Windows 10 App broken

[Anonymous User]

howdy,

I installed Avast (Free version) and immediately after doing so, I was unable to launch Now TV in the usual way, by playing an episode from nowtv.com, and it launches the app as normal.  The app launches, then after 20 seconds closes again, with a black screen only.

Obviously I have uninstalled Avast, but it still doesn't work - this confuses the hell out of me.

I read every single troubleshooting I could find (mostly on this site).   So I decided to download the app from MS Store, and try this as it's stand alone.  It wouldn't even let me sign in, it said "something is wrong."

So at present I am unable to login to NowTV.  I understand from reading the other comments that you will be unable to help me fix this, however can you suggest another way for me to use NowTV please?  if not, I will have to cancel my subscription.

Many thanks,

kev

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

Avast is my on-the-fly AV of choice, with Malwarebytes for a thorough weekly cross-check, and neither has ever interfered with my NowTV apps on Windows 10, where I have both the now-deprecated, but markedly superior in every respect, MS Store version and the browser/player excrescence.

Both of which work perfectly on my laptop. Which is a shame, in a way, because unless I can get them to go wrong, I can’t start digging for the oft-reported problems that beset other users with these Players.

Following your report, I even uninstalled my MS Store version, and reloaded it from the Store. No problems at all; found it, downloaded it, pinned it to the Taskbar, went back in, set myself up again, and used it just fine. It was still the same, final, mid-2019 version but nothing NowTV have done since has broken it.

So what might the difference be in our experiences? My laptop is a Dell XPS 15; pretty high end, but then Windows 10 is Windows 10 on any laptop.

I keep it in trim with the AVs above, install Microsoft updates as and when, hold down the cruft with CCleaner, check my security is up to date with Belarc Advisor, and maintain my codecs with the K-Lite Codec pack.

I used to check all my applications were up to date with FileHippo, but that seems to have stopped working, alas, and I have never replaced it with anything else. But when I start any app I haven’t used for a bit, it usually tells me if there is a newer version.

I distrust all driver updaters, even paid-for ones, except the ones recommended by the regular Dell health check; those I know are Dell-certified as suitable for my machine. You only have to look at what the driver updaters throw up; multiple updates for the same thing, and maybe drivers newer than the ones I have, but generic, and not tuned or tweaked for the Dell specifics.

Though whether any of this is what makes the difference, and which, I don’t know. But it might be worth applying the tools I list above, all free, or the free versions anyway, to see if they clear up anything for you.

I’m especially wondering if K-Lite is making a difference here.