Last Friday I had an office manager from one of our Law Firm clients contact me regarding an error she had received when attempting to open the Best Case software application shortcut on her desktop.
After investigating I discovered that the Best Case primary executable WINBFS.exe no longer existed in the application folder. How could that be? Without that executable, Best Case software will not launch.
Error after updating Best Case
I asked the office manager if there had been any changes made recently and she commented that on Thursday (the day before) there was an update to Best Case. And she confirmed that she performed this update. Now the next day Best Case no longer opens.
This Law Firm happens to have a service agreement with Best Case, so a call was made to Best Case tech support. It was during this call with a support agent that I was informed that the reason for the issue was that Windows Defender had started falsely identifying the WINBFS.exe as a threat.
As a fix for this issue, I was informed that the server and workstations that run the Best Case software would need exclusions added to Windows Defender.
Uninstall 3rd Party Anti-Virus to add Windows Defender exclusions
If you are using the built-in Windows Defender anti-virus on your Windows 10 computer as your primary protection, adding exclusions is a straightforward task. However, if you are using a 3rd party anti-virus software you will not be able to add exclusions to Windows Defender. You will first need to uninstall that 3rd party anti-virus product, at that point you will be able to add the exclusion for Best Case to Windows Defender.
Make sure Windows Defender exclusions are added correctly
The exact exclusion path that will need to be added to Windows Defender could be different depending on your Best Case setup at your office. In the case of our Law Firm client, the Best Case software is hosted from their internal Windows server, so exclusions were made within Windows Defender on the local server itself and on all workstations that normally access Best Case software.
Reinstalling Best Case software
Once Windows Defender exclusions are added, you will need to reinstall the Best Case software on the server or computer that hosts Best Case. Due to the damage done to Best Case because of Windows Defender it is required that Best Case be reinstalled. I would recommend Best Case tech support be contacted or an IT Professional familiar with the product.
If your Law Firm requires additional assistance with Best Case software or any other technical concerns regarding Law Firm IT Support, do not hesitate to reach out to us at 888-596-3998.