New Update ESET Update Breaking Performance Monitors.

cofer123

Level 2
Thread author
Sep 7, 2021
95
Just a heads up to other ESET users, from a thread found here: Eset and Task manager conflict or bug?

A recent ESET update is messing up with the performance monitors on Windows. The symptoms include GPU monitoring missing from Task Manager and other performance counters corrupted/missing in Performance Monitor. Upon starting Performance Monitor, the following error shows up:

1651587031114.png


As I described on the ESET forums, I was able to replicate the issue on an already compromised system:
  • Performance counters missing/corrupted;
  • Restore them with lodctr /R on %windir%\SysWOW64 (running the command on the System32 folder was unsuccessful with an error code 2);
  • Performance counters working again, no errors on Performance Monitor and GPU usage showing in Task Manager;
  • Completely uninstall EIS;
  • Performance counters still working;
  • Install EIS again;
  • Performance counters still working;
  • Wait for EIS to fully update;
  • Performance counters missing/corrupted with the same issues described above;
  • Able to restore them again with lodctr /R
I had 5 systems affected by this issue, which apparently began around the past week. Not sure what causes the issue and if something else might be affected by it. Some users are reporting software that relies on the GPU to fail to start and only a clean Windows install fixes the issue.
 
Last edited:

upnorth

Moderator
Verified
Staff Member
Malware Hunter
Well-known
Jul 27, 2015
5,456
 

cofer123

Level 2
Thread author
Sep 7, 2021
95
I wonder if this issue is related, and it possibly is, given the timing.

What has ESET done?
 

devjit2020

Level 2
Apr 7, 2022
87
And again here comes the responses from Marcos that ESET is not at fault for anything. Although I'm not surprised by his behaviour because it's typical of him. According to him, ESET is the best software in the world, so it is 100% flawless and can never cause any problems. One of the main reasons why I ditched ESET and switched to QuickHeal is the attitude of this special person mentioned here. The least helpful when it comes to helping and always defend the product. I do agree that ESET is one of the top AV's but after all it's a software, it can cause problems and they should look into the problems based on the feedback of their customers. BTW I still love ESET and hope that an update will fix the issues soon.
 

cofer123

Level 2
Thread author
Sep 7, 2021
95
And again here comes the responses from Marcos that ESET is not at fault for anything.
I especially like his reasoning for exempting ESET on this matter:

There should no correlation with ESET especially if uninstalling ESET didn't make any difference.
  • ESET update breaks Windows;
  • Uninstall ESET;
  • Windows remains in a broken state;
  • See, that was not ESET breaking Windows, because if it was, then Windows would be fixed now.
:rolleyes:

It's like saying that wiper malware you were just hit with is not the cause of your computer no longer booting up, since the wiper itself is no longer present.
 
Last edited:

blackice

Level 38
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Apr 1, 2019
2,730
Not the first time either.
 

devjit2020

Level 2
Apr 7, 2022
87
This issue is again a reminder of the importance of taking a System Backup before installing any third party AV. If an AV breaks something, then just restore and enjoy Windows again.
Exactly...one should make a clean system image before installing any 3rd party AV. It also helps when you are switching from one 3rd party AV to another since they tend to leave residue behind and sometimes that causes problems.
 

cofer123

Level 2
Thread author
Sep 7, 2021
95
Not quite. Auto-counter correction should be up with module 1440.2.
See link: Eset and Task manager conflict or bug?
We are still waiting.
Indeed. I had tested it with a clean install of EIS and I also had already restored the performance counters manually on my other affected systems, so I was unable to test this part.
At least ESET acknowledge the issue and will issue a full fix.
 
G

Guilhermesene

It is impressive to note that ESET fixed the problem very quickly, not only this one, but the vast majority of problems found in their software are fixed very quickly.

Even those who don't like the product or use other AV software have to acknowledge this fact because in MY view ESET's speed in fixing problems compared to other major vendors is applaudable.
 

superleeds27

Level 6
Verified
Apr 5, 2017
276
It is impressive to note that ESET fixed the problem very quickly, not only this one, but the vast majority of problems found in their software are fixed very quickly.

Even those who don't like the product or use other AV software have to acknowledge this fact because in MY view ESET's speed in fixing problems compared to other major vendors is applaudable.
Bit should issues like this even appear in the wild. How many other AV's have issues like these? I can't think of any? Only Eset?
 
G

Guilhermesene

Bit should issues like this even appear in the wild. How many other AV's have issues like these? I can't think of any? Only Eset?
I didn't mean just this problem, I said "problem" in its entirety, for the most part, ESET fixes it and quickly compared to other vendors.

As you mentioned Bitdefender, ESET resolves its problems much faster than Bitdefender for example, even in the Bitdefender community many users complain of bloat in the software and other things and until today they do not listen to their users and do not fix it.

But I don't want to say that Bitdefender is a bad AV, on the contrary, it is excellent.
 

cofer123

Level 2
Thread author
Sep 7, 2021
95
Bit should issues like this even appear in the wild. How many other AV's have issues like these? I can't think of any? Only Eset?
It's hard to tell. I have had my fair share of issues with Kaspersky not long ago, none of them ever had an explanation to this day. Other vendors might screw things up regularly, but we may never know. And good luck getting in contact with an actual human being to sort it out.

It is impressive to note that ESET fixed the problem very quickly, not only this one, but the vast majority of problems found in their software are fixed very quickly.

Even those who don't like the product or use other AV software have to acknowledge this fact because in MY view ESET's speed in fixing problems compared to other major vendors is applaudable.
I believe the reason for that is mostly due to their forums. You can get in contact with them quickly and actually discuss the issue instead of opening a support ticked that god knows what will happen to it. Even though ESET's initial stance towards most questions is to dismiss the issues as something related to their products, the forums work and have worked for several years.
 

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