Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, The web site was unblocked around 3:30 UTC. If you are still experiencing a problem, please update your software per the instructions in ESET Knowledgebase Article #85, Update ESET Products - check for latest product modules. In some rare instances, such as an upgrade being offered, a reboot may be required after the update has been downloaded and installed in order for it to take effect. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, On what sites did you see reports of threats, and what were the exact threats reported? Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, If you believe a your web site is being incorrectly detected by ESET's software, you may contact ESET's threat researchers to report a suspect false positive alarm. This can be done by following the instructions in ESET Knowledgebase Article #141, Submit a virus, website or potential false positive sample to the ESET lab, located at https://support.eset.com/kb141. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, This is from the DriveSecurity application on the Kingston USB Flash Drive, is that correct? If so, we'll need some additional information from you to troubleshoot the issue: Place your mouse's cursor over the drive letter at the bottom of the DriveSecurity application, and it should show the License Username (begins with EAV-...). Please send me that License Username in a Private Message, and I will have the product manager investigate what's going on with the license. Regards. Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, Thank you for your report. If you are running beta-test versions of Windows 10 through Microsoft's Windows Insider Program, you will periodically come across incompatibilities such as this. You can try switching on pre-release updates in your copy of ESET's software by following the instructions in https://support.eset.com/kb3415/?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US. This will allow you to obtain earlier access to module updates of ESET's software, which can contain compatibility updates for the Windows beta versions. Even if a feature does not work after switching to pre-release updates, letting us know is helpful so that ESET can investigate what additional modifications may need to be made to support what has changed in Windows. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, You can purchase a serial number from https://store.esetme.com/home/. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, A list of removed programs can be found at https://support.eset.com/kb3527/#removable. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, I am building a master list of hardware, software and networking companies affected by Meltdown and Spectre in the We Live Security blog post mentioned, above. Here is a link a direct link to the table: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/01/05/meltdown-spectre-cpu-vulnerabilities/#vendors Currently there are 62 150 vendors listed at the time of this posting editing. There's a revision history at the bottom of the blog post with each day's additions. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, ESET released Antivirus and Antispyware module update 1533.3 yesterday (January 3, 2017, 22:45 [GMT-8]) to all customers to ensure compatibility with Microsoft's updates to the Windows operating systems. ESET is working alongside hardware and software vendors to mitigate the vulnerabilities posed by the Meltdown (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715) and Spectre (CVE-2017-5754) vulnerabilities. For additional information see: ESET Customer Advisory 2018-001: Spectre and Meltdown Vulnerabilities Discovered ESET Newsroom: Meltdown & Spectre: How to protect yourself from these CPU security flaws ESET Support Alert 6644: ESET can stop malware that in the future may use Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities ESET's We Live Security blog: Meltdown and Spectre CPU Vulnerabilities: What You Need to Know Please periodically check these articles as well as the ESET Security Forum for the additional information as it becomes available. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, ESET is open to new ideas and suggestions. Just don't expect all of them to be implemented, especially if they offer little added benefit to ESET's customers. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, I believe you'll find some of the requested functionality in various programs such as ESET SysInspector, ESET SysRescue Live CD, the ESET Rogue Applications Remover and various other malware removal tools. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, ESET could improve its results in tests done by some testers by adding junk files that are damaged, non-executable, contain only data, are otherwise non-threatening, but are detected by other anti-malware programs. Would you like ESET to add detection of junk because those other vendors have included those files? Just because a plethora of companies are doing something doesn't make it right, or even that it offers a benefit to their customers, for that matter. Adding features for marketing reasons is not a path I would like to ESET go down, and I suspect at least some of our customers feel the same way. There are lots of features, enhancements and improvements that ESET has yet to make to its software, and some of those will come out of message threads like this one. So, I encourage you to keep asking and making recommendations. But, also keep in mind that ESET is takes its customers' security seriously and wants to develop technologies that do that, and not spend its time and efforts trying to win marketing battles with competitors. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, Cookies are not malicious. While they may (or may not) represent privacy issues, they do not represent a threat to user security. Malicious advertisements are blocked all the time. If you want to block tracking, all ads, etc., I would suggest looking at what plugins are available for your web browser. HIPS updates occur as part of the regular updating of modules used by ESET Smart Security. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, False alarms on a web site are a big deal. They affect: Whomever owns the web site. Whomever visits the web site. The credibility of the company which generated the the false positive alarm to begin with. It has been my experience that people who visit web sites do not always know when a report of a problem is a false alarm or not. They might assume it is, and it turns out to be a legitimate report and they get infected. Or, they may contact the site operator or their anti-malware solutions provider, creating a support burden. Just because eight, eighty or eight hundred anti-malware companies do something does not mean that ESET should follow them down the "me, too" path. ESET chooses to implement technologies when they provide a tangible benefit to the computing public. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky

Hello, I simply used Web of Trust as an example of someone who does a reputational toolbar as their core business. As far as I know, all the other companies you mentioned (Avast ... Webroot) make the majority of their money elsewhere. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had to jump through numerous hoops to get my own personal website reclassified (whitelisted), when my previous employer saw fit to advise everyone that my site was unsafe due to its lack of reputation. Now, I was able to get that cleared up in several days, but it took me several days and I had to to take advantage of some professional courtesies (e.g., the fact that I was a founder of that company as well as someone who currently worked at a competitor) in order to get them to update their database. And I was lucky, I had industry contacts to worth through. If I did not have those backchannels, who knows how many weeks or months it would have taken. This difficulty in (1) classifying sites properly to begin with; and (2) responding promptly to reclassification requests makes me believe that there is little additional value offered by site advisory services. Am I biased by my own experiences with a false positive alarm and subsequent difficulties getting that fixed? Yes, I certainly am. But, I also cannot help but wonder how difficult it would be for me get things cleared had I not been able to able to use my contacts. Lots of other companies offer varieties of different services, as a means of providing a layered approach, offering some form product differentiation, or even just performing feature parity for reviewers (i.e., "checkbox compliance"), but that does not necessarily mean that the option, feature or service passes the "works reasonably well" that I think is one of the reasons people choose ESET's software over others in a very crowded, competitive market. Maybe, one day, ESET will offer some kind of add-on, plugin or toolbar that provides a deterministic form of site advisory reputational data. But given what I've seen so far, I just don't feel this technology currently passes the "works reasonably well" criteria as a whole, industry-wide. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky