Eset Addin causes Outlook 2016 to crash or freeze

[mhi 0]

Hi folks,

 

we have some weird issue with Eset Endpoint Antivirus v6.4.2014.2 and Outlook 2016.

 

Our environment:

• Windows 7, 32 Bit
• Office 365 Click-to-run
• occurs in Outlook 2016 v1609 Build 7369.2055
• occurs in Outlook 2016 v16.0.6965.2105
• around 70 identical Clients deployed via Sysprep Image

We were using the ESET Antivirus 6 within our environment since June 2016 without any problem. Just pretty recently, since about 1 month, we are randomly experiencing crashes or freezes when sb. hits the "Send" Button in Outlook. This can occur while sending a standard email or even within an appointment request. The email itself is then stuck in the outbox, and the user has to restart outlook to get it send out. When Outlook freezes, there is no reaction of the program at all. When Outlook crashes, it just magically disappears. 

 

Please note that we did not change anything with our Eset Version, but since we use Office 365 we are receiving and installing updates from Microsoft automatically. So it is quite possible that the Eset Addin causes some problems with the latest Outlook version which got deployed in the last few weeks.

 

The problem seems to disappear completely once we disable the Eset Addin (eplgOutlook.dll v6.4.2014.0) via GPO. Since the crashes happen randomly, it is quite difficult to pin it down. We have a small test group which reports positive results back to us once we disable the Addin, and negative results once we re-enable it.

 

So, my questions are:

1. Is anyone else experiencing similar problems? (Crash/Freeze while "sending" email)
2. Possible Workaround: Is the Eset Antivirus protection still active in Outlook even if we disable the Addin?

Thanks for your time.

 

 

[Marcos 5,272]

I'd suggest contacting your local customer care. They should provide you with a logging version of the ESET Outlook plug-in which may shed more light.

[mhi 0]

I'd suggest contacting your local customer care. They should provide you with a logging version of the ESET Outlook plug-in which may shed more light.

I am already in contact with my local customer care since yesterday. Thanks for mentioning the Plug-in with enhanced logging functionality, it looks like the support did not know about this. I will ask them about it, thank you.

[jhufford 0]

What was the solution to this issue, was there any resolution.  This issue is still affecting all users running Outlook 2016 or Office 365 Outlook 2016, latest version of 5.0.2265 which according to your own documentation is supposed to support Outlook 2016.  Five or more times a day the plugin crashes Outlook 2016 until Outlook auto disables the plugin.

[mhi 0]

Hi jhufford, 

sorry for the late reply, I was on vacation in the last few days.

Unfortunately there is no satisfying solution, the ESET support was not able to reproduce the problem. I sent them several log files (eplgOutlook, esetlogcollector), and they still have no clue about the reasons for the issue. In the end the support asked us for a procmon log, which we are not able to deliver, as the crash is not easy to trigger.

In our desparation we disabled the Outlook add-in company wide, which is the worst solution for an antivirus client, but at least our users are now able to use Outlook. 

Edited May 3, 2017 by mhi

[Marcos 5,272]

Generally I'd suggest disabling all add-ins but ESET and then re-enabling one at a time. Also try leaving only scanning of incoming email enabled in the email protection setup (ie. disable scan of outgoing and read email).

[jhufford 0]

Thank you both for the reply, I will retry your suggestion about the order in which the add-on is enabled.  I might try disabling the scan of outgoing mail.

[Marcos 5,272]

8 minutes ago, jhufford said:

Thank you both for the reply, I will retry your suggestion about the order in which the add-on is enabled.  I might try disabling the scan of outgoing mail.

Not only outgoing but especially disabling read email can often solve various issues.