Hot Take MS support techs blame ESET SSP for breaking Windows Firewall

[simmerskool]

after a few days of searching & trying things, and after 7 hours chatting with MS techs today, they concluded ESET SS Premium conflicted / corrupted / destroyed my Windows Defender Firewall. (ESET had told me to contact MS!). ESET told me that yes, ESET SSP does run with windows firewall service running (not stopped) but if it is stopped, that's ok, but contact MS to fix it. Some AVs work with MS firewall. Just something to consider. I have no evidence that ESET was culprit, I'm just repeating what MS techs said. I have had a long "relationship" with ESET but rethinking it now.

 

[Bot]

I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Windows Firewall and that the MS techs are blaming ESET SSP for the problem. It's important to keep in mind that sometimes software conflicts can occur, and it's up to the respective software vendors to investigate the issue and provide appropriate solutions. In the meantime, if you are reconsidering your relationship with ESET, I would suggest doing some research to find the best antivirus solution for your needs.

 

[simmerskool]

I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Windows Firewall and that the MS techs are blaming ESET SSP for the problem. It's important to keep in mind that sometimes software conflicts can occur, and it's up to the respective software vendors to investigate the issue and provide appropriate solutions. In the meantime, if you are reconsidering your relationship with ESET, I would suggest doing some research to find the best antivirus solution for your needs.

Thanks I'll take your advice.

 

[Bot]

Thanks I'll take your advice.

You're welcome! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

 

[cofer123]

after a few days of searching & trying things, and after 7 hours chatting with MS techs today, they concluded ESET SS Premium conflicted / corrupted / destroyed my Windows Defender Firewall. (ESET had told me to contact MS!). ESET told me that yes, ESET SSP does run with windows firewall service running (not stopped) but if it is stopped, that's ok, but contact MS to fix it. Some AVs work with MS firewall. Just something to consider. I have no evidence that ESET was culprit, I'm just repeating what MS techs said. I have had a long "relationship" with ESET but rethinking it now.

Although I never had an issue like yours, ESET did break Windows stuff in the past like they did last year with the Performance Monitors, and, according to reports in that very thread, it wasn't the first time. As it's often the case, it's hard for ESET to take the blame in such cases, unless it becomes widespread enough to draw attention, so I believe Microsoft's claim that it was indeed ESET's fault.

I'm usually swinging back and forth between ESET and Kaspersky, currently running a bit of both on my devices. Despite not having any critical issues with ESET right now, I often face situations where I'm unsure if it's their software causing weird behaviors that I don't notice on my devices that run Kaspersky. So there's that.

 

[Ink]

after a few days of searching & trying things, and after 7 hours chatting with MS techs today, they concluded ESET SS Premium conflicted / corrupted / destroyed my Windows Defender Firewall. (ESET had told me to contact MS!). ESET told me that yes, ESET SSP does run with windows firewall service running (not stopped) but if it is stopped, that's ok, but contact MS to fix it. Some AVs work with MS firewall. Just something to consider. I have no evidence that ESET was culprit, I'm just repeating what MS techs said. I have had a long "relationship" with ESET but rethinking it now.

How and where did you contact MS tech support?

Other things to investigate:

• Has Microsoft made recent changes to their Firewall to be less compatible with third-party services? Fundamentally forcing users to remain with MS Defender Firewall.
• Downgrading to ESET Nod32 Antivirus for PC, or switching vendors.
• When last did you clean install Windows? (to rule out other points of conflict)

 

[RansomwareRemediation]

And if you contact Eset, instead of Microsoft ?
Greetings.

 

[cofer123]

And if you contact Eset, instead of Microsoft ?
Greetings.

He said ESET told him to contact Microsoft.

 

[Trident]

How and where did you contact MS tech support?

I advised @simmerskool on PM to contact Microsoft via the Get Help app in Windows.

Microsoft technical support is included with the license and it is their duty to sort issues like this one out, whilst users sit back, relax and enjoy their day. MS tech support frequently goes unused though.

 

[simmerskool]

Although I never had an issue like yours, ESET did break Windows stuff in the past like they did last year with the Performance Monitors, and, according to reports in that very thread, it wasn't the first time. As it's often the case, it's hard for ESET to take the blame in such cases, unless it becomes widespread enough to draw attention, so I believe Microsoft's claim that it was indeed ESET's fault.

I'm usually swinging back and forth between ESET and Kaspersky, currently running a bit of both on my devices. Despite not having any critical issues with ESET right now, I often face situations where I'm unsure if it's their software causing weird behaviors that I don't notice on my devices that run Kaspersky. So there's that.

ESET SSP was fine for me for 6+ months, until last week. Here's what I don't like, and this happened twice within the last week: sent email to ESET about this issue, while I'm waiting reply email, I login to support and chat with ESET support, in chat ESET clearly says ESET SSP runs with win firewall service runnng, and contact MS to get it started, but ESET reply email arrives and says, ESET turns off the windows firewall. Email makes no distinction between win firewall and win firewall service. Same thing happened again email vs chat replies. I think I got a canned email, so I'm a tad soured on ESET although I've never had issues but rain mostly NOD32. I may keep MS Defender running for awhile until the smoke clears.

 

[simmerskool]

And if you contact Eset, instead of Microsoft ?
Greetings.

so far no 2 ESET techs tell the same story..

 

[simmerskool]

I advised @simmerskool on PM to contact Microsoft via the Get Help app in Windows.

Microsoft technical support is included with the license and it is their duty to sort issues like this one out, whilst users sit back, relax and enjoy their day. MS tech support frequently goes unused though.

that's the fact! I had never contacted MS support, at least since I bought this machine in 2016. I thought MS techs were good yesterday. Of course, they couldn't fix firewall either trying everything I had already tried but they download a win10 iso (with Chrome ) and some tool app, and did an "in-place upgrade" although win10 was current and sfc scan found no violations. @Ink I think what they did was somewhat of a clean install, but keeping all my apps in place, of course a few things got "broken."

 

[Trident]

Of course, they couldn't fix firewall either trying everything I had already tried

Quickest way to repair the system is what they have done, to reapply fresh, correct content over what’s damaged. Other ways to fix this issue may have been possible, but investigating what’s broken would take long. They’ve fixed your native firewall components and that’s all that matters.

 

[simmerskool]

Quickest way to repair the system is what they have done, to reapply fresh, correct content over what’s damaged. Other ways to fix this issue may have been possible, but investigating what’s broken would take long. They’ve fixed your native firewall components and that’s all that matters.

Yes, no complaints!!

 

[NormanF]

In other words, if your Internet gets borked, do a reset of Windows 11.

 

[Trident]

In other words, if your Internet gets borked, do a reset of Windows 11.

That was just the Windows Firewall Platform, not the internet. If you are using solution with firewall that doesn’t plug into the WFP this issue can easily go unnoticed. Once you’ve identified it, if you absolutely must use WFP then resetting Windows is the quickest way to sort it out. If that’s damaged then who knows what else isn’t working either.

 

[vtqhtr413]

What about resetting Windows Security in the apps settings first?

 

[Trident]

What about resetting Windows Security in the apps settings first?

You could, but if the WFP issue is related to drivers/minifilters or other components whose integrity is somehow broken (might be malware, might be Windows update), resetting Windows Security won’t help. The security app is just a dashboard. You are resetting the dashboard and nothing more than that.