Open normal not working for programs set to run safer

[Arto 0]

I have my browser, IE8, set to RunSafer in OA.  However, when I need to install Windows updates I cannot do it in the 'safer' mode.  So, I usually just right click on IE, and click the 'Open Normal' option.  I tried it this morning, and nothing happened.  IE would not launch.  I then went into OA configuration, and changed IE to run normal.  Then, I tried to lauch IE using right-click|Open Safer.  That too would not work.

 

At the time, I was on OE v5.0.  I figured it was time to upgrade, so I just upgraded to OA v6.  The same problem is still happening.  I know this was working previously with OA v5, but something must have messed up the shortcut on the context menu, and the upgrade install didn't fix it.

 

Is there any way I can get that functionality to work again, without a full re-install of OA?

 

I'm on XP SP3.

 

Thanks;

 

[GT500 787]

The only way would be to uninstall Online Armor, restart your computer twice, and then reinstall it. That will unregister the context menu entries, and then reregister them.

[Arto 0]

Is there any way to export all of my setting, and then re-import them?  Or perhaps adjust the registry manually?  I really don't want to go through a complete re-install & re-configure.  Plus, there's no guarantee the problem will be solved.

 

???

[GT500 787]

Yes, you can backup your settings in Online Armor and then restore them after the reinstall.

• Open Online Armor.
• Go to Options in the menu on the left.
• Go to the Backup/Restore tab.
• Click the Backup button and select where to save your settings.

[Arto 0]

Forgot to mention that I am on the free version.  It seems the backup option is  not available in the free version.

 

Any chance of making the required adjustments manually?  Perhaps through a registry edit?

 

THanks;

[Nick 10]

You can save the Firewall settings though - and you can import them once Online Armor is reinstalled. Go to Firewall/Programs List or Firewall/Ports, then right-click any item in the list to access the Export/Import options.

[GT500 787]

Any chance of making the required adjustments manually?  Perhaps through a registry edit?

Theoretically it should be possible, however it is not an easy registry edit (the information in stored in more than one place), and we don't recommend trying to do it.

[Arto 0]

I can't see how it can make things worse.  I already found the entries that point to oaevent.dll.  I'm guessing that these are part of the funtionality.

[GT500 787]

I can't see how it can make things worse.  ...

If fixing it by editing the registry fails, then it could make it impossible to unregister/reregister the shell extension for the Context Menu.

Have you tried going in to Online Armor and changing the settings so that IE8 is no longer set to RunSafer, and checking to see if that fixed it?

[Arto 0]

If I change the setting for IE to no longer run safer, it works just fine.  That is it launches normally.  In that situation, if I try to manually run safer, then THAT doesn't work.  I only occasionally need to run normal.  Most of the time I want it to run safer.

[GT500 787]

I think I have an alternate solution. Create an account at this link, and then let me know once you've done that. Once you have an account, I can create a 5-day Online Armor Premium license for you in our system, and that should give you enough time to backup your settings, reinstall Online Armor, and then restore your settings.

[Arto 0]

Arthur;

I have created the account.  The name on the account is Arto Basmadjian.  I would prefer not to enter the email address here, but it's the same as the one tied to this forum account.

 

Thanks.

Arto

[GT500 787]

Don't worry, I can get your e-mail address from your forum profile. I'm sending you a private message with the temporary license key.

[Arto 0]

Arthur;

Temporary key received and used to export, then re-import.  In between, I uninstalled, rebooted 2x, and re-installed.  Unfortunately, after I applied my old settings, the run Normal/Safer no longer worked.  It did seem to be working until I restored my settings(and rebooted).  There must be something in my settings that is causing this...

 

Any other possibilities to explore?  Any chance you guys might find something interresting in my exported settings file?

Thanks;

[Arto 0]

Finally solved the mystery...

 

Turns out that I had my HIPS features disabled (which includes program guard).  Ouch!  Can't imagine why/when I did that.  Once I enabled the program guard, the run safer/run normal are working fine now.

 

I do, however find it a bit strange that with Program Guard turned off, OA will still launch programs in safe mode if they are configured that way, but will not allow the manual bypass using run Normal.  I'll leave that to the dev team...

 

One last question...  Do I need to remove the temporary license, or will OA revert to the free version after the temporary license expires.

 

Thank you very much for your assistance.  I really appreciate it. 

Arto

[GT500 787]

Online Armor will revert to freeware mode once the license period expires.