Validation issues

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  Hello Stewhatcott,
  
    First off, there is no point attempting to restart the Solftware Licensing Service.  The main purpose of that Service is to detect Tampers.  When it detects a Tamper, the Service is designed to Stop.  When the Tamper is resolved, the Service will restart automaticly.
  
   Almost all Non-Genuine issues look alike but have many different causes and many resolution steps so I have no idea what steps you have already tried.  The below is specific to the issue your Vista is experiencing.
  
  

  Vista is in, what we call a 'Mod-Auth' Tamper state.  There are 2 types of Mod-Auth tampers.

  1)    A critical system file was modified On Disk - What this means is that the file, located on the hard drive, was modified in some way. This can be caused by a malicious program (spyware, malware, virus) or by manual file modification (by a user of the system). There is also a very small chance that an Update may fail in mid-update and cause this type of issue. As a safety mechanism, Updates are made so that if they fail, they roll back any updating that was done before the failure, but there is an off-chance that the roll back did not occur.

   

  2)    A critical system file was modified In Memory - What this means is the file itself (on the hard drive) is un-modified, but the code, from that file, running in the system, was modified in some way and is caused by a running program that is incompatible with Vista.

   

    Because there is No Mismatched files listed under the "File Scan Data-->" line of your Diagnostic Report, we know that your issue is an In Memory Mod-Auth and therefore caused by an incompatible program. This means there is a program install and Running that is trying to access parts of the OS that Vista does not allow, which by definition, means it is incompatible with Vista.

  NOTE: We have seen an increase in this type of issue and we believe it is unlikely that software writers are still making programs that are incompatible with Vista. Instead, we believe that a majority of the issues are being caused by Malware that are doing the same things (on purpose) as incompatible programs do (by accident).

   

    In addition to why a Mod-Auth occurs, it's also important to understand how Vista detects a Mod-Auth event. There is a Service that runs in Vista that detects a Tamper to a Critical System file. But this Service runs randomly, so if you were to install an incompatible program and run it, Vista (most likely) would not immediately enter a Mod-Auth  State and it could take some time for the Mod-Auth to be detected. The important point to note is that the moment Vista detects the Mod-Auth, you know that the program that is causing the Mod-Auth, is currently running.

   

     Below I have provided a number of steps to help you identify the program that is causing the tamper:
   
    First, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931699/ and confirm that you do not have any of the programs known to cause this type of issue.
   
    Second, in your Diagnostic report above, you can see the line that starts with 'TTS Error:' followed by a bunch numbers: M:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx- This is the Tamper Time Stamp and it breaks down like this:

      (year)  (month) (day) (time in 24format) (millisecond)
  M:2010         01         11            1416                     56317-
  
  

  Note: I also see a "K" type Tamper Time Stamp. The “K“ stands for Kernel Mode tamper. Once you remove the program that is causing the In Memory Mod-Auth tamper, the Kernel Mode tamper may be resolved as well. But a Kernel Mode Tamper can sometime indicate a Malware infection. To be on the safe side, we strongly suggest scanning your system with the Anti-Virus program of your choice as well as with the OneCare Safety Scanner for Vista (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm)

  
  Now that you know the time of the tamper, you can now try to connect that time with a program.

  1)    Login to Vista and select the option that launches an Internet Browser

  2)    Type into the browser address bar: %windir%\system32\perfmon.msc and hit Enter

  3)    When asked if you want to Open or Save this file, select Open

  4)     In the left hand panel, click Reliability Monitor

  5)    Click on the “System Stability Chart” above the date 01/11 

  6)    Below the chart, in the “System Stability Report” section look at the report titled "Software (Un)Installs for 01/11/2010 "

  7)    Look for any program that shows "Application Install" in the 'Activity' column.

  8)    Since the process that detects Tampers runs randomly, it can take up to 3 days for the process to detect the tamper and set Vista to a Tamper State. Because of this, please repeat steps 5) thru 7) for the dates 01/10/2010, 01/09/2010 and 01/08/2010  (or around the date the issue first occurred)

    This could tell you what programs were installed on or around the Tamper date and should help you narrow down the possible programs that could be causing the issue. Unfortunately, if you installed the program at some time in the past, but didn’t run it till now, this process may not be helpful.  The removal of any application you may have installed recently could go a long way to troubleshooting this issues.

   

  Note: Since everyone has different programs installed on their computer, it is extremely hard for support to figure out what program is causing the problem, but if you still need assistance in identifying the Incompatible Program, please create a no cost support request at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52029

  
  
  Also Note: it has been found that Malware, such as Viruses and Trojans, can also be incompatible with Vista and can cause an In Memory Mod-Auth. A number of users (that were experiencing your same issue) have confirmed that a Malware infection was the cause. If you follow the above steps and cannot find a program that is causing the Mod-Auth, you may want to investigate if a Virus, Worm or Trojan may be to blame. You can contact PC Safety, which is a Microsoft group, which provides free assistance with Malware infections. I encourage you to use the ‘Windows Live Safety Scan for Windows Vista’ (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm) before contacting PC Safety.

  PC Safety:

  http://www.microsoft.com/protect/support/default.mspx

  http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm

  Thank you,
  Darin mS

  • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Monday, January 11, 2010 9:51 PM

  Monday, January 11, 2010 9:51 PM
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  Hello Darin,
  
  Thanks for getting back to me. I tried the above scan with onecare and got back a few registry fixes but no virus found. There were 6 Errors:
  File Type Associations (skipped by User): HKCU\SoftwareMicrosoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xht\  and 5 more with .wms .wpl .xhtml .wmd and .wmz extensions at the end.  I sent the report to Microsoft but have not contacted the support team yet.
  
  No other virus scan has come up with a virus although I did get an alert from Avira saying there was malware found on 09/01/2010: Virus or unwanted program 'HTML/Infected.WebPage.Gen [virus]'
  detected in file 'C:\Users\Catherine\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\NXAZQOYZ\content_main[1].htm.
  Action performed: Deny access
  
  The same program alerted me to a TR/Dropper.Gen Trojan back in November whose source was Windows Installer (C:\Windows\Installer\MSI9F9.tmp) but after quarantineing it never seemed to raise its head...
  
  I accepted an automatic Java update on 11/01/2010 which is the only installation in the past few weeks so could it be this that has affected the validation? The only other automatic updates were for my security software (Avira, AVG and SPyware Doctor)
  
  If any of the above problems may be to blame, could you advise me on how to fix?
  
  Thanks again for your help.
  
  Stephen
  
  
  

  Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:59 PM
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  Hi Stephen,
  
    I don't believe the Java Update would be to blame (it's a major program used by allot of people and if it caused an 'In Memory Mod-Auth' non-genuine problems, I would have seen allot of people experiencing it...you are currently only Vista, in this forum, experiencing an In Memory Mod-Auth).
  
    The File Type Association problem is unlikly to be to blame because file type associations are just setting that tell windows which files can be opened by what programs.  In Memory Mod-Auth are only caused by programs actively modifing protected Windows files in system memory.
  
    The Malware and Trojan could very well cause this, however, as I said, the program (malware and trojans and viruses are programs) must be present (currently on the computer) and running to cause the In Memory Mod-Auth.  It could be that past Malware or that past Trojan weren't removed and could be causing the problem.
  
    As I mentioned above, now days, Malware  is almost always the cause of this type of issue.  when Vista first came out there were a number of legitamate programs that weren't compatible with Vista that if they were installed, this issue would occure. But Vista has been around for some time now and all program writers know the correct way to write a program for Vista so legit programs almost never do this anymore.  So, unless you have a program installed that hasn't been updated since Vista was release, this issue is most likely caused by Malware.  (note: when I say Malware, I mean all the bad stuff like Viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, and such).
  
    To get help with any sort of Malware problem, the link I gave to PC Safety are your best resource.
  
  Sorry I couldn't be more help,
  Darin MS 
  
   

  Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:32 PM