This section can prove to be slightly controversial as RailMaster owners will have their own preferences for anti-virus products and some will not want to change. This is fair enough. Having said that it is purely your own choice how you govern the safety of your own computers and the files and information held within and I cannot be held responsible for errors or damage caused by using the instructions given within this site. These methods are tried and trusted and with normal and proper use there should be no problems.

There are circumstances which allow the likes of Norton’s, McAfee, AVG and other similar anti-virus products to stop RailMaster working at its full potential or stop it working altogether. This is not the fault of Hornby but is the fault of the anti-virus software that include an aggressive firewall which blocks outward activity from RailMaster to its servers at Hornby, thus stopping the software from searching for essential product updates and even causing the non activation or deactivation of the software. Even by entering the necessary options for RailMaster to gain outbound access does not always work properly. However, Windows’ own firewall will actually pre-empt this and use a popup, during or after installation, to ask if RailMaster should be allowed outside access. It is vitally important that at this stage you allow that access. Windows Firewall will do the work for you and write all required permissions to itself. If you DO have one of the anti-virus products listed or similar then I suggest strongly you disable the built in firewall in order for Windows own to be used. Your router also has a built in firewall and acts as a further safety net but you cannot normally adjust these basic router’s you receive from your ISP.

Your Windows own software firewall is adequate for your purposes. It is simple to use and you will gain little by having any of those I ask you to uninstall or disable (if you are allowed within their software) where RailMaster is concerned. If in doubt please refer to the page on anti-virus products to use and or delete before going any further. One other point... never run two software firewalls at the same time nor install two anti-VIRUS software programs on the same computer as each can and does regard the other as a virus. The programs, and others, mentioned above will automatically switch OFF the Windows Firewall and use their own. Occasionally you may have an anti-virus product say it will clash with SpyBot, if installed, and this is relatively easy to circumvent with a specific setting in SpyBot. Vendors will push their own product through hype and fear where it doesn‘t exist.

The conclusion to this part of the puzzle? Simple. Uninstall any of these products you have on your systems or at the bare minimum disable their firewall. You do not strictly need paid for versions of these products to stay safe on the net. The simplest and easiest way to have a clean system and be able to run RailMaster without the hassle of fiddling with ports, and failing, is to install three free pieces of software. Each one deals with spyware, malware, viruses and trojans in their own specialised way. None of these should be misclassed as being the same... they are not! No single piece of paid software will keep your system clean from all of these intruders. Not one! You would require your own, purchased, anti-virus product and at least one of the programs I will be mentioning below. I do not work for these vendors or have any influence over their software and nor do I gain anything from asking you to use them and nor do I want anything from them. The aim is to have fellow Hornby users running RailMaster with the least amount of hassle possible, if not none.

The first step is to remove any of the anti-virus products I outline above (or disable their firewall if it won‘t let you add anything specific to the firewall settings to let RailMaster through it). For me, personally, it is simpler to just remove any anti-virus product you have with the exception of Windows Defender, if installed, as this program will not interfere with RailMaster. You can do this by entering your Control Panel and using the Add/Remove Programs link or Programs and Features link in versions of Windows post Windows XP. Once done you should now proceed to install the following free versions of software that will keep your system as clean as it can be... keep in mind NO software can be kept ahead of the hackers who write viruses etc so you must update your programs regularly.

Neither of the following two programs listed require Admin rights to install but they should be given those when running each time in Windows 7, 8, 8.1,10 or 11 and you can do this by following the routine for giving Admin rights to RailMaster under the Installation link. Once done, of course, that’s it as it only needs doing once.

Clicking the link below will start the DOWNLOAD process automatically.

safer-networking.org.

The file will save to your system in the Download folder of your choice or the system Downloads folder if you haven‘t changed it. Find the file and install keeping to the free options and default settings. When you get to "Spybot Edition" uncheck "Install Spybot Anti-Beacon" and click the bullet option for Spybot without AntiVirus. You may be asked to uninstall a previous version. Accept the process to do exactly that. You will be asked about removing the previous version as it will have saved backups but just click Yes unless it is important to keep those. It usually isn’t. You’ll be asked if you wish to restart your computer to finish the install. Accept that otherwise the whole procedure starts afresh. Leave the option for being protected without having to attend software yourself. Click Next. Accept the License Agreement. Click Next. Click Install and then accept Restart. Installation completes automatically after a restart.

Tick boxes to check for malware signatures should remain checked as should the Open Start Centre. Click Next and the program starts up. Clcik No on the help dialogue window. The Start Centre will open along with the Update dialogue window. Click the Update button on the Update dialogue. If the program gets stuck about halfway along the progress bar just click Install again or restart the program (small bug). The process is done when the Updates and Last Update bars turn green. Ignore Automatic Updates area. Close the Update dialogue and click Immunize in the Start centre. Immunize. Click Check System. Some files may not be protected but don‘t worry just now. Click Apply Immunization. When done click Re-Apply Immunization to complete the process of the process. If they remain no immunized just restart the PC and go back to the Start centre and do this process again. Do not over worry about this if they still fail to complete. They will eventually. Close the Immunization window. Important*** please always Immunize the system as above before system scans using Spybot and AFTER every update of the definition files. These updates should be done manually.

Click the link below to automatically download the installation file to your downloads folder.

malwarebytes.com.

Locate the program "MBSetup.exe" on your drive (default is Downloads) and double click to install.

Click Install button. Click "Skip this for now" to skip installing Browser Guard. When successful install is complete Open Malwarebuytes. Close the smaller monthly summary window. To DEACTIVATE the Premium Trial program click Settings (cog upper right) and then the Account tab. If the status of the program shows "Always Free" you need do nothing else. If it shows Premium Trial or similar simply click the Deactivate option to revert teh software to free. Done! Real-time protection and other areas will turn off. Do not worry about that and you should not really need to worry about upgrading or purchasing the paid for release.

When installed the program will run itself and update the definition files. You ONLY need to concern yourself with updates and scans on this program. Other options are not that important but you may change program settings if you wish of course. Use as any other other program and run scans regularly. Certain PROGRAM updates can turn the trial version back on. To revert to FREE simply repeat the above process from the Settings option.

When you install Spybot and then update the definition files you MAY receive some "errors" but ignore these and click update again until all definition files are installed and the coloured bars on the left of each information box are all green. Then you MUST Immunize the PC/laptop. This will immunize some Windows files as well as ALL browsers on your machine and will protect their files from being overwritten by malicious code.

Updates should be done regularly for both and scan times are personal to you. Just remember to Immunize on Spybot after EVERY update is done and before you scan the system.

As for anti-virus software, use whatever free version you are comfortable with that has NO firewall attached, I mean that, NO firewall attached. Use Windows Firewall and RailMaster will get through every time without a problem.