Can I get help here with a MSE problem?

I read this forum frequently and I know there is a great deal of expertise here; so I'm hoping I might get some ideas. I've posted to the MSE forum and also opened a support case with them, but nothing has come of either so far; and although I've worked with several AV products over the years I've not had a problem like this.

Basically, when I install MSE everything is fine, but when I reboot my network is dead. I can ping remote sites by name, but any program that tries to connect via any protocol (IE7, MS Outlook, my weather program, etc.) hangs and cannot be killed. Access within my local wireless LAN is not affected.

I previously had BitDefender AV 2010 installed (which I had to remove because it blocks execution of all Cygwin programs, but that's another story ) I removed it with their removal tool, and verified (with a registry cleaner, jv16, used read-only) that there were no visible traces.

When I uninstall MSE and reboot the problem disappears. I've cycled this three or four times now. This is on Vista Ultimate SP3 32-bit.

I would certainly appreciate any light shed here!

 

To repair and reset the Windows Vista

1.Click on Start button.
2.Type Cmd in the Start Search text box.
3.Press Ctrl-Shift-Enter keyboard shortcut to run Command Prompt as Administrator. Allow elevation request.
4.Type netsh winsock reset in the Command Prompt shell, and then press the Enter key.
5.Restart the computer.

 

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If MSE is currently installed open the Security Center and see what it reports. If you're using the Windows Firewall check it's settings - make sure the "block all incoming connections" box is not checked. Even if the settings look correct turn the firewall off to see if this allows traffic through the connection.

 

Also, check the Event viewer for any possible conflicts with MSE. Look under windows logs/system. I had an issue with GeSWall free and MSE during the beta stage and I found out the problem looking at these logs.

Ice

 

Thank you all for your help. It's good to have something to try... Unfortunately I don't yet have a working installation. I tried winsock reset and rebooted as advised, and I checked my security center settings and tried turning off the firewall.

My settings look as expected:


In the event log I see, for every reboot with MSE installed, a series of errors from the Service Control Manager:

The Telnet service hung on starting.
The Windows Time service hung on starting.
Etc...

Also, the first time I start up after installing MSE I get warnings about malware from two programs in my collection of NirSoft utilities. Since I actually want to keep those files I tell the dialog to allow them. I see these warnings in the event log as well, for example

Microsoft Antimalware has detected spyware or other potentially unwanted software. For more information please see the following: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=37020&name=HackTool:Win32/Passview&threatid=2147597639
Path: file: D:\Local\Utils\NirSoft\pspv.exe

 

If you believe these files are safe, I would exclude them in MSE. This might alleviate the issue. The problem I had with GeSWall and MSE was simillar in that all my browsers could not access the internet. However, GeSWall is a internet security app for my browsers. Once I excluded the GeSWall server in MSE, everything worked fine. The latest version of MSE has corrected my issue.

Ice

 

I actually tried just deleting all those files, then reinstalling MSE, rebooting, etc. Warnings gone but network not back.

I've begun the dialog with Microsoft support (not well - their opening line was "I understand that your computer is running very slow after installing the Microsoft Security Essentials" ) I'll report back here if/when I learn anything...

 

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Have you tried scanning the system with MBAM and/or SuperAntiSpyware on the off-chance that there's something else messing with the connection? I know that's a "shot in the dark", but it's easy to do while you're waiting for Microsoft Support

 

I'm a little reluctant to introduce another malware scanner into the mix, esp. since uninstalling MSE immediately cures my problem; but perhaps I will anyway... I would love to solve this problem.

 

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Here's another SITD:

Open the RUN box and type "services.msc" so you can view all started services. Check through them for anything left over from a different security product.

 

I have found the problem. It was an incompatibility with NetLimiter (which in fact I use only for its wonderful monitor). The solution was simply to uninstall MSE, uninstall NetLimiter, reinstall MSE, reinstall NetLimiter (i.e. MSE first).