F-Secure Total window on MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1 keeps popping up and stealing focus

bhn · September 26

About an hour ago, I received a notification that F-Secure Total was updated to the latest version 19.8 (63352).

Ever since, F-Secure Total's main window keeps popping up endlessly no matter how many times I try to close the window or choose "Quit F-Secure". What's worse, it steals the focus from my existing applications. This is very disruptive to my work as the pop-up occurs practically every other minute or so. Even when typing this message, I have had to close the pop-up window at least 3 or 4 times now.

Rebooting my MacBook Pro does not help.

Is this specific only to my laptop? This is a 2019 13" Intel MacBook Pro.

Firmy · October 1

Hello @KimH @deccles

Thank you for your feedback. We completely understand the frustration this issue has caused, especially since it had been reported earlier, @KimH. The recent update inadvertently triggered this bug again, but I’m pleased to share that we’ve just released a fix today to address it.

@deccles we value your comments about our testing process. While we perform extensive internal testing, sometimes bugs only surface after a public release due to the wide variety of user environments and system configurations that aren’t always replicated in our test environments. We recognize this is frustrating and are working to improve our testing, especially on macOS, to avoid similar issues in the future.

For more details on the changes and improvements we’ve made, you can check the full release notes here.

Thank you both for your patience, and we are working hard to improve our processes to prevent this from happening again.

eeppoe · September 26

I have this same problem, I had to uninstall the whole app >:(

jual · September 26

I have the same problem. Clearly related to the update today. I am running Sequoia 15.0 on an Apple M3 Pro.

Please release a fix asap, otherwise I will have to uninstall and move to another product as this is not only causing problems with your solution, but makes using any application on my computer a nightmare.

rrowla01 · September 26

I have been experiencing this all day. I finally move the app to a secondary monitor so it would not continue to interrupt my work.

Closing the app does not do anything. next step is uninstall.

I am worried that it has introduced a security vulnerability.

Pa22o · September 27

Yes, same problem here, uninstall soon if not fixed!

Zooropa · September 27

I have the same problem. Very annoying!!! Please fix it soon!

KaizenJani · September 27

Same problem here. I'm very disappointed the support persons, only instructions is "please uninstall - reboot - install the software again" and problem is still there.

I need to uninstall the whole software.

Does anyone know how and where to get information when this problem is fixed?

samuels · September 27

Same issue. Hopefully will be resolved soon.

PawełP · September 27

Hello,

Thank you for informing us about the problem that appeared on your devices after the program update. We are currently investigating the problem to develop a solution.

As some users have reported, uninstalling the program, restarting the computer and reinstalling it fixes the problem. However, this is a temporary solution until the final fix is implemented.

I will send a private message to some of you on our forum to ask you to provide diagnostic data from our program, which will speed up the troubleshooting process.

I will keep you updated on progress.

Thank you very much for your patience.

Best regards.

Pawel

MeMeMe · September 27

I have the same problem on macOS Sequoia. So annoying that had to uninstall it for now in order to be able to work.

Pa22o · September 27

Hi,

Uninstall, restart, install doesn't work. It seems that F-Secure app jumps to the front every time when the upper section of app "loads some settings/news… or something like that" to show "tasks", below the window menu area.

bhn · September 27

Hello, thank you @PawelP for responding. I did get your private message regarding the collection of diagnostic data. but I will NOT be providing it from my laptop for the following reasons:

I use this machine primarily for work and the diagnostic data being collected on my employer's machine and being sent to you will violate my employment contract, as this data is in fact, quite invasive.
There are enough users and views here that show this problem to be widespread enough that you can very probably replicate it with your developer(s) and test environment(s), who should already have addressed this sooner before deploying the update. Additionally, you mentioned this: "..some users have reported, uninstalling the program, restarting the computer and reinstalling it fixes the problem". As far as I can tell from these comments, absolutely no one has said this. Therefore I will not be attempting to do this.' You are losing your customer base who are uninstalling your software as a fix, not reinstalling.

My work means that I will have to use my laptop for presentations and screen sharing. Therefore I hope a fix comes out soon.

Tom_A · September 27

This keeps happening regardless of quitting the application. Highly annoying!

PawełP · September 27

Hi @bhn

Thank you for your message.

We already have enough diagnostic data.
The fix is in the preparation process.

Best regards.

Pawel

Tom_A · September 27

Thank you!

Also to note is that the image which gets displayed for a brief second is very weird. It's something gets shown only for a less than a second and animated when the window pops in. I have hard time understanding what image means in that short period of time. It's like with eyes and I think it's trying to convey "suspicion" emotion or something? Never the less, after the animation I'm left wondering what on earth just happened as there is no historical nor textual information.

Santeri_R · September 27

I have the same issue.

Can anyone advise how to quit the VPN application while we wait for a fix?

Force quitting the app causes it to restart by itself. I've also tried force-quitting all the FSC- processes through Activity Monitor, but they seem to pop right back up like unkillable zombies.

PawełP · September 27

Hallo everyone,

I would like to share the latest news from the technical department. The cause of the problem has already been determined and the corresponding fix is being implemented in the program. With the next update it will be available to all users. This may take a few days.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Best regards.

Pawel

PJA_999 · September 30

And how many days should we expect? This was posted on the 27th - today we have the 30th. I would expect a swift new release and information on what is causing the problem if you have found a solution.

Firmy · September 30

Hello @PJA_999

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us.

We completely understand your frustration and concern, and we want to assure you that we’re actively working on a solution. We've identified the root cause of the issue and are currently testing a fix to ensure it's stable and won't lead to further complications.

We kindly ask for your patience during this process, as we want to make sure everything is thoroughly checked before releasing the update. Rest assured, as soon as the fix has been tested and confirmed, we’ll deploy it to production as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

PawełP · September 30

Hello,

I would like to share the latest news regarding the problem.

Well, the solution has passed the tests and should be implemented into the publicly available version tomorrow.

Best regards.

Pawel

KimH · September 30

Hi @PawełP

It is good to hear that your developers have identified this issue and that a fix should be ready within a couple of days. I have also been plagued by this issue since the September 26 update.

I hope that your team will do a careful analysis of how you can avoid that such problems happen again, and/or how you can catch them in your own testing of the software.

Especially because I reported the same type of problem back in May:
https://community.f-secure.com/en/discussion/128203/f-secure-vpn-window-keeps-opening-every-few-days

So I was disappointed to see such a problem appear again, and this time much worse than back in May.

Have a great day
Kim H

deccles · September 30

Hello, @PawełP

The question I have after an extensive career in enterprise software releases and bug defects, is why wasn't this tested on Mac OS before release? What does it say about your testing of your product that you didn't have it installed longer than five minutes to observe this defect? It's clear the problem is generic to Mac OS and has nothing to do with the version of Mac OS.

Your UAT team needs a sharp rebuke and a please explain.

My trust in your product's effectiveness is considerably eroded with such a simple UAT oversight. The rhetorical question arises what else are your testing teams missing before production release of software ?

Please do better than this. The basic lesson is thoroughly check your product before release, rather than having to thoroughly check the patch of the release.

David

Mansoor01 · October 1

https://community.f-secure.com/en/discussion/comment/138623#Comment_138623

This bug existed previously. So, the main reason for all the community members is: why was the bug triggered again?
Did the vpn lack enough unit tests?
Did the vpn lack an integration test?

Moreover, the popping-up issue with the VPN is frustrating because it does steal user's focus. We could not even close or quit the vpn.

Anyway, thanks for the patch.

wiel · October 3

the popping up still continues. Where or how can I find the solution?

Basileios · October 9

I have exactly the same problem, and the app is constantly disturbing my focus time while working. The app is constantly reminding me of adding a Chrome extension, however it's there and functions as expected. The app just doesn't seem to get that.

How can I resolve this? Super frustrating to lose focus 8-15 times a day.

F-Secure Total window on MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1 keeps popping up and stealing focus

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