F-Secure Host Process

SvenR
SvenR Posts: 6 Observer
in Web Browsing

On my PC running Windows Vista and F-Secure Internet Security I sometimes get a message that the F-Secure Host Process has been stopped. Is this anything to worry about (and in that case, what should I do)? After this occured I checked the status of F-Secure and it says that the computer is protected. Tried to reach F-Secure both by phone and chat, but none of them worked. Hope I can get support here.

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Comments

  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser
    Which version of Vista are you running? I believe only Vista SP2 and later is supported. If you are running an earlier version, that could be part of the problem. Also, do you have any other security software installed, which could be conflicting with FS? I would also suggest, as a second opinion, scanning with a third party product, such as Malwarebytes, just to check that there's nothing sinister on your machine.
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  • SvenR
    SvenR Posts: 6 Observer

    Thanks for the reply. I'm using Vista Business SP2. As far as I know there is no other anti-virus software or similar running on this computer.

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  • nanonyme
    nanonyme Posts: 145 Path Finder
    @Simon wrote:
    Which version of Vista are you running? I believe only Vista SP2 and later is supported. If you are running an earlier version, that could be part of the problem. Also, do you have any other security software installed, which could be conflicting with FS? I would also suggest, as a second opinion, scanning with a third party product, such as Malwarebytes, just to check that there's nothing sinister on your machine.


    Hey,

    I don't think that's true. Vista isn't supported by current versions of consumer security products since last Summer. Minimum requirement is Windows 7

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  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser
    I have to admit, I did have a feeling that was the case, but I was going on the information given here: https://help.f-secure.com/product.html#home/safe/2016/en/concept_1D8DE1CB34114F28B71850FD9BB76CAB-safe-2016-en However, apologies, as it seems you are correct. Windows 7 SP1 appears to be the oldest supported operating system. The document I was looking at, must be out of date.
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  • nanonyme
    nanonyme Posts: 145 Path Finder
    @Simon wrote:
    I have to admit, I did have a feeling that was the case, but I was going on the information given here: https://help.f-secure.com/product.html#home/safe/2016/en/concept_1D8DE1CB34114F28B71850FD9BB76CAB-safe-2016-en However, apologies, as it seems you are correct. Windows 7 SP1 appears to be the oldest supported operating system. The document I was looking at, must be out of date.

    Yeah, found that too afterwards. I'm pretty sure though the version we tested last Spring in beta lost XP and Vista support. I wonder if this supports mentioning people. @Laksh

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  • Näsäviisas
    Näsäviisas Posts: 784 Superuser
    Good comments!
    Windows-versions have caused a lot of thinking in "headcomputers"🤐????
    And one more headache.

    I found a document concerning Vista,
    https://community.f-secure.com/t5/F-Secure-SAFE/End-of-Windows-Vista-support-for/ta-p/92278

    There is no specification of Vista-versions.
    Shortly: Windows Vista is not supported no longer. Operating system should be Windows 7 or later.
    Microsoft has ended its support for Windows Vista too.
    How to go on? Read above mentioned document.

    Näsäviisas
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  • SvenR
    SvenR Posts: 6 Observer

    I've been using F-Secure on this computer for many years. When I started I think Vista was supported and then I have just renewed. But I can't really change computer or OS at the moment, so I must hope that I can live for a while with the Host Process issue. Or how bad is this issue?

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  • nanonyme
    nanonyme Posts: 145 Path Finder
    @SvenR wrote:

    I've been using F-Secure on this computer for many years. When I started I think Vista was supported and then I have just renewed. But I can't really change computer or OS at the moment, so I must hope that I can live for a while with the Host Process issue. Or how bad is this issue?

    I think the product is basically on limited life-support and if you uninstall, you can't reinstall. I guess you're still getting virus database updates for now though?

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  • SvenR
    SvenR Posts: 6 Observer

    Yes, F-Secure seems to work fine, except for the Host Process issue I described (and sometimes F-Secure has perhaps had difficulty finishing a virus scan of a USB stick). My main concern is if the F-Secure status display can by mistake give a false impression that the computer is protected?

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  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser

    I know you've said you've already tried, but I think you would need to contact support with that question.  I don't think they make any guarantees of protection for unsupported operating systems.  

     

    Contact Support by Phone or Chat

     

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  • Ukko
    Ukko Posts: 3,727 Superuser

    Hello,

     

    Sorry for my reply into the party.

     

    I just able to add that recent Online Help/Documentation with proper requirements:

    https://help.f-secure.com/product.html#home/safe/2017/en (as default state).

     

    But, yes, with abilities to switch for another (previous) builds/years.

    And maybe current F-Secure installation under Windows Vista with support-status (or with meanings from Knowledgebase article about Vista EOF). How it was suggested --> good to keep it (if still works).

    But I able to think that "F-Secure Host Process"-crash with potential different impact (based on what crashed in fact). Probably F-Secure with design about 're-create' (re-up) after crash for F-Secure Host Process. And maybe this is a reason for 'Computer is Protected'-state.

     

    But as another conclusions -> not possible to provide protection under not supported platform. Or such 'protection' can be not enough.

    Maybe can be an option to re-check that all works (after crash) with websites like amtso.org (as example) -> where possible to re-sure that harmful-rated websites are blocked; and malicious-files are detected.

     

    Thanks!

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0

    Hi SvenR,

     

    As mentioned by others in the post, Vista is not supported for F-Secure Internet Security. This is our current list of supported OS for F-Secure Internet Security.

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  • SvenR
    SvenR Posts: 6 Observer

    Today I managed to reach the support chat, where I was informed that I cannot trust the "protected" status in F-Secure, because Microsoft has stopped sending security updates for Vista and this OS is no longer supported by F-Secure. He wrote that F-Secure might still give me some protection, but that is not guaranteed.

     

    My advice to F-Secure is that your software should say something different than protected (green) if there is a problem. Probably other users have just like me used F-Secure for a long time and not noticed that their OS is no longer supported.

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  • nanonyme
    nanonyme Posts: 145 Path Finder

    I strongly recommend seeing if you can buy a cheap Windows 7 license from somewhere cheap and try upgrading to that by taking backup first. Microsoft still supports Windows 7 until around 2020 (at least) and the primary difference between Vista and Windows 7 is latter is less buggy. Most hardware that is Vista-compatible is compatible with Windows 7

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