[SOLVED] Home and Business Lawyer v4

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 01:00 PM

Last year (2011) I purchased and downloaded this program from Broderbund. I installed it and ran it a few times. Today, however, it would not open up. When I click on the HBL.exe file, I notice that my task manger shows it under the processes tab at approximately 49-51% CPU, but nothing ever happens; it never opens.

Broderbund says I need to use the "backup" disk I made when I purchased it, and reinstall. (Of course, I did not make that "backup" disk). They said my only other option was to repurchase.

I went into Safe Mode, however, and when I clicked on the HBL.exe file, it immediately opened up and ran just fine.

Tried again in "normal mode" with no success. Went into my Comodo Firewall and under browse, added this file (HBL.exe) to trusted applications. Then rebooted (just in case), turned off AVG, even turned off Comodo (just in case adding to trusted apps did not work), tried the file, but no luck.

Double checked and it worked again in Safe Mode, but something is preventing it in Normal Mode. Could I be missing something in AVG/Comodo, or is there anything else I could check to see what is preventing it from running in the Normal Mode?

Thanks for any help. If anymore info on my part is needed, please let me know. I'd really like to get this little program up and running again.

Thanks!

**epshatto** · 04-11-2012, 01:04 PM

If it starts in Safe Mode but not normal, first guess is there's a service interfering with it.

You can open MSFCONFIG, disable all non-Microsoft services and restart. If the .exe runs with all non-Microsoft services disabled, your next step is to narrow down the services to see which one would be interfering. You can do that by enabling each disabled service one at a time and restarting each time.

**Basementgeek** · 04-11-2012, 01:29 PM

Hi and welcome to TSF

I wonder if it has expiration date encoded in it?

BG

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 01:44 PM

Yep, that's just what they told me at Broderbund. I apparently had 90 days in which to make the backup disk (which I did not do), and now since that time has expired, their solution is for me to simply purchase the program again at full price. But if it starts in Safe mode, I was hoping there was some way to figure out what is "allowing" that, and then what is "preventing" it from starting in Normal mode. Probably has something to do with the answer above: "If it starts in Safe Mode but not normal, first guess is there's a service interfering with it." Just didn't want to go through the whole services-one-at-a-time routine with rebooting everytime to restart. Oh well . . . . .

Thanks for your respone!

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 01:45 PM

epshatto
Yes, I'm thinking you are probably correct. I just so hate going through the whole "services-one-at-a-time" routine and having to reboot each time to restart. Oh well. . . . .

Thanks so much for your response!

**Old Rich** · 04-11-2012, 01:54 PM

Go by halves . .l disable half and see if it works . . if it does not, disable half again . . if it does, enable half and keep doing that untill you find the cuplrit

Wand3r3r · 04-11-2012, 02:35 PM

90 days to make a backkup disk has nothing to do with the program not opening.
The backup disk would be how you would reinstall the product.

It does not appear you need to reinstall if it works in safe mode.

I would suspect this isn't a service issue but a firewall issue preventing the startup of the app. Review your firewall block program list and remove this product from the list if you find it there. You sould also set this program to be allowed in the firewall.

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 03:21 PM

Thanks Old Rich; simple but brilliant!

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 03:24 PM

Wand3r3r
I've tried to do that in Comodo; was only able to find "Define a New Trusted application" which I used "browse" and entered the HBL.exe file.

Could not really find a "block list" in Comodo to see if it was there. Did find "unrecognized file" but nothing there for Home and Business Lawyer.

But this all becomes somewhat moot because I did actually completely turn off Comodo firewall and tried to run the HBL.exe file, and still nothing. Sort of a bummer. . . .

**Old Rich** · 04-11-2012, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikefromMilwauk

Thanks Old Rich; simple but brilliant!

Which program was the culprit?

MikefromMilwauk · 04-11-2012, 03:35 PM

Oh, sorry, my bad. I love your suggestion, but don't have time now to do it, so will try it later. Will let you know how it turned out.

Thanks again, Old Rich

**Old Rich** · 04-11-2012, 05:52 PM

We'll be here!!

MikefromMilwauk · 04-12-2012, 11:03 AM

Well, I did spend some times with msconfig. Went into Services, hide all MS Services, then disabled all. Also went into Startup and disabled all there. Restarted, and HBL.exe (Home and Business Lawyer) by Broderbund still would not start. Double checked in Safe Mode, and it did start. I even tried msconfig diagnostic startup (extremely minimal) and restarted, but HBL.exe still will not run. It ONLY runs in Safe Mode. I am at a loss. Seems to me that if something starts in Safe Mode, one could figure out what's preventing it from starting in Normal Mode, fix it, and then all would be fine. But, apparently I need a much better mind than my own to figure this out.

**epshatto** · 04-12-2012, 11:09 AM

Did you have a recent Windows update that might have occurred before this started happening? Microsoft released a set of updated on Tuesday, which is right before you got this problem. Mind checking if you received any of them? I'm not sure how many were for XP.

MikefromMilwauk · 04-12-2012, 11:44 AM

Yes, I did get some MS updates a couple of days ago.

However, I have not actually started/used this program (HBL) for many months now, so I don't know if it was okay prior to these updates or not. I just don't remember the last time the program was functional, but I'm thinking it could have been 6-8 months or so since I actually ran it. I'm beginning to think that this might be a lost cause.

MikefromMilwauk · 05-18-2012, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wand3r3r

90 days to make a backkup disk has nothing to do with the program not opening.
The backup disk would be how you would reinstall the product.

It does not appear you need to reinstall if it works in safe mode.

I would suspect this isn't a service issue but a firewall issue preventing the startup of the app. Review your firewall block program list and remove this product from the list if you find it there. You sould also set this program to be allowed in the firewall.

Update: You were right about the firewall issue. I did finally find the "exclusion" settings in Comodo Firewall to allow HBL.exe to run. That allowed me to access the program which said that the activation failed but offered an authorization access code, which in turn gave me the activation code, which in turn allowed the program to open. Thanks for you suggestion; all is well again!

Wand3r3r · 05-18-2012, 08:34 AM

Thanks for the update and glad you got it working MikefromMilwauk