Installation bug: error communicating with NOD32 kernel service.

After a successful NOD32 trial period, I installed the paid-for version and ran into a problem as expressed by this message:

"Error occured during communication with NOD32 Kernel service"

This meant I could not have access to the Controi Center and the resident AMON could not be launched.

I searched for the above quote in WildersSecurity and found about 5 threads. People had had this problem before, but no one offered a clear idea about its cause. I don't have a clear idea either, but I solved the problem with this gunshot approach. Maybe the following will make someone else waste less time than I did.

1. Uninstalled NOD32
2. Removed from the registry all references to the previously installed anti-viruses using the find function of JV16 Power Tools.
3. Removed all references to eset and nod32.
4. Turned off all Intrusion Detection software (for instance, Prevx and ProcessGuard) as well as those that monitor the registry (regprot and teatimer). Since I saw a fleeting reference to a driver/service that could not be installed, I figured these software could be the cause.
5. Prevented these software to start automatically during the reboot process.
6. In reinstalling NOD32, I did not ask it to start AMON at startup, fearing some interference from some of the above software even when they are turned off because some of them are powerful enough to be effective even when turned off (for instance, PG).
7. Then NOD32 installed well and I then opted for AMON to start during Windows startup.

Either the registry cleanup or the removal of the interference from the IDS software solved the problem.

1. If it is the registry cleanup that did it, I have to comment that I am noticing a disturbing trend whereby software increasingly trip up each other (and even themselves) through the registry. Sloppy software have always been around, but it seems that things are getting even more complex today. Even good names are now in this pit. Witness how Symantec's NAV and Zonealarm are getting buggier. Both companies recently had to recommend cleaning the registry even after their products had already been uninstalled by their own uninstallers ! Software are over-using the registry so much these days that they cannot even clean up after themselves. My registry has 340,000 subkeys...

2. If it is the IDS software that interfered with the NOD32 installation, then here is a recommendation for Eset: make NOD32 tolerant of the abrupt interruptions caused by IDS as they frequently freeze the machine to ask the user for all kinds of authorizations.

I would have loved to sort out the exact cause (between cleanup and IDS), but the computer is supposed to be only a tool for me, and I am wasting TOO MUCH time already on malfunctioning sofware.

 

You are correct, I have the same PG3 and Prevx and these 2 applications are doing their job, they will produce the result you have seen.

Cheers