Minimalist

I got this notification also. On Virustotal there is no detection.

I'm also using HIPS in smart mode and so far received notification only once. It was after a program update, but I can't remember which one it was. Unfortunately I also didn't take a screenshot. Message was saying that HIPS detected some changes to updated application and it asked me to approve or deny them.

You can enable/disable it in advanced setup as shown below:

Hi, I just saw this question now. You can enable/disable runtime packers scanning in real-time file system protection settings or in scan options settings. I don't know which option you are asking about. Anyway defaults are OK so you don't need to change anything.

Yes.

Real-time file protection is performed by accessing and scanning data. So we are talking about one thing not, two or three. If your are worried, download an update from your manufacturer's site and update it so you can be sure to have a clean one. If you don't know how to do it ask someone who knows how to do it. Since we are going in circles and I doubt I'll be able to answer your questions, I will stop responding to this thread. Have a nice day.

Instruction to check it out: Source: https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/uefi-vs-bios.html

It's exactly the opposite. If real-time file system protection could not access boot sector it wouldn't be able to scan it. Since it can access boot sector it can scan it. So "scanning" and having access to is "the same". File system protection is protecting your system by scanning data. That's it's main purpose.

Real time file system protection has an option to scan boot sector /UEFI so IMO it's accessible to that module.

I don't understand what you mean by "Advanced Threat Protection". Can you post a link to description of this feature or technology?

I'm sorry but I don't understand your question.

I believe so. Tooltip for that setting shows this:

ESET employs different modules which perform different tasks. You can perform on demand scan and scan UEFI if you like but there is also real-time protection as explained on website from my previous link:

Yes it can. Itman showed you where it can be enabled or disabled. Some more info is also posted here: https://help.eset.com/glossary/en-US/technology_uefi.html

Unfortunately not. Password protect will only protect settings from changes. Even when set, you can still open GUI and see your email address.