Listening to the Voices in My Head

I had a HDD go RAW due to a power flicker. I started running EaseUS Partition Master to recover it.  Wanting to make sure I was doing the right thing, I started a support chat with EaseUS tech support.

The agent, Warren, told me that none of my programs would work. EaseUS Partition Master, nor M3 RAW Drive recovery.  He told me to cancel the Partition recovery I was doing.

He then put some program on my computer called WinHex, and did something for about 90 minutes, saying he recovered this but it would cost me a couple hundred dollars for a full recovery service.  He kept pressuring me, and using scare tactics saying the files would deteriorate if they weren't recovered right away.

I paid, and started running the program he set up... then it crashed.  I emailed support about it, got nothing but an autoreply, so I went back to using M3 RAW drive recovery, which recovered EVERYTHING.

Yes, Warren, you LIED to me.  I will be contacting my bank to have the charge reversed.

So, if you need to recover a RAW Drive, do NOT use EaseUS products. Use M3 RAW Drive Recovery.  It not only fixed the partition, I was able to shift the files from that drive to another after, clearing it off, as I had planned to do this weekend.

After uninstalling, reinstalling, reactivating over and over again, I ended up getting error that I had exceeded the allotted number of activations, so I had to open a different support ticket, giving them the information regarding the above mentioned 'over and over' section.

Just shits and giggles, with version 3.1.2 installed, I decided to try to compatibility modes. I started at the top with Vista, V SP1, V SP2. No joy

Server 2008 and 2003. No joy

XP, XP SP1, XP SP2. No joy

Windows 2000. Nope

NT 4 with SP5. Nope.

I was ready to give up, but just for laughs, I tried Windows 95 compatibility mode. And holy crow, the UI opened! I was able to navigate all the menus, no problems. I tried Win 98/ME compatibility. It also worked. However I noticed that although the system tray icon says that Ransomware protection is on, the UI will say it's unavailable. Some online searches showed that it will do that because according to posts on the forums, there was no ransomware with Windows 95/98/ME or XP.

I thank my foresight for deciding to upgrade Windows 7 to Pro version, as the Home and Premium would have only had compatibility to XP and above only. 95/98/ME weren't included in Home or Premium.

So, I ended up figuring out how to get it to work, not their in house techs.

So, it's working now.. and Alan said "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

After Malwarebytes completed the scan, and I quarantined what I didn't really want or need running, I apprehensively shut it down.

Seems I was right to be apprehensive, because when I tried to start it again, it wouldn't. Tried rebooting to see if that would 'fix' it like it did last night.. nope.

Have sent info to tech support.

buggah.

Silver lining? I actually got to do a full system scan, and all is good.

1st off, absolutely EVERYTHING else works perfectly on my computers' current set up. Sure, there are occasional hardlocks (like when I'm processing a HUGE image in On1 and watching a DVD/BlueRay on the other monitor) but everything works.

Which takes me to the topic of the subject.

Malwarebytes: I had been using the Premium version 3.0.6. It started having problems with web protection layers shutting off and not going back on, AND you couldn't get rid of the notification that said layers were off so turn them back on.

Which lead me to update to version 3.1.2. Everything seemed ok... until I noticed I couldn't open the user interface. Double click desktop icon? No. How about the system tray icon? Nope. Run as administrator? nope. Run the the gamut of compatibility trouble shooting? Nope. Uninstall with MBCleaner/Reboot/Reinstall? Nope

Ok, let's make a new user account. Double click on desktop icon.. YAY, it worked! I enter my legit license and ID. Seems great! Tweak settings (exclusions, when to schedule a scan). Close the user window down. Log off that new user, go back to original user account, and start going through things I want to clone over. Shut down computer.

Start up next day, log in new user account. Double click MWB icon. Uhhh, not opening? Just to make sure I tried again. Not opening. Repeat all the above steps. Nothing.

I'm always one for keeping the PREVIOUS version of programs, just in case. So, I uninstall using MalwarebyteCleaner, reboot. Install version 3.0.6, and TA DA! It starts up. Enter ID and license, and immediately the web protection shuts off again, and can't turn it back on. Rebooted, and login to new user account, 3.0.6 starts up just fine, again, web layers not on (oh yeah, and MWBs said this was due THEIR server not communicating with the program last year) but everything works.

Restart computer. Login to my regular account. v3.0.6 works find, with same caveat. I install latest NON beta version. And once again, the user window will not open.

After doing all of this, I finally sent support ticket to MWBs. Waited two weeks, and didn't hear anything back. Just for giggles, a few days ago I restarted my computer in SAFE MODE. Login to my regular user account. Wait a while for everything to load and settle. I see the MWBs icon on system tray. I double click it. Imagine my surprise when the user interface opens without a problem! Restarted in safe mode again, logged into new user account. Same thing.

Rebooted, regular start up. Again, the user interface will not load. Off in search on google for this problem. And I found the exact same issue posted by someone else. So, I go through all the same steps, use some other tools and send them the reports. Yes, I know I am being 'naughty' by convincing a program or two to work. Why? Because I bought it years ago, and during reinstall on this machine, the license won't validate. It's no longer sold or supported, and it's the ONLY way I can get it to work is to 'convince it'. I didn't make the world, I just try to live in it.

So, I go through all his hoops. MBCleaner, MBCheck, FRST64, over and over. Even installed beta version of MBWs... and now, not only will it not start if I click on desktop icon, the SYSTEM tray icon has vanished, even though Task Manger says it's running. I reboot in safe mode, and it works. Restart normal mode, nope.

Here comes the "Are you f**king kidding me?" part.. one of the possible solutions is to format the the drive and reinstall everything.... Are you f**king kidding me?

Did I mention my son, who has Windows 10 Home version on his computer, is having the same problem? And Wing who has Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed on his HP is having same problem? Figure the god damned odds of me wiping my system to reinstall everything?

Everything is up and running as it should. One thing won't update, Windows Explorer 11. Oddly enough, when I tried to update it via downloading the update file, doing a clean boot with updating services enabled, I got message that the update didn't apply to my system. Fine, I hid that update, and IE doesn't trip my trigger.

Right now, I'm performing a full system scan for viruses and malware. And when that is done... then comes the fun part (part two). Using Samsung Migration tool, move the OS to the 1tb SSD, leaving program files on the 2tb, moving some that I might want to run faster onto the SSD.

Zinstall was mostly to make a full system back up that would migrate to a new system. Now time for the final stage. Good thing about this, i can refresh windows installation without mucking up the data.

I have to give a shout out to On1 and Intelligent Imaging Solutions. Their quick response, and patience helped to get things up and running very quickly, with minimal time loss.