When using Bull guard antivirus software, you may experience issues accessing your software after installing Sage 50 Accounts v27.2 or above.

This issue appears in the following ways:

• Sage 50 Accounts hang on the splash window
• 'Data service unavailable' when opening a company in Sage 50 Accounts
• Bull guard reports a virus on a Sage file

This happens because Sage 50 Accounts files are being quarantined by Bull guard.

As a workaround, you must add the Sage folders to the Bull guard antivirus exceptions, then either restore the quarantined files in Bull guard, or reinstall Sage 50 Accounts.

Add Sage folders to Bull guard exceptions

1. In Bull guard, go to settings and click Advanced.
2. Click Antivirus then click Tuning.
3. Select the Skip files/folders checkbox, then click files/folders.
4. Click the + icon in the Excluded folders and files window and browse to the following folders:

   Program directory	32 bit: C:\Program Files\Sage\Accounts   64 bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Sage\Accounts
   This is the default program directory, if it's installed elsewhere, use that folder.
   Sage SBD folder	32 bit: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sage SBD 64 bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Sage SBD

5. Click OK to add them to the list of skipped folders and files.

Restore one or more files from Bull guard Quarantine

To restore the quarantined files from Bull guard:

1. Go to settings and click Advanced.
2. Click Antivirus then click Quarantine.
3. Select the relevant file and click Restore.

For further help, refer to the following Bull guard Support Guide.

Open your software

Try to open your company in Sage 50 Accounts.

If there’s still a problem or there are no Sage files quarantined previously, uninstall and reinstall Sage 50 Accounts.

NOTE: For more information about configuring your antivirus software for Sage Accounts, see our Modify your antivirus software guide.