Online banking sessions terminate with error - .net and a/v issue?

[450125]

I apologize in advance if this belongs in a different forum, but the cause is so undetermined that I want to start in the "general" area.

My problem is that my web banking all of a sudden this year started abnormally ending my sessions. Not a timeout, but just throwing up a "system error" screen when I'd click on a normal link in a normal session.

My bank is M&T, a major US bank. I've been using their web banking since 2002 in Win98, 2000, XP, Win7, and MacOS environments, and although it's not very forward or cutting edge, it's always worked - until around February this year when the problems began.

Their customer service - online and by phone - was useless with this. I'd tell them that I'd already taken obvious actions like clearing my cookies/cache, rebooting my computer, etc., and they'd provide boilerplate advice suggesting I do all those things.

Finally last week I contacted a friend of mine who is a manager with the bank, and she put me in touch with an IT manager there who has been great working with me to try to identify and fix the problem.

So far it's been much more me sending my reports to him when I have an abnormal session end.

But today he sent me a suggestion, and I'm posting the relevant part here:

Potential cause: session data is lost because of antivirus software activity.

This problem can occur when antivirus software scans the Web application files. During the scanning process, the antivirus software may mark the Global.asax, the Web.config, and/or the Machine.config files as modified. This modification prompts the Microsoft .NET Framework to restart the Web application. If the session data is stored in-process, all session data is lost whenever a Web application is restarted.

To resolve this problem, use one of the following methods:
· Configure your antivirus software so that it does not scan .asax and .config files.
· Contact the antivirus software manufacturer for instructions.

This strikes me as odd and perhaps not helpful. The problem occurs on both my home and office Windows 7 computers. At home I used Avast! free, and at work Microsoft Security Essentials - two different programs. Yet the abnormal ends to web banking sessions happen on both computers. And I have no .asax files on my computer, and the last .config file (out of almost 200 I have) is from a year ago.

I have tried the suggestion, and in a brief trial run did not experience an abnormal end to my session. But that proves nothing, since the abnormal terminations, though annoying, probably only happen about a third of the time. So I'll have to go a while before I can "know" the problem is fixed.

So my questions:

1. Has anyone else ever experienced abnormal ends to web sessions - banking or otherwise - as described above?

2. Does the suggested fix from the bank seem plausible?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Unless I missed it you really don't say which or if all browsers are effected

No I've never seem this type of issue personally,
You never know about work networks :/
Avast has had some issues with Internet explorer and some it's new security features in 10-11

Click Start and type in the search box,
no add-ons
Click on ie no add-ons and test,
You may also try In-Private browsing in browsers,
Cheers.

 

[450125]

Hi,
Unless I missed it you really don't say which or if all browsers are effected

You're right.

My primary browser is Firefox, which automatically updates itself to the most current version upon release.

But I have duplicated the problem with IE too, again, most current release version.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi thanks,
What were the results from no add-ons mode,
You can also access it like this,
Add the Run box to the Start menu list you can also use Winkey+R to open the Run box,
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/559-start-menu-add-run-button.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/265-start-menu-customize.html
Open the Run command and Paste either of these strings into it and Okay,
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff (yes there is a space between " -)
iexplore.exe -extoff

 

[cyrilhubert]

Hi there!
I don't use internet banking as it's not safe even the auto teller machines are internet banking machines that are placed inside a bank or encapsulated in a wall.You must be very careful as your system could be compromised like mine.
So my questions:

1. Has anyone else ever experienced abnormal ends to web sessions - banking or otherwise - as described above?

2. Does the suggested fix from the bank seem plausible?

Your internet connection could be the problem or the bank side could be the problem .
Sometimes, it could be your problem, sometimes it could be the bank side.
Can they lend a terminal in the bank to let you test it out?

 

[450125]

Hi there!
I don't use internet banking as it's not safe even the auto teller machines are internet banking machines that are placed inside a bank or encapsulated in a wall.You must be very careful as your system could be compromised like mine.
So my questions:

1. Has anyone else ever experienced abnormal ends to web sessions - banking or otherwise - as described above?

2. Does the suggested fix from the bank seem plausible?

Your internet connection could be the problem or the bank side could be the problem .
Sometimes, it could be your problem, sometimes it could be the bank side.
Can they lend a terminal in the bank to let you test it out?

The answers:

1. By the bank's account, no one else has complained to them. But because someone I know at the bank has me talking - several times a week in fact - with their IT team, it's very possible that other people's complaints never reached the right people. When I went through normal "support" or "contact us" channels, I just got boilerplate advice like "clear your cookies" or "clear your cache" or "bury a replica of the Mozilla fox in your back yard" and that's why I elevated my complaint.

2. The bank's fix didn't seem too plausible, and then I proved it to be the case earlier the week by going right into banking, after a cold start of my computer, and turning the A/V software off completely. I got the same problem.

My IT contact acknowledged today that they made a "major upgrade" behind the scenes in January, and it was in fact that time when I first started noticing the problems.

 

[cyrilhubert]

My IT contact acknowledged today that they made a "major upgrade" behind the scenes in January, and it was in fact that time when I first started noticing the problems.

So the bank side especially the major upgrade forgot to make major backward compatible for older systems.Compatibility problem of software or systems.