If you recently updated the TaxAct program, security software may be interfering, interpreting the modification of the program .exe file as an unwanted takeover. You can try temporarily disabling your security software. You may have to re-install TaxAct.
If you recently updated Windows, especially Windows 7 or 10, this may also have affected the software.
You can try running as administrator for both of these problems. Right-click the program icon (shortcut) and click “Run as administrator.” You may need to further resolve any Windows user account control problems with Microsoft or Windows or general resources. Problems with Windows 10 can be up to and including a corrupt user account related to upgrading from a previous version of Windows or creating a Microsoft Network user account.
You can try running in compatibility mode. Right-click on the program icon, click Properties, click the Compatibility tab, check the box “Run this program in compatibility mode for,” then choose from the dropdown list below. If you upgraded your operating system to Windows 10, pick your previous version of Windows. Otherwise try Windows 8 or 7.
In Windows 10, the built-in security, Windows Defender, will automatically enable if you disable third-party security software. You may need to add TaxAct to the exclusions for Windows Defender to get around any problem with this. Consult Windows or Microsoft help for instructions. Windows Defender also has real-time protection that, like security software live scan, can slow down or interfere with programs, especially if running at the same time as other security software. Updates to Windows 7 may have created a similar situation.
Another thing you can try is running as another user. First try this by holding down the shift key while you right-click on the program icon (shortcut). Then on the context menu click “Run as different user.” If the program runs, this suggests you have a corrupt user account and you may need to create another one. You may also need to uninstall and re-install TaxAct for all accounts or as administrator. If you do not have another user account, this suggests the problem with the creation of the Microsoft Network account.
If you’re getting a message that says “This app can’t run on your PC,” you can try turning off Windows SmartScreen. In the Windows search bar in the lower left corner of your screen, type “smartscreen,” then choose “Change SmartScreen settings” from the list of results. Go to the Security section and locate Windows SmartScreen. Click “Change settings” and then check “Do not do anything (turn off Windows SmartScreen).” Click OK to save the changes.
We can provide instructions to uninstall the TaxAct software removing all components before re-installing. Sometimes this works with Windows 10 update problems. You may need to consult Microsoft for help about software issues after updates. Microsoft has information about certain updates to their various operating systems that can cause these errors (for example, under topics such as “Application does not work correctly after you apply update [number]”) and in some cases provides patches or hot fixes.
If you are having this problem because you are running TaxAct in a virtual Windows environment, we cannot support this because of the transfer to an underlying operating system, especially Mac or Linux.
Interference with a program can also be a matter of other things on your system: firewall, other software, background processes, unwanted processes such as malware, resources, system problems. You must perform system diagnostics to determine this sort of interference.