Outlook freezes when Email Guard active

[PaulAlex7000]

Hello all. I wanted to share my experiences with Outlook 2007 hanging when Spyware Doctor's Email Guard is active.

This is similar -- if not the same -- issue as the one mentioned in thread
http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51140&highlight=outlook.

I have to say that I am disappointed in PC Tools. I want a refund because some of the functionality doesn't work but PC Tools tells me to go back to the retailer (Fry's Electronics) to get a refund.

It was also touch and go with tech support. Initially, when I created a support case, I was getting mediocre tech support. The tech apparently didn't read the notes since he kept telling me to do steps that I had indicated in previous correspondence that I had already attempted. I then worked with a tech lead and that went much better.

But I am disappointed that they didn't take me up on my offer to help debug this issue. I have Visual Studio, ntsd.exe, windbg.exe and other debugging tools, but since I am just now learning how to program (much less learning how to debug), I told them they would have to give me exact instructions on examining threads, etc. They didn't want to take me up on my offer. Too bad, I felt I could have learned a lot about debugging.

In any event, I share the notes below my signature for comparison purposes. Maybe you have similar configurations. Or completely different which may also cause the problem. Maybe between all of us posters, we can figure out the problem.

-- Paul


SUMMARY OF PROBLEM
With Spyware Doctor's OnGuard engine active, when attempting to open an email message in Outlook, the spinner (once known as the hourglass) keeps on spinning and does not open the email message.

CAUSE
Spyware Doctor's OnGuard is active, and your email account is configured for IMAP. This problem does not repro if your email account is configured for POP3 or if OnGuard engine is disabled.

WORKAROUND
Exit out of Outlook, making sure that the Outlook.exe process is terminated, and right-click on the Spyware Doctor icon in the Systray and click Disable OnGuard. Then relaunch Outlook and open the message.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Spyware Doctor 5.5.0.212
Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1
Outlook 2007 configured with an email account using IMAP settings



TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS TAKEN
1) Uninstalled Spyware Doctor (hereinafter "SD").
a. Ascertained no "Spyware Doctor" in "c:\program files" or "c:\program files\common files".
b. Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account.
c. Rebooted computer.

2) Reinstalled SD, also utilizing automatic updates to get current, from www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download.
a. NOTE: SD was not initally installed with the anti-virus components, as tech support earlier disabled the anti-virus license. The first tech said it was a known issue with the anti-virus component. The second tech said there was no issue at all with anti-virus and there were no known issues with Outlook freezing.

3) After SD 5.5 was reinstalled, verified that OnGuard engine was active and also that the Guards (browser, cookie, email, file, immunizer, keylogger, etc.) were active.

4) Relaunched Outlook (which recreated the .PST file that was deleted in step 1b.

5) Verified that the problem DID NOT REPRO (that is, opened an email message without problems).

6) Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account.

7) Navigated to www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/addons and downloaded and installed Site Guard and Email Guard. Double-checked and reenabled Guards if disabled.

8) Relaunched Outlook (which recreated the .PST file that was deleted in step 6).

9) Verified that the problem DID REPRO (that is, attempted to open an email message but got the Vista spinner -- the hourglass).

10) Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account, and manually disabled the Guards for Email and Site but left the rest of the guards running.

11) Relaunched Outlook and verified that the problem continued to repro.

12) SANITY CHECK:
a. Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account.
b. Uninstalled the add-ons for Site Guard and Email Guard.
c. Rebooted computer, relaunched Outlook and verified that the problem did NOT repro.

13) Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account, and manually disabled the Guards for Email and Site.

14) Installed only the Site Guard addon from www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/addons, also making sure it was enabled, and then relaunched Outlook. The problem did NOT repro.

15) Exited Outlook, killed the Outlook.exe process and removed the .PST file associated with my email IMAP account, and manually disabled the Guards for Email and Site.

16) Installed the Email Guard addon from www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/addons, also making sure it was enabled, and then relaunched Outlook. The problem DID REPRO.


OTHER INFO THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR NARROWING DOWN AND IDENTIFYING THE ISSUE
1) If SD's OnGuard engine is active, and then you launch Outlook, and then you right-click on the Spyware Doctor icon in the Systray and click Disable OnGuard, this will NOT allow you to successfully open the email message (same symptoms).
a. It seems you have to disable OnGuard PRIOR to opening Outlook.


2) If SD's OnGuard engine is disabled (by right-clicking on SD icon in Systray and disabling) and you open outlook, and THEN you ENABLE OnGuard via the SD icon in the Systray), this DOES allow you to successfully open the email message.

a. It seems that if SD OnGuard engine is disabled before opening Outlook, then you can enable it and still open IMAP email messages successfully.

3) Launching Outlook in Safe Mode results in same problem reoccurring.

4) Deleting and creating a new Outlook profile results in same problem reoccurring.

[haapy]

Are you using Windows Desktop Search. That really mucked up Outlook 2007 for me.

[AChen]

Hi PaulAlex7000,

Thanks for all the information you have provided in this thread. This info is very useful and will help us in recreating this issue. It has already been passed on to the developers for a fix.

Regarding the refund, for confirmation, we cannot provide a refund if you have purchased a product from a retail outlet and Support is correct on this. You will need to go back to the retail outlet to receive the refund. We can only provide a refund if you have purchased a product online. When you purchase from a retail outlet, the money paid goes to the shop, the distributor, we do not directly collect that money. If purchased online, we can provide the refund directly within the 30 days of purchase.

[PaulAlex7000]

Are you using Windows Desktop Search. That really mucked up Outlook 2007 for me.

Yes, WDS is built into Vista. You can stop the service but once you start Outlook, it restarts. I tried stopping the service again after launching Outlook, but that resulted in the same problems unfortunately.

[PaulAlex7000]

Hi PaulAlex7000,

Thanks for all the information you have provided in this thread. This info is very useful and will help us in recreating this issue. It has already been passed on to the developers for a fix.

This won't do any good since the developers already stated that they couldn't repro my issue.

Regarding the refund, for confirmation, we cannot provide a refund if you have purchased a product from a retail outlet and Support is correct on this. You will need to go back to the retail outlet to receive the refund. We can only provide a refund if you have purchased a product online. When you purchase from a retail outlet, the money paid goes to the shop, the distributor, we do not directly collect that money. If purchased online, we can provide the refund directly within the 30 days of purchase.

I disagree. Your technical support has not fixed my problem. I have a product of yours that I cannot 100% use. I feel your company has a good-faith responsibility to address this. Particularly since your tech support has abandoned my case (e.g., since it isn't resolved and there are no further communiques from tech support).

Microsoft (and I'm guessing that other companies) will process returns for products not purchased directly from them. If you buy one of their products at a retail store and you can't return it there, you can call Microsoft and they'll refund your money. They do that in the interest of customer satisfaction. Now I will state that my information is based on fact from back in 2001, so perhaps refund policies might have changed since then.

It's too bad. I switched from Webroot's Spysweeper to Spyware Doctor based on positive reviews. I guess I'll be renewing my license to Spysweeper..

[haapy]

It is a difficult task to have all the children play nice in the same sandbox. Go check the Spysweeper or CounterSpy User Forums and see the warts. Work with the team that your choose to work out the problems. It is not a perfect world.

[PaulAlex7000]

It is a difficult task to have all the children play nice in the same sandbox. Go check the Spysweeper or CounterSpy User Forums and see the warts. Work with the team that your choose to work out the problems. It is not a perfect world.

This part is true; with so many permutations of different software working together, it's a wonder anything works.

As such, I have no problem with there being a bug. I have no problem that this issue I'm experiencing has stumped tech support. But I do have a problem with the way that PC Tools has handled the issue. Sure, they worked with me for a bit on it, but then basically gave up on the issue. That, and they didn't seem to be too interested in assisting me in debugging it. Especially since they said they could not repro the issue but I could. (I just don't know about debugging and call stacks and threads to debug it on my own.)

That and they don't offer a satisfaction guarantee on their products. Particularly since my issue wasn't solved.

You're right; there are probably customers over at Webroot who say Spy Sweeper is no good and they are going to switch to Spyware Doctor.

In my case, fortunately, I do know that Spy Sweeper works since I used it no more than a month ago.

Alas, c'est la vie.

[AChen]

Appreciate all the info in this thread. We've located the problem and have implemented a fix. This fix won't be available just yet as we are currently running further tests before we release the fix. Once its available, I'll provide an update.

[gilbeg]

Hi,
Are you using IMAP or Pop3 or Exchange?
I think you are using IMAP, there is a problem with SD 5.5 + IMAP. It has been like that since they released it. I dont know why it has taken so long to fix it.

-Gill

[Secret-HQ]

I got Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 5.5.1.322 via SmartUpdate yesterday (2008-05-28), and the EMail Guard and File Guard have rendered Outlook 2003 virtually unusable here as well. :(

I'm running WinXP SP3 (fully patched) and Outlook 2003.

No IMAP accounts here (just a dozen POP3 accounts and one Hotmail account), but the symptoms are pretty much identical to PaulAlex7000's.

Whenever Outlook performs a send/receive, performance slows to a crawl and CPU usage for Outlook goes up to 95% or higher. I've had to kill Outlook with Task Manager once or twice, but usually I can close it properly. Like PA7000, I've found that I can disable OnGuard before opening Outlook and use Outlook as before, with no problems — but if I disable it while Outlook is running, memory isn't freed up.

And, as I said, it's not Spyware Doctor eating CPU resources according to the Task Manager, but Outlook.exe.

—

I've disabled EMail Guard and File Guard, and Outlook seems to be running O.K., despite a few unusual spikes in CPU usuage when checking for mail. However, it's past midnight here and my Outlook has been on for several hours — which means I'm only seeing a couple of mail messages trickle in at a time. The real test of whether this works (for the short-term) will be in the morning or the next time Outlook has to handle dozens or hundreds of incoming mail messages.

Update:
I closed Outlook for a bit and allowed it to build up 60 messages across various accounts. With EMail Guard and File Guard disabled, performance still slows to a crawl, with Outlook CPU usage at 91-98%. Looks like my only option is to disable OnGuard entirely, effectively crippling Spyware Doc ... .

—

Thanks for the feedback in this thread, AChen. Any ETA on the fix? ;)

(Would it be worthwhile to try the 5.5.1.336 Beta (http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51808), or should I just cool my jets and wait for the fix?)

[Secret-HQ]

Sooo — any new information?

(Apologies if it's bad form to bump threads here, but this seemed like an issue that might be due for an update, since it's apparently a pretty common and mission-critical issue.)

[mskislan]

Any fix for the IMAP problem yet?
I bought licenses for three computers a few weeks ago, but had to revert back to AVG and Nod32 because of SD stopped IMAP working (tried Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Firebird, on three different computers).
If there isn’t planned to ship a fix for this problem, is it possible to get a refund? I bought it online from this site.

Sorry if I sound impatient here, but I can’t keep disabling my antivirus every time I’m downloading my email…

Morten

[Secret-HQ]

Been a couple of months now — any update?

I sure would like to be able to use OnGuard again ... .

[AChen]

Hi mskislan and Secret-HQ,

Could you please see the Private Message sent.

[Secret-HQ]

Looks like I managed to resolve the issue a week ago by uninstalling Spyware Doc, deleting all the registry entries I could find, and reinstalling a fresh copy of the latest version (6.0.0.362).

I used to be under the impression that Spyware Doc automatically updated itself to the latest version through SmartUpdate, but this is the second time I've had to do a complete reinstall. (No problems the first time, but I noticed someone else running a significantly different version or I wouldn't have bothered to check.)

Is there something I should be doing to stay on top of the latest versions of the program?