WD Essential 2TB - Faulty software WD Smartware v1.5.4?

This is a bit frustating.   

The WD Smartware crashes upon opening after an update. The drive detected via disk management but is not on accessible on any computer with WD Smartware 1.5.4 installed.  Upon uninstalling the v1.5.4, the drive will work, half the time, with the stock version that is on the drive.   I don’t need the back up features, I just need the lock/unlock features.  I checked the bookmarked FAQ on this forum, and it still does not work.  

I’m on Win7 x64.  

With v1.5.4, I get error codes:

“WD SmartWare has stopped working”

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: wdsmartware.exe
Problem Signature 02: 1.5.4.5
Problem Signature 03: 4ee9bf6b
Problem Signature 04: WDSmartWare
Problem Signature 05: 1.5.4.5
Problem Signature 06: 4ee9bf6b
Problem Signature 07: 63d
Problem Signature 08: f5
Problem Signature 09: PSZQOADHX1U5ZAHBHOHGHLDGIY4QIXHX
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 59cf
Additional Information 2: 59cff505f8c5d115fe375402840e3429
Additional Information 3: 12ea
Additional Information 4: 12eaf200a2896c951841f2ec1b49c086

if you don’t need the backup features … why are you updating again?

keep the old version and you will be able to lock/ unlock the drive