Webroot SecureAnywhere Discussion & Update Thread

Thanks @Tarnak.

 

Why is Webroot performing so poorly in the below test?

Fileless Malware Protection Test (AVLab, X 2017)

https://avlab.pl/sites/default/files/68files/Malware_Fileless_Protection_Test_EN.pdf

 

Not sure but looking into it. I'm surprised that Webroot was included......

 

I've been having the same issue this month; when scanning my CPU load goes up to 60%, and around half the time the temp on my laptop goes up so high that it shuts down, unless I'm quick to react and pull the power cord (in which case the power plan drops to one that underclocks the CPU). I had this problem a couple of years ago and then reinstalling seemed to help, I haven't tried that yet this time (though I reinstalled recently, maybe two months ago) but it would be great if one could adjust the runtime priority of WR. (This is on a quad-core i7 Thinkpad, FWIW.)

 

That's interesting.

My main machine is a snail of a beast and CPU load often spikes at 60%+ during WSA scans, but I've never yet noticed any noticeable performance impact due to WSA scans. Other apps, yes. But not noticed with Webroot so far.

Also interestingly Prevx (which Webroot acquired and on which WSA is built) did use to have the option of different scan runtime priorities that one could select in advanced options and it's never occurred to me (until now) that those options are no longer available in WSA. Maybe Webroot hasn't (yet) felt the need to provide those options because most of us see no noticeable impact on our devices as you apparently have.

 

It would be best to Submit a Support Ticket and ask them directly as I'm not seeing any issues and can add anything. Also I don't see any complaints on the Webroot Community about this issue.

 

If you laptop is overheating and shutting down, then most likely the cooling vents are clogged with dust, preventing air flow. Ideally, you will need to disassemble the laptop so that you remove the dust. Also, it may need new thermal paste.

The CPU use from WSA is due to the way it is coded. Webroot do not want to add an option to do scans with lower CPU use, so there is no solution.

 

You are right, there are no such options, and Webroot are not going to add them. They suggested to me that I add a suggestion to their Ideas Exchange. This seems like a complete waste of time, but when I get round to it I will do so anyway. If not for the high CPU use when scanning, more than likely I would purchase a license. But, as it is right now, I will not use Webroot.

 

Hi

Any news on why Webroot performed poorly in the Fileless Malware Protection Test (AVLab, X 2017)?

 

Strange, because despite spikes in CPU usage that some of us encounter (60%+), it is still widely considered the lightest AV on the market (and, apart from a couple of recent scans on my neolithic XP, I have never discerned any noticeable performance impact on my devices).

 

I stripped this laptop down for a complete internal cleaning, including the fan blades and cooling vents, two weeks ago. The fan itself, including thermal paste, is less than 6 months old. The cleaning didn't affect the effect of WR scans on temperature.

The machine usually runs at around 45-50C. When it is heavily loaded, for example disk backup or heavy multimedia, it gets up to 80-85C. Webroot scans (even with nothing else running) often throw me over 100C, which crashes the machine. I agree that it is extremely light when not scanning.

Here is the post on the WR community that gave me the idea a couple of years ago of reinstalling to solve the problem, and it usually does...for a while. I just reinstalled again in September (for a different issue, a runaway database). I'll probably do it again, but I have to wait until I have the free time to write down and reenter all my settings etc. (I don't want to file a support ticket until I've tried that again; the main reason I was posting now is to second Roger's claim of CPU issues.) Meanwhile, I'll just keep trying to make sure that I'm in low power mode when scans happen.

 

No info so far.

 

Well here is an older Passmark Test with the Business Client which is basically the same as the Consumer Client: https://www.passmark.com/reports/Webroot_SecureAnywhere_Business_vs_competitors_2017_Edition_1.pdf

 

Just to be clear, I've been with WR for a few years and plan to continue, all I'm saying is that because of an occasional problem on my machine (and apparently those of a few others) it would be nice if one could drop the run priority.

Incidentally, I just tried a scan to see if I could reproduce the problem. Here is a screen shot just before the scan, and one around halfway in; I stopped it at that point to keep the machine from crashing. (I hope I'm doing images right!)

Of course, it might not be the CPU that is generating the heat, it could be a bus or a disk interface (the drive is an Intel SSD, FWIW), though my HD backups usually don't trigger overheating.

 

Like I said if you feel it's WSA contact Webroot Support and they will look into it, there's nothing I can do on the forums.

 

@d_r this is my test!

 

I never meant to imply that this was a problem for everyone, just that it wasn't not a problem for anyone.

Incidentally, I uninstalled and reinstalled last night, it had no effect. At some point if it persists I'll file a support ticket, meanwhile I'll just run the laptop on a lower power scheme.

It is interesting that your ratio of WR CPU load to total CPU load is higher than mine, I increasingly suspect that the overheating is due not to CPU but to something else that the scans are stressing, such as disk access or load on the system bus.

 

This is probably old news, but it appears WSA now forces you to enter a email address when installing? Also, it closed all my web browsers without prompting me. I don't remember it doing this stuff before, at least not the mandatory email.

 

Yes most times it will ask for your email address as it checks with the one from the Online Console and you should close all Browsers when installing WSA as it needs to add extensions to supported browsers. Webroot SecureAnywhere Online Console I know with the Android Mobile App it needs your Online Console email and password to register it.

 

Ok, I've been using WSA forever, and this was the first install I can remember it FORCING me to enter my email, but maybe I'm just getting old and forgetful.

 

Like I said most times and mostly on a clean reinstall of the OS or a new system.

 

@_CyberGhosT_ where did you get the Idea that Webroot was using Emsisoft signatures? https://malwaretips.com/threads/webroot-the-only-small-av-left.77714/page-2#post-693943

https://youtu.be/5fziq3kpfyc

 

It was something I misread I stated as much over there at MT