PL crashes on start (XP SP3)

Jill · September 13, 2008, 06:57:22 AM

Hi,

I just tried out process lasso for the first time, It installed perfectly on my Vista partition, but on my XP partition, after I installed it when it wanted to run it crashed and DrWatson came up.

Now, every time I want to start it, it crashes again.

I tried re-installing but no luck.

Jeremy Collake · September 13, 2008, 11:14:08 AM

Hmm, that is strange. I will work on trying to reproduce the problem, but haven't seen it yet.

Are you using the english language?

Jeremy Collake · September 13, 2008, 11:21:11 AM

Additionally, did you make any non-default changes to the configuration? If there's a crash at startup under any circumstances I definitely need to find and fix this asap. Thanks.

Jill · September 13, 2008, 12:11:03 PM

Hi Jeremy

I'm using the English language, and kept all default options during setup.

I also have System Safety Monitor (SSM) installed, perhaps this is the problem ?

I tried disabling ALL rules in SSM, but it keeps on crashing.

Jeremy Collake · September 13, 2008, 02:19:23 PM

I've done more exhaustive tests in Windows XP and still haven't seen any crashes. I installed SSM in a test bed and haven't run across any compatibility issues with Process Lasso yet, so still no clues on the cause of this problem

.

I did make some modifications to v3.06.2, which I just uploaded. While I don't know if any of these modifications helped your situation, its there to try if you want.

Jill · September 13, 2008, 02:48:28 PM

Quote from: jeremy.collake on September 13, 2008, 02:19:23 PM
I've done more exhaustive tests in Windows XP and still haven't seen any crashes. I installed SSM in a test bed and haven't run across any compatibility issues with Process Lasso yet, so still no clues on the cause of this problem .

I did make some modifications to v3.06.2, which I just uploaded. While I don't know if any of these modifications helped your situation, its there to try if you want.

No luck Jeremy. It still crashes every time.

Jill · September 13, 2008, 03:00:20 PM

Just a question, doesn't the program generate some dump- or logfile when it crashes ? Or I could take a snapshot of the error-message ?

Jill · September 15, 2008, 12:00:55 PM

Someone awake ? Someone alive ?

Hello ?

Jeremy Collake · September 16, 2008, 03:06:13 PM

I'm sorry for the delay in response. I don't know what may be going on here. I'm curious if older builds work or not, so I will process you a registration and if you want, you can try v3.04 or earlier builds. Other than that, there's not much you can give me that will aid in the debugging process. I suppose a screenshot of the crash info may help, but Process Lasso doesn't generate any logs or dumps that will be of aid.

If you try v3.04 or earlier builds, I recommend uninstalling the old version and deleting your settings -- in case a change to the default settings is what is causing the crash. There was a change to the way Process Lasso trims its GUI's virtual memory, and while this shouldn't cause crashes, it is remotely possible I suppose.

Thanks for any testing you decide to do. I'm sorry for the problems, it is quite disturbing to hear of these issues...

Jill · September 16, 2008, 05:30:07 PM

Hi Jeremy,

How can I get this version 3.04 please ?

I'll try to take a snapshot of the problem, and will post it here.

Jeremy Collake · September 17, 2008, 09:14:51 AM

I processed an order for you yesterday. You should have received an email. If you didn't, it may have got caught by a spam filter, so perhaps check your local spam filter and see if it's there. You can log in to the user services area and download any version. If you can't find this email anywhere, just let me know and I'll send out another.

For simplicity, here's a direct link to the v3.04 version: http://www.bitsum.com/files/pl304.zip

Jill · September 17, 2008, 11:19:59 AM

Thanks jeremy,

I'll test it in an hour, will post results, and eventual error-messages in a few hours.

Thanks a lot!

Jeremy Collake · September 17, 2008, 01:10:54 PM

Great, thanks

.

I've also put up the latest internal build here: http://www.bitsum.com/files/internal/pssetup.zip (3.06.4 unofficial)

Jeremy Collake · September 17, 2008, 04:42:28 PM

I released v3.06.4. It does some maintenance and fixes some potential issues. I can't say for certain if the problem you see has been resolved though.

Jill · September 18, 2008, 06:46:17 PM

Hi Jeremy,

Sorry for the late reply.

Sorry to tell the bad news.

Using v3.04 : No crash, everything OK.
Using v3.06 upto 3.06.5 : CRASH at every start.

Using ALL versions : Avira Antivir tells me spyware pattern is found in srvstub.exe $:-\$
Most probably a False Positive, I've contacted Avira to review the detection.

Jill · September 19, 2008, 11:27:46 AM

More observations,

Jeremy, you gave me access to the registered versions, and after trying out these, the 3.06.x versions seem to install and run fine.

On other words, there must be something in the free versions that is making it crash.

P.S. Jeremy, If you want me to remove the registered version of my system, please tell me.

Thanks a lot.

P.P.S. Avira has detected that the srvstub.exe detection is indeed a False Positive, the FP detection is gone with the latest update !

Jeremy Collake · September 19, 2008, 10:19:49 PM

This is some interesting new news... Hmm.. I am going to have to think this through in detail. There are very few differences between the free and retail builds.. very few, and none of the differing code has changed in v3.06. I'm quite tired right now, maybe it will come to me in my dreams tonight

.

Please keep the registered version for your time and effort. Thanks again for your help.

Jill · September 20, 2008, 09:43:56 AM

Thank you very much. Allthough I couldn't give a solution, glad i could help a little.

I've just set up 2 virtual machines (fresh XP & fresh Vista). Will install the free version on those and see what happens, if nothing, then I guess the problem is just with my (overly crowded) XP installation.

Jeremy Collake · September 20, 2008, 10:11:29 AM

Quote from: Jill on September 20, 2008, 09:43:56 AM
I've just set up 2 virtual machines (fresh XP & fresh Vista). Will install the free version on those and see what happens, if nothing, then I guess the problem is just with my (overly crowded) XP installation.

I would love to think that, but I really suspect you are not the only one who saw that crash. I'd love to discover the true cause. I am working on putting together a debug build that will do a minidump on crash that people can send to me and I can quickly analyze.

Jill · September 20, 2008, 10:21:13 AM

Great !

Please let us know when it's avaliable.

Jill · September 21, 2008, 04:07:08 PM

Just would like to add that NO version crashes on my fresh Virtual Machine OS's (XP and Vista Home)

Jeremy Collake · September 23, 2008, 12:44:38 PM

Quote from: Jill on September 21, 2008, 04:07:08 PM
Just would like to add that NO version crashes on my fresh Virtual Machine OS's (XP and Vista Home)

Great to hear

. I needed the good news. Thanks.

Jill · October 06, 2008, 12:53:18 PM

Hi jeremy,

I just have to tell you that the latest registered version 3.14.2 again crashes every time launched.

Also, no matter how many times I have send srvstub.exe to Avira as a false positive, they STILL detect it as malware.

But anyway, on a fresh system XP SP3 without Avira AND on my main system XP SP3 with Avira AV, it always crashes...

Jeremy Collake · October 06, 2008, 01:56:12 PM

It is unfortunate that Avira keeps false alarming on srvstub.exe. You aren't the only one who has repeatedly notified them of the false alarm. My recommendation to any user affected by this false alarm is now simply to choose a better anti-malware product, as Avira is not reliable. I will try to change up srvstub.exe a bit and maybe work around the false alarm.

As for the crash, ugh.. that's sad to hear. I will make available to you a debug build. Maybe it will help. I'll send it with instructions in a personal message.

Thanks for continuing to support this software. Will send a link to that debug build soon.

Hotrod · October 06, 2008, 06:40:19 PM

I am running PL 3.14.2 on XP SP3 on 5 different pc's with no crashes at all. It must be something else unique to your system.