High CPU Utilization During AV Scan ESS RC1

Discussion in 'ESET Smart Security v3 Beta Forum' started by megentry, Sep 24, 2007.

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  1. megentry

    megentry Registered Member

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    Location:
    Amissville, VA
    Hi all!

    I've been lurking here for awhile, but decided to give ESS RC1 a try. I downloaded the 32-bit version and installed it over top of my commercial NOD32 2.7 version without incident, although I had sort of thought I would be told by the installer to uninstall that package first. I was not, and the install was successful--and even properly obtained my user name and password from the former application.

    Once the install was complete, I connected to the Internet (I use dial-up; I know that is difficult to believe in this day-and-age, but this is reality nonetheless).

    I first observed high CPU (Windows Task Manager showed my CPU was 100%) upon the initial updates for my new ESS product. egui.exe and ekrn.exe both were the main culprits. When the update finally completed, the usage quieted back down to normal.

    After poking around the new User Interface for a little while, I thought I would try letting the new version perform a full-scan. As soon as I started this activity, once again, egui.exe and ekrn.exe both began taking major slices of the CPU--putting Task Manager's reporting of it at 100% (constantly). Of the 2 processes, it seemed that egui.exe was the larger offender--at least in terms of CPU. It would fluctuate between 42 and 85 percent. Memory for this process was only around 7100KB. The ekrn.exe process would fluctuate over a smaller range, say 41 to 45 percent, but held onto more memory. It was steady at around 32,xxxKB.

    I let the scan run for 3-hours. During this time, it scanned only 33,xxx files, and, in fact, was still confined to the "c:\windows" directory (and all of its subs). During this scan, one would NOT see a rapidly changing display of the current file being scanned. This 'report' changed extremely slowly, and did not at all seem to keep pace with the real number of files being scanned. Don't know if this is by design or part of the problem.

    Now, truth be told, I have a really old computer. I am running an AMD K6 II processor at 400Mhz, if that gives you any idea as to just how old.... Motherboard is maxed out at 512 MB RAM. Sad, I know.... I have plans to build a new system, but it has not materialized yet.

    I am running XP SP2, BTW.

    I am hoping there might be something I can do to make the scan less obtrusive to my system's CPU. I have considered the notion of completely uninstalling ESS (which would also mean all vestiges of my 2.7 Antivirus program), and then trying to re-install ESS from scratch--just to see if this is a factor or not.

    Would appreciate any insight or suggestions from all of the very knowledgeable folks on this forum.

    Regards,

    Mike Gentry
     
  2. ellison64

    ellison64 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2003
    Posts:
    2,587
    Personally i would uninstall /reinstall using high tech boys advice....
    .....................................
    1. Download fresh new version from http://www.eset.eu/download/beta
    1. Uninstall your current version from Control Panel -> Add/Remove programs
    2. Reboot the computer when prompted
    3. Delete manually these three folders

    - C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Application data\Eset
    - C:\Documents and Settings\your user\Application data\Eset
    - C:\Documents and Settings\your user\Local Settings\Application data\Eset
    ....................................................
    Then reinstall using the beta or your current licence details (remember to keep that safe somewhere).The try again.My computer is 7 years old and not much better cpu wise than yours (in fact you have more memory).Its possible the long scan time is directly due to the high cpu utilization which sometimes happens with low spec and old machines.You may want to try process tamer to lower cpu usage.
    http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/index.html
    I use it and use a force normal command on ekrn.exe and indeed firefox (under explicit rule) which sometimes in the past hit 100% cpu.It does help with stability,on my sytem.
    ellison
     
  3. megentry

    megentry Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2007
    Posts:
    6
    Location:
    Amissville, VA
    Thanks for your input, ellison64....

    I completely uninstalled ESS, and manually removed the 3 folders (as well as the folder left behind under C:\Program Files). I then ran CCleaner to see what registry entries were left behind. There were several. I saved a backup of the registry entries before removing them.

    Wonder if anyone from ESET might like to see what the entries were in case they're interested in tweaking the install package? I can attach it later, but am not writing this post from home (where the registry backup file is located).

    At-any-rate, unfortunately, performing the clean install did not alter the outcome of an AV scan. It still sends the CPU to 100%. I did not have a chance to install Process Tamer, although I did download it last night. Will have to give that a try later on.

    Thanks again for your input.

    Regards,

    Mike Gentry
     
  4. huntnyc

    huntnyc Registered Member

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    Posts:
    1,014
    Location:
    Brooklyn, USA
    I have used Process Tamer with Beta 2 of AV and it would lower process down for updates and the increase them back up. Did not interact at all with scanning.

    Gary
     
  5. ellison64

    ellison64 Registered Member

    Joined:
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    I havent tried ESS (just using the av) however i can confirm that scanning sometimes takes cpu up to 89% ,on my machine.Process tamer set in auto mode does lower the process to low priority and takes cpu down to around 25% which allows other operations with no problems on my machine.Theres an option in on demand computer scan to set to low priority which is default setting.Although you mention those 2 processes using lots of cpu ,is it actually slowing down your system? or is it more a case of just being concerned at the usage?.If its the latter ,i wouldnt worry ,and just leave process tamer in auto.If its actually stalling you pc then maybe you need to raise a ticket with eset so that they can check if its conflicting with a specific app or driver that you have installed.
    ellison
     
  6. megentry

    megentry Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2007
    Posts:
    6
    Location:
    Amissville, VA
    It actually slows down my PC. I can hardly do anything on it when it is in such a state.

    I should pursue raising a ticket with ESET....

    Thanks much.

    Regards,

    Mike Gentry
     
  7. ellison64

    ellison64 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2003
    Posts:
    2,587
    Yes its best to raise a ticket.Its no good at all like that.I have a 733mhz p3 ,so its a little better than your spec ,but even when i let ekrn.exe consume 80 0r 90 % i dont get slowdowns as it lowers its priority if i open anything else so somethings seems amiss with your setup.Hope you get a prompt reply and maybe fill us in on any developments.
    ellison
     
  8. matthewfarmery

    matthewfarmery Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2007
    Posts:
    15
    well I have been a visitor here for a while but never registered until now, I have installed nod32 V3 RC1 on top of my version 2.70 install, no errors, however when I do a full scan, I do notice it does take a long time, and while I have customised the scanning process, it seems to be very slow, more so then V2, and I have EzGenerator2 installed and quite a few zip backups of my websites, when it gets to that directory, the scan slows to a crawl, and takes forever to update anything past the main EzGenerator2.exe, at this point its seems to be stuck at 63% , I have a 3gig AMD processor and 1.5 gig or ram, version 2 was very quick when it came to scanning these files, so why is version 3 so slow in comparison? I could uninstall V3 and install it from scratch, but I thought it was possible to install over version 2? and yes the CPU load is very high when scanning, most annoying, and any help with this would be great, it is getting late for me, if all else fails I will do a full reinstall of V3, but only as a last resort
     
  9. megentry

    megentry Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2007
    Posts:
    6
    Location:
    Amissville, VA
    Hi all....

    Sorry I have not been back on for awhile. I did try to open a case with ESET, but I initially did it wrong--meaning, I reported it to the wrong folks. I went directly to ESET's support via their web page vice sending to their beta department....

    ESET's support provided me with the correct email address I should have used.

    I actually did two things--one of those was probably wrong, too:

    1. I forwarded my original email that I had sent to the general ESET support group to the beta support address they told me I should have sent it to in the first place.

    2. I used the new Support Query within ESS v3, and attached the file that gets built as a function of that operation (which, incidentally, I found this "tool" to be pretty cool).

    Unfortunately, I have heard nothing from ESET since that time--from either activity.... While I was scanning the forum, though, I think I saw someone else report something similar to what I have seen, so I will go read their input next.

    In the meantime, I have continued to keep ESS v3 RC1. So long as I don't initiate another scan anytime soon, performance is tolerable.

    Regards,

    Mike Gentry
     
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