ESET now blocks internet access for certain programs, and user is forbidden from fixing it. Why?

[KristerSvenne 0]

At university, bulk data transfers are often done via torrent. Until recently, I used ESET internet security premium. I did data transfers using Tixati, and a local tracker.

Now, I just installed ESET premium. Immediately when I installed the program, ESET started blocking access to all torrent trackers.

Attempted fix:

Set ESET firewall to "Interactive mode". Result: Even if i order ESET to allows the traffic, ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Set ESET firewall to "learning mode". Result: ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Manually add Tixati to ESET excepitons, Result: ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Manually add OpenVPN to ESET excepitons, Result: ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Manually all trackers to exception list. Result: ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Reinstall ESET & start over. Result: ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

Reinstall ESET with last known configuration (saved to .xml file). Result: ESET says it was unable to import anything at all. ESET still blocks all access to all torrent trackers, without excepiton.

 

ESET USED to be a good program, with max security while requiring almost no effort from the user. What changed?

[Marcos 5,070]

First of all, are you positive that it's the firewall which is blocking the communication? By default, in automatic mode all outbound communication is allowed and all non-initiated inbound communication blocked. Torrent apps should work alright without the need to create a specific firewall rule. Does actually pausing the firewall make a difference?

Couldn't it be that the torrent app is detected as a potentially unwanted application and is blocked? If so, try creating a detection exclusion.

Please provide logs collected with ESET Log Collected for a review.

[KristerSvenne 0]

Yes.

When i uninstall ESET completely, it starts working again. I should have posted this thread in the morning because I'm about 1% away from losing my mind and using the computer to emulate a ballistic trajectory out  of my window so I will return to you in the morning when I can write coherently.

 

I do wish you a very good day, and thank you for your response!

[itman 1,659]

1 hour ago, KristerSvenne said:

Until recently, I used ESET internet security premium. I did data transfers using Tixati, and a local tracker.

Now, I just installed ESET premium. Immediately when I installed the program, ESET started blocking access to all torrent trackers.

A bit difficult to understand what you posted.

Eset has three retail products with a firewall:

1. Internet Security

2. Smart Security Premium.

3. A legacy product called Smart Security. This has been superseded by Internet Security.

Which of the above did you have installed previously? Which of the above did you recently install? Did you uninstall what you had installed previously prior to performing the new install?

[peteyt 393]

The only thing I can think to do is to either try the firewall troubleshooting wizard or to start disabling eset settings one by one attempting to see if this causes any changes with each one. While this won't technically fix your problem it might show which part of eset is causing the issues.

As itman has mentioned above which eset program are you using and also what is the version number? Have you checked in case your using an older version as it could be a bug that got fixed.

You mentioned university. I did wonder if it could be something network based but you mentioned it doesn't happen when eset is uninstalled

[KristerSvenne 0]

Thank you ALL for your help!

Solution:
1: Set interactive mode.
2: Delete ALL network rules manually.
3: WITHOUT rebooting, manually shut down Tixati.
4: WITHOUT rebooting, manually shut down OpenVPN.
5: WITHOUT rebooting, start OpenVPN again...
6: Now you get prompted to allow all such traffic.

Bam. Now it works.

For good measure: Before this fixed, I saved a restore point "known faulty". So now, I reset windows to there, verified that now the problem was back. I applied the above fix again, and it solved the problem. 

Then I restored to "known faulty". Applied the above fix, but rebooted windows between step 4 & 5. Problem not fixed.

I have no clue why, but it worked. Perhaps there's some tech wizard here who knows WTF happened, I'm just hoping that if someone else has this problem, this fix will work for them too.

Edited January 28, 2021 by KristerSvenne

[Marcos 5,070]

By ESET premium do you mean ESET Smart Security Premium? Or Endpoint Security? What version?

Anyways, please carry on as follows when the issue occurs:
1, enable advanced network protection logging in the adv. setup -> tools -> diagnostics
2, reboot the machine
3, reproduce the issue
4, stop logging
5, collect logs with ESET Log Collector and upload the generated archive here.