VoodooShield discussion

[Peter2150]

Hi Dan

4.01 still is rejecting my registration.

Pete

 

[Hector1]

High CPU usage even for me with last beta

Spoiler: High CPU

 

[shmu26]

I had to manually add shmu26's suggestion to registry for task bar showing up....

I guess I get credit for trying out the registry hack and reporting that it works, but @scootnod is the one who actually posted it...

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Thank you, I appreciate that very much... even though I do not deserve such a compliment .


Here is the 4.01 beta, hopefully the registration issue is fixed… if not, I will see if Alex can take a look at it asap.

The token issue (VoodooShield starting on startup with the service) may or may not be fixed, but if it is not, I added some logging that will provide a specific error code that will help us narrow it down.

I was not able to duplicate the high CPU utilization that is a result of the scan child processes feature… so if someone can send me a link to a file that causes this issue, please do. It will be a very, very easy fix once I can reproduce the error… high CPU utilization errors are always easy to fix once you can reproduce them.

Other than that, there are around 10 or so other bug fixes included in this version.

There were a few bugs in the new rules feature, and the custom folders feature, but I believe they are resolved now. If either of these features do not behave as expected, please let me know. If you can provide a way for me to produce the unexpected behavior, that will be even better.

Everything seems to be going extremely well, and are getting very, very close to a stable VS 4.0… I would not be surprised if we can wrap this up in less than a week. Thank you guys for your help, I will catch up asap!

You should be able to install over the top of the old versions of VS… but if you run into trouble, please uninstall the old version, reboot, and reinstall (and please let me know if you had an issue with installing over the top).

www.voodooshield.com/Download/beta4/InstallVoodooShield401beta.exe

Hi Dan, installed over the top of 3.59. Had to register again. That worked. My main problem of opening links from Outlook 2016 is solved.
Unfortunately it's not quite stable because after a reboot VS doesn't start.

Will try a clean install now.
After a clean install and the first reboot VS doesn't start.

Got the same messages as @Telos in the event viewer:

Service kan niet worden gestart. System.InvalidCastException: De conversie van tekenreeks StartProcessAsCurrentUser: GetSe naar type Double is ongeldig. ---> System.FormatException: De indeling van de invoertekenreeks is onjuist. bij Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ParseDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat) bij Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat) --- Einde van intern uitzonderingsstackpad --- bij Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat) bij VoodooShieldService.ProcessExtensions.StartProcessAsCurrentUser(String appPath, String cmdLine, String workDir, Boolean visible) bij VoodooShieldService.VoodooShieldService.OnStart(String[] args) bij System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

@scootnod 's tip worked on reboot (and a cold boot).

It looks like if you uninstall the old version before installing the 4.0 beta version it removes the registry key C:\Program Files\VoodooShield\VoodooShield.exe from HKLM-Software-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Run.
You can manually add it back by creating a new String Value called VoodooShield with the vaule C:\Program Files\VoodooShield\VoodooShield.exe in this location.

Memory use of VS:

 

[vonvon]

Hi, uninstalling 3.59, delete appdata ..., reboot, then install 4.01b, registration, ok
reboot, all ok.
Everything run smoothy.

(winpatrol - Dr.web security space - Sticky password - mailwasher pro)
Bravo Dan !!!

 

[vonvon]

suite

voodooshield cpu between 0 and 1 % (main 0.3 %) - 1.5 Mo - 2.2 Mo
voodooshiels service cpu between 0 and 0.5 % - 19.5 Mo

vs start on reboot.

All fine,

 

[codswollip]

High CPU usage even for me with last beta

That's quite odd. When I start VS, CPU jumps initially to 8-9%. After 30 seconds, it bounces around between 0.0% and 0.6%, with sporadic disk and network use (both quite light).

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

With v.401b my usage has dropped and that's good at least it is stable now, at first re-boot it asked again for registration and whitelisting. I allowed it to go through all these steps so it is fully activated and updated. I will re-boot this evening again to see if it keeps after all the settings have been finalized, and I also uploaded the Whitelist as well as the settings to the cloud.
Report back later. PeAcE

 

[boredog]

Just installed new beta and got the free version like a lot of you. In my case it said it could not connect to server. I had shut off all antimalware plus exited Tiny Firewall. I then connected to Tiny again and put in learn mode, clicked on reset reg in VS and re-entered my info and that worked. I kow at least some of you use Tiny Firewall. Also after reboot VS service was stopped like last version.

 

[russ0408]

Voodooshield 401b is working fine now for me. Installed over v 400, it then asked for a restart. After restart it showed disabled, I clicked on auto mode and everything was back to normal. My settings were there and no need to register again.

 

[VecchioScarpone]

Clean uninstall 4.0, clean install 4.1.
Turned off computer, on restart VS asked for registration, all fine.
Turned off computer again, on restart VS, no show, had to manually start the process and all works fine.
Rebooted and VS start as it should, fast and no CPU issue or any other.

 

[russ0408]

The only thing Voodooshield is not doing is loading in start up.

 

[danb]

4.01b... No autostart (reboot login)

From Event Viewer:
Service cannot be started. System.InvalidCastException: Conversion from string "StartProcessAsCurrentUser: GetSe" to type 'Double' is not valid. ---> System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ParseDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat)
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Conversions.ToDouble(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat)
at VoodooShieldService.ProcessExtensions.StartProcessAsCurrentUser(String appPath, String cmdLine, String workDir, Boolean visible)
at VoodooShieldService.VoodooShieldService.OnStart(String[] args)
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

Very cool, thank you, now we are getting somewhere with this issue!

The only thing is that the exception is cut off, so I am having a little trouble. Is there a better version of this error in your DeveloperServiceLog.log in the C:\ProgramData\VoodooShield directory? There probably is not because it looks like the service is stopping before it gets a chance to log the exception... which is why it is probably not showing up in the error reporting system. But what I can do is add a little more logging, and that should tell us where the issue is. It is a simple conversion exception, so once we know variable is not being converted properly, it will be super easy to fix.

Also, if anyone is still having issues with registration, can you please try a few things?

First, please go to VoodooShield™ - The User-Friendly Toggling Computer Lock. (voodooai.net) and see if you can log in to your account by clicking Account at the top right? All of the accounts are temporarily being stored on this domain. I transferred all of the accounts, so they should all be working. If you are not able to log in, please email me and I will fix your account.

If you are able to log in to VoodooShield™ - The User-Friendly Toggling Computer Lock. (voodooai.net), you might try to click the "Reset Registration" button in VoodooShield Settings / Register.

If that still does not work, I would exit out of VS and then delete all of the .db files in the C:\ProgramData\VoodooShield directory, then start VS again.

I am making serious progress, and we are getting there. I really wish we could do a live youtube or twitch broadcast so I can show you guys what all is involved... it is a massive task to figure out all of the pieces of the puzzle. The funny thing is... if we did not have the error reporting system, we would have been tracking down bugs for months. But since we have the error reporting system, everything should be stable in a matter of a week or so.

Having said that, there are still several more things that I need to fix, but we are getting close... things are going very, very well.

Also, as boredog mentioned (thank you boredog), please make sure you do not have a firewall blocking VS. This should not have changed since VS 3.59, but I see TONS of errors in the error reporting system where something is blocking VS's communication. In 4.01, I added in some error handling so that VS should prompt you if it cannot reach the servers. But like I was saying, none of this should have changed since VS 3.59, so I have no idea why it is an issue now.

I should have a new version in a day or two. After that, we will probably have another 2 or so beta versions over the next week, then everything will be back to normal. And I will be able to catch up on pm's, emails, posts, etc. Thank you guys!

 

[shmu26]

Installed 401b and all is fine, except I had to do the registry hack again so it will start up.

 

[paulderdash]

I was not able to duplicate the high CPU utilization that is a result of the scan child processes feature… so if someone can send me a link to a file that causes this issue, please do. It will be a very, very easy fix once I can reproduce the error… high CPU utilization errors are always easy to fix once you can reproduce them.

Not sure that the scan child processes feature causes the high CPU utilisation. I saw high CPU utilisation whether that is ticked or unticked. That is with VS 4.0b.

 

[danb]

Not sure that the scan child processes feature causes the high CPU utilisation. I saw high CPU utilisation whether that is ticked or unticked. That is with VS 4.0b.

Yeah, it may not be. I looked long and hard at the scanchildprocess code, and I did not see anything that could possibly cause an infinite loop.

One thing is for sure, if someone can let me know what triggers this issue, it will be a simple fix.

I have not seen this issue myself, otherwise I would have fixed it .

 

[shmu26]

Yeah, it may not be. I looked long and hard at the scanchildprocess code, and I did not see anything that could possibly cause an infinite loop.

One thing is for sure, if someone can let me know what triggers this issue, it will be a simple fix.

I have not seen this issue myself, otherwise I would have fixed it .

Now that you mention it, I am seeing 25% CPU from Voodooshield, after installing 401b. I never saw this before.
Windows search filter and search indexer and searchprotocolhost are presently churning my system. (I just restored a system image, back to my Voodooshield config.) Maybe that is connected, I don't know.

 

[shmu26]

Now that you mention it, I am seeing 25% CPU from Voodooshield, after installing 401b. I never saw this before.
Windows search filter and search indexer and searchprotocolhost are presently churning my system. (I just restored a system image, back to my Voodooshield config.) Maybe that is connected, I don't know.

After a reboot, VS CPU usage is basically at zero, even though search filter and indexer is still churning away. So I guess that was not it.

 

[paulderdash]

Also, as boredog mentioned (thank you boredog), please make sure you do not have a firewall blocking VS. This should not have changed since VS 3.59, but I see TONS of errors in the error reporting system where something is blocking VS's communication. In 4.01, I added in some error handling so that VS should prompt you if it cannot reach the servers. But like I was saying, none of this should have changed since VS 3.59, so I have no idea why it is an issue now.

Installed 4.01b on primary machine, where I experience no-autostart issue (I don't have that issue on secondary machine).

No registration pop-ups, but can confirm auto-start is not fixed. Reset to 'automatic (delayed start)', which solves the issue for me - rather than doing the reg tweak thing - and all is OK again.

I wonder if it isn't due to Emsisoft new Firewall Fortify feature that is causing some sort of delay? I do have VS processes excluded in EAM, and don't get any warnings, but maybe there is some sort of delay there interfering with the automatic start. IIRC there are other reports of (I think different) issues by other users of EAM on Wilders. Just a shot in the dark.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Installed 4.01b on primary machine, where I experience no-autostart issue (I don't have that issue on secondary machine).

No registration pop-ups, but can confirm auto-start is not fixed. Reset to 'automatic (delayed start)', which solves the issue for me - rather than doing the reg tweak thing - and all is OK again.

I wonder if it isn't due to Emsisoft new Firewall Fortify feature that is causing some sort of delay? I do have VS processes excluded in EAM, and don't get any warnings, but maybe there is some sort of delay there interfering with the automatic start. IIRC there are other reports of (I think different) issues by other users of EAM on Wilders. Just a shot in the dark.

Also an EAM user with no auto-start of VS.
I did the reg tweak.
What is the preferred workaround?
Delayed start or reg tweak and why?