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?

[KalGimpa]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by KalCuey:

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.

damn

that is just too much

any program that makes it that hard to remove is a no go for me

i would make sure to get rid of it completely and find another

stop letting that other person control it

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Reading what you have sounds like malware itself even though it's an antivirus.

Is the person you live with ok if you use other antivirus? Like Windows pre installed anti virus the one that comes with the OS.

Maybe free anti virus like avest.

Or does this person going ape unless use a very specific anti virus?

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Reading what you have sounds like malware itself even though it's an antivirus.

I know. Its ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying.

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Or does this person going ape unless use a very specific anti virus?

Its not a specific anti-virus program, its just the security it claims to provide. This person works in professional finance and has IT departments, and is used to having this kind of software on their machine, monitoring everything they do and when their work machines are networked together.
I on the other hand really really don't like nor want this kind of software on my personal machine; if they want to have it, fine, but leave me out of it. I'm smart enough to know how to run my own machine.

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Is the person you live with ok if you use other antivirus? Like Windows pre installed anti virus the one that comes with the OS.

I don't know. They are hard to communicate with sometimes, and as I mentioned before, they got extremely angry when it was discovered I had removed the antivirus. But I will try to ask them when I get the chance, even if I don't know when that will be.

[MrOnyx]

So I called the place that manages the antivirus again this morning, and they said they would have someone get back to me in about 15 minutes. That was over an hour and a half ago.

The whole situation is such ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

I do have a few backup solutions:
1. Disable the antivirus at startup with services.msc while in safe mode, and just hope they aren't detected as being disabled by the ones monitoring it. I tried to determine this by looking at Sophos Central's documentation, but I can't seem to find this basic information. (There is a chance I missed it but with how kind of bad sophos is a documentation, I'm not completely sure.)
2. Install an older version of Steam that allowed me to still play all games before the November 5th Client update.

[Thiesen]

Lol... haven't you realized that it's a YOUNG person ttthat is asking and that it is his parents that wants to prevent their offspring to game???

As such... the OP should discuss this with his parents...

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by Thiesen:

Lol... haven't you realized that it's a YOUNG person ttthat is asking and that it is his parents that wants to prevent their offspring to game???

As such... the OP should discuss this with his parents...

Nope. Just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ roommate.

[KalGimpa]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

Originally posted by Thiesen:

Lol... haven't you realized that it's a YOUNG person ttthat is asking and that it is his parents that wants to prevent their offspring to game???

As such... the OP should discuss this with his parents...

Nope. Just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ roommate.

stop listening to them

put what makes you feel comfortable on your pc

you seem to be running a business oriented antivirus suite

find one designed for a personal pc

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by MrOnyx:

This person works in professional finance and has IT departments, and is used to having this kind of software on their machine, monitoring everything they do and when their work machines are networked together.

And that kind of antivirus makes sense for that setting. It does not make sense for a home PC. Again, if you bought the PC with your own money and it is not the property of your roommate, then don't let them treat your gaming PC like a financial institution. Stand up for yourself.

Either that, or get a console to game on.

[D. Flame]

Uninstall Sophos. It is a terrible antivirus. It is Norton 2.0 at this point.

If you need one use something like Panda or even BitDefender.

And if it is a corporate work machine, then you really shouldn't be gaming on it anyway.

[Nx Machina]

After uninstalling Sophos Endpoint Agent did you use SophosZap which is a cleanup tool to remove any lingering files etc?

[Sondardo]

Honestly, if I were you, I would do a backup of all of your important files, then do a complete reinstall of Windows, to get rid of that extremely controlling AV. Unless your roomate have taken admin priviledges from you to prevent you from doing that (hopefully not).

Then you can reclaim your PC and install the AV of your choosing that will not hold your PC hostage.

After, protect your PC with passwords and PINs to avoid your roomate accessing it, and do not give them to your roomate.

Lastly, if I were you, I would have a very stern talk with your roomate to set boundaries. And possibly consider either kicking him/her out, or you moving elsewhere, because if your roomate is that controlling and toxic over the use of YOUR computer, chances are they might be for other aspects of your life.

[pow]

unfortunate

[RPG Gamer Man]

I would install malwarebytes too. I install this great program on all my pc's. They have a free version too if you do not want to buy it.

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Uninstall Sophos. It is a terrible antivirus. It is Norton 2.0 at this point.

Yeah it seems to be a pretty ♥♥♥♥ antivirus.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

And if it is a corporate work machine, then you really shouldn't be gaming on it anyway.

As mentioned before, the computer I use is my personal computer. Its not directly networked to my roommates computer, we just share the WiFi. The only other computer that I could game on is an old Origin laptop, but that has a "fried" graphics card.

[MrOnyx]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

After uninstalling Sophos Endpoint Agent did you use SophosZap which is a cleanup tool to remove any lingering files etc?

No. The reason I had to reinstall it in the first place in the first place was because Sophos Central had reported that my copy of Sophos wasn't being updated (or was trying to install an update) for five days in a row, despite Sophos having been uninstalled for close to a year at that point. I don't think using SophosZap would've made a difference.