F-Secure Hydra Update or F-Secure Aquarius Update incompatible with my Steam Client. Need advice

I am using F-Secure Safe on a 64-bit Windows 7 OS.

According to the documented downloads my F-Secure Client was updated on the 6th of March with the Hydra Update, the Aquarius Update and an update to the DeepGuard. Since then I have been unable to use my Steam Client due to some part of these updates seem to block it from connecting to the Steam servers. When I temporarily disable all functions of the F-Secure Client and the firewall the Steam Client starts working normally, but when I only disable the DeepGuard the connection problems still remain so I guess DeepGuard is not the problem. I have tried allowing Steam.exe, Steam Client Bootstrapper and pretty much all other files I could find in the installed Steam folder (yup, i'm not the most technical guy...)  through the DeepGuard log and the Application Control Center without any success.

If anyone has any tips on how I can either get the updated parts of the program to allow me to use Steam or if necessary restore my F-Secure to the unupdated version I will greatly appreciate it.

I can provide more specific information regarding the versions of the updates if needed.

Comments

  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser

    I have some suggestions, but not being a gamer, these are a bit of a punt:

     

    1.   Have you tried running the game in Gaming Mode?  To do this, right click the tray icon and select Gaming Mode.  I'm not sure if this will have any effect, but it might be worth a try.

     

    2.  The next step might be to Submit a Sample of the game executable files to F-Secure for analysis.  In my experience, this is a fairly quick process and may allow FS to add the processes to their whitelists so they will no longer be blocked.

     

    3.  You could also submit a Support Ticket, attaching an FSDIAG so that the guys can have a better look at things.

     

    There's another thread here, which may also be of some help:

     

    http://community.f-secure.com/t5/Security/PC-game-Magic-2015-via-Steam-won/m-p/55357/highlight/true#M9849

     

    Good luck, and let us know how you get on.  :)

  • Thanks for the advice but I'm a bit at a loss, due to my lack of technical knowledge:

    1. I've understood that the games downloaded through the Steam Client can be run in Gaming Mode, but since it is some part of the Steam Client itself that is being blocked I cannot find a way to run it in Gaming Mode.

     

    2. This sounds like a surefire way to solve the issue, but I do not know what part of the program to send as a Sample.

     

    3.  Good idea, i will try this out asap.

     

    Since I seem to use a different OS than the one used in the link I can't follow the advice to the letter, but allowing the program throught the System and Security center (only way I know is through Windows Firewall) has no effect.

     

    [UPDATE] The issue is not restricted to solely the Steam Client but also affects similar game clients, for example the League of Legends Client.

    I have pinpointed the problem to F-Secure Firewall, since  disabling it immediately solves the issue. My question is how do I add a rule to allow the Steam Client. The following link seem to provide valuable information but due to my severe lack of technical knowledge i simply do not know if i can follow the exact instructions since I have not done the prerequisite programming described in the question (the 

    "netsh firewall add portopening protocol=tcp port=135 name=DCOM_TCP135" command and so forth) and seem to not use the same version of F-Secure. Any advice?

     

    https://community.f-secure.com/t5/Business/Setting-firewall-rules-in-F/td-p/17020

     

    Too long didn't read version: How do I allow a program through the F-Secure Firewall, NOT the Windows Firewall?

     

  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser
    Can you confirm again which version of F-Secure you're using? If it's SAFE, as you said originally, then it doesn't have its own Firewall. The link you have posted above relates to the Business version, which is different.
  • etomcat
    etomcat Posts: 147 Superuser

    Hello,

     

    > How do I allow a program through the F-Secure Firewall, NOT the Windows Firewall?

     

    F-Secure home-user, home-office purpose products last had their own personal firewall IS/DFW in the year 2011 or 2012 edition, I think. Ever since then, F-Secure relies on the Microsoft built-in firewall in Windows. Not a problem with Win 7/8, but a huge risk if the OS is still WInXP.

     

    (In the small-business and corporate-institutional purpose F-Secure protections, like FSAV-CS and FSAV-PSB, the proprietary IS/DFW personal firewall module is still present. It is a packet filter that uses rather convoluted rules, thus was deemed too complicated for home user purposes. )

     

    I think you could try to turn off F-Secure Deepguard advanced mode, because the midi-DLL injection type protection may cause problems with software that use DRM technology.

     

    Best Regards: Tamas Feher, Hungary.

  • I was mistaken. I downloaded F-Secure via my university's computer central a year ago (they have a user agreement with F-Secure) where they claimed it was F-Secure SAFE, but seems like there was some confusion due to some ongoing changes in the agreement.

     

    So seems like I don't have F-Secure SAFE, my guess is it would be F-Secure Client Security 10 or 11 in that case. Neither F-Secure status center, settings, download log nor automatic download center has any info on what version it actually is (and googling "how to check my F-Secure version" doesn't provide any help). The list of programs accessed through the Control Panel simply calls it F-Secure Client Security.

    Sorry for the inconvenince but I do not know how the program works.

  • I was mistaken. I downloaded F-Secure via my university's computer central a year ago (they have a user agreement with F-Secure) where they claimed it was F-Secure SAFE, but seems like there was some confusion due to some ongoing changes in the agreement.

     

    So seems like I don't have F-Secure SAFE, my guess is it would be F-Secure Client Security 10 or 11 in that case. Neither F-Secure status center, settings, download log nor automatic download center has any info on what version it actually is (and googling "how to check my F-Secure version" doesn't provide any help). The list of programs accessed through the Control Panel simply calls it F-Secure Client Security.

    Sorry for the inconvenince but I do not know how the program works.

  • etomcat
    etomcat Posts: 147 Superuser

    Hello,

     

    > what version it actually is

     

    In the lower right corner of Windows desktop there should be the time (and date) display. Besides that, there should be a little triangle or shield shaped icon, with dark or light blue colour, for F-Secure protection. Right-click the icon and choose About. The version info should be displayed.

     

    If the icon is missing, there should be two tiny chevrons pointing upwards. Click those and the hidden icons should be displayed. If still no luck, the security sysadmin possibly disabled F-Secure icon display with central policy?

     

    Best Regards: Tamas Feher, 2F 2000 Kft., Hungary.

  • Simon
    Simon Posts: 2,667 Superuser
    I think, if you right click the icon by your clock and click About, it should give you the version numbers, etc.

    Unfortunately, Client Security isn't my bag, so I'm not going to be able to help you any further with that, but if you raise a support ticket. I'm sure the support guys will be able to assist.
  • Thanks for the advice Tamas.

     

    I couldn't find any options regarding the F-Secure DeepGuard advanced mode, but after turning off the DeepGuard function completely the problem still remain. Both game clients that I'm experiencing problems with are on the list of monitored problems but both are seen as allowed programs.

    Only solution I've found so far is going to F-Secure settings --> Network Connections --> Firewall and turning off the firewall.

  • You guys are providing answers so fast I don't even have time to complete my messages Smiley Very Happy Thanks for all the help!

     

    The version in question is F-Secure Client Security 9.31 build 118

  • etomcat
    etomcat Posts: 147 Superuser

    Hello,

     

    > F-Secure Client Security 9.31 build 118

     

    This is an ancient version, has been unsupported for over 1.5 years and probably no longer receiving virus signature updates, so protection level against modern malware is about nil. Currently, F-Secure Client Security stands at version 11.6 for its most modern edition.

     

    In short, there isn't much  benefit from keeping FS CS 9.31 on your computer. It's strange that an edu institution still distributes this old version?

     

    Best Regards: Tamas Feher.

  • Whooops. Sounds like it's high time to switch to another F-Secure version in that case.

    The university also provides a discount to all students who purchase the current version of F-Secure SAFE so guess I'll switch over to that one. I'll get in touch with the uni's computer centre asap and get my fellow student to change versions too.

     

    Logically the originally issue regarding the game clients would also be solved by this. If not I'll keep you update through this thread.

     

    Thanks for all the advice Tamas!

     

This discussion has been closed.