FH stopped working

tbennett54 · Post by **tbennett54** » 18 Sep 2011 12:54

If it's any use to others, there were three Windows Updates which my PC automatically installed about 5 pm on Friday 16 September. Uninstalling all three makes no difference to the FH program which continues to shut down about 30 seconds after opening.

What happens now? Basically FH is now unusable which is not a great situation to be in!

Tony

tbennett54 · Post by **tbennett54** » 18 Sep 2011 12:57

I see others have worked out it's a McAfee issue - so I shall uninstall that and see....

amk1609 · Post by **amk1609** » 18 Sep 2011 13:15

Well that will teach me to be complacent! - of course, today I got the same problem, time to disappear varies between seconds and several minutes, but disappear it does. Contacted McAfee support, the guy played with the settings and said 'problem gone away, please reboot', but of course it is still happening. My McAfee is not with BT, but was a 2-year paid subscription with the PC, which still has around 6 months to run. Up to now have been very happy with McAfee but if this doesn't go away I will have no option but to follow others and uninstall. Having also worked in IT, I agree with comment from juliemuirhead re paid anti-virus software, what are other users' recommendations ? (apart from Norton, which I gave up on years ago!)
Thanks - Andrea

tbennett54 · Post by **tbennett54** » 18 Sep 2011 13:28

I've uninstalled McAfee (it still has some months to run on the subscription) and FH works perfectly again. I already had AVAST! anti-virus software on a laptop and have installed that on my PC. It's free and seems to be pretty good.

Tony

LindaO · Post by **LindaO** » 18 Sep 2011 14:09

I have the same problem as everyone else with FH only running for seconds and then exiting - I am running Vista and McAfee. I set McAfee not to update automatically and did a Windows system restore to 15 Sept and after restore made sure McAfee still wouldn't automatically update. All seems to be ok at the moment with FH4 now - but I am not getting McAfee updates though I see this situation as a short term solution whilst I report the problem to BT.

I tried to get a fix through an online chat with McAfee but because I am running BT Net Protect they referred me back to BT - I will try an email today and a phone call tomorrow to BT. Will let you know what response I get!

Regards,

Linda

Post by **tatewise** » 18 Sep 2011 14:13

The free anti-virus products have improved significantly in recent years, especially Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast, and AVG Free.
Also one of the most important anti-virus shields is the person at the keyboard.
If unexpected E-mail attachments are opened, and unreliable downloads performed, despite warning messages, then even the best anti-virus software will not protect you.

CJGK · Post by **CJGK** » 18 Sep 2011 14:27

Ive been having this problem for the past 2 days, but with V.3 rather than V.4. I'll post for V.3 as well. Using Windows XP SP3 and BT NetProtectPlus, a.k.a.McAfee.

johnscott · Post by **johnscott** » 18 Sep 2011 14:27

I have uninstalled McAfee and installed AVG as an alternative. This seems to have resolved the problem and FH is stable again.

juliemuirhead49 · Post by **juliemuirhead49** » 18 Sep 2011 14:57

Just to say I too have now emailed BT about their Net Protect Plus aka McAfee software. Hopefully, if lots of people contact them and also McAfee the problem will get resolved.

AnneEast · Post by **AnneEast** » 18 Sep 2011 15:42

We have a spare laptop so I've disconnected it from the internet and am using FH on there until this gets resolved! Its working just fine because, fortuantely, we didn't turn it on during the last few days so no updates!

Anne

triciabarnett · Post by **triciabarnett** » 18 Sep 2011 17:11

Anne & Julie - I have asked my hubby to contact netprotect also.
Mine stopped today on both PC and notebook.
Let us know if you hear anything.

AnneEast · Post by **AnneEast** » 18 Sep 2011 17:18

Well! I've just had BT Netprotect on the phone. They suggest uninstalling FH and re-intalling, which they suggest should resolve the problem. I guess I'll try that although with several update discs its a bit of a faff.

I assume I can unistall FH without touching my folder of FH Projects? I have it backed up and running on the spare laptop anyway.

Anne

juliemuirhead49 · Post by **juliemuirhead49** » 18 Sep 2011 17:22

Anne, sounds like a typical response from BT always blame something else. Let us know how you get on, I'll be very surprised if it fixes it.

Post by **tatewise** » 18 Sep 2011 17:37

Anne, please check out the Knowledge Base regarding re-installing FH and the files you need to protect to preserve your data and settings.
See Family Historian > Installation Guide at:
http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id ... tion_guide

Although it talks about moving from PC to PC, the concepts are similar to un-installing and re-installing on the same PC.

tbennett54 · Post by **tbennett54** » 18 Sep 2011 18:00

I don't see why reinstalling FH should work, as we have shown, I think, that McAfee is the problem!

AnneEast · Post by **AnneEast** » 18 Sep 2011 18:46

I haven't had time to do it yet. Will let you know how I get on. At least BT did actually phone me in response to my email!!!!! [lol]

Anne

amk1609 · Post by **amk1609** » 18 Sep 2011 20:09

I have now done the same as Linda, and used System Restore to go back to 15/09/2011, and set McAfee NOT to automatically update (using Windows 7 64-bit and McAfee). So far FH is running OK - this is clearly a short-term solution, but I still have an open support issue with McAfee via email (online chat being useless), supposed to reply within 1-2 days, if I get anything useful will post it here.
Andrea

amk1609 · Post by **amk1609** » 19 Sep 2011 10:42

Despite my restore, and setting McAfee updates to OFF, I can see that there was at least 1 update done automatically AFTER my restore. Last night FH was fine, now the problem is back again. I have had a reply from McAfee Support, offering again to do an online chat, where they take control of my PC - I have rejected that as an option, as I am sure the problem lies in their updates, not in any settings on my PC. So I guess I, like others, will have to uninstall and use something else until (if ever) McAfee accept that the problem is in their software.
Andrea

Judy27 · Post by **Judy27** » 19 Sep 2011 10:47

Yes, the same has happened to my FH v4 this morning! Like others I use BT NetProtect Plus(their version of McAfee)and it did 12 'important' updates yesterday.I updated Adobe this morning before I realised there was a problem and thought the problem was Adobe before reading the messages on the forum.

dadams04 · Post by **dadams04** » 19 Sep 2011 10:58

I am having exactly the same problem with both versions 3 and 4 installed on my Laptop and Desktop respectively. Both use McAfee as supplied by BT Netprotect Plus. I have tried reinstalling the FH software but to no avail. I have now posted this problem on the BTCare Community Forum.

Denise

johnmorrisoniom · Post by **johnmorrisoniom** » 19 Sep 2011 11:22

This has also been reported in the FH v3 Threads, and the common factor appears to be McAfee AV supplied through BT (Although it may apply to other McAfee users as well). You may have to contact McAfee or BT help to sort it out.

Phil10413 · Post by **Phil10413** » 19 Sep 2011 11:46

Just discovered FHUG. Good to know I'm not alone. I use FH 4.1.3 on Windows 7 with BT Netprotect Plus installed. Opened FH yesterday after a few days non use and found that it closed down after about a minute with no error messages. Anti virus scan did not show any problems. Discovered FHUG when I was about to un-install / re-install FH 4.1.3 but from earlier replies that seems to be a waste of time. Looks like Macaffee (Netprotect Plus) is to blame. I will contact them to add to pressure for a bug correction.

Post by **SimonOrde** » 19 Sep 2011 13:19

Thank you very much for everyone who has posted to this forum. I can confirm that we also have received numerous reports of this problem, and yes indeed it does appear to be a problem with McAfee.

We have already emailed McAfee and asked them to fix the problem. We are asking everyone affected to also email McAfee directly if you havent already done so. The more people who do this, the sooner they are likely to respond. Getting through to AntiVirus companies is often very difficult because they get such a huge volume of emails. Also, their systems are highly automated and designed to deal with submitted program samples, which the sender believes either (i) may contain a virus, or (ii) is a 'false positive'. Neither of these apply in this case. McAfee isn't detecting anything wrong with Family Historian. It is simply causing it to crash. Antivirus products should never cause other programs to crash; so this is just a bug.

We believe that if you email McAfee's virus labs at Virus_Research@avertlabs.com with the word 'noauto' in the subject line, there is a good chance that your email will get through. Without the word 'noauto' it will be treated automatically as a virus/'false positive' submission. In your email, please explain clearly what has happened and why they need to respond urgently. If you have a BT product, do please complain to BT too. They are likely to be in a good position to get McAfee to act. And if you have already emailed McAfee or BT thank you! Its much appreciated.

Two other things: Please don't stop posting to this forum! It's a very helpful forum, both for getting an idea of how widespread the problem is, but also for sharing tips and ideas about what to do about it.

In a day or two, hopefully, McAfee will have fixed the problem. When they do, the fix will be rolled out by automatic update and FH will start working again. If anyone who had the problem notices that FH has suddenly started working again, please post here to say so, so that those people who have uninstalled McAfee or who have disabled updates, can try and work out when it's safe for them to re-enable McAfee again. Many thanks.

Post by **tatewise** » 19 Sep 2011 13:23

I would be a good idea if you all sent a message to support@family-historian.co.uk to get Calico Pie involved.

AnneEast · Post by **AnneEast** » 19 Sep 2011 14:06

There is also a thread on the BT Community Forums.

I have decided not to uninstall FH and reinstall. Like others I do not believe this will be any use and I have a whole series of upgrades. Thanks Tatewise for pointing me to reading the reinstalling details first!!!

Anne

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