after power-up: "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes on your compute"

  • 14 December 2015
  • 17 replies
  • 1101 views

I get a message after power-up: "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes on your computer?
The program is WRSA.exe. I never got this message before from webroot.
I'm not sure what to do...

17 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello joser,
 
Welcome to the Webroot Community,
 
I get this message as well and I allow Webroot to make changes to my computer upon start-up. I can't explain why Webroot does this unless it's an update of Webroot causing this to happen.
 
If you feel this is an issue then you can always Submit a Support Ticket free of charge with a active Webroot subscription. They will glady answer this question..just to make sure.
 
Hope this helps?
Userlevel 7
Badge +6
? i am having this too with the WSA version i run ( i'm on a beta ) and it started only 2-3 days ago so IMO it's either a change to WSA or in my case one or another dodgy MS update that changed something to the security settings from the messaging allerts on Windows 10 ( i run W10 ). ? it is strange that only some people face it as other experts like ? don't have it I tend to think of MS and dodgy updates as that's not a first for them
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hi Edwin,
 
Yes I never gave it a thought when Webroot pops up on the reboot asking to make changes to the computer. A good question that ? has asked. We will see what the others on the Forum have to say. I thought it ws rather odd because it never did that before. I have even done a clean install and it still saids that on reboot.:@
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
?,
 
We have just heard from Webroot ..
 
That this is a known issue and there isn't anything that we can do..We should have this resolved soon, for now, the service will work and give you protection as long as you select Yes on the UAC prompt..
 
 
Hope this helps?
 
 
 
,
Userlevel 1
That's a big bummer. How can my son's computer be protected if he does not care about pressing this dialog? I had WSA configured on his account with password protection at all, but if he just presses escape, then I presume the system will run unprotected, correct?
 
This should be fixed ASAP!
 
Thank you. I think it started after a recent Webroot software upgrade.
Userlevel 3
I got this message for the first time today also. I did click "Yes" but then a short while later I got another new (never before seen) popup from "Software Manager" saying that there was a "special $82 savings offer" with a button to Click Here to Learn More.  There was no further information and I did not click the button nor any links.
 
I shut the popup down and immediately ran a Webroot scan for malware; no results.
 
The "Software Manager" popup did not have a Webroot icon or any other indication of where it had come from. There is no "Software Manager" listed anywhere in my Programs, nor have I ever installed a program by that name.
 
Seems like too much of a coincidence that the popup appears shortly after I allowed the new "Do you want to allow..." function from Webroot.
 
Anyone know what the connection is between these two new 'features'? And more importantly, how do I shut down this "Software Manager"? Is it a new part of Webroot (it is not "Password Manager" which is there but I do not use)? Is it interacting with Webroot in any way?
 
Thanks!
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +6
Just ran some tests and passed the info to the smart people here. Hope they can distill a fix out of it.
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello gardener,
 
This Software Manager is not part of Webroot and you wouldn't get a popup special for 82$ I've have not heard of this sort of popup.
 
It could be what you are seeing and describing sounds like it may be what we on the Community refer to as a PUA. (Potentially Unwanted Application) These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behavior that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools.. but they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
 
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behavior that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
 
For those that are not detected by WSA, please see this KB Article. It has some easy to follow directions on locating and removing PUA's. You may also want to submit a Trouble Ticket, especially if you cannot remove it easily from the directions in the KB Article.
 
For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Trouble Ticket.  Webroot Support will help you get these annoying 'crapware' off your computer at no extra charge, and the additional examples may help to better automatic removal of that particular PUA for all users in the future.
 
Hope this helps?
 
 
Userlevel 3
Hi ssherjj, I've done some further checking and discovered that "Software Manager" is an OEM application on Dell computers (developer is Acresso). It's been there since day one (the computer is 6 years old) but weirdly has never generated any kind of popup before. According to the settings its only job was to automatically download updates to the Roxio CD/DVD burner on this computer. I normally do not allow automatic updates except to Webroot, and was unaware that the Software Manager application was doing so. I've now disabled the automatic updates which should stop the program from "communicating". I wonder if today's "change" to Webroot is the reason that the popup was allowed to appear?
Userlevel 7
Badge +6
get rid of the sw manager... One can perfectly install & maintain a dell without it... Been doing it for the past 15years without their management malware. Kinda guess MS did some dodgy updates.... They are known to do that 😃
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hi gardener
 
Thanks for letting us know. I did research the Software Manager but was unsure if this was Dell's program from Acresso.
 
Not sure if the change in Webroot would of caused this to popup...I wouldn't think so though....but it is strange that this all of a sudden pops up??
Userlevel 7
Badge +34
Hi ? and ?
 
Could the answer perhaps be that if Webroot is now requiring the user to agree to allow WSA to run on boot up, then there must be a short period between boot up and clicking on the UAC to allow it, when WSA is not operating, or at least, not operating fully.
 
During this period, maybe Software Manager is allowed to run where previously, when WSA ran immediately at boot up, it was blocked. Just a thought.
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hi Nemo!
 
That sounds logical to me.;)
 
Thanks for your assistance!
Per the dialog box " do you want to allow..." details, it is triggered by WRSA.exe.
also, I've disabled the software manager from starting up (using msconfig) but, the dialog box keeps popping on power up.
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
@ wrote:
Per the dialog box " do you want to allow..." details, it is triggered by WRSA.exe.
also, I've disabled the software manager from starting up (using msconfig) but, the dialog box keeps popping on power up.
Yes joser, until there is a fix for this...this will continue to popup on bootup. Sorry for the inconvience.
Userlevel 3
joser, thanks for the tip about disabling Software Manager at Startup via msconfig. :-)
 
Apparantly it can't be got rid of permanently, as it's not in the Add/Remove Programs list, but disabling it is fine with me.

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