Smart Security Hard Crashes my PC on every startup

Ok, first I will detail my system:

• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 Overclocked to 3ghz
• Nvidia 680i Motherboard
• No other installed/runnning security software

So, I installed it last night and it was fine - I completed a scan. Then all of a sudden a few minutes later, my pc locked up (soft crash, could move mouse and even hear people talking on teamspeak - voip software - but could not ctrl + alt + del and end the firefox session which I thought had crashed my PC at the time).

Im not entirely sure if this first crash was Smart Security or if it was just coincidental.

So I thought nothing of it and did a hard reset. As soon as the Smart Security splash screen appeared my PC hard crashed, could not move mouse at all. I thought nothing of it and did a second hard reset and this time the Smart Security window came up followed by another hard crash.

I then proceeded to attempt to uninstall the software. This was a right job when I found out safe mode doesn't run the Windows Installer service but thats a story for another time (Managed to enable the windows installer service in safe mode in the end, allowing me to uninstall). Then after uninstallation, my PC was back working fine again.

I dont know where to start on troubleshooting and issue like this. I cant really post memory dumps, theres no blue screen of death and the PC locks up instantly when its installed anyway.

Help,

Adam

 

Hi

we can start with sending a full www.lookinmypc.com log, together with a link to this threat, to betasupport@eset.sk.
Thanks.

Cheers .

 

Ok, just sent it off in a zip file.

Also, I have a question...windows is reporting that I have Smart Security installed and up to date! However, it is uninstalled. How can I get rid of this completely?

Adam

 

* Click Start, Run and type CMD.EXE

* Type this command and press Enter:

net stop winmgmt

* Using Windows Explorer, rename the folder %windir%\System32\Wbem\Repository. (For example, %windir%\System32\Wbem\Repository_bad.). %windir% represents the path to the Windows directory, which is typically C:\Windows.

* Switch to Command Prompt window, and type the following and press ENTER after each line:

net start winmgmt

EXIT

Reboot

 

Is this to uninstall? Attmpting now...will edit post when done.

EDIT: Worked great. Windows doesnt see it now . Much appreciated.

Do you have any idea what free anti-virus/security suite I can use in the meantime?

 

I think this is due to a recent update (not the Beta 2 release), beta 2 was working fine for me on 32 bit when it was first released. So well in fact that I was convinced to go back to 64 bit, that, however crashed to BSOD many times (maybe due to ESS, maybe not), so I came back to 32 bit and installed ESS Beta 2 again, expecting it to work as well as the last time, then the same symptoms as the OP posted started happening. This happened twice as I completely re-installed windows and tried again, the symptoms are as follows :

1. Start up PC
2. Boots as normal but the network icon on the notification area has the symbol which means the network isn't functioning.
3. Everything else is locked up, hovering over the taskbar gives the busy icon.
4. Tried ctrl, alt, del and logging off, the system starts to log off and then just hangs with the "Logging Off..." message (I waited 5 minutes, more than enough time for the PC to log off)
5. Hit hard reset and the PC will boot normally the next time.
6. Next time you restart the same will happen again.

Sorry I have'nt got anything to send to you but I'm not installing this again until it's finished. I'm sick of re-installing windows now. I've gone back to NOD32 2.7.

 

Yeh it looks like this is a common issue. It should be priority as it is such a major problem.