HitmanPro.ALERT Support and Discussion Thread

thanks, erik. at this point i think i'd rather wait for you guys to get your stuff through MS. I hope that happens soon.

@denniz thanks for the backup, confirmation, and help explaining the issue

 

Sorry forgot to mention, I am running win 8.1 not windows 10. Both on this PC and my laptop.

My win10 testing rig does also have hmpa running but since I dont use it for anything else than playing around I dont care so much for that, but can report it did not get any issues posted in that reddit thread.

Device 1 - Laptop Win 8.1 pro x64, key encryption works on 3.5 and 3.1
Device 2 - My main PC Win 8.1 pro x64 which I use for work and gaming, key encryption works on 3.1 but not 3.5
Device 3 - PC which I use for testing stuff, currently has win10 pro x64 installed latest insider build, hmpa is installed v3.5 but I havent tested key encryption on it lately, did not have any of the issues in that reddit thread.

 

Ah, my PC is so old that I don't have a SecureBoot option in BIOS.

That explains why I had no issues after a clean install of Windows 10 1067.

 

oh and yeah my win10 machine is not uefi boot so no secure boot either.

 

@erikloman

Any idea why is installing HMPA after upgrading to win10 1607 freezing my computer with a blank screen and mouse pointer?

Bitdefender is working fine.

 

Any chance you are running Crystal Security? I had this happen a week ago w/Win8.1, so I rolled back my image a day and it still was a problem. I then rolled back prior to my HitmanPro.Alert installation and STILL I had a black screen with a mouse pointer.

I booted in safe mode without an issue, disabled Crystal Security and all non-Microsoft services with msconfig. Then booted back to OS. All was well. I then reimaged back to my most recent image, and re-enabled non-Microsoft services, a few at a time.

I'm not 100% sure Crystal Security was at fault, but my reimage ruled out HitmanPro.Alert. My last step was a full AV (Avira) uninstall / reinstall. Since all that I eliminated Crystal Security.

 

I have been running a trial of HMPA version 3.5.0 build 546 on two systems (Windows 7 Pro and Windows 10 Home build 1511). It has been running smoothly most of the time, but I have received a number of WipeGuard alerts for the following programs:

• Genie Timeline service
• Kobo desktop

I also received some WipeGuard alerts when formatting a memory card, but that I can understand since I was in fact going to wipe out the existing MBR. For now I have CryptoGuard enabled but have turned off WipeGuard. Is there any way to whitelist applications from just WipeGuard?

 

HMP.A build 546 is preventing my PC from upgrading its version of Norton Internet Security:



Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, x64. This update is especially important to complete because of the Norton vulnerability reported by Google some weeks ago.

Suggested course of action?

 

Just uninstall HMPA, update Norton, reinstall HMPA.

 

Thanks. Two questions about uninstalling HMP.A:

1) When I reinstall it, will it "remember" my license key, or will I have to re-enter it in some fashion?
2) Will the reinstalled HMP.A remember the settings I had before it was uninstalled?

Feature suggestion for HMP.A: Let the user disable/suspend HMP.A protection for specified amounts of time, much in the same way as AV programs let you disable them, say for 15 minutes or until the next reboot. Having to uninstall and reinstall strikes me as overkill.

 

Currently performing an HMP.A-recommended HMP scan (just out of curiosity, not that I expect it to find any threats). I'll try the method you suggested as soon as the scan's finished.

UPDATE: Killing HMP.A in order to update NIS has not (yet) worked. I've had to kill two separate HMP.A processes twice (they re-spawn) and one of them three times. But I'm still unable to update NIS, even after rebooting and starting the kill/update process again.

There's got to be an easier way.

 

Click on the orange title, select cryptoguard, and disable temporarily.

if that does not work, click on settings, action-mode and activate silent audit.

Don't forget to undo any change, after Norton update.

 

Disabled Cryptoguard and that did the trick , thank you.

Still, for future reference I will keep in mind the other suggestions that were made. You never know when they might come in handy.

 

IIRC yes it will remember the license key and settings are preserved, but if this is a concern I would get it confirmed as it has been a while since I've done it.

 

Unless things have changed with the latest beta, that is the case.

 

i did a clean install of my system for the AU so:

1- it remembers it, so i guess it is hardware based.
2- No (if clean install) so you have to import your settings (if you did export them earlier, of course)

 

HitmanPro.Alert 3.5.1 Build 550 BETA

Changelog, compared to beta build 548

• Improved WipeGuard (could cause BSOD on rare occasions)
• Improved CryptoGuard handling offline files on DFS volumes
• Fixed Safe Browsing locks
• Several minor improvements

Download
http://test.hitmanpro.com/hmpalert3b550.exe

Please let us know how this version runs on your computer

Temporary condition
When your computer has Secure Boot turned ON and runs a new fresh installation of Windows 10 version 1607, HitmanPro.Alert will not run correctly. This is because Windows 10 version 1607 (Anniversary Update) will not load any kernel mode drivers that are not signed by Microsoft. According to Microsoft: "due to technical and ecosystem readiness issues, this was previously not enforced by Windows Code Integrity" - hence why no one ran into this during the Windows Insider builds.
We will solve this as soon as possible. If you run into this issue, you can opt to temporarily turn Secure Boot OFF or uninstall HitmanPro.Alert.

 

Mark, if we already have build 548 installed on Windows 10 version 1607 will we see this, or only fresh installs?

Thanks.

 

HitmanPro.Alert runs fine on any PC with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 (< 1607). Also, if you upgraded from a release of Windows prior to Windows 10 Version 1607, HitmanPro.Alert runs fine, you're not affected. Only fresh installs of Windows 10 version 1607 on PCs with Security Boot enabled in the BIOS are affected by this.

 

No problems upgrading build 550 beta.

 

Upgraded to win 10 1607 a few days ago (not fresh install). Upgraded to build 550 beta a few minutes ago. No problems. Alert tests work.

 

Confirmed: Safe Browsing locks fixed in HMP.A 3.5.1.550.

However, the bug that I reported August 3, is still there.
I'll rephrase, to include some new details:

With HMP.A setting "Safety notification - Once per login session", there should be one flyout per login session.
This works correctly for the first login session, and after logging out and logging back in it also works for the second login session.
But after logging out and logging back in once more, there is no more HMP.A flyout with opening a protected application.
So, for some unknown reason, with HMP.A setting "Safety notification - Once per login session", there seem to be only two flyouts available per boot session, one in the first login session, and one in the second, but not in any further login sessions.
@erikloman
@markloman
Have you been able to reproduce this issue, and will it be fixed in a next build?
I guess it's not a serious issue, but I suppose the flyouts should work as meant to.

 

Thank for reporting this, nice find. We'll investigate this later (haven't tried to reproduce this). This is not a priority at the moment as all our efforts are focused on delivering the Sophos Intercept project. Sophos Intercept includes HitmanPro.Alert 3.5 but doesn't enable the safety notification flyout or the colored window border. More information on Sophos Intercept here: https://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-...nounces-beta-release-of-sophos-intercept.aspx

 

Thanks very much, and I understand that that bug is not a priority, of course.