Invalid character in WiFiGuard.cfg

Something freezes Win 8 with the drive light on. Only cold boot recovers.

This may have connection with -
Error message at infrequent times: Invalid character in WiFiGuard.cfg (line 1 pos 1).
Press OK to ignore, etc.

Fixed after disk defrag and optimization.

Have the same error. Uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled. Same error. Also on Win8
Can anyone help

Which one?

Quote

Kenny Danielson

Something freezes Win 8 with the drive light on.

or

Quote

Kenny Danielson

Error message at infrequent times: Invalid character in WiFiGuard.cfg

Invalid character in WiFiGuard.cfg (line 1 pos 1).
Press OK to ignore, etc.
Found the .cfg file and it is empty.
Try and red x the prog and error comes up "Access violation". Press cancel to terminate prog.Press OK to ignore error.
Pressing ok runs the prog. but bloody annoying

It means the file has somehow been damaged. Just delete the empty CFG file and a new one will be created.

It helped!
Thanks!

How can you delete the empty CFG file ?
Thanks

Open the folder where the file is, right-click and choose Delete or drag it to the recycle bin.

I am having a similar problem. Where do I find the CFG file?
Thank You.

The path is in the error message.

Thanks, Andrew. Next time I will read the ... Seems to be working fine now.

I have been receiving the same error message every time my Win7-x64 system started lately. I reinstalled WIFI Guard before I saw this thread. That did not solve the problem.

After seeing this thread and deleting the noted .cfg file, the problem seems to be resolved. Unfortunately, in the process I lost all of the device information in the All Devices section. But I am glad to have WIFI Guard working again.

I am wondering why this issue cropped up and whether it is likely to happen again.

It's unclear why and when this happens, but until we have fixed it, I recommend to backup the file from time to time.

Hi Everyone,

I had an older version running and I updated recently to 1.0.5. (12/23/14). I am not sure when the error about appdata/local/WiFi invalid character started. I don't think it happened until after I updated the "Registry Trash Keys Finder Application" to v.3.9.3.0 (12/26/14) and ran it. In any case I uninstalled and re installed 1.0.5 and still get the error. The problem is that when I go to the appdata/local folder it contains nothing. What do I do now? Wait for a new update? I have deleted 1.05 form my PC.

W7 SP1 x64

You may have to turn on showing hidden files to access those folders and here is how to do so.

Thanks for the reminder about hidden files. When I turned off hidden files I was able to find the cfg. file and delete it. WiFiGuard is up and running. Thank you.

Today this error message appear after win 7 started. This fixed the issue, thanks.
Not sure if this helps but yesterday my laptop got some updates from windows update. Maybe one of these interfered?
Here is the list:

Security Update for Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3034196)
Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (KB3001652)
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3021952)
Update for Microsoft Outlook 2010 (KB2956128) 32-Bit Edition
Definition Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2956079) 32-Bit Edition
Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2010 (KB2956081) 32-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (KB2956129) 32-Bit Edition
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3029944)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3023562)
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2920748) 32-Bit Edition
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3004394)
Security Update for Microsoft Word 2010 (KB2956066) 32-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft OneNote 2010 (KB2956075) 32-Bit Edition
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3020338)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3004375)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3004361)
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - February 2015 (KB890830)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3031432)
Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2956054) 32-Bit Edition
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3013455)

Probably not. It seems to be happening from time to time even without updates, but so far we've been unable to determine why it happens.

I recommend to delete the file as advised above and the issue should go away.

Just to log that this error is occurring each time wifi guard is started.

Platform HP Pavilion, OS Windows 8.1, User permissions = Administrator

In - <file> (line 1 pos1): Invalid Character
Press OK to ignore and risk data corruption
Press Cancel to kill the program

On selecting OK - user interface initiated. Apply settings for wifi card. scan now. stop scan. A further warning dialog:

Access violation
Press OK to ignore and risk data corruption
Press Cancel to kill the program

Cannot see any problem with file permissions - all read/ write/ execute permissions set correctly.

Opened .cfg file using a text editor (notepad++) - file contains a string of <nulls>
closed wifi guard
deleted .cfg file
restarted wifi guard
- now presented with dialog box for language selection
- now presented with dialog box for wireless card selection
opened .cfg file (as above) now contains configuration details.

- possible cause when .cfg file is first created a string containing <nulls> is written to the file. The application tries to read this file hence encounters the string of <nulls> rather then the xml header, so generating the error.

You're mostly correct, except for the part when the nulls are written. Somehow at a random moment the .CFG file gets damaged and rewritten with zeros. Problem is, it doesn't happen every time and is hard to trace. I guess we will just switch to a more reliable storage in the future like SQLite.