Windows Defender ATP prevents Modano from running

Hi Guys,

Issue Summary

A number of our users have reported that Modano stopped working recently (i.e. late October 2021) after updating Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), with the following Excel Add-In Error dialog being displayed:

Windows Defender APT has a feature called Attack Surface Reduction (see Use attack surface reduction rules to prevent malware infection | Microsoft Docs), and it appears that something has changed in these rules in a recent update which is preventing Modano from loading.

Issue Resolution 

Customize attack surface reduction rules to create an exemption for Modano.

See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/defender-endpoint/customize-attack-surface-reduction?view=o365-worldwide

The easiest way to do this is to exclude the folder containing Modano's system files, which will be located at:

• Standard Installer: C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming\Modano
• Global Installer: C:\Program Files (x86)\Modano

Alternatively you can exclude the DLL and EXE files within this folder (and its sub-folders) to achieve the same result.

Feel free to contribute if you have this issue and the above information does not resolve it for you.

Thanks,

Michael
Head of Software | Modano