# ESET NOD32 suddenly using A LOT of RAM



## PLSG08 (Aug 18, 2013)

So earlier today I noticed that my PC went a little slower, and DOTA 2 suddenly started stuttering like hell.

I looked around the PC and noticed that ESET is using A CRAPLOAD of RAM (which of course is very unusual for me.) 

I looked around ESET and it looks like its been doing a "Statistic Scan" and today seems to be a very lucky day because I've noticed it.

I uninstalled the damn program and the RAM usage went down from the normal 50% to 30-39%.

I installed it again and it went up 50%-77% (on some occasions it says to close all programs)

I'm thinking if Going with McAfee (It came free with my laptop, but I've never used it)

Is McAfee better? or maybe I can disable the damn Scan? Thanks for the inputs!


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## remixedcat (Aug 18, 2013)

DO NOT GO WITH MCAFEE!!! 

RAM usage is much higher. Also fared bad in most av tests. Highest consumption.

Webroot is what I use and it's got the lowest usage and decent protection. Rated great on av tests. Works different than typical av.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 18, 2013)

somethign wrong with your system. i use eset nod 32 as well.

best antivirus out there. cheap, and effective.


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## Frick (Aug 18, 2013)

What process is using the memory, and is it using CPU time too? Be sure to show the Memory - Peak working set column (View - Columns). Could be it's searching something and gets "stuck".


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## remixedcat (Aug 18, 2013)

BTW take a look at this very detailed test of system resources for anti virus clients:
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-may2013.pdf


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for the replies guys!

Well it seems that the ESET service (ekrn.exe) was using around 100,000 K yesterday. 

I remedied it by disabling the "Automatic Startup file check" and now everything seems to be in place. 

and Frick, about the Memory - Peak working; as of now its around 131,920k ( I have a total of 4gb ram)
RemixedCat, its a very interesting thing to read, and ESET ranks around the middle 

AND THANK GOD I DIDN'T INSTALL MCAFEE YET. maybe I could sell it to a poor sucker.....


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## remixedcat (Aug 19, 2013)

Glad to hear you got the issue sorted! However that is still a LOT of RAM for an anti-virus client. It should never be more then like 20MB, if that....


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Well as of now, its around 70 mb (still pretty big, i wonder why...) I'll observe it for the week and see if it still causes slowdowns


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## remixedcat (Aug 19, 2013)

Do you know what happened around the time it started to bloat like that? 

What programs were installed around the time and also was anything done system wise like major system updates, restores, etc???


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Well all I know is that while asleep my sister used my laptop to transfer music (She didn't ask for permission... damn older sisters) and she did a USB scan.

Whilst waking up I opened up steam and the DOTA and got realllyyyy laggy. Closed it and even opening Windows Explorer would cause system hangs. No programs installed not updates....

just my sister using the laptop (it does have a tendency to go bad)


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## 95Viper (Aug 19, 2013)

Just some FYI.
This could be the underlying problem...

Quote From ESET FAQ:



> Search Tips
> How do I prevent performance issues with Windows ESET security products running on IBM Lenovo ThinkPads?
> KB Solution ID: SOLN975|Last Revised: March 04, 2013
> To resolve compatibility issues between your ESET security product and your IBM Lenovo ThinkPad software, we recommend setting up scanning exclusions in your ESET security product. *Resolving the compatibility problems will prevent memory leaks* and increase network performance.



Also, another tidbit that should have be addressed in updates; but, may have been overlooked or missed.

Increased program memory usage and decreased system performance using ESET Smart Security on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

And, if you are using version 5... you may want to upgrade to version 6 - reports on ESET forums of lower mem usage.

From reading around, 75Mb to 150Mb is normal usage per ESET forum posts. <-- no personal experience on this.


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for all the help RemixedCat!!! I'll try and get my hands on a newer version (hopefully its available here)


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## 95Viper (Aug 19, 2013)

How do I upgrade ESET Smart Security or ESET NOD32 Antivirus to the latest version?
.
.


> Users with a valid license can upgrade to the latest product version for free.


.
Download Internet Security & Antivirus Software for Your Home<-- ESET download link
.


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## Nabarun (Aug 19, 2013)

I have been using Comodo Internet Security for many many years without any problems of any kind. It's free.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 19, 2013)

95Viper said:


> How do I upgrade ESET Smart Security or ESET NOD32 Antivirus to the latest version?
> .
> .
> 
> ...



eset updates and installs new program versions automatically.


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## remixedcat (Aug 19, 2013)

PLSG08 said:


> Thanks for all the help RemixedCat!!! I'll try and get my hands on a newer version (hopefully its available here)



You're welcome


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## 95Viper (Aug 19, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> eset updates and installs new program versions automatically.



Very good, ddd.  Yes, it most definitely can... that was explained in the link "How do I upgrade ESET Smart Security or ESET NOD32 Antivirus to the latest version?", that I posted so the OP would see that info, since the OP made the statement...





PLSG08 said:


> I'll try and get my hands on a newer version (hopefully its available here)


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## Mussels (Aug 19, 2013)

it was using memory while it was scanning files. thats normal.


just tell it not to scan while gaming (if it can - i know kaspersky has that feature)


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## de.das.dude (Aug 19, 2013)

there is a gaming mode on the new security 5.


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Okay so After getting version 6...

ITS STILL EATING WAY TOO MUCH RAM.

I was watching a movie on my laptop and suddenly a window popped out saying that I need to close some apps. I checked resource monitor and Task Manager and everything leads to ESET's Ekrn.exe.

What's crazy here is that the Mem leak (i think) starts when it scans around 20k files. I downgraded back to 5 and it kinda settled down, but is still eating a lot of RAM.

I also noticed that there's a suspicious startup item that I have. I deleted it in safe mode and the mem consumption went down.

Should I give up on ESET? I've been using the damn thing for almost 4 years and this is the only occurrence it happened.

I'll be attaching some pics and show you what's going on. I've tried searching help on their forums and the only thing they suggested is update to 6 (which I've already done)


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## remixedcat (Aug 19, 2013)

This thread on Webroot forums:
https://community.webroot.com/t5/We...us/Antivirus-Software-and-PC-Gaming/m-p/52976




> If an antivirus requires some kind of "gaming mode" then obviously it's wasting resources when you're not gaming and reducing protection when you are. "Gaming modes" are an admission an AV product isn't up to par when it comes to performance impact.


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## Nabarun (Aug 19, 2013)

PLSG08 said:


> Okay so After getting version 6...
> 
> ITS STILL EATING WAY TOO MUCH RAM.
> 
> ...



From what I can see in the screenshots I can guarantee you that the culprit here is Google Chrome. Uninstall it and you will see dramatic improvement in free memory. Also, it looks like both windows' and google's diagnostic utility is running because of some crash. Restart properly. Also, that ekrn.exe is part of your av. It is configured to run at startup. Go to your AV settings and disable that, or tweak it's scanning parameters. Lastly, do give Comodo Internet Security a try. It is the MOST tweakable and effective security suite for windows I have ever used AND it's free. You have nothing to lose here.


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Ok so after reading that RemixedCat, I think it time for me to find a new AV...

after a few googling I found out that Avast! is pretty good, and BitDefender...

Which of the two should I jump the gun for?

EDIT: okay so I'll try Avast for one week and see if it causes any issues...

It seem to me that the problem is that there's a Virus in my system that came from my sister's Ipod. ESET checked it and I cleaned it, but it looks like it left a mark. I need to do some deep digging here


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## de.das.dude (Aug 19, 2013)

no need to jump to anything. just stick to eset. i doubt you will notice any difference.

eset is kinda like install and forget. all other ones will nag you about one thing or the other continuously.


have you run TDSSkiller and malware bytes? i once encountered a folder which was making eset crash, turns out it was some kinda smart malware/thing that was doing that. got caught in malwarebytes.


you may change your AV but it will probably not cure the reason for esets weird behaviour. its like changing to another medication just because something isnt working, without understanding why it is not working.

here is a google result of eset ram leakage. nothing specific though, which leads me to believe there is something wrong with your system.


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## PLSG08 (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for all the help, but I think one dude nailed the coffin.

Nabarun's tips just fixed it for me.  A clean uninstall of Chrome did the trick... although I'll miss it.

ESET still scans in the BG but not that much of a hassle anymore. (i'll still monitor it...)

and now its 3 in the morning and classes are suspended tomorrow... Thanks everyone for the help!

(BTW: I'll still try other AV's to see which suits me)


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## Nabarun (Aug 19, 2013)

PLSG08 said:


> Thanks for all the help, but I think one dude nailed the coffin.
> 
> Nabarun's tips just fixed it for me.  A clean uninstall of Chrome did the trick... although I'll miss it.
> 
> ...



Cheers!  How about a thanks then?  Just click the "thanks" button on the bottom-right of the post you like.


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## remixedcat (Aug 19, 2013)

Did you re-install chrome?


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## de.das.dude (Aug 19, 2013)

ddint you know? you need to clean the browsing cache from time to time on chromium based browsers.
erocker told me first. i use opera chromium.


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## Nabarun (Aug 19, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> ddint you know? you need to clean the browsing cache from time to time on chromium based browsers.
> erocker told me first. i use opera chromium.



It was not cache problem. There were multiple instances of chrome running. Cache is stored in hdd, so that doesn't reduce memory. Cleaning cache frees up hdd space, not RAM.


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## PLSG08 (Aug 27, 2013)

Just posting an update on ESET

I don't have it in my system anymore and I did a clean reinstall of Windows on the laptop again. I didn't install Chrome and now use Firefox. 

It seems to be faster and RAM doesn't go past 60% usage (at least when Photoshop is not running or any games.) On idle I get around 36% RAM usage.

I'm currently using Bitdefender for my active Anti virus and Malwarebytes for Scans. It seems to do the Job quite right. Bitdefender uses around 15mb-25mb of RAM

Thanks again nabarun!


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## Mussels (Aug 27, 2013)

i'll honestly suggest giving chrome another try, as firefox is well known to use more memory than chrome.

also double check what plugins/extensions are installed - IF chrome was responsible, you can bet it was because some addon (possible from antivirus) was glitching.


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## Aquinus (Aug 27, 2013)

Am I the only person who think that ~90-100MB of usage for an active scan isn't a lot? 4Gb of ram or not, that's still only 1/40th of your total system memory so in comparison to other AV it might be more than normal, but it's by no means a lot. I don't think that this is a memory leak or something bad. More files to scan means more memory usage and if chrome's cache wasn't dumped then over time it will take more and more resources to scan all of it. I bet the same thing will happen with Firefox the more you use it.

I think that this is a simple case of over reacting, but that's me.


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## Nabarun (Aug 27, 2013)

OK, somebody has to say this, so why not me? Chrome is designed intentionally to run a different instance every time a new tab is opened. So, if 10 tabs are opened in chrome, then actually 10 different instances of Chrome are running, and you can verify this by checking out the task manager. Check out the following from Chrome blog:
http://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/multi-process-architecture.html
And this video: Crash Control.
This has nothing to do with cache. Cache=HDD, not RAM.


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## Aquinus (Aug 28, 2013)

Nabarun said:


> This has nothing to do with cache. Cache=HDD, not RAM.



The number of files that the anti-virus has to scan does impact how much memory the anti-virus application uses during an active scan. So the larger the cache, the harder the anti-virus has to work to scan everything because there are more files that need to be scanned.


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## Nabarun (Aug 28, 2013)

Aquinus said:


> The number of files that the anti-virus has to scan does impact how much memory the anti-virus application uses during an active scan. So the larger the cache, the harder the anti-virus has to work to scan everything because there are more files that need to be scanned.



True. But that only happens when the AV is actually scanning. Irrespective of that, Chrome uses a lot more RAM than other browsers, particularly because of running all the tabs in separate processes. Besides, the purpose of having hdd cache is to speed-up browsing regularly visited sites, although that does need to be cleared from time to time to clean unwanted stuff. Firefox and Opera have better built-in functions to aid in fine tuning what the user wants and what he doesn't. With suitable extensions and tweaks Firefox is a MUCH better browser.


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