Start Menu Freezing at Random after installing 4.5.1 SP1

[ranja]

We have encountered a weird problem where by when 4.5.1 SP1 is installed using Wise, after the installation the start menu and programs menu freeze at random . Has anyone seen this problem in their environment and if yes has anyone got any ideas or resolutions.

 

[AVChap]

I don't believe that VirusScan 4.5.1 uses Wise Installer. IIRC, it uses Microsoft Installer. Even the SP1 does not use the Wise Installer. There maybe something else that's causing the problem.

 

[ranja]

Thanks AVCHAP. Yes we are aware that McAfee uses the MSI to do the install. However, in our org. we are using the Wise Installer to invoke the MSI package and are encountering this problem. Hope this makes sense.

 

[ChrisMB]

Ranja, we've had the same problem in our org. What it turned out to be is that sp1 by default scans all *.lnk files. The way we've got round it is under system scan properties uncheck 'default files' and check 'user specified files' the user sepecified default list does not include the *.lnk extension. Since we've done the change had no problems will either the start menu freezing or the occassional windows explorer internal error when pc first starts.

 

[ranja]

ChrisMB,

Thanks for those interesting pointers. I will try it and see if it clears the problem. Thanks

 

[ranja]

ChrisMB,

Thanks very much for pointing us in the right direction. It did eliminate the start menu freezing. This problem was escalated with NAI about two weeks ago and we are still waiting for an answer or a possible fix from them! Just goes to show how seriously they take customer support.
Anyway, thanks to all those who contributed especially ChrisMB.

 

[thispartysucks]

Hi ranja,
another way without disabling default extentions is to exclude "*.lnk" from scanning (System Scan Properties | Exclusion). I got this tip from NAI support

 

[ts17721]

Create the below registry key and it should solve your problem.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Network Associates\TVD\Shared Components\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration]
"DisablePLADMinusOne"=dword:00000001
"DisableResetLastAccessDate"=dword:00000001

 

[Guest_imported]

Just a thought on this, as I suffered from the same problem.
Many virus' these day's are coming out with .lnk extensions on them, so telling McAfee's to not scan .lnk files can be quite dangerous. The way I got around this problem was to exclude the Start Menu folder from the scanning. That way, your Start Menu will not freeze, and you will not be leaving yourself open to a virus from a .lnk file.