How to Disable BSafe?

I'm looking for help in removing or disabling BSafe.

My ex-wife's boyfriend installed BSafe on her computer to filter internet sites from the kids. He, however, is no longer her boyfriend; BSafe's subscription period ended; and now ALL internet access is blocked. So now the kids have to come over to my house (a 45 minute drive) to access the Internet for their homework.

My ex called BSafe, seeking help in uninstalling the program. But she doesn't know the password, and her former boyfriend (who knows the password) is out of the picture, and BSafe wouldn't help her.

My kids (with my guidance over the telephone) tried a System Restore, but there were no recent Restore Points to use. I then had them Restore the computer to the its original factory configuration using Dell's Built in Restore feature...but that didn't fix things because BSafe is still there and blocking everything.

I thought we might try using Regedit to delete any BSafe keys found in the Registry, but my son told me over the phone that Regedit wouldn't open when using Start-Run-Regedit. We have yet tried getting Regedit to run from the Command line prompt, but will try tomorrow.

Anyone have any suggestions, short of formatting the entire drive and reinstalling Windows XP? If we can get Regedit to work, is that the way to disable BSafe? Or is there another workaround?

Thanks.


Bob

 

>> I'm looking for help in removing or disabling BSafe. My ex-wife's boyfriend installed BSafe on her computer to filter internet sites from the kids. My ex called BSafe, seeking help in uninstalling the program. But she doesn't know the password, and her former boyfriend (who knows the password) is out of the picture, and BSafe wouldn't help her. BobSmith32 <<

Hi Bob and welcome to Major Geeks!

According to the Bsafeonline website Terms and Conditions webpage… (Click the + sign under the heading: "Term and Cancellation")

"In order for Bsafe to deactivate your account, you need to go to your Control Panel, Add/Remove programs. Look under Bsecure services and follow the instructions.

After passing the security check and uninstalling the program, your account will automatically be deactivated if you are online. If you are not online, you must call Technical Support in order to deactivate your account."​

However, since you evidently do not have the original password for the Bsafe software (which is apparently required for 'passing the security check' mentioned above) and especially due to the fact that the BSafe software company that actually developed the program has stated that they cannot help you out in uninstalling the program, I'm not exactly sure what we can do to help you out here - other than to advise you to keep trying to uncover it from the ex-boyfriend who actually has the original password.

Sorry that I couldn't be more of a help to you here... :confused

Good Luck!

 

I've read here and there that a BSafe workaround exists, or a Registry editing trick.

But unless I find it, I guess I'll have my kids bring me the computer and I'll just format the drive and install Windows XP from scratch. Happily, I have some XP CD disks from the old days (before Dell started putting the Windows Install CD's on the hard drive).

I wonder what Dell users do nowadays when they get in a bind like this...since I don't think they get Windows Install CD's anymore.


Bob

 

Hope I'm not too late here...

To remove the bsafe filter (in WinXP at least):

First, be sure you are logged in as an administrator. Then...

Kill the process:

• Press Ctrl-Alt-Del all at once to bring up the task manager
• Go to the Processes tab
• Click Image Name to sort the processes by name
• Find InetCntrl.exe, highlight it, and press End Process
• Answer Yes to the warning that pops up
• Close the task manager window

Prevent it from automatically starting:

• Go to Start, Run, type "msconfig" (without the quotes--same with the other examples below) and press enter
• Go to the Startup tab
• Find the entry for InetCntrl and uncheck it
• Press OK
• IMPORTANT: Do NOT restart the computer when it asks. Choose Exit Without Restart

Remove the LSP it installed:

• Go to Start, Run and type in "cmd" to bring up a command prompt window
• type "netsh Winsock reset" and press enter
• Once it finishes, restart your computer

Delete the program files:

• Open up Windows Explorer (or go through My Computer) and find your "C:\Windows\system 32" folder
• Find and delete the InetCntrl folder

Ok, it should now be gone forever.

 

Dear Ed,

No you're not too late. Thanks for the tip. I'll try it!


Bob

 

Bob,

Did this ever work out for you?

 

Yes!! Much thanks.


Bob

 

Good deal. Glad to help.

 

Hey. How would this process work for windows Vista? I've gotten to the comand prompt part and noticed a difference.

The startup process in System Configuration is "Bsecure Internet Protection Services" rather than InetCntrl like you posted. There is also a service called "Bsafe filtering engine" under services that I uncheked also. I hit the exit without restart button as you posted.

Also, What was the comand promt thing supposed to do and say when I enter the command "netsh Winsock reset"? For me it says "The requested operation requires elevation." Any help there?

Thanks in advance!

Seth

 

I was already on the administrator profile before doing all of this.

Can you think of anything that might be causing the differences?

 

I have never done this in Vista. In fact, I'm not sure I have so much as used a Vista computer...so I may not be much help there.

"The requested operation requires elevation" sounds like you were lacking the proper administrator privileges, as Bullchit alluded to. If you were already logged in as an administrator, then I'm not sure what else to do since, as I said, I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of Vista. You could try searching the Microsoft knowledge base or Google for what it takes to run administrator-level commands at a command prompt. Maybe there is something separate you have to do to authorize those.

I don't believe there is any sort of BSafe service under WinXP, though, so perhaps the Vista filter is quite different. Not sure.

As for what that command does, it removes the LSP, or layered service provider, installed by the filter. In Windows (XP at least) your internet networking is passed from one program to another in a chain. An LSP like BSafe installs is a link inserted in that chain. If you simply remove that link, by say deleting the BSafe program files, then the chain is broken and your internet connection doesn't work at all. This is the trickiest part of successfully removing a program like BSafe.

The "netsh Winsock reset" command removes all non-original LSP's and restores the chain to it's original state, so your internet connection still works. But again, I don't know how different this is in Vista. If you can't get the command to work, you could try Googling for a program called LSP-Fix, and see if that works under Vista.

 

ok, found out how to run cmd prompt as an administrator and it accepted the command, but I guess since that I did it first before doing the other steps it didnt work because BSafe like corrected the problem or something. Maybe I should have cancelled the other things first or something. Or did it say it corrected the changes for you when you did the cmd prompt? Will restarting after doing cmd do the work previously posted?

But with my other differences, and uncertainty about which steps are in which order, Im afraid to go along with this as I am unsure what will happen because of the reasons stated above.

Any firther help guys? Thanks in advance!

Seth

 

The steps definitely have to be done in order. If it said it fixed it, then you probably left the BSafe process running and it reinstalled the LSP after you removed it. It likes to do that, which is why step 1 exists. So try it again in order, exactly as listed. Since you say you have a BSafe service running too, I would disable that between steps 1 and 2.

 

Hey, while we're at it, let's list steps on how to get rid of ALL the known filters. That might be a big help to have all the needed info in one spot rather than just have new threads pop up all the time whenever someone wants his filter gone.

Also, how about having this thread become a sticky? Any interest in that?

 

Thank you Ed-W for your post. I struggled for a long time with trying to remove B-Secure from my wife's computer before coming across your post.

Since she is running Windows 10 (originally installed on Windows 7 I think), I did have to hit Shift-Ctrl when trying to start a command window in order to get the elevated privileges in order to reset Winsock. I also had to run "sc delete bsecure" and "sc delete bsecuresvc" (I think that was the second one) in order to get rid of the services, and then run regedit to remove the now broken uninstall link from Add/Remove Programs. Hope this added info helps someone else.