Overview A small number of users have reported crashes when using XMetaL 6.0 on a system that is running McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.x. We have found that the “ScriptScan” feature in McAfee VirusScan causes consistently-reproducible crashes in XMetaL 6.0. When ScriptScan is enabled,
XMetaL Author Enterprise 6.0 may crash for no apparent reason during or shortly after interacting with a dialog (XFT form). The issue can be resolved by applying a patch as described in this article.
Background:McAfee's ScriptScan software alters Windows's core functionality so that Windows Script Host (WSH) no longer runs scripts directly. ScriptScan acts as a proxy, intercepting all requests to WSH to run scripts (from all applications, such as Internet Explorer and XMetaL). It checks scripts for malicious content and selectively allows them to run, in which case it passes them on to WSH. Apparently this behavior does not mimic the standard Windows behavior closely enough and in some cases can trigger unexpected behavior in XMetaL.
McAfee has released various patches to help their clients who are running software from other vendors (including specific applications from Microsoft that were also crashing) but they have no patches available to address the issue with XMetaL. Our new DLL attempts to work around this issue and as far as we can tell (8 clients are currently using this solution as of December 2010) the issue is resolved.
Instructions:Note: Use this patch with XMetaL Author Enterprise 6.0.x only. It is not needed, nor is it supported, with other versions of XMetaL.
1. Rename the following file:
Existing name:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\XFRunner.dllNew name:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\XFRunner.dll.original
2. Download and unzip the attached XFRunner.dll file, and place it in the in
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\ folder.
3. Run the following two commands at a command prompt:
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\
regsvr32.exe XFRunner.dll
If step 3 succeeds you should get a positive message indicating the DLL has been registered.
Uninstallation Instructions
In the unlikely event that you need to restore the default XFrunner.dll file, use the following instructions:
1. Delete the following file:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\XFRunner.dll
2. Rename this file
Existing name:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\XFRunner.dll.original New name:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\XFRunner.dll3. Run the following two commands at a command prompt:
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\
regsvr32.exe XFRunner.dllIf step 3 succeeds you should get a positive message indicating the DLL has been registered.
AlternativesAnother approach to resolving the problem is to turn the ScriptScan feature off, as described in this article:
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB55961 . Doing this will prevent the crashes, however keep in mind that you will also lose the security-related benefits of the ScriptScan feature.
One user reported that uninstalling and reinstalling McAfee VirusScan resolved the issue without the need to turn off the ScriptScan feature, however we have not found that this procedure solves the problem on our test machine.
