Going to have to agree with you on this one, Wizer. Antithesis_of_Support is not addressing the real issue here; the OS. He has an answer but not the reason “why”. I won’t elaborate “why” that is, but rather “why” this may have occurred, and how to possibly prevent it. I refuse to apply shortcuts and workarounds to situations, even if they save time, because they don’t always address future problems or current issues beyond the quick-fix.
SmartWare is based on the .NET Framework 3.5. If your OS is not completely up to date with all of the Microsoft components, including .NET 4.0 Client & Extended with any applicable patches from Windows updates included, and you are still having issues, the MSI package may have been corrupted beforehand by the OS. The .NET Framework 4.0 has the ability to repair and improve on flaws within the previous versions, and if your .NET 3.5 has issues, so will an installation of SmartWare. You don’t think Microsoft released .NET 4.0 and the applicable patches because .NET 3.5 was perfect, did you? Plus, if you don’t have them installed, your OS isn’t up-to-date, which may affect a large number of programs that are or will be installed on your system at some point in time.
Sure disabling any program of your choosing from auto running alleviates it from automatically kicking off when the OS boots, and is a nice workaround for someone that doesn’t want a number of programs running unless indicated by the user. But the MSConfig method is merely a band-aid solution for a problem that still isn’t being addressed, which is that the program isn’t running or removing correctly, due to an OS-related issue. Sweep it under the rug and maybe it’ll either take care of itself by “going away”, or someone else will clean it up for you. The latter would most likely be achieved by contacting their support team, if you are experiencing a technical issue that’s beyond your know-how, experience, or abilities. But you can also try to repair your system first by performing the .NET updates in their entirety, including all applicable Windows Updates for said Frameworks. If this was done proactively from the get-go, who really knows if the issue wouldn’t have presented itself to begin with.
Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework SP1 updater
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=21
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Standalone Installer)
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17718
Microsoft Windows Update:
http://update.microsoft.com
WD Support:
http://support.wdc.com