Internet Filtering list gone blank (dual core CPU)

I just switched over to a dual core CPU, isntalled the MS hotfix (new hal.dll) and everything is peachy, except...

In Look'n'Stop GUI, the Internet Filtering tab is completely blank.

So, I started investigating this and it appears the my file "xxxxxx.rls" has become empty. The contents is:

-------
[Nb rules]
Nb=0
-------

This is most weird.

Anybody have this happen to them?

I guess it's time to start building the Internet rules set from scratch.

<sigh>

 

Maybe Frederic will have more information on this, but I do know hardware failures like Hard Drive failings can be of an issue here.

Now this is just a theory, I believe Look ‘n’ Stop upon exit dumps back to the file (overwrites) the entire Ruleset that was loaded into memory (for security purposes), or just upon changes once user exit out of Look ‘n’ Stop application, or upon an re-boot. – In these cases, failing/bad RAM could be of an issue, or something played with Look ‘n’ Stop memory resources…

Frederic will have to be the one to answer you on this


P.S: You should always backup the modified ruleset onto floppy, CD or HDD...

 

Hi,

Some users reported some cases with a bad number of rules, but never set to 0.
There is a problem sometimes when using the Service Mode Start, if a ruleset has been modified and not yet saved when Windows shuts down.
When possible, it is preferable to manually save the ruleset instead of waiting for Look 'n' Stop displaying the prompt to save the file before closing.

Before saving a new .rls file, Look 'n' Stop creates a .bak with the current file. Perhaps you can get it this way. If there is no .bak, this will be very strange, it means the file would have been modified outside of Look 'n' Stop.

Regards,

Frederic

 

There was a .bak file, but it was equally empty.

A strange occurence indeed. I'm not stupid enough (I hope) to manually delete my own rulest list, the HD checks fine, no crashes on my computer.

I don't know what caused it.

I'm now running Phantom v7 + starting to build my own rules list from scratch.

Oh well, maybe it was time to consolidate the rules anyway

 

This is just my personal experience, and LnS was not the culprit..
While using Windows encryption, I had a similar issue where I mistakenly encrypted the ruleset that was currently loaded in LnS. I temporarily modified the ruleset, but didn't save it. Upon shutdown, I was prompted to save the modified ruleset. I could not save it due to privileges. The shutdown was delayed awhile. I believe it was due to encryption of the .rls file without the priveleges needed to unencrypt or access the file properly.
Upon reboot to same limited account, I discovered that the Internet Filtering window was empty. I then rebooted to admin acct to reload the .rls file that showed an empty Internet Filtering window in limited acct. It loaded fine, and was ok upon reboot to limited acct.
Not totally sure why it happened as it did, but now I always try saving manually without waiting to be prompted. If in limited acct, I click 'No' (quickly) or 'Yes' when prompted to save the .rls file.
The above may be a bit unrelated to your situation, but then again it may help you or someone else.

 

That is useful information daniel952, great job.