GDWH Error conflict between Windows XP and McAfee Privacy Service

[Guest]

Does anyone know what the GDWH program is?

I have been having trouble even identifying what this program is. McAfee
tech support has said that it is a Microsoft program.

The problem I am having is when I use my internet radio software and McAfee
Privacy service is running the internet radio software crashes, my CPU
utilization goes to 100% (98% used by mscifapp.exe and 2% used by
explorer.exe) and the system needs to be rebooted, but upon reboot attempt I
get an error saying that GDWH is not responding and needs to be ended
manually before the system will reboot fine.

I have approached the internet radio manufacturer and they have indicated it
is not a problem with their software. While a McAfee tech support person
said GDWH is a microsoft program I am unable to confirm this, and find it
interesting that when I have McAfee Privacy Service disabled I do not have
the same problem with my system crashing.

I have searched the internet and found that quite a few people have the GDWH
error problem but are unable to get clear answers about it. There is an
apparent myth that it is related to Dell computers, though there are many
exceptions with this error happening on other systems besides Dell systems.
I do not have a Dell computer.

If anyone can shed some light on this tightly guarded secret regarding the
GDWH error I would certainly appreciate it. And of course solving the
conflict with my McAfee software would be great too. McAfee tech support is
failing in helping me with this problem.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Do a Search on your machine for GDWH.

HOW TO: Search For Hidden Or System Files In Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302347

GDWH may be Value Name that has nothing to do with the name of the .exe
file.
For example (I just made this up):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Value Name: GDWH
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: "C:\Program Files\Dell\McAfee\some.exe"

Search your registry for GDWH.
Open the Registry Editor...
Start | Run | Type: regedit | Click OK |
Hit your F3 key | Type GDWH in the Find what box: |
Click the Find Next button |

Keep hitting F3 until you see the Finished searching through the registry
message.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestion Wesley. I was aware of this option, but had not
done it because online reports indicate nothing is found. I did try it out
anyway and nothing was found in the registry. This got me thinking that I
might search the System Information after running msinfo32.exe. I did this
with no results for GDWH. I then did a search for a related program I had
identified as taking up most of my CPU utilization. This program was
mscifapp.exe. Searching System Information for this app did yeild results as
follows:

Under running tasks:
mscifapp.exe f:\progra~1\mcafee.com\mps\mscifapp.exe 1236 8 204800 1413120 21/05/2006 10:06 AM 8.1.0.136 289.54 KB (296,488 bytes) 18/05/2006 11:43 AM

and under Loaded Modules:
mscifapp 8.1.0.136 289.54 KB (296,488 bytes) 18/05/2006 11:43 AM McAfee,
Inc. f:\progra~1\mcafee.com\mps\mscifapp.exe

and under Startup Programs:
MPSExe f:\progra~1\mcafee.com\mps\mscifapp.exe /embedding All
Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and under Windows Error Reporting:
19/02/2006 1:28 AM Application Error Faulting application mscifapp.exe,
version 8.1.0.125, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault
address 0x00011e58.


23/04/2006 10:56 PM Application Error Faulting application mscifapp.exe,
version 8.1.0.136, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault
address 0x00011e58.


So this seems to confirm that McAfee Privacy Service software is the cause
of my system crash, maxed out CPU and the GDWH error on attempting to restart.

I would like to know why mscifapp.exe causes this GDWH error, and what GDWH
is, when attempting to shut down and restart when CPU utlilization is at 100%
(98% mscifapp.exe and 2% explorer.exe?

I would also like to know if McAfee will acknowledge this problem with
Privacy Service and what fix they have planned? (I won't hold my breath
however)

If anyone else has information regarding either the mscifapp.exe error or
the GDWH error I would appreciate any additional information you may have.

And thanks again Wesley for the suggestion that got me thinking about where
else to search.

David

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi David,

First off, I cannot bad mouth McAfee enough. Simply put, they suck. That
said...

Mscifapp.exe
[[Background task which is part of McAfee’s Privacy Service. McAfee’s
Privacy Service is a product which provides Private Information protection
while surfing the Internet, popup and popunder advertisements blocking,
cookies blocking and management, website filtering and blocking (e.g: for
families with children), web sessions & chat monitoring and logging,
Internet access restrictions, and age based access levels.

Recommendation :
We do not yet know what this task actually does, but we do know that
disabling prevents the Privacy Service from functioning properly. Leave
alone therefore. That said, at the time of writing, 13-Dec-2003, this task
is not the best behaved task and too often either generates illegal
operations at boot-up or consumes excessive amounts of CPU time causing the
PC to slow down significantly as a direct result. Make sure, therefore,
that you regularly check the McAfee site for software updates (you can do
that through the icon in the System Tray). ]]
from...
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_m.htm

Looks like McAfee has not fixed anything since 2003. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In