Unusally High RAM usage by ESET NOD32 (Linux Desktop)

Recently, I'd encountered unusally high RAM usage on both my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS laptops (32-bit and 64-bit desktop OS versions). I noticed that, immediately after system startup, ESET will load 2 instances of esets_daemon in memory (with Normal Priority) as root user ion both laptops. Here's an example on the 32-bit OS laptop after system startup:

root 1190 0.0 11.6 73116 59376 ? Ss 05:35 0:00 /opt/eset/esets/sbin/esets_daemon
root 1192 1.5 12.0 109576 61344 ? Sl 05:35 0:40 /opt/eset/esets/sbin/esets_daemon

in the above example, ESET has already used up 120 MB of RAM on 1 laptop with 512 MB RAM immediately after system startup. The situation is similar on the 64-bit OS laptop. (2GB RAM).

I am not running any anti-virus scan when I encountered the unusally high RAM usage. I cannot stop any of the ESET processes without causing a system freeze-up.

Here's the current version for both systems' Linux NOD32 Anti-virus software:

Product Version: 4.0.79.0
Update module: 1043 (20130415)
Antivirus & antispyware scanner module: 1410 (20130926)
Virus Signature database: 8924 (20131016)
Archive support module: 1180 (20130930)
Advanced heuristics module: 1143 (20130909)
Cleaner module: 1078 (20131003)
Linux kernel version: 3.8.0-31-generic
Ubuntu OS: 12.04.3 LTS

I have already installed all the latest system updates (including ESET NOD32) on both laptops but the unusually high RAM usage after system startup still persists on both laptops.

Reformatting the harddisk and reinstalling the OS from scratch on both laptops did not resolve the problem.

How do I reduce the unusually high RAM usage by ESET NOD32 on both my Ubuntu laptops? Thanks in advance.

1 Answer

Those seem to be start up scans, basically the antivirus software is going over all the files in your filesystems.

Disable the System Protection feature found under Setup > Antivirus and antispyware protection setup and try a reboot.