Display issues with LnS with LnS Service enabled

[RyanM]

This may seem like an anal topic, but it's a problem that I've been trying to fix without any luck.

Whenever Look 'n' Stop is running as a Windows XP service, the LnS tabs don't keep the same Windows XP colour scheme (from the Windows XP displays settings). For instance, I use the Silver colour scheme in Windows XP, but the tabs in LnS are a yellowish brown, and the highlight colour is the default XP Blue (and not the dark grey, like it should be).

If I use Look 'n' Stop without the service (just as the normal start menu shortcut), there are no display problems. The tabs and highlight colour correspond correctly with my XP colour scheme.

Does anybody know any tricks to get the display in Look 'n' Stop working properly? There are times when the display looks fine, but it's not consistent, and this problem occurs only when LnS is running as a service.

Thanks for any help!

Ryan

[Phant0m]

If the User Login is set to automatic, then things are fine but when not set to automatic then it is every time reproduced. I find this to be of annoyances too…

[RyanM]

Well I was looking for a way to get around the display issue, and your advice did the trick! I thank you very much for it. I read up on Windows XP automatic logon and the issues regarding safety, but my home network is pretty safe, and security is not an issue (at least not at the local level). From now on, I'll use the automatic logon as I am the only one who uses this PC anyway.

Thanks again.

Ryan

[Climenole]

Hi RyanM and Phant0m :)

Annoyance for sure...

It seems that the display refresh is buggy...

If you load a new rule set in the internet filtering or if you switch to an other user and come back the "yellow-brown" display disappear...

The lns service; "C:\Program Files\Soft4Ever\looknstop\LnSSvc.exe/ called the program "C:\Program Files\Soft4Ever\looknstop\looknstop.exe" as a sub-process owned by AUTORITE NT\SYSTEM
instead of calling one instance for each user logged in...

May be the main factor of this problem... ???

I hope Frederic will fix this for the next LNS release.

:)

[RyanM]

Thanks for your reply, Climenole, and thanks for clearing up what the problem is! In the past, in order to "fix" the problem, I'd just click the "import" button and then just cancel the import. Those actions brought the tab colours back to "normal" but the highlight colour would still be the Windows XP default.

But since I've switched to automatic logon, I can forget all about doing the above :D

Thanks again.

Ryan

[Frederic]

Hi,

Yes, this is a known issue.
As mentioned by Climenole, it is linked to the way Look 'n' Stop is started in service mode.
I've tried to fix it several times, but no success :(

In service mode, since looknstop.exe is started during the boot, there is no user attached to the process and the display settings doesn't correspond to the user that will log in.

Don't know if there is a way to re-attach the running exe to the current user and then having the color scheme re-applied.

Frederic

[Pete99]

Another way to fix the display is to exit the GUI by right clicking the systray icon and choosing "Quit", then restart the GUI (and Application Filtering) by running
C:\Program Files\LooknStop\looknstop.exe -auto -svc

Another problem that I have with this is that the GUI is invisible when I open it (there's an icon in the task bar but no window). I have to right click on the taskbar icon and choose Maximize before I can see it. I think that this is perhaps related to the fact that I use a 1600 x 1200 display or perhaps because my taskbar is at the top of my screen instead of the bottom.

Perhaps a possible solution, as suggested, would be if the service did not start the GUI and instead we could start it in our StartUp folders when we log in. I don't need App Filtering before I've logged in.

Personally, I would only start it in my own account but some other people in the forums seem to want to start it in all their users' accounts, so maybe using the StartUp folders could give that flexibility and make everyone happy.

If this were implemented, I would like Application Filtering to be active in all accounts even though I'd only start the GUI in my account. I'm always the first person to log in after a restart and I never log out (I only use Switch Users).

[Frederic]

-{ Quote: "
Perhaps a possible solution, as suggested, would be if the service did not start the GUI and instead we could start it in our StartUp folders when we log in. I don't need App Filtering before I've logged in.
" }-
Yes, this should be the solution, since a service is not supposed to start a GUI, and actually I'm not sure what happens if a popup is displayed before a user logs on.
The problem is the GUI configures the drivers (sending rules and applications to allow/block), so with the current design it has to start anyway to have the protection enabled.
If the persistent filtering mode will work also for application filtering, then one solution could be to start the GUI, just to configure the drivers, and then quit it automatically, and let filterings persistent/active anyway.

Frederic

[Phant0m]

Well purpose of Look’n’Stop Service Utility is to have Look ‘n’ Stop GUI and functionality launch early in the boot-up process as possible, several reasons why I can see this to be beneficial. Using one of the old Look ‘n’ Stop Start-up methods defeats the purpose of using Look ‘n’ Stop Service Utility; therefore those who were interested in the benefits of using the Look’n’Stop Service Utility would not share the same opinions…

And as for restarting the Look ‘n’ Stop application and have everything become refreshed, that defeats the purpose of using any start-up method to have application become automatically launched upon windows loading… In this case people prefer just to disable automatic starting and do it manually….. ;D

[Phant0m]

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=891501#post891501 :P

[Pete99]

As I understand it, the GUI only controls the "Application Filtering", not the "Internet Filtering". I agree that I would never want the internet filtering to be disabled and I don't think that anyone suggested that.

Of course the perfect solution is if Frederic can integrate both types of filtering into the kernel-mode drivers, as he said in his post.

Thanks for posting the program that fixes the GUI problem.

[Phant0m]

Application-filtering is also important, early in the boot process…

Regarding Internet Filtering and the feature you thinking of …. 'Keep internet filtering active after the application is left' …, I think the name says it all.

You are welcome :)

[Frederic]

-{ Quote: "Well purpose of Look’n’Stop Service Utility is to have Look ‘n’ Stop GUI and functionality launch early in the boot-up process as possible, several reasons why I can see this to be beneficial. Using one of the old Look ‘n’ Stop Start-up methods defeats the purpose of using Look ‘n’ Stop Service Utility; therefore those who were interested in the benefits of using the Look’n’Stop Service Utility would not share the same opinions…

And as for restarting the Look ‘n’ Stop application and have everything become refreshed, that defeats the purpose of using any start-up method to have application become automatically launched upon windows loading… In this case people prefer just to disable automatic starting and do it manually….. ;D" }-
Hi Phant0m,

My proposal was not to remove this service starting mode, or to have one of the filtering disabled during a time.

Anyway the GUI is not there when no user is logged in. So today there is an issue with that.

My proposal was just to start a first time Look 'n' Stop as a service to enable the rulesets (for both filterings) and then Look 'n' Stop exit, but application filtering and internet filtering still enabled and doing their job. The only difference is there is no log. But this is not a real issue since there is no GUI at that time. Only blocking is important at this stage.

Then when a user logs on, the GUI is started and the filterings are still there with no cut, but reporting again information to the log.

Regards,

Frederic

[Phant0m]

Hi Frederic

No your proposal was not, I was addressing Pete99…

I like the idea of having both filterings activated after having closed the Look ‘n’ Stop application; however I don’t like the idea of having Look ‘n’ Stop make the decision of automatically exiting though, especially to address mere GUI display problems and besides this is corrected with my tiny utility I have released earlier today.

[Phant0m]

“Anyway the GUI is not there when no user is logged in. So today there is an issue with that.”

Hi Frederic

I’m not sure I understood correctly this part in your post, I ran quick test to check Look ‘n’ Stop running state and have found it to be running before choosing to login with a user for the first time that Windows session… This is of course with the usage of Look ‘n’ Stop Service Utility....

Also quick tests I have done shown activity from both packet-filter and Application-filter before login of a user…

[Frederic]

Hi Phant0m,

What I meant is: GUI events can't be displayed or examined before a user logs on.
Of course the exe is running and filterings are enabled, but suppose a new application will connect, the popup won't be displayed so it will be blocked (and I'm afraid it could block some other events), and I'm not sure if the popup will be displayed as soon as a user will be logged.
For the log events it should be Ok, they are anyway recorded but you can have access to them only after logging on.

Having the application stopped but filterings enabled, would be something quite transparent compared to the current situation, and even could solve some issues (in this mode, a new unknown application will be automatically blocked, with no risk of blocking additional events).

Frederic

[Phant0m]

I done quick test, does appear to show the dialogs when I finally do log in…

There is something that should be corrected, when Look ‘n’ Stop application is loaded by its service the LooknStop application should not automatically close when Logging OFF the user… Using Notepad and launching it via Service even better instructed to stay As-Is and not close out when Logging off user… ;)

[Frederic]

Ok, thanks for the test.

Yes, when a logging off Look 'n' Stop is stopped but normally restarted (by the service). This was to solve another issue, but I don't remember exactly which one (perhaps related to FUS).

Frederic

[Phant0m]

Look ‘n’ Stop should remain open and have it detect user account and apply that user’s Look ‘n’ Stop settings… Currently the way implemented isn’t working for people…

[Frederic]

Yes, this is what I wanted to do, but I didn't succeed :(

Frederic

[Phant0m]

Was it a problem for you to detect when a Log OFF / Log On is being performed?