A program i installed is logging me off on regular intervals

[handakes]

Hi there,

i recently installed a software for user account management and it's working great, except that it logs me off with a "forced" log off my user account every 30 mins..
i was told that it's a feature in it but i still don't know how to turn it off, so i contacted the developers of the software and i am waiting for an answer.

now the question is, is there anyway or a command that overrides a forced log off (especially when it's scheduled to regular intervals like this) that i could use until i get an answer from that software's support team?

i was thinking of something like disabling the log off function entirely from windows, or replacing it with just "locking" the account instead..i am not talking about replacing the "log off button" in start menu..i know how to do that, i was talking about the actual log off function or it's executable.

please refrain from answers like "what do you need a program like that for" or "just uninstall it" because that's not much of a help as you can clearly see..

thanks

 

[ThrashZone]

Welcome to SevenForums,
You might at least give the Name of this program ?
Cheers.
Right click your Desktop and click on Personalize,

 

[MilesAhead]

What exactly is this "account management?" Why does the program have to be left running after you're done "managing?" And why would they want to log off without asking? It all sounds strange to me. Why would log off be mandatory unless they are setting registry and want to insure it takes effect or are deleting some locked files. It sounds pretty weird.

Also see if the program has a dedicated forum. Some user may have come up with a work-around before the developers.

But afaik there's no way around a "forced" logoff. Otherwise, it wouldn't be forced.

 

[handakes]

well, by account management i mean it could set user accounts to automatically login or off on scheduled times, switch users or prevent a user account from accessing another one or logging off it's own..all that could be done according to a preset schedule which i can edit myself..

it's a software written by a talented group of developers at my local college for accessing public PCs at my lab and organizing the time each student gets for himself before switching to the next account.

anyway, i tried renaming "logoff.exe" or "shutdown.exe" after taking ownership of "system32" and "syswow64" folders respectively..and i replaced them with a blank file renamed to their name, that only aborted the "shutdown" and "logoff" commands and their variants from command prompt... it launched my bogus files which i have put instead of the originals..but that was no help at all, pressing logoff or shutdown from start menu still works..and the program still logs me off.

no surprise that it didn't work though, i know that i don't know first thing about programming..looks like their command runs at higher level than a mere "shutdown.exe /f" that a commoner like me knows..it's a logoff not a shutdown though, but i don't even know the command for forcing that..shows what i know, ha?

 

[MilesAhead]

More likely they made system calls to log off or shut down. Rather than using the command line exe programs. Those exe programs just call the API functions. Interesting because I'm on a public library computer. Does the same thing. If you don't log off by the deadline it logs you off. That's not so bad. It's being totally blocked from anything that could possibly cause a problem that is frustrating. I mean, I can't even right click the mouse, never mind open Control Panel.

 

[handakes]

well, the difference between our software and yours is that ours runs from the same machine and not a master PC that controls other ones..in our case it's only 1 PC and it schedules those events for itself only.
another difference is that it also switches users according to schedule not only logs people off.

anyway, i take it that there is no way to "block" those "system calls" for a specific function such as logging off..leaving the switch user function enabled, because quite frankly that's the one i need right now..

even if there's a way that blocks systems calls for all the shutdown,logoff,hibernate...etc functions leaving me with only hard resets available, i would like to know it since i have other uses for it anyway

and thanks for taking the time to answer my inquiries so fast

 

[handakes]

after searching more into the "system calls" concept that you guys provided, i came across this thread..

Block Windows Shut Down*|*Unified Diff

looks like the person in that thread struck gold with this application, the problem is that, like i said, i am no programmer..and i don't know how to turn the "code" he posted into a working application..

any help in this matter is appreciated, thanks

Edit:
here's another example of a "hook" (whatever that means) that intercepts the "Exitwindows" and "ExitwindowsEX" calls..and still in source code so i don't know what to do with it

http://read.pudn.com/downloads183/sourcecode/windows/859952/AbortShutDown/HookDll/HookDll.cpp__.htm

 

[MilesAhead]

AutoIt is pretty easy to pick up esp. if you've ever dabbled in Basic. This script may be of interest. Also AutoIt has forums where you can ask for help or even if there's a different script that does the same or better.

AutoIt is free and small to install. You can "compile" the script so that the interpeter is embedded. That way it works on machines that don't have AutoIt installed.

edit: I would try to use something that's been thoroughly debugged and tested. Windows will usually reboot on a hard error. So if you have booting blocked via a hook, but this generates an error, you can easily find the machine in an endless reboot loop.

 

[handakes]

i don't know first thing about basic..so i am pretty much stuck here since the script you sent me have an error in line 3 that i -of course- can't fix..
anyway, thanks for the effort, you have been a lot of help

 

[handakes]

hmmm, what bothers me is that I KNOW that it's impossible to cancel a forced shutdown once it's issued, after all it's called forced for a reason.. but how about intercepting a forced shutdown/logoff from ever reaching it's destination? especially when i know exactly when it's coming, and what's causing it!?

is that also impossible?

 

[MilesAhead]

i don't know first thing about basic..so i am pretty much stuck here since the script you sent me have an error in line 3 that i -of course- can't fix..
anyway, thanks for the effort, you have been a lot of help

It's possilbe you may be able to contact the author on AutoIt Forums

Hooking into system handler, esp. if you are not a programmer as you yourelf state, is a risky business. You may find you cannot shut down your machine at all if you do manage to hook into the shutdown call. I would lobby the authors of the software. A brute force approach may be just to set a timer that kills that software say, 19 minutes into its 20 minute log off timer or something along that idea.