Unable to Play Certain Games

[MrOnyx]

So I have been encountering this unusual problem as of late. Starting around the 8th of this month (November), the antivirus I have on my computer, Sophos Endpoint Agent, has prevented me from starting certain games from running. I had no issue running any game before the 8th, and the antivirus is not configured to block games in the first place.

Some of the games that will be prevented from starting by my anti-virus are Helldivers 2, Remastered Version of Quake, Cruelty Squad, Lorn's Lure, Talos Principle 2, Golden Light, Kenshi, Universe Sandbox, and probably others I haven't tested.
However, other games such as Armored Core 6, Rain World, Destiny 2, Starship Troopers Extermination, Battlefield 4, and Battlefield 2042 all start up fine without issue.

The antivirus warning is:
"HollowProcess" malicious behavior prevented in x64launcher.exe

According to my research, this is a false positive. Due to how my antivirus is set up, I called the people that manage the antivirus and they suspected it might be Steam that is causing the issue. Looking at steam's client side updates, it appeared there was an update on November 5th.
They also claimed to have whitelisted Steam and x64launcher so that my antivirus won't be triggered, but after testing it this evening, nothing has changed, and the certain games are still being blocked.
While I would really really like to uninstall this anti-virus, and I know how to, that's not an option at the moment.
Is there any way I can start the games I mentioned (and any future games) without using the x64launcher program?

[Chika Ogiue]

Can't you just exclude Steam's installation directory from being scanned?

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Can't you just exclude Steam's installation directory from being scanned?

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Those are probably mostly false positives. Report them as such to your virus scanners developer. Most of them have website forums where you can report this information so they can update their software to ignore it.

[76561199736783158]

I understand you are gaming at work? Or why would you need to call people to configure your antivirus?

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

If you don't have such a simple level of control, you probably shouldn't be gaming on that device. Is not your own PC? Was it assigned to you from your place of employment / education?

[Stormer]

That antivirus is designed to be extremely trigger happy to protect business workstations, its not meant to be used on personal devices used for gaming so its going to have a lot of false flags if you try to use that computer for it

[Crazy Tiger]

I agree with the posters above me, this sounds very much as someone trying to play games on a device not supposed for that.

If you want people to provide you with ways to circumvent the restrictions your IT has put on the device, you're not getting that.

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Can't you just exclude Steam's installation directory from being scanned?

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

You should not be using devices or anti-malware for gaming that are not supposed to be used for gaming.

That is all levels of bad idea.

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by Clown Syndrome:

I understand you are gaming at work? Or why would you need to call people to configure your antivirus?

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

If you don't have such a simple level of control, you probably shouldn't be gaming on that device. Is not your own PC? Was it assigned to you from your place of employment / education?

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

I agree with the posters above me, this sounds very much as someone trying to play games on a device not supposed for that.

If you want people to provide you with ways to circumvent the restrictions your IT has put on the device, you're not getting that.

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

You should not be using devices or anti-malware for gaming that are not supposed to be used for gaming.

That is all levels of bad idea.

I accidentally neglected to mention that this computer I am talking about is not a work computer, but my personal computer. As I mentioned before, there were no restrictions put on my copy of the antivirus to prevent gaming.

And the reason I even have this anti-virus in the first place is because the person I live with is overly paranoid about viruses.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Can't you just exclude Steam's installation directory from being scanned?

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

If it's your PC then why can't you a) whitelist your self and/or b) seek permission to whitelist?

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Possibly, but I don’t have control over what I can whitelist (and it bugs the ♥♥♥♥ out of me). I will have to call the people that can again at some point to ask them that.

If it's your PC then why can't you a) whitelist your self and/or b) seek permission to whitelist?

I wish I could whitelist it myself.

I tried to seek permission to whitelist yesterday, and they said that steam and x64launcher should be whitelisted, but whatever they claimed to do did not work.
I will have to call them again today.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

If it's your PC then why can't you a) whitelist your self and/or b) seek permission to whitelist?

I wish I could whitelist it myself.

I tried to seek permission to whitelist yesterday, and they said that steam and x64launcher should be whitelisted, but whatever they claimed to do did not work.
I will have to call them again today.

If your anti-virus is the problem and you have to call them to whitelist safe programs then they are the problem and you should choose an alternative. It's 2024 and you shouldn't need to call anyone about this and the majority of standard AV programs allow the user a degree of control.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

And the reason I even have this anti-virus in the first place is because the person I live with is overly paranoid about viruses.

If it's YOUR PC and not theirs, then it's none of their business. Get an anti-virus solution that is meant for individuals.

[KalGimpa]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

If it's your PC then why can't you a) whitelist your self and/or b) seek permission to whitelist?

I wish I could whitelist it myself.

I tried to seek permission to whitelist yesterday, and they said that steam and x64launcher should be whitelisted, but whatever they claimed to do did not work.
I will have to call them again today.

what antivirus are you using?

the only ones that i have seen that limit anything are free ones

also, how good are you with computers?

calling, and letting someone remote your pc to get a program whitelisted, seems so extreme

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by KalCuey:

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

I wish I could whitelist it myself.

I tried to seek permission to whitelist yesterday, and they said that steam and x64launcher should be whitelisted, but whatever they claimed to do did not work.
I will have to call them again today.

what antivirus are you using?

the only ones that i have seen that limit anything are free ones

also, how good are you with computers?

calling, and letting someone remote your pc to get a program whitelisted, seems so extreme

Sophos Endpoint Agent.

and

I’m definitely better at using computers than this paranoid person.
I was able to uninstall the Agent late last year, via online documentation from Sophos themselves, which required me to boot into Safe Mode.
It was installed May 2023, and I uninstalled it late Dec 2023. The removal of the antivirus went undetected for about 9 months before it was discovered that I had uninstalled it, all because the antivirus was trying to update.