PowerShadow shut down Problem

[WilliamP]

When shutting down computer everything seems fine till right before Windows closes. I get a pop up about PowerShadow . It only lasts about a second then the system shuts down.

[farmerlee]

When you shutdown the computer powershadow will bring up a window which asks whether you want to restart, shutdown or cancel. Usually the window should stay there until you select something, however in your case it appears something is terminating the window. Its not too big of a deal imo, i've hit the reset button and power off button while in shadow mode and upon starting up again everything is back to normal.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "Its not too big of a deal imo, i've hit the reset button and power off button while in shadow mode and upon starting up again everything is back to normal." }-

And therein lies a most beneficial security feature only Power Shadow could pull off compared to others of it's kind.

In testings i've hit my machine with malware in shadow-mode so fierce they seized up the screen and even keyboard leaving only the alternative of a hard reset manually and upon boot-up everything returns to normal just as it was before.

[yeow]

-{ Quote: "When shutting down computer everything seems fine till right before Windows closes. I get a pop up about PowerShadow . It only lasts about a second then the system shuts down." }-
I've noticed this too, when shutting down windows while not in shadowmode. But it's not a problem to me, as nothing seems to be affected functionally. Shutdown also not affected as you have also pointed out.

[WilliamP]

I have given up on PS on this computer. The shut down pop up problem didn't seem to cause any problems. But my computer would lock up when going into shadow mode. I would get the wave on the screen but not the red notices indicating that it was in shadow mode. At that point it was locked. I had to reboot. I tried re-downloading about 4 times. I still have FD-ISR.

[EASTER.2010]

Interesting read this issue of yours with Power Shadow and frankly i'm at a loss to offer anything useful because most loyals like myself never encounter any issues either installing or running it.

I will mention i seen times when the 4 corners reminders (ShadowTip.exe) failed to show but a right click on the icon to enable brought it back on. That for me is just cosmetic anyway, but even without those reminders showing i can honestly say thats no reason for your screen to seize up like that.

I summise it must be a conflict in your system between some other app you have, likely a driver conflict from my experience. Those can and do happen with various apps that depend on their own drivers.

[WilliamP]

I have two computers. I have PS working great on my older sys. With XP Home. This one is Pro and I can't get it to work. The Wave will lock it up. I have to reboot. When it starts to shut down I get a pop up that Wave doesn't want to shut down. Both systems have just about the same security software. I have tried just about everything.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "I have two computers. I have PS working great on my older sys. With XP Home. This one is Pro and I can't get it to work. The Wave will lock it up. I have to reboot. When it starts to shut down I get a pop up that Wave doesn't want to shut down. Both systems have just about the same security software. I have tried just about everything." }-

Yeah WilliamP, there is definitely something amiss we are not pinpointing there because i run XP Professional with Power Shadow and it's completely stable, been that way for quite awhile now.

By the way, what ServicePack does your XP Pro have? Mine with PS installed is at SP1 and i intend to keep it that way. I simply cannot trust SP2 because it loads way too many files on my system and besides, i have tons of customizations that any update would ruin and i refuse to ever face being confined again at the butt ugly GUI defaults anymore. :)

[WilliamP]

My system is up to the minute. It has the latest updates.

[Diprivan]

I have also recently experienced problems wih Powershadow freezing when I try to go into shadow mode. I use Win XP pro sp2 along with FDISR. On previous snapshots I actually had PS running without problem.
I have created an empty snapshot of XP Pro and installed powershadow as the sole security app. Unfortunately PS still freezes when I try to get into shadow mode.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "I have also recently experienced problems wih Powershadow freezing when I try to go into shadow mode. I use Win XP pro sp2 along with FDISR. On previous snapshots I actually had PS running without problem.
I have created an empty snapshot of XP Pro and installed powershadow as the sole security app. Unfortunately PS still freezes when I try to get into shadow mode." }-

If it doesn't entirely discourage you guys from uninstalling it altogether i would be interested in reading what procedures you are using and if it still is exhibiting that same behavior or not. With that being said the first thing that pops into my mind is that the Power Shadow i been using along with others might have been pulled off those servers and replaced with another version?

I dunno, but it does raise many questions because this is only happened very recently.

Please keep us posted.

[WilliamP]

It isn't the download because it works fine on my older sys. On the XP Pro. I have removed PS ,did a search for PowerShadow and for Shadow and removed every thing from the computer that had anything to do with PS. Then I ran CC to clean anything it could find. I re-downloaded shut down security and installed. No luck.

[Diprivan]

I have installed Powershadow 2.6 and 2.8.2 on separate clean snapshots (made by reinstalling XP in an empty snapshot with no anchored data). I have also tried using the PS installer that I originally downloaded some months ago. I get the wave effect but no indication that I am in shadow mode. When I reboot, wave.exe freezes.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "I have installed Powershadow 2.6 and 2.8.2 on separate clean snapshots (made by reinstalling XP in an empty snapshot with no anchored data). I have also tried using the PS installer that I originally downloaded some months ago. I get the wave effect but no indication that I am in shadow mode. When I reboot, wave.exe freezes." }-

I'm sorry guys but i don't even find a wave.exe in my system after doing a search and i combed the \system32\shadow folder and not there either.

Would you mind running that particular file thru a Jotti scan for us? I'm suspicious now because PS should never exhibit what you're experiencing.


http://virusscan.jotti.org/

My Google hits return it as a TROJAN. Where did you get your download from Diprivan?

[Diprivan]

I will reinstall powershadow again tomorrow. I might have got this wave.exe message wrong.
I have used download links from previous powershadow discussion threads at Wilders. Could you point me to a legitimate link?

[yankinNcrankin]

Awhile back I used 2.6 version and once in a while my system would do the same thing. I would start powershadow, I get the wave and no indication that I was in shadow mode, create a text file to be certain then reboot text file still there. I am running xpProS2 up-to-date. Once in awhile a BSOD. Since I have been using 2.82 I dont get that problem ever. I never ever heard of a wave.exe file in PS and yeah it sounds like something.

[EASTER.2010]

Thanks so much yankinNcrankin for indicating SP2 of your specs because in the back of mind i really do suspect version 2.6 might have some issue with it. Some programs do.

I don't use SP2 in favor of SP1 and have never experienced even the slightest hint of any issue with 2.6 at all.

That wave.exe is definitely not part of PS.

[Franklin]

If booting straight into shadowmode the "Shadow System Service" within xp services needs to be running in order for the prompts to work properly.

Only Shadowtip.exe needs to be running if booting into Windows and then entering shadowmode.

I always boot into windows then slip into shadowmode and if I shutdown explorer through taskmanager and restart it I have to right click PS's taskbar icon and untick - retick "Enable Desktop Prompt" in order to get them showing again.

Or at least that's how it seems to work here.

[zopzop]

-{ Quote: "Awhile back I used 2.6 version and once in a while my system would do the same thing. I would start powershadow, I get the wave and no indication that I was in shadow mode, create a text file to be certain then reboot text file still there. I am running xpProS2 up-to-date. Once in awhile a BSOD. Since I have been using 2.82 I dont get that problem ever. I never ever heard of a wave.exe file in PS and yeah it sounds like something." }-

ah this happens on my desktop (but not my laptop) with powershadow 2.6. actually my desktop would reboot without warning if i ran powershadw 2.6 on it. i tried to see if any programs were conflicting with powershadow, long story short, i disabled a program called "recguard.exe" from running and the reboot problem disappeared. i then had the EXACT same problem you were having with PS 2.6 : click on powershadow, go into shadow mode, the wave would appear, but no indication i was in shadow mode (the powershadow icon didn't even appear in the taskbar). i've tried everything but can't get powershadow 2.6 to run on my desktop.

[EASTER.2010]

zopzop, is your desktop that is experiencing that same issue also SP2? That might help us narrow down the reason for this. I'm curious to this because on more than one occasion i've seen where SP2 fudged programs that b4 ran just fine. Otherwise it's back to square one again.

Thnx

[zopzop]

by sp2 you mean service pack 2? yes both my desktop and laptop came with windows media center 2005 with sp2 preinstalled. powershadow 2.6 works flawlessly on my laptop but not on my desktop.

easter i know for sure it's some kind of software conflict. on my desktop, when i enabled powershadow 2.6, my pc would reboot by itself as soon as i enabled shadow mode. after messing around a bit by stopping certain programs from running in the background, i got powershadow to the point where it wouldn't reboot but i had the exact same issue yankin did.

there's something that came preinstalled on my desktop (recguard.exe has something to do with it) thats messin' powershadow up big time.

[WilliamP]

What brand computers are you running zopzop? Both of mine are Dell and the only security software difference is, the newer computer, an 8400 has Ewido and the older 8200 doesn't. PS works great on the 8200. Of course I have set up an empty snapshot on the 8200 and reloaded the system. So it doesn't have the Dell loaded stuff. Maybe that is where the problem is. I did a search on the 8400 for Wave.exe and there is several but not connected to PS.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "Maybe that is where the problem is. I did a search on the 8400 for Wave.exe and there is several but not connected to PS." }-

Thats right. I'm afraid [edit:] Diprivan picked up a trojan with that wave.exe mentioned.

That aside, if it works fine on one PC and not the other there is definitely a conflict between programs going on there. I even installed Power Shadow to another of my test in combination with a lot of other security and non-security programs and works fine. That's even on an unpatched XP fresh install.

Sorry you're having trouble but i trust you'll eventually pinpoint the reason in time.

[zopzop]

@WilliamP

my laptop is an HP running windows xp media center edition with sp2 (all preinstalled by the manufacturer). i uninstalled all of the crap that came with the pc and the only security software i have running on it are : powershadow 2.6, geswall, comodo firewall, and antivir. i had superantispyware free as an on demand thing (i've never needed it, but i keep it just in case).

my desktop is a stupid GATEWAY running windows media center edition with sp2 (also preinstalled by the manufacturer). i uninstalled most of the "security" garbage and other software that i didn't need on it. the only security apps that i've installed on it are antivir , geswall, and comodo (with superantispyware used for on demand stuff). powershadow 2.6 does not like this pc. the gateway came with something preinstalled on it called "PC Angel" that protected a hidden partition on the HD. There was also a program called "recguard.exe" that protected that partition from being damaged by viruses and stuff. like i said earlier i know for sure that "recguard.exe" is conflicting with powershadow because i saw a HUGE difference when i disabled "recguard.exe" from running. there must be another program on my pc that came preinstalled by gateway that's wrecking havoc with powreshadow.


@EASTER.2010

hello easter, i don't seem to have a "wave.exe" on my desktop or my laptop. i did a search within windows and then another search using a bootcd called bartpe (just to make sure the "wave.exe" wasn't hidden by a rootkit or virus). both returned nothing.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "@EASTER.2010

hello easter, i don't seem to have a "wave.exe" on my desktop or my laptop. i did a search within windows and then another search using a bootcd called bartpe (just to make sure the "wave.exe" wasn't hidden by a rootkit or virus). both returned nothing." }-

My bad zopzop sorry, it was Diprivan who posted about that problem file.

[19monty64]

-{ Quote: "@WilliamP

my laptop is an HP running windows xp media center edition with sp2 (all preinstalled by the manufacturer). i uninstalled all of the crap that came with the pc and the only security software i have running on it are : powershadow 2.6, geswall, comodo firewall, and antivir. i had superantispyware free as an on demand thing (i've never needed it, but i keep it just in case).

my desktop is a stupid GATEWAY running windows media center edition with sp2 (also preinstalled by the manufacturer). i uninstalled most of the "security" garbage and other software that i didn't need on it. the only security apps that i've installed on it are antivir , geswall, and comodo (with superantispyware used for on demand stuff). powershadow 2.6 does not like this pc. the gateway came with something preinstalled on it called "PC Angel" that protected a hidden partition on the HD. There was also a program called "recguard.exe" that protected that partition from being damaged by viruses and stuff. like i said earlier i know for sure that "recguard.exe" is conflicting with powershadow because i saw a HUGE difference when i disabled "recguard.exe" from running. there must be another program on my pc that came preinstalled by gateway that's wrecking havoc with powreshadow." }-
I also have HP/MCE pre-installed, but have no "PC Angel" or "recguard.exe". However I used to experience the sudded reboot or shadow-mode "half-engaging". Now I exit ALL running programs before engaging and the problem disappeared. I don't mean pausing, I mean actually exiting all progies! Dozen or more successful shadow-modes since engaging this way...

[WilliamP]

Monty,do you mean all security programs?

[19monty64]

ALL security programs, dunno about firewall tho....don't have one.

[WilliamP]

I tried, but it didn't work.

[EASTER.2010]

I never recommend this method to anyone except for myself BUT you can reboot with your XP CD and choose to leave the current file system intact, and then allow the XP installer to do a complete refresh of ALL your system files and start from scratch but you WILL NOT lose any of your programs doing this, only you may have to reinstall them again so they fall in line with the new PATHS they will depend on. I done this several times before but it always cleared away any problems i experienced before between programs not functioning like they should. The only drawback is the time required to reinstall again your programs but the disc will be like new minus whatever conflicts created earlier issues.

Like i say i don't recommend this, not that it doesn't work because it does, it's the burden of having to reset all your programs again because windows will have you select a different install folder then Windows to put the system back on track again. It's the only method i discovered that keeps your system and programs intact but flushes away problems that you otherwise can't get a handle on.

[WilliamP]

I don't know if this is the problem or not. In XP Pro. if I do a search for WAVE there is a WAVE folder that is not in Home. C:\WINDOWS\Help\SBSI\TrainingXPPRO\Content 45mb. When I try to shut down PS after it locks up the pop up says WAVE doesn't want to shut down.

[mitchelson]

I think your system may be affected by some malware.
suggest you find out what processes are running .
wave.exe? ------ It has nothing to do with PS , I've never heard of that.

In my xp-sp2 system, there is no such folder in windows help directory, I recommend to erase such files.
-----maybe these files are harmless, but not nessasary for windows to run

[WilliamP]

It wasn't WAVE.exe. The pop up said WAVE wouldn't shut down. This pop up appeared after the screen did it's wavy thing and locked up. The pop up came as shutting down for re-boot. See my last post as for the possible origin of WAVE.

[19monty64]

-{ Quote: "I don't know if this is the problem or not. In XP Pro. if I do a search for WAVE there is a WAVE folder that is not in Home. C:\WINDOWS\Help\SBSI\TrainingXPPRO\Content 45mb. When I try to shut down PS after it locks up the pop up says WAVE doesn't want to shut down." }-
I found the following... "SBSI on NTFS Systems When you install the SBSI training program on an NTFS partition, users other than those with administrator or power user privileges may not be able to access the training content. The Readme.txt file for SBSI describes this issue and states:
In order to correct this, all users must be given read/write privileges to all the files in the Database folder of the training title (usually found in C:\windows\help\sbsi\training).
To avoid having to grant write access for all users to the database files in the C:\Windows\Help\SBSI\Training folder, run the Q307460.exe file." located here... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309248

[WilliamP]

I wonder what would happen if I were to delete that WAVE folder? Of course I'm not sure that it is the problem with PS.

[19monty64]

Create back-ups before erasing, just to be on the safe side. You may need to check "properties" of the file in question, there is a permissions-issue it would seem.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "Create back-ups before erasing, just to be on the safe side. You may need to check "properties" of the file in question, there is a permissions-issue it would seem." }-

No. You don't have to erase anything. To be safe just perform a simple CUT & PASTE to another folder someplace on your drive. I learned this is best at preventing mistakes from my years working with peoples hijackthis log issues.

If it solves the matter then you can eliminate it permanantly but if not and you erase it then you've lost valuable time and fall to frustrations you don't have to go thru.

Regards EASTER

[WilliamP]

I have just been informed by PS support that PS 2.6 doesn't support SATA drives and of course my Dell 8400 has a SATA drive.

[mitchelson]

-{ Quote: "I have just been informed by PS support that PS 2.6 doesn't support SATA drives and of course my Dell 8400 has a SATA drive." }-

V2.8.2 has solved such problem

[WilliamP]

How do I get 2.8?

[flinchlock]

-{ Quote: "How do I get 2.8?" }-http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=993052&postcount=10

See link provided by Chuck57.

Mike

[mitchelson]

http://www.powershadow.com/download/powershadow_ch_2.8.2.zip

This is chinese version (permenant FREE , but need registeration through email and user name----will be invalid till June 11th ) ; SO maybe you need translate it into english.

As I known, somebody in this forum seems has done the job----just replace some files ?

[flinchlock]

-{ Quote: "[url]SO maybe you need translate it into english.

As I known, somebody in this forum seems has done the job----just replace some files ?" }-See post #41 above... ;D

Mike

[innerpeace]

I also have a problem with the shutdown/reboot. I installed the 2.6 ver. last night and I went into single shadow mode myself and it went flawlessly. I made a few changes to test and then rebooted. I created a notepad file and it was still there but couldn't access it. A pop up said "One of the files containing the system's Registry data had to be recovered by use of a log of alternative copy. The recovery was successful." Then I think it said something about running checkdisk. I can't remember the exact steps I took after that. I did uninstall PS, ran CC cleaner and restored the reg with Erunt. On the reboot something went wrong the screen went blank so I press ctrl-alt-del. and the computer booted up and ran Checkdisk itself. It seemed to fix some of the files I added and deleted (I have a log of this from the event viewer) and then continued on to the desktop.

I'm running an e-machines XP home SP2 preinstalled, c: NTFS, d: FAT32(small recovery drive)both with xtra space, Avast home, Comodo, A-squared and Winpatrol. I also have the recguard.exe. I have uphclean running also since it has to do with shutdown, would that be a problem?

I really like how this program works and want to get it working. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you, innerpeace

[innerpeace]

Ok, I installed the 2.8 version this time and everything seems better so far :) . I enabled full shadow mode and created a small text file, then ran ccleaner which deleted 23MB. I then restarted my computer to normal mode and the file was gone and the 23MB were back. ;D I think I found a new favorite program. Keeping fingers crossed.

Cheers, innerpeace