the budget, and do a LOT of DVD, then GEAR Pro Mastering Edition is an invaluable tool I have found.