ADVISORY: Norton 360 v3 .0.0.134 - program no longer executing e.g. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

This note is to reflect a confirmed problem in the above release in which Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 (versions 12 thru 12.5) when executed fails to open or even display the splash screen (if enabled). The Corel process can be seen in Task Manager, and functionality of Norton's 360 is halted. Whilst the Corel process remains in Task Manager it will not be possible for example to acess Norton 360 tasks.

 

It is possible to kill the process tree for the Corel process in task manager and continue.

 

A patch is being developed to resolve this issue and to allow Norton 360 v3 to full operate and for Corel Paint Shop pro to be accessed.

 

Meanwhile the following workaround is possible :-

 

What needs to happen is to unregister one of the dll's - buShell.dll

  • Start a command shell
    • Select Start menu / Run... / type "cmd" without the quotes
  • Next you will change directories to
    • type cd "\Program Files\Norton 360\Engine\3.0.0.134" with the quotes
  • Then you will unregister the dll
    • type regsvr32 /u buShell.dll
    • a dialog should be shown with the following text : "DllUnregisterServer in buShell.dll succeeded."

 

 

If this does not work, then you have to reboot into Safe mode (if you dont know how then search Safe Mode in your windows help) and try to unregister again.

 

You will loose some backup functionality like selecting files and folders from Explorer to backup but Corel PSPP will not work.

 

It is speculated that other programs may also be affected. If there is no specific fix for your specific problem, and a program which was functioning now fails to do so, you may try the above workaround and test your programs operation.

 

.

cgoldman,

 

The reason why the unregister will fail is caused by Symantec Tamper Protection protecting our shell registry entries. If you add a step right before the regsvr32 /u bushell you can avoid the reboot into safe mode. Simply go to the settings page and un-check the Tamper Protection option. This will bring up a dialog to disable protection for 15 minutes allowing the dll to be unregistered. 

 

Michael Shavell
Senior Software Engineer
Consumer Products & Solutions
Symantec Corporation

Alas I am out of time to edit the original post in this thread. Thanks hopefully users will pick up on your post. I do however remember that some users still had issues and had to resort to safe mode. As strange as it may seem even some users still could not unregister the dll, but seemed to be able to rename it, which is not ideal but achieves the same end result.

Michael

 

I just had a simular problem.  One of my Corel apps hung up on me over the weekend.  As Norton 360 seemed to react to this, on boot up, I contacted Chat support and the gentleman installed v3 for me.  However, the problem came back and I eventually did a complete recovery.

 

I like Norton 360 and I also use 3 Corel Photo applications.  Now I'm not sure which may be the problem.  At present, I'm using Norton Security so I'm not 'exposed'.

 

Any ideas?

Hi Razorback,

 

Did you try the working shown above?

I have replied to you by a Private Message. Please look for your messages towards the top right of this forum and the yellow envelope.

Well I guess its not just Corel Paint Shop Pro thats hanging, same thing happened to me with Ashampoo Burning Studio 8.

The workaround, however, did do the job though.

 

But I wonder, exactly what fucntionality will I lose by disabling the Bushell.dll extension? What will be affected by this workaround?

Thanks for adding that program to the list, the more we have the more the chance of such programs being tested before the fix/patch.

I will answer your question later please, I am stuck on issues with NIS 2009 16.5

sekharB,

 

I am adding that program to the list for testing. 

 

Thanks,

Mike

Confirmed with PSP X2 v12.01 - additionally, I could not start neither Vista Premium SP1's normal task manager nor Microsoft SysInternals "Process Explorer" until I somehow managed to kill the PSP X2 task (sorry, don't remember how I did it). After that all the missing task manager windows (all 7 of them) popped up. Firefox browser also refused to start until PSP X2 task was killed.

 

Given fix works.

FreezFIN

 

Thanks. Couple of things. First the fix is not a fix just a workaround, the fix will follow in time.

Once PSP or any of the known problems that trip up on bushell have been executed, processing will actually stop and you will exhibit the problem you describe. PSP can be killed through task manager and processing continues. Unfortunately, you cannot you process explorer or procexp to kill PSP even if they are run before PSP. Thankfully however task manager is still accessible and does the job. The other way to kill off  a task is to use Dr Watson but then you still need task manager in order to acquire the PID of the PSP task.

Thats probably too technical!

You can add Print Artist 21 Gold edition and Print Artist 22 Platinum edition to the list of problem applications for 360 v3.0.0.134, under Vista Ultimate.

Workaround addressed the issue.


cgoldman wrote:

FreezFIN

 

The other way to kill off  a task is to use Dr Watson but then you still need task manager in order to acquire the PID of the PSP task.
 

Thats probably too technical!


I thionk I do know what PID means - Process IDentification? :) Yesss ... now I remember. I used the resident app "Process Lasso" to shut down PSP, eventually. FYI: my task manager replacement, procexp.exe _window_ did not launch. I got a short flicker of "busy in background" mouse cursor and that's it.

 

Tregistry.Create;

Same issue with my system.  Norton 360 v3.0.0.135

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2   v12.1

The work-around did work (unregistering the one DLL).

 3/19/2009

 

Any idea when a permanent fix will be available?

Thank you. 

FreezeFIN

 

Yes I am aware that Sys internal tools, process explorer, procexp and others will not run if you have crashed one of the affected programs. However, task manager does run and it is possible within task manager to display the PID.

 

alanf

 

Alas I do not know. Please see Michael's post that follows this.

Message Edited by cgoldman on 03-19-2009 05:20 PM

I have requested information from the team looking at the potential patch. I hope to know more today.

 

Mike


cgoldman wrote:

FreezeFIN

 

However, task manager does run ...

 


 

Maybe it did, but I can tell you that it's window did not appear at all.

Hi, just to say that I'm having the same issue here with N360 3.0.0.135. The system is Windows Vista Home Permium SP1. The workaround works fine. I do not have any of the previously mentioned applications, though. The problem occurs immediately as soon as I log on. The only visible effect I have is that apps like MSN Messenger or Skype, which are started automatically, cannot connect anymore, since the firewall is blocked. If I try to start Outlook or Internet Explorer they are all blocked. IE doesn' even show up. I believe the culprit is one of the programs started automatically at login, but I haven't been able to identify which one yet.

 

 

hajimemashite

 

Umm, not sure why you say "firewall is blocked" but leaving that aside for the moment, can I suggest you obtain the following utility from Microsoft.Autoruns. This utility will allow you to see exactly what is being loaded on your computer. As a starter I would suggest after it has completed running/scanning. Go to logon tab. Now when you untick a program it is not removed it is just temporarily set aside. You should be able to isolate the program that causes the problem, but dont feel you have to.