ESS is blocking my typing into most applications

[conceptualclarity 0]

Today has been a rough day with flooding in my house that I thought I had found the solution for. And I am being prevented from typing into most of my applications. I can't type into Outlook Express, the Find module of Autoruns, Firefox browser, or Slimjet browser. I can type into Wordpad and Maxthon browser.This is a grievous hindrance to my use of the computer obviously.

 

I just installed Smart Security for the first time on April 4.

 

I can't prove in a court of law that it's ESET, but I have never lost use of my keyboard and been unable to regain it after rebooting. I have rebooted numerous times, and I continue to have this block on most of what I try to do on my keyboard.

 

I suspect the ESET firewall, but I'm not sure. I have found it to be very aggressive. I have been running it on Interactive at a Malware Tips' member's suggestion. I just now changed it back to Automatic, but that didn't make any difference.

 

I don't know how to get inside ESET and stop it from doing things I don't want it doing.

 

It frustrates me that I can't just turn ESET off. I can either pause the antivirus or the firewall but not both.

 

I also have a problem in that the Smart Security icon does not appear in the system tray at startup. I have to go into Windows Explorer to make the GUI appear. When it does appear, sometimes it reveals a number of notifications that have been backed up.

 

 

Computer:      DELL Dimension 2400

CPU:           Intel Pentium 4-2667 (Northwood, D1)

               2666 MHz (20.00x133.3) @ 2658 MHz (20.00x132.9)

Motherboard:   DELL 0G1548

Chipset:       Intel 845GEV (Brookdale-GEV) + ICH4

Memory:        2048 MBytes @ 166 MHz, 2.5-3-3-7

               - 1024 MB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM - Kingston K

               - 1024 MB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM - Kingston K

Graphics:      Intel 82845G/GL/GV Graphics Controller [DELL]

               Intel i845G(L) Integrated, 64 MB 

Drive:         WL120GPA872, 117.2 GB, E-IDE (ATA-7)

Drive:         HGST HTS545050A7E380, 488.4 GB, Serial ATA 3Gb/s <-> USB

Drive:         SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S, CD-R Writer

Sound:         Creative Technology SB Live! Series Audio Processor

Network:       RealTek Semiconductor RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC [A/B/C]

Network:       Broadcom 4401 10/100 Integrated Controller

OS:            Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Build 2600

Antivirus:           ESET Smart Security 9.0.375.0

Firewall:            ESET Smart Security 9.0.375.0

Default Browser:     Maxthon

 

 

[Marcos 5,074]

It's possible to turn off both antivirus protection and firewall either temporarily or permanently. I'd suggest uninstalling ESS, checking if the issue occurs and then installing v9 from scratch. Without changing any default settings, check if the issue occurs. If so, try switching to pre-release updates in the advanced update setup to make sure you're using the very latest modules which may address certain issues.

Should the problem persist, disable each of the protection modules, one at a time, to narrow it down. When disabling HIPS, a computer restart will be needed for the change to take effect.

Let us know about your findings.

 

And remember, using interactive firewall mode is not recommended unless you are aware of what you are doing. If you configure a program to do something, then complaining about that the program is doing what you configured it to do is not correct.