Virus in latest update to Laceerte

[AlabamaTaxman]

This may not be the right board, but a little while ago I updated Lacerte 2021 and the download contained a virus that took 20 minutes to treat and remove.

The location and file name are Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Lacerte Shared/commgr21.dll

Does anyone know what the heck is going on here?

I expect Lacerte downloads to be clean.

Someone definitely needs to look into this.

[Drphibes · Accepted solution]

Please see:

https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/lacerte-tax-discussions/discussion/kaspersky-deleting-commgr...

Are you using Kaspersky?  Another contributor has e-mailed Kaspersky about this.  Even with the work around, I am having trouble trying to get updates for 2021 only.  When you click on tools and then update, it takes a good 5 min to get the response if up to date or not.

[AlabamaTaxman]

No, I'm using Zone Alarm.  However, your answer and the ones at the link you provided have helped me resolve the issue.

The file in question in my case was commgr21.dll.  From the link I learned that this is the communication library for contacting Lacerte.

After updating and cleaning the apparent virus, I tried to get a REP authorization and the communication simply failed without any message.  Now it all makes sense.  Zone Alarm removed the file (I checked) and now I can't communicate with Lacerte until I reinstall it.

Thank you for your assistance and particularly the link you provided.

Stay safe.

John

[George4Tacks]

Try the new Lacerte Tool Hub https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/help-articles/help/fix-common-problems-and-errors-with-the-l...

You can do a clean install - look for the FORCE option

[Drphibes]

Hi George,

You can just do a web install after you first disable your antivirus software, that will replace the commgr21.dll file.  Then go to your antivirus software and create an exception to not scan the commgr21.dll file (also 2020, and 2019 for me. No other years affected) located in the C:Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Lacerte Shared folder.  Then re-enable your antivirus software and then reboot the computer.  If you just replace the file, most antivirus software will automatically delete or quarantine the file making it unusable.

[AlabamaTaxman]

George and Drphibes - Thank you for your responses.

It turned out to be quite easy once I knew what the problem was.  I simply reinstalled using the Websetup21 program and it reinstalled cleanly with no issues from my antivirus software.  All I had to do was confirm that I wanted to overwrite the existing program.  I didn't have to mess with Zone Alarm.

Apparently, there was something about the update that got the file caught by the antivirus program.

All good now and running smoothly.