Problem with Chessmaster 2010

I bought Chessmaster 2010 some time ago (probably 2010), and have been using it regularly. But all of a sudden, when I try to open it, I get a message asking whether I want an "unknown publisher to make changes to this computer." I don't understand this, and I've tried clicking on both "no" and "yes," but I still can't get the program to open. FWIW, I have Windows 7. Also, I'm a senior citizen, so please dumb down your responses accordingly.

Jim

Yeah mine doesn't work anymore either.  Microsoft does their updates on the second Tuesday nite of the month and of course on Wednesday none of my old (really old) programs work: Ghost Recon, Chessmaster, probably Midtown Madness (haven't had the heart to check).  My computer either sits there and spins the hard disk or tells me to log back on with administrator privileges (which I have, I even checked).  Thanks Microsoft, this is how Apple customers are made.

baddogno-

I've still got the original disks; would it help if I just reloaded them? I hate to lose my win-loss record for the past 600+ games!

What if I upgraded to Windows 8 or higher?

I don't really know.  I tried uninstalling Ghost Recon and then reinstalling it with no success.  I know DVD drives aren't supported in Windows 10 and you have to get a third party utility which is why I haven't upgraded from 7 myself.  I think Microsoft is onto me and this is their way of trying to force me to upgrade (my paranoid rant of the day).  

Oh and in the none of my damn business category, why don't you try playing some real opponents?  It's more fun than playing a computer.

You raise a good question about playing real people. I used to be active on www.chessbymessage.com; it was OK, but the MINIMUM time between moves is a full day. Plus, I'm a novice (rating about 1050-1100), and it's hard to find on-line opponents with that low a ranking.

Chessmaster is fun because I can pick a "virtual" opponent at 11PM (or later) and play him/her in short order. Meaning I can either win or lose a game inside of 30 minutes.

Fair enough, but chess.com has a boatload of time controls to choose from and after a few dozen games you'll find your rating niche and be relatively competitive.  Probably want to stay away from bullet and blitz, but 15/10 sounds like it would be right up your alley (15 minutes plus an extra 10 seconds each time you move).  Here's a link showing the various time controls (no guarantee it's up to date. but you'll get an idea of what's available)

https://support.chess.com/customer/portal/articles/1444851

Have you tried running as adminstrator? Right click the chessmaster icon, then select run as administrator from the menu.

Thanks for the glimmer of hope.  Alas, no go.

This is one strange thread. I also run Win 7 on two PCs (Home and Pro), and I'm not having ANY problems running ANY of my programs. (BTW, is there really a Chessmaster 2010 program?)

I wonder how many people have this problem?

I'm up to date with my patches. I only know of a few things I've done recently that are out of the ordinary. Firstly, I manually install patches (can't see how that should matter). Secondly, about a week ago, I opted out of the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). And lastly, I recently uninstalled several patches related to Microsoft's new data collection program - specifically, KB3068708, KB3075249, and KB3080149. (There was a fourth patch, KB3022345, but it was replaced by the later KB3080149 patch.)

I imagine the problem could be caused by who-knows-what other obscure change made by Microsoft recently. I also imagine that it might not be easy to track down the culprit.

How to opt out of the CEIP:

http://www.ditii.com/2010/10/24/microsoft-knows-your-every-move-on-windows-7-through-customer-experience-improvement-program/

How to remove installed updates:

http://www.ghacks.net/2014/12/11/how-to-remove-installed-windows-updates-and-block-them-afterwards/

One more thought - The ghacks article talks about the KB3004394 patch released in late 2014. I can't imagine that this could be the problem, since it's 8 or 9 months old, but the descriptions of that patch's problems are eerily similar to what you're experiencing.

Just for grins, you might want to uninstall KB3004394 and then reinstall.

Appreciate your efforts sir.  I need to clear my head before tackling this again, maybe tomorrow.  

EDIT: It's Chessmaster 10th edition of course.

Oh, OK, my Chessmaster 10th Edition and Chessmaster 9000 are working just fine.

   Just a suggestion but you may need more RAM...

Try this. Uninstall windows update kb3086255. Restart the computer and try again.

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/september-2015-windows-updates-kb3086255-breaks-many-games.1155534/

That's worth a try. It's odd, though; I installed that patch on Sept 8th, it's still on my system, and I'm having no problems.

Thanks to one and all for the help.  You were correct Lagomorph; KB3086255 was indeed the culprit and the glories of decade old software are once again available.

Lagomorph: I went to the link you provided, read the entire thread, and am still confused as to how to do the uninstall. Can you dumb this down for me?

I just kind of lurched my way through the uninstall but here's a google search with a variety of tutorials on how to do it.  Make sure you write down KB3086255 on a piece of paper so you know what you're looking for.  Basically you just click on the Windows thingy at the bottom left, click on Control Panel from the list on the right, and then choose "uninstall programs" and follow the directions.  Here's a link to a google search:

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?enabled_terms=&s_it=wscreen50-bb&q=How+to+uninstall+windows+updates

You can also try and run Chessmaster in compatability mode, that may be a work-around for uninstalling updates that actually may be beneficial for a system.

So, now the question is, "How vulnerable are we if we disable KB3086255 to play our old games?"

I'm not sure I'll ever play any games that are affected, but it's possible.

I'm beginning to dislike Microsoft more and more these days...