ESET upgrades versions on its own

[Pissed_off_user 0]

We currently run NOD32 8.0.319.0 for very specific reasons (my company VPN for example) and have no intention of moving past this version until is makes technical sense to do so - but like Microsoft's completely annoying Windows 10 upgrade notices - I now see that ESET is doing the same with these periodic "Update to new version" dialog boxes that are appearing on all my workstations.

 

How do I shut this off and why does it not have a "do not show this window again" option.

 

I will update to a new version when I am ready to do it - and the more windows I see telling me to do it - the less chance of me ever doing it.

 

Appreciate any tips on how to get rid of this reminder.

 

VP

 

 

Hello ESET staff,

 

I just registered to express how much I am annoyed, pissed off and disappointed by you.

 

ESET/NOD32 used to be light, effective. Remember version 2, 2.5 ? I recently found it running on a very old PC woken up from a yard sale.  Anyway, I am not a reseller/distributor but in my free time i run my own IT business. I run on Linux-based OS myself but for my relatives and for all my customers I have recommended and installed NOD32 or ESET Smart Security - we bought licenses from local stores.

 

I keep them all running on v7 or v8 - only one PC was at v9

And as mentioned above, this is intentional - I don't like the flashy v9/v10 GUI, buttons, text are so much bigger, just like W10. I also don't like the ESET certificate that gets installed with v9 and the default SSL scanning option. Why would I want my encrypted communicated be scanned by anything/whatever.. ? It's encrypted for purpose. Tell me what malware can come within encrypted traffic between my mail server for example? How prevalent is this that ?

 

Recently I have noticed often that older versions pop-up asking for new version upgrade even though this option was NOT selected. I instructed all my customers and relatives not to accept if such a pop-up appears and this was fine, they rejected it when asked and programs remained running on v7 or v8. Mr. Marcos writes that v8 will become unsupported in a few years - YES, I KNOW - FEW YEARS - just like ESET v3, v4, v5 became unsupported AFTER several years. BUT v7 and v8 are supported now and used to run fine.

 

What I noticed yesterday - I found out a task in Windows Task Scheduler that was set to run after several days/weeks - I don't remember the exact name but was something like "ESET and Windows 10" and that invoked a software (PE file) eupgrade.exe or upgrade. I found it and it was from ESET. I tested it and found it it was re. upgrade of versions, there was a certificate checkers... And these were hidden in a folder called "AV" which was not in the typical ESET folder.

Why did ESET downloaded unwanted EXE file(s) - I expect it to prevent unwanted files but it downloaded unwanted ESET files, was ready to run them and upgrade my versions... Acting just like Microsoft. Hey ESET - are you Microsoft ? Is it funny to be Microsoft ?

 

So, back to the story - on this particular PC - it ran v7. I thought - ok, may be it's time to upgrade to v8 to at least stop this. Uninstalled v7, restarted, manually deleted leftovers. Ran ESET Cleaner.

Downloaded v8 MSI installer. During installed unchecked the option to check for new version. Eventually opened F5 settings and ensured check for new version was not selected.  And guess what happened 3-4 minutes later when it updated signatures ? It automatically downloaded and installed thus f**king version 9 !!!!!

 

Why d*mn ESET, why did you do this ?

 

You are acting just like Microsoft - you downloaded unwanted programs on computers without user's knowledge and without user's consent ?

You upgraded from one supported version (v8) to another supported version (v9) without user's agreement !!! Why is this necessary ? And guess what, I repeated the situation and the same thing happened.

 

No More ESET for me. I want Win 7, I paid for it, I don't care about improvements for Windows 10. I paided for ESET licenses and I should be asked what I prefer, not forced to use what you want.

Goodbye, ESET. You were one of the very few 3rd party vendors I trusted.

[Marcos 5,070]

ESET/NOD32 used to be light, effective. Remember version 2, 2.5 ? I recently found it running on a very old PC woken up from a yard sale.  Anyway, I am not a reseller/distributor but in my free time i run my own IT business. I run on Linux-based OS myself but for my relatives and for all my customers I have recommended and installed NOD32 or ESET Smart Security - we bought licenses from local stores.

 

The situation in malware area has changed dramatically since v2 was released. The number of threats that are created on a daily basis and that jeopardize users has increased tremendously since then which required new technologies and protection methods to be developed to effectively protect against them.

Also v2 had many limitations in terms of scanning which were later removed for more effective protection. Although that all has impact on system resources and utilization, v9/10 should have small footprint and you basically shouldn't notice it running unless an alert or notification is displayed.

Of course, in certain rare system configurations one may experience performance issues that are usually caused by 3rd party applications or drivers. We are willing to assist you or anybody else with troubleshooting and pinpointing such issues.

 

I keep them all running on v7 or v8 - only one PC was at v9

And as mentioned above, this is intentional - I don't like the flashy v9/v10 GUI, buttons, text are so much bigger, just like W10. I also don't like the ESET certificate that gets installed with v9 and the default SSL scanning option. Why would I want my encrypted communicated be scanned by anything/whatever.. ? It's encrypted for purpose. Tell me what malware can come within encrypted traffic between my mail server for example? How prevalent is this that ?

As for gui, it has been changed to a web-based engine which is utilized by many software vendors and enables us to bring features that were not previously possible. Of course, gui is subject to further changes and improvements. Anyways, gui is not what makes an antivirus perfect as its purpose is to run silently in the background and protect the computer.

As for SSL scanning, nothing has changed compared to previous versions except that it's now enabled by default due to more and more malware being downloaded from https sites nowadays. SSL scanning can be enabled in older versions too.

 

Recently I have noticed often that older versions pop-up asking for new version upgrade even though this option was NOT selected. I instructed all my customers and relatives not to accept if such a pop-up appears and this was fine, they rejected it when asked and programs remained running on v7 or v8. Mr. Marcos writes that v8 will become unsupported in a few years - YES, I KNOW - FEW YEARS - just like ESET v3, v4, v5 became unsupported AFTER several years. BUT v7 and v8 are supported now and used to run fine.

The upgrade offer cannot be controlled via the program as it's not a so-called PCU (program component upgrade). However, we plan to enable users to skip upgrade for fully supported versions (currently v8+) while those with older versions can only postpone the upgrade.

It's important to keep security program up to date as many users infect due to having an older version of the program that doesn't utilize modern technologies.

 

What I noticed yesterday - I found out a task in Windows Task Scheduler that was set to run after several days/weeks - I don't remember the exact name but was something like "ESET and Windows 10" and that invoked a software (PE file) eupgrade.exe or upgrade. I found it and it was from ESET. I tested it and found it it was re. upgrade of versions, there was a certificate checkers... And these were hidden in a folder called "AV" which was not in the typical ESET folder.

Why did ESET downloaded unwanted EXE file(s) - I expect it to prevent unwanted files but it downloaded unwanted ESET files, was ready to run them and upgrade my versions... Acting just like Microsoft. Hey ESET - are you Microsoft ? Is it funny to be Microsoft ?

Probably you don't have Windows 10 and a Windows 10-compatible version of ESET installed. In such case, an auxiliary upgrade tool is downloaded which is run by Windows after upgrading to Windows 10 to ensure that a fully compatible version of ESET is downloaded and installed. This upgrade system works as Microsoft designed it and we only adhere to their guidelines.

 

So, back to the story - on this particular PC - it ran v7. I thought - ok, may be it's time to upgrade to v8 to at least stop this. Uninstalled v7, restarted, manually deleted leftovers. Ran ESET Cleaner.

Downloaded v8 MSI installer. During installed unchecked the option to check for new version. Eventually opened F5 settings and ensured check for new version was not selected.  And guess what happened 3-4 minutes later when it updated signatures ? It automatically downloaded and installed thus ... version 9 !!!!!

That shouldn't happen as upgrade to v9 is not enforced for v8 users. Also there would be presumably more complaints about such behavior if that was actually true. A v8 msi installer contains v8 and it won't upgrade to v9 unless you check for a newer program version and also hit the Install button to install it. I'd suggest installing v8 from scratch and let us know if the issue recurs.

[Ampex 0]

I have used NOD32 and been very satisfied with its performance for over ten years now - but try as I may, I just can't get on with v9 and v10 at all. I've re-installed v8 and am just keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't automatically update to v10 without my intervention. I've never had a problem of any sort until I tried v9. I uninstalled that and some time later - when v10 came out - decided to give the new version a try again. However, I still couldn't get on with it and reverted to v8 again. I'm using Windows 7 so perhaps the new NOD32 is better suited to Windows 10. I don't particularly care for that either though, so plan to change my OS to Linux when the Microsoft support for Win 7 comes to an end. Perhaps I'll have better luck with NOD32 v11.