All of a sudden everytime I boot my computer I am asked to activate my Stardock apps (currently CursorFX and Fences)

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please try purge and reinstall steps as mentioned here: https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling for Fences and https://forums.stardock.com/485856/cursorfx-support-faq#reinstalling For CursorFX, Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account. Reboot after each purged. Reinstall, and Reboot again after the installation. Retest it. Report back here.

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

thank you, I will try that.

Well, I tried the method for CursorFX, and it did not work. Purged, rebooted, reinstalled.

Then after the next reboot, there it was again, asking me to activate.

Not even trying with Fences.

Try this : https://forums.stardock.com/491243/get;3727830

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

That did not work either. It did seem to, at first, but after reboot, I'm asked again to activate both products.

This is getting very tiresome.

Hello,
I have forward your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Note: Need to make sure you install all Stardock products in its default directories.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

What is the date of your License.sig here?

C:\ProgramData\Stardock\Fences3

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Since I tried to activate it today - in fact did activate it - the date of the file is today.12.18.2020.

Now a notification even pops up in the middle of some work on the PC - that the system can't find a license for Fences.

I have to again activate it. When I go look, indeed the license.sig file that was there before has disappeared. No warning, and it's not in the recycle bin.

And Stardock support has not contacted me.

From what I know, if the license.sig file disappeared, it usually because the Anti-virus is quarantining it. Please check if it is and set your Anti-virus app to not to do that.

Sean, is Stardock Support, and he is responding to you through here.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hi, thanks for responding. The license.sig file is not in anti-virus quarantine (the first place I looked).

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

For CursorFX, you were at an activation limit (I reset it) but that would not be the problem.

I mean that just screams that some AV product is deleting it.

What AV / Malware apps are you using? For a test, are you willing to suspend it / them to see if it still happens?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Hi, thanks for the response.

CursorFX now indeed lets me register it again, but I still have to do it virtually every morning.

Fences will now sometimes out of the blue pop up a small screen saying it can't find the activation, and I have to re-enter the code.

I am using Acronis True Image 2021 (it's a new version) that includes protection against malware - I will turn off protection for a day and see what happens.

I am also running Avast antivirus or whatever it's called now, that I am NOT willing to turn off. But I have been running that for years, and I do not think it is causing the problem.

Neither of these apps shows the license files quarantined, while other files are not deleted without warning, even if they're flagged as suspicious or outright malware - those go to a quarantine folder.

As far as I know I have no other malware protection apps installed.

BTW I just noted one of the license files has again disappeared. The app does continue to run normally though.

ETA: for now, I have added the license files as exceptions for both Avast and Acronis. I will see how that goes.

Does 'new' mean around the time this started to happen?

In any event, I would not want you to turn off both this and your AV at the same time (however I do seem to have given that impression in my last reply). Doing one at a time will tell us what one is the cause if either.

Excellent, please do keep us informed and thanks for your patience here.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Quoting sdRohan, reply 14

 

Does 'new' mean around the time this started to happen?

End of sdRohan's quote

Yes. 

For now, I have only added the exceptions, and will see by tomorrow if it makes a difference. I have not seen the popups saying Fences is not activated, since adding the exceptions. If it turns out to be enough, I will keep that as a workaround and report back.

No luck.

It seemed to work for one day, but then, it was back. Both files were gone again. So I'm thinking it can't be the malware protection, because that logs every threat it finds and quarantines it. I get no notification by either Avast or Acronis. Frankly, I'm out of ideas.

mhguda,

You have had each of these apps for a long time and they ran without issue.  At some point recently, something on your PC changed to where it is removing the license files. I still strongly believe it is an AV app doing it. There is nothing here in the logs indicating that there is anything wrong with how the app \ activation is working.

To ensure there is nothing wrong with the activation on your PC, please go to:

C:\Users\YourWindowsAccountName\AppData\Local\Stardock\Fences3

Upload the SasLog.txt file to a cloud service (OneDrive, GoogleDrive, etc) and private message me a link.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager 

How do I private message you?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Private message was sent. I uploaded to my dropbox.

There is nothing recent in the log that indicates it is removing the file or having trouble writing it.  

Instead of looking to see if a file has been quarantined by your AV app(s), have you looked at their logs to see if they are just removing them?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

No, and actually, I have no idea where to look.

I use Avast antivirus and Acronis True Image active protection. Can you suggest what log files to look at? I did open a few, but found nothing that suggested relevance. There are two Avast logs that are inaccessible because Avast is using them.

No, and I can't advise on their products but I am certain they have searchable documentation. 

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager