Webroot is slow and fussy

  • 1 October 2013
  • 36 replies
  • 176 views

Since a while ago Webroot has been acting a little weird. Installers sometimes take forever to load and my Autohotkey scripts are occasionally blocked. I've allowed the exes in detection configuration but it doesn't seem to help.

I know Webroot is at fault somehow because when I disable Webroot there's no slowdowns or blocked executions.

Does anyone know what's causing this?`:@

36 replies

Userlevel 7
Have you modified any of the default settings? Autokeys scripts can get blocked by the keylogger protection as they can be used for malicious purposes. What type of installers are taking ages to load? I generally speaking dont notice any delay the only thing I can think of is if they are adware bundled installers or similar. I would need more information/diagnostic logs to give you a detailed answer. 
Userlevel 7
Hello skribboth and welcome to the Webroot Community.
 
I would suggest you to open a support ticket. They will probably instruct you how to collect and send logs. It seems to me that some process(es) will need to be whitelisted in the cloud.
Userlevel 7
Useful trick on the AHK issue: Configure your scripts to operate when you hit a combination of CTRL+some other key. Using CTRL in this fashion will most often resolve the blocking issue.
I've modified the settings, yes. I've tried to disable any "scan file on execution"-type setting I could find.

Any installer will take long. Just now for instance, I was installing VLC, and it ground to a halt. I killed Webroot and POW, VLC was hastily installed. Webroot seems to hang when "authenticating files".
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
I've modified the settings, yes. I've tried to disable any "scan file on execution"-type setting I could find.

Any installer will take long. Just now for instance, I was installing VLC, and it ground to a halt. I killed Webroot and POW, VLC was hastily installed. Webroot seems to hang when "authenticating files".
Did you open a support ticket as suggested? Collecting logs for the support should let them to resolve your issue.
I did:D
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
I did:D
OK, that's good. @ is often being on the support channel while US folks are sleeping. So he or somebody else from support will surely take care and will reach you back.
Userlevel 7
I dont see a support ticket under the email address that you signed up here with. Can you drop me a PM with the email address you used to create a support ticket?
Userlevel 7
*EDIT* Found the ticket.
thanks
Userlevel 7
Roy, can you kindly revert with result of the logs perusal? I am keen to know what is causing a lag especially in case of VLC because I recall I had also certain issues with it in the past.
 
Thanks!
Userlevel 7
I have whitelisted the scan logs, I have left some of the files as bad however. I have sent you the instructions to run a deep scan which should help with scan times and system peformance. 
 
 
Userlevel 7
Can you elaborate on the issues you had/have with VLC? I use it myself on my home PC and I havent had any issues? I didnt get full diagnostic logs just the scan logs which I have cleaned up which should help. If it doesnt I will collect full diagnostic logs and do a full system check. 
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
Can you elaborate on the issues you had/have with VLC? I use it myself on my home PC and I havent had any issues? I didnt get full diagnostic logs just the scan logs which I have cleaned up which should help. If it doesnt I will collect full diagnostic logs and do a full system check. 
I experienced the same lag during installation/update of VLC and then the first run of a video in a browser using VLC plug-in. It took ages to install VLC and play the first video. I saw endless authenticating files notification, file by file. As soon as WSA was shut down installation resp. video play finished resp. started instantly. However I didn't update VLC quite a long, so I cannot speak now. If you need something more, let me know.
Userlevel 7
I did a quick poll around the office and most of us here use VLC and nobody has had any issues. Is this issue when you are playing video content inside a browser or files locally? It may be an issue with the VLC browser plugin. I am going through all the VLC data I can find in the database which will take a while. Can you try and see if you can replicate the issue for me? 
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
I did a quick poll around the office and most of us here use VLC and nobody has had any issues. Is this issue when you are playing video content inside a browser or files locally? It may be an issue with the VLC browser plugin. I am going through all the VLC data I can find in the database which will take a while. Can you try and see if you can replicate the issue for me? 
The issue was when I played video in a browser (in my case Opera 12.xx), so it's probably correct to assume that it is related to VLC plugin. Unfortunately I cannot replicate it now because as I said it happened only once when the first video was played after VLC installation. Though it doesn't explain the experienced lag during installation or does so? Maybe so, if the plugin is the culprit, it could hinder installation because the plugin is bundled in the installation file.
i did a deep scan just now, it took a minute and there were no threats found. How is this supposed to help my situation? Is it supposed to "jog Webroot's memory" or something? :S
Userlevel 7
They were a large number of unknown files in the scan including some of the script programs that you mentioned in your first post. I have whitelisted them in our database. The deep scan gets Webroot to recheck the unknowns and thus it will help with scan speeds and will stop the program from monitoring said unknown files.
 
It should help but if your still having the issue and you have tried Jim`s idea then we can try a few other ideas.
So basically any Webroot employee can see all my computer's (scanned) files in your definition database? That's kinda creepy....
 
Anyway why do they have to be whitelisted in the cloud when I'm doing it locally? Is there a flag somewhere to ignore cloud settings?
Userlevel 4
Webroot is 100% in the cloud so you can't turn it off unless you shut Webroot down.
 
Also, I don't believe they see your files, but MD5 hash values which are a bunch of gibberish looking numbers/letters.
Userlevel 7
No we do not have access to any of your files or documents on your PC. The details of the scan log can be seen by doing the following. A snipped of a log is posted below, we can see path/filename and MD5. No actual copies of any files is ever taken from your PC. The scan logs that are sent to us are encrypted. We take our users privacy very seriously. 
 
 
- Open Webroot
- Select the option "System Tools"
- On the System Tools screen click the Reports tab
- On the Reports tab screen press the Save as.. button.
 
[u] c:windowssystem32cmidialogs.dll [MD5: 8BAEB21862D8CDD17AD2294709EB0F4C] [Flags: 40080010.2742]
[u] c:program filesiomegaiomega encryptionplxtech.das.dotnetapi.dll [MD5: 80505583366D74E12206281526919F04] [Flags: 40080010.2743]
[u] c:program filesiomegaiomega encryptiondeviceaccess.dll [MD5: 9D79DC423EE0CB8C6442093C3CC9FA09] [Flags: 40080010.2746]
[u] c:program filesiomegaiomega encryptionplxtech.das.gateway.core.dll [MD5: 5D17D848CD2C1FAECFB9A945CE136AC9] [Flags: 40080010.2747]
Of course no files are ever transferred anywhere, but I mean, if you can see complete file names, that's a hazard in itself. And not to mention all the porn file names that pop up 😛
Userlevel 4
Any AV vendor will have that same information if you ever contact them for support. As far as I know, every AV company's logs contain  file names.
 
It's not just Webroot.
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
Of course no files are ever transferred anywhere, but I mean, if you can see complete file names, that's a hazard in itself. And not to mention all the porn file names that pop up :p
No reason to be concerned or even to be afraid. As other members explained, it is nothing exceptional that AV vendors have access to logs containing some kind of informations about files (name or MD5) including the paths. Otherwise all AV & anti-malware concept would not work. I would also like to highlight and support Roy's declaration about the users privacy. You can be sure that at Webroot they take users privacy very seriously and this policy is adhered to one hundred percent. I had dozens remote sessions with @ and other engineers from Webroot and former Prevx to troubleshoot my issues and I never and I emphasize word never had any doubts about my privacy.
Userlevel 7
To be honest in the industry we are in the file names of porn files is the least worst thing you will see! We do need a certain amount of information to do our job in protecting our customers. Without a user actually giving me some indentifying information I wouldnt be able to indentify a user if that makes sense! We do take privacy very seriously even more so since we work with infections/malware on a daily that try to take personal info so we know whats out there!

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