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Frustrations with ContentProtect/ContentWatch Internet Filter
I am in day two of my most frustrating software experience to date. I made the mistake of believing the glowing review of ContentWatch's ContentProtect software provided at InternetFilterReviews.com. After I purchased and downloaded the software, I installed it and restarted my computer as directed. The ContentProctect window came up asking me to "select an account from the account list below," but it was empty, and the window allowed no action except to close it. The annoying window popped up frequently. Opening other files in the newly installed folder provided no useful information nor anything I could do to set up my account. Now the real problem: all Internet access was now prevented. I tried to uninstall the program, but it asked for an administrative password - no idea what that is supposed to be because that hadn't been set up yet. It didn't take any of the passwords I use, of course. So now I can't access the Internet, and can't delete the software. I call tech support, but they are only open until 5 PM Mountain Standard Time. I send e-mails to tech support and their Website asking for urgent help, and request they call me. No call comes. I call them again on Friday, but their is no answer. I later learn that they had some kind of power problem that shut down their 800 support. I later call a long-distance number to reach their Corporate offices and make contact with tech support. I am told that the only thing I can do is to hack into the software using lengthy instructions that they can e-mail or fax me. I have another computer I can use, fortunately, and get e-mailed directions.
The directions include a step of creating a desktop shortcut to cwhi.exe and then adding a string to the target field under properties. However, the new string for the target field is rejected by XP. When I clilck on "OK" or "apply" - after using exactly the string they told me to enter, XP forbids the action, telling me that it is not a valid entry. Naturally, by the time I realize that their instructions fail, it's after 5 PM Utah time (it's a Utah company) and tech support is gone until Monday. I try entering forms of the string using the cmd window to modify the execution of the program, but these don't work (checking by running "sporder" and noting that the "hook" is still present).
The problem was probably due to anti-spyware software that I did not deactivate before installing the program. My fault - but the darned software should not leave a user in such a state even if the install goes poorly. If nothing else, the user should be sent uninstall directions with the software in case of such problems - and the directions ought to work.
After all that fussing, I remembered that XP was a System Restore feature (Accessories>>System Tools>>System Restore) which allowed me to take the system back a few days (HURRAY!) and wipe out the nasty ContentWatch software. Maybe I'll even try the install again, but possible sources of interference turned off.
I used Content Watch popup for over a year. A couple wof weeks ago, an
update was accepted and installed. Last week my computer was running slow.
I found that the CPU was at 100% all the time. cwhi.exe, a file of Content
Watch was always actived. I uninstall Content Watch and deleted all
directories and remaining files of Content atch. That computer cannot log
to internet since. The network connection is limited or disconnect. I am
using my laptop since. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
I just bought content watch and installed it on my kids computer. I
followed the installation instructions and restarted my computer and guess
what...I get to the start up screen where I select a user and when I click
on the user, all I get is the user's background wallpaper, and no icons or
any ability to do anything...I have restarted my machine several times (but
pulling the power plug, as no other option is available) Windows Task
Manager does come up, but the restart and shut down options do not
work....Its sunday night and no tech support is available. I am also
regretting this purchase!
David Comora
Hi,
We have recently bought CW for our school filter, I am suprised to
hear the lack of support from the comapny we are based in the UK and have
had very good support from them replying to all e-mails and we have even
spoke to them on the phone.I do hope this continues.
Cheers
John
John Cresswell
Do NOT Install this TRASH Software.
Even after uninstalling
ContentProtect, I can't
access the internet at all, on any browser.
I've
been troubleshooting it for several days.
ContentProtect is
malicious TRASH. Do NOT Buy it,
or install it on your machine.
Bruce William Taylor [bwtaylor@yahoo.com]
Can anyone tell me on how to remove this software? I tryed it's own
uninstall, rebooted but now I can't connect to the net because I get errors
like "Contentwatch error, reinstall or uninstall". I surely can't uninstall
it in any way because I just did and reinstall is not possible since they
key can't be verifyed because the program itself is blocking Internet
accsess!
I tryed pinging trough cmd and it worked just fine, so the connection works.
Ben
I've had ContentProtect for over 18 months now. It's been pretty good over
most of that time although recently the cwhi.exe task has been spinning
it's wheels. Killing the process seems to fix the immediate problem
although I don't know what the long term effects are.
Yes it's a bugger to uninstall but I supoose that comes with the territory. If it was easy to uninstall it would be a failure anyway.
There have been a few programs that I have that misbehave when WinXP's fast user swapping is engaged. You end up with multiple images of a program loaded at the same time for which the program does not always handle well.
Kerry
ContentProtect has worked well for me, but this cwhi.exe thing slows the
computer way down and I was monitoring the temperature of my CPU while
cwhi.exe was running. Then just for the fun of it I went to the task
manager and ended the cwhi process. My CPU went from 52 C to 40 C! I've
made it a habit to turn it off and Content Protect still seems to run fine.
Are we sure that cwhi has something to do with ContentProtect?
Cody
Found this thread which shows how to manually remove content protect from
your system. Hope this helps...
All these problems are unfortunate, especially Mr. Lindsey's experience's.
It really blows my mind why people have to complain over the Internet on
blogs about software when they have an issue. They even ask how do I fix
my issue in the blog without even attempting to contact Tech Support for
the software that they are having an issue with. Who would be best to
resolve a software issue, blog users or the tech support for the software?
I think the answer is obvious. Tech Support is the best resource to
resolve a software issue.
I have been using content watch for over a year on both of my home
computers. I had a little trouble when first installing the program and
called tech support. They were helpful and got me going. Haven't had to
call them since. The program works great for us and I've recommended it to
a number of friends with kids. They also have it installed. We talk about
this sometimes and no complaints from them.
Just wasted 5 hours. Uninstalled contentProtect from my XP work machine
and could not access the internet afterwards, despite being a registered
subscriber and possessing all the passwords account info etc..I did not
have a restore point to go back to so I had to restore from a system
backup. contentProtect is now gone and internet is back. However, I have
to now reinstall just about everything to get back to normal. Leson
learned:- never install anything like contentProtect on a business machine
- it slows the machine and can cause big downtime if problems occur. Not
worth it.
Bought Content watch. Didn't find it useful. A few weeks ago, noticed my
computer is really slow, and then outlook keeps "not responding". Just
found today, cwhi.exe uses near 100% of my cpu all the time. Stop the
process, things are back to normal.
•"Glenn made this comment,
Just wasted 5 hours. Uninstalled contentProtect from my XP work machine and
could not access the internet afterwards, despite being a registered
subscriber and possessing all the passwords account info etc..I did not
have a restore point to go back to so I had to restore from a system
backup."
I have been using ContentProtect on 5 computers for the last couple of
years after trying a series of parental control software (Cybersitter,
Cybernanny, etc.) and ContentProtect still seems the best and least
intrusive.
As a few people on this site have found, it is important to
follow the installation instructions carefully.
I also have had cwhi.exe using 60%-100% of CPU resources and got around it
by creating a dummy cwhi.exe file and replacing the existing one. After
reading this blog I also sent an e-mail to tech support to see if there is
a better fix.
Thanks to "thatcomputerguy" and this Blog.
After Uninstall of ContentProtect I was unable to access Internet. The
information on the website was NOT USEFUL. STAY AWAY !
<i>Found this thread which shows how to manually remove content
protect from your system.</i>
Easy CWHI.exe fix:
Click 'start' > 'run' and type in sporder and click 'enter'.
In this box, there will be listings for CWHOOK's, MSAFD's, and RSVP's.
There should be an entry called 'CWHOOK' with nothing else after it. That
entry HAS to be at the bottom of the list. Highlight the last 'CWHOOK'
entry and use the 'Down' button to move 'CWHOOK' to the bottom of the list.
Close sporder and reboot your computer.
Stay away. I've re-installed windows 3 times now. Program chunks are still
there and harming my computer. Stay away!!
Al
Stay away. I've re-installed windows 3 times now. Program chunks are still
there and harming my computer. Stay away!!
Al
Children, children, children, let's stop the bickering and quarreling.
ContentWatch, Inc. has released version 2.0, and guess what, it doesn't
have the CWHI.EXE file. There's your fix...just get ContentProtect 2.0,
from:
http://www.contentwatch.com/products/contentprotect.php?pid=10-2
I just tried that link and it says "File Not Found." Then I realized that
for some reason the link changes.
We've used Content Protect on one computer for over a year now with minimal
if any problems. We just added a second computer to our account and have
had the same problem as many of you, with the cwhi.exe file causing our CPU
to be at 100%. We called the customer service, they were very helpful and
friendly. It seems there was a problem with our anti-virus software
(E-Trust EZ Anti-Virus) and Content Protect. He ran us through the
uninstall of Content Protect, which was thoroughly explained. We then
installed version 2.0 and everything is running perfectly. (We did disable
the email scanning on our E-trust anit-virus software, but we didn't need
that on anyway, so for us it was not a problem.) We are definitely fans of
both the program and the customer service. If you are having trouble,
definitely contact Content Watch's customer service.
For people who are claiming that the reason it is hard to uninstall is
because it is an Internet Filer doesn't make sense to me.
I really need to get something for my home wireless network with 5 kids. I
was going to get contentprotect after reading the topten reviews but this
blog and others have freaked me on that. Please recommend a product that
works without destroying my systems. Thanks
I've installed ContentProtect 2.0 on my 3 home computers (all conected
wirelessly) and at my office (20 computers). Everything is working
perfectly. I think they fixed all of these issues with their 2.0 product. I
was refered to this site from a friend:
For those who are having the cwhi.exe problem where it consumes your
processing power, call up content protect and talk to customer service.
They were able to help me fix it in about 30 seconds after I explained what
it was doing.
I recently purchased and downloaded ContentProtect 2.1. After initial
installation problems, which were quickly resolved by their support team, I
was however disappointed to find the following:
http://www.child-internet-safety.com/internet_filters.php (Internet Filter
Review a.k.a HermanStreet) gives out bad CD's that are old and you have to
contact ContentWatch support regardless.
I too have used ContentWatch for about a year now, having paid $29.95 for
it! I have discovered the problems that others here have reported. Now I
can not remove it but have used a suggestion mentioned by someone above -
creat a dummy file for cwhi.exe. Now if you don't know how to do that here
is how:
Good Product... Buy from www.child-internet-safety.com not from Internet
Filter Review (aka Herman Street).
ContentProtect is rendered completely useless if any of your kids knows the
address of any secure proxy on the internet, e.g. https://proxify.com.
ContentProtect does not even consider the allowable times set up if a
secure website is accessed - giving anybody complete freedom to use the
internet at ANY time, if they can get access to the PC. Secure sites
cannot be added to the list of blocked sites either! I'm uninstalling it
now, since it is of NO use now! I'll rather fork out money AGAIN for a
different product that might give better results, even if it will only
restrict internet surfing after certain hours!
CWHI:
http://contentwatch.com/support/faqs.php#58
I installed ContentProtect. It works well and fits our needs. However,
makes some networking aspects of Windows unusable, such as network
printing. As a result I had to take the software off my computer and am
looking for another solution.
I installed ContentProtect. It works well and fits our needs. However,
makes some networking aspects of Windows unusable, such as network
printing. As a result I had to take the software off my computer and am
looking for another solution.
I installed content watch on my computer about 7 months ago. Content Watch
needs to sell their product "in a box" rather than having to disable
computer security and get a virus just to download the software. I have
had to fully restore my computer TWICE because of trying to download
content watch and am suspicious that the actual program has a virus. My
third restore was successful and HP support told me not to download this
software from the net. I took their advice and my computer works like new,
now...Too bad I'm out $40.00 and still don't have internet filtering that
is reliable. This company and others need to be held accountable for the
millions of dollars they are taking and not helping people solve the
problems that their program is causing. They advertise a product that
supposedly protect us and our children from trash on the net, but does it
really work, or is this just another money making cancer of greed business
just like so many others!!!! Good idea, bad product. You couldn't give me
this infectious software.
I installed content watch on my computer about 7 months ago. Content Watch
needs to sell their product "in a box" rather than having to disable
computer security and get a virus just to download the software. I have
had to fully restore my computer TWICE because of trying to download
content watch and am suspicious that the actual program has a virus. My
third restore was successful and HP support told me not to download this
software from the net. I took their advice and my computer works like new,
now...Too bad I'm out $40.00 and still don't have internet filtering that
is reliable. This company and others need to be held accountable for the
millions of dollard they are taking and not helping people solve the
problems that their program is causing. They advertise a product that
supposedly protect us and our children from trash on the net, but does it
really work, or is this just another money making cancer of greed business
just like so many others!!!!
In re-reading the blogs about the problems associated with this program, I
realize that one serious problem I had was related to ContentProtect. When
I installed the trial program, it worked for a couple of days, so I thought
that other problems that occurred were due to something else. I, and Geek
Squad, both thought that I had a virus, but based on the similar
descriptions of the problems described in this blog, the probelms were due
to ContentProtect. I ended up with wallpaper and no task bar, and I had to
completely re-image my hard drive. Fortunately, it was not difficult
because of a couple of backup procedures I have.
I would recommend avoiding ContentProtect and would only recommend it to
people I did not like--perhaps the London terrorists--in order to wreak
havoc upon their computer systems.
Stephen,
How concerned can "concerned adults/parents" really be if they are posting
not only about the issues (such as secure websites) but are posting the
addresses of these sites that render their product useless. Methinks that
concerned adults are either a picnic short of a sandwich, or have ulterior
motives - which, given their user names, betrays them as liars.
I agree with the last comment but i will also say that it appears that from
reading this blog that alot of folks are having problems with this
software. Granted. Have any of them installed this software on a computer
that thier child is going to use? Have they let the child try to do what
children do on that computer on the internet and asked them for thier
feedback? An adult's internet activity can be 40% more intensive than most
childs. However our children are very smart and will pass information
amongst each other on how to 'break into' something. Thats what children
do. They have minds that are always 'curious' and if left alone on a
computer to roam on or off the internet, they will figure things out faster
than you would beleive. A child is prohibited from buying porn, alchohol
and tobacco but guess what, they can go into a computer store and buy any
book on 'hacking' the administrator account to how to bypass internet
security. I will also like to finish by saying that your child is reading
this blog.
Yes i installed the trial version and my laptop crashed. it became very
slow to start and operate. it is winsock error and you can find a fix from
here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259
I now never go for contentprotect. very very annoing program. I have no
idea why PC magazine and others rrate the product as 'Good'. I would rate
it as 'extremely bad'
I have tried several web filter software programs and I honestly disagree
with most of you. Nearly every one of these posts are not problems with
Contentprotect, but problems with conflicting software on your system.
This would occur regardless of the product you chose but is probably going
to be more evident in a website filtering software. In addition, it
doesn't follow the same simple uninstall mechanisms (which is by design, so
your kids don't simply hit "next,next, next, uninstall" when they want to
disable it.) as other programs. Below are some bullet points that you need
to understand for the techincally challenged. Again, nearly ALL the
comments above have nothing to do with Contentprotect but any web filter
software. It's just the nature of the beast.
my comment contiuned from previous post....
jcs says "Content Watch needs to sell their product "in a box" rather than
having to disable computer security and get a virus just to download the
software. I have had to fully restore my computer TWICE ...and HP support
told me not to download this software from the net."
jcs says "Content Watch needs to sell their product "in a box" rather than
having to disable computer security and get a virus just to download the
software. I have had to fully restore my computer TWICE ...and HP support
told me not to download this software from the net."
You people are nuts. I work for a software company doing phone support and
while I understand hours of operation can be a hassel, there is no
substitute for tech support. I have spent an hour on the phone fixing
problems that would have taken 10 minutes to resolve if the users would
have bothered to call when they first experienced problems. I know we want
it fixed NOW, but in the real work NOW doesn't always happen. Sometimes we
need to be contect with whenever, and enjoy the NOW.
I want to buy this software, but i agree with another post, I want my
software in a box.
I am considering buying ContentProtect. From reading these blogs, it sounds
like there have been two common problems that some folks experience but
others don't.
Whoa! Everyone, I found the coolest support for all of us to use, 24/7!
this is for anyone that thinks contentwatch is really a great product.
think about this......i stopped using my pc one night...went to bed...
I am in Australia and purchased this software 2 days ago.
I have never had such a terrible time.
PRoblems are:
No start menu
No control panel
Loss of critical system files
Loss of audio/video
No administrator processes
Unable to drag and drop/copy or burn important files
Noted many files changed in status to hidden and read only
5 minute boot up time and 5 minute shut down time
Unable to reload windows
COntentwatch error message in spite of programme deleted from computer
i know the password that know one will know ill give it to yall hell im a
good hacker i hacked yall computers
http://cwra.blogspot.com
after installing this faulty program, I couldn't browse anything! I found
this very simple repair for XP users...
Sorry, that should have been "after UNINSTALLING this faulty..."
Ouch, that would be frustrating. I have a school computer, and it has
ContentProtect on it.. It is... QUITE annoying. Wont lemme go to youtube,
myspace, any good sites. Exept school site. If I could hack into this crap
I definatly would. Any suggestions?
-So "Guest" thinks that ContentWatch can install itself magically on to his
computer...wow, um, does Santa Clause still magically fill your living room
with gifts that came from thin air too? The answer to that question is: No,
nothing comes from thin air, and ContentWatch didn't install itself
magically. Someone did it while you weren't around. Perhaps someone feels
they need to protect you from porn, or yourself?
I bought ContentProtect about 10 months ago, before its takeover by NN I
believe. I too was convinced by the numerous reviews that indicated
ContentProtect was the one to go for. Without going in to detail of my
problems with the software, suffice to say they have been on-going
(install, configuration, compatibility, ...).
Well, jth what would you rather do when a company knows it's own product
doesn't work with a specific security product, suggest a FREE one that they
know doesn't conflict or a security product you have to pay for, after you
have just spend money on a security product??? Seems pretty obvious to me
what the answer is here: FREE PRODUCT ALTERNATIVE.
Oh, and David, I don't consider myself technical, but through personal
experience I know that using that little DOS command alone doesn't get rid
of NetNanny/ContentProtect, you have to delete the ContentWatch folders
too.
As a Network Admin I can say this product is pretty bad. I just spent 4
hours cleaning this junk off a workstation. At least Symantic offers an
"emergency" removal tool. I don't have time to wait for some unknown tech
to send me the "secret" removal tool. What a load of junk.
Hey, you who posted comment #61... For starters don't you think you look
pretty un-savvy with computers if you start off by telling everyone that
you willingly spent 4 hours, AS A NETWORK ADMIN, tinkering around with
something as simple as an internet filter? LOL